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GrassRoots Meats Newsletter
May 2012
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In this issue...
-- Good Supply of Meat
-- Our New Shepherd
-- New Sheep for the Shepherd
-- 2011 All Star Award -- The Future of Food -- Food to Always Buy Organic -- Celebrate Mothers May Special -- In Closing ...
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Good Supply of Meat ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Having an adequate meat supply has posed quite a problem for us over the last few months but we are now back on track and things look good into the future. Thank you for your patience as we worked through the shortage.
For those of you who have been holding off ordering you can place those orders now for immediate delivery. We have lots of lamb, beef, and chicken, and for all our local folks, plenty of free range chicken eggs. It's great to be back on track.
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Our New Shepherd ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few weeks ago we got an Anatolian Shepherd pup (Sholey) for guarding our sheep. We had an Anatolian years ago for shepherding our goats, but she went along with the goats when we sold them. Anatolians are amazingly protective dogs; they bond with their charges, in this case our sheep, and literally live in the pasture with them, protecting them from every kind of predator.
The Anatolian breed originated in the crossroads of Europe and Asia, named after the area (Anatolia) that comprises nearly 97% of present day Turkey. Swift enough to race to the ends of a widely scattered flock of several hundred head, this courageous guardian dog is large and strong enough to be able to best any invader that dares to challenge its ground. We anticipate that Sholey, who will probably top out at about 150 pounds, will be an incredible addition to our family, protecting our sheep from coyotes, bears, mountain lions, and other predators.
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New Sheep for the Shepherd ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This past Sunday we purchased some Dorper ewes and a ram from a breeder in La Veta, Colorado. The Dorper breed was developed in South Africa out of a need to find lambs to compete with the high quality meat from the New Zealand Canterbury lamb. Dorper sheep are particularly distinguished by the fact that they do not have wool, but rather hair, much like a dog. The benefit of this is that they do not require sheering, a task that is difficult and backbreaking to do, and fairly expensive to contract out if not done yourself.
These will blend in well with our Dorper / Katahdin cross ewes that we bought last year. While our flock is small we hope that within a year or two we will be able to raise all of the lambs we will need for our program. At present we are using some of our own and some from a partner producer in the San Luis Valley near Monte Vista.
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2011 All Star Award ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We recently received notice that GrassRoots Meats was awarded Constant Contact's 2011 All Star Award, something we are quite proud of. Constant Contact is the medium we use to produce and send this newsletter to you each month.
This award is based upon having consistently high open rates (greater than 25%), regular contact with our audience, offering a Sign Up For Our Newsletter option on the website, using social networking links to promote our campaigns, and regularly viewing reports to see how our newsletters are doing. While we have been given this award for a number of years running, we thought you might like to know. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter - we so appreciate the opportunity to keep in touch with you.
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The Future of Food ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Found the movie The Future of Food on Netflix recently, and although it was made about eight years ago, the information is still relevant, and startling. If you haven't seen it I would recommend watching it. The primary focus is on genetically modified seed produced by Monsanto and its strangle-hold on the food system. Alone our cry might not be heard, but together we can make a roar.
If you have seen a movie or read an article that you would like to recommend to others, please let me know so that I can include the info and/or web link in this newsletter. Sharing is caring, and the more aware we are the better choices we can all make.
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Food to Always Buy Organic ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I saw a TV ad that prompted me to find more information on the web about "foods to always buy organic." If you are like me, good quality organic produce is not always available, or sometimes not at a price that I can afford. So knowing what to concentrate on really helps. The suggested foods to buy organic are apples, celery, strawberries, peaches, spinach, nectarines, imported grapes, bell peppers, potatoes, blueberries, lettuce, kale, collard greens, meat, dairy products, eggs, coffee, and baby food. Also personal favorites that you eat a lot of, since the more you eat the more likely you are to overload on chemical residues.
These are the foods most likely to be sprayed with pesticides, and because of their makeup would be more vulnerable to absorption. The good news is that there are foods that are less likely to be sprayed, more resistant to chemical absorption, and thus not as necessary to buy organic. They are onions, sweet corn, pineapple, avocado, asparagus, sweet peas, mango, eggplant, cantaloupe, kiwi, cabbage, watermelon, sweet potatoes, grapefruit, mushrooms, bananas, broccoli, and papaya. Interesting. You can get the complete report on the link below from The Daily Green. |
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Celebrate Mothers May Special ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our May Special includes UPS 2 or 3 Day Ground shipping, an always popular feature for our monthly special. Our Celebrate Mothers Special includes a Beef Sirloin Tip Roast, Chuck Roast, Eye of the Chuck Steaks, Flat Iron Steaks, and Tenderized Bottom Round Steaks; Lamb Loin Chops, Sirloin Chops, and Ground Lamb; as well as a Whole Chicken - and 8 pounds of our delicious Ground Beef.
This package contains a minimum of 26 pounds of meat for a total price of $229.00, including shipping (as long as you live within our 2 to 3 day UPS ground shipping zone). That's a great price on a meat package that has both variety and value, so be sure to take advantage of this one!
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In Closing ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Winters are a much needed time to catch up on sleep and relax a little in the ranching business, but once spring comes it is full throttle, and some days Allan is so busy he cannot even take time to eat. This year is no exception. Were it not for the fact that he loves what he is doing it would be easy to burn out fast. We hope you are blessed to be able to do something you love doing as much as we love producing high quality, healthy meats for you and your family. Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mothers who are making good choices for your family's dinner table. You will be rewarded.
Lois, Allan, Lisa, & Dusty
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Quick Links... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Email:
grassroots@centurytel.net
Phone:
970-731-1471; 800-681-2260
Website:
http://www.grassrootsmeats.com
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