Thanks for your patience,

Tim and Carla

The Green Ranch

1 cup of dry lentils (R&J Milling)

1/8 cup onion flakes

2 cans tomato soup

½ cup brown sugar

½ tsp salt

1 tsp chili powder

6 Smokies (Creekside Wild Hog)

Cook lentils 30-40 minutes in 3 1/2 cups water, just until tender; do not drain.  Add remaining ingredients, except sausages.  Pour into baking dish; arrange sausages on top.  Sausages may be sliced lengthwise if desired.  Bake 1 hr at 350

Add more water if needed as they bake.  They should be saucy not dry!

On our first anniversary my dad offered to look after our cows for the afternoon and evening so that we could get away for a date!!  We were in the thick of calving but it seemed as though it would be a quiet evening as no cows looked real close to calving.  The weather changed that afternoon and as it often does it seemed to bring a bunch of cows into labour and so my Dad was very busy that night.  He was very kind not to call us to cut off our 1st anniversary date but when we got home he was absolutely exhausted and had spent the entire time out in the corral bringing baby calves in.  I think we had 9 calves that night alone!!  Several of them were born out in a snowbank so he had to bring them into the heated barn to warm the babies up!  Once we got home Carla and I got dressed up and continued working into the wee hours of the morning!  Not exactly the way we had planned how our 1st Anniversary would go! but a great memory none the less!

Tim

Happy New Year to everyone!!  We have had a good holiday season….tried to cram all of our visiting that we put off during the growing season into 3 weeks of traveling!!  This year’s traveling had a new dimension with our little Gavin along for the ride!!!  He did pretty good considering!  None the less we are glad to be back home and into the planning stage for 2012!!  Some of you have been wondering when we would be accepting payment for the 2012 Vegetable CSA season so we have fast tracked the planning process and are launching it right now!  We are going to offer an early bird incentive for paying in January and February.  You will get a 7% (January purchase) and 5% (February purchase) rebate on your CSA order in the form of a gift certificate to use on any of our products!  Our prices have increased slightly this year with the rise in labor and fuel costs.  We don’t like increasing our prices however realize that the CSA is all about sustainability and so that means not only environmentally sustainable but also financially sustainable operation.  We appreciate the encouragement from several of our CSA members that have told us that the reason they are a part of our CSA is to contribute to a small family farm and they want to see us succeed not fail because of not charging enough!  Enough said about that!!  Here are the new prices:

Small (3 items/week) $195
Medium (5 items/week) $290
Large (7 items/week) $385
X Large (9 items/week) $480

The program will be running for 17 weeks again, and will start around the 2nd-3rd week in June this year.  We have purchased another greenhouse so plan on starting alot of our plants early to hopefully be harvesting produce earlier!!  Again there will be the choice between “you pick” (this means that you pick the items you get in the share for the week)and “we pick” (this means that we pick the items in the share for the week) shares.  This year we are going to cap the # of “you pick” shares and the rest will be “we pick”.  This is to make it easier for our garden planning and management.  You can specify which type of share you would like as you order online.  It will be a first come first serve system for the “you pick” shares.  We are going to be offering 2 different pickup locations this year.  You may pickup at the Tuesday evening Science Center parking lot location or pickup at the Farmers Market on Saturday.  We would like you to specify at the beginning of the season which location works best for you and then stick with that program through the season.  If there is a week where it absolutely works better at a different location then of course we don’t mind you switching for the week.  As usual we offer CSA members a 10% discount off of any additional Green Ranch products.   You can purchase your CSA share HERE!

In other news….We are putting together some more great offers!!!  We are now offering a pre-purchase program where you can purchase a $100 credit for product for $95.  You may purchase as many of these as you like and then we will keep track of your credit until it is done and you need to top up the account again!  You can find that option here!  Another great product that we have had for about a year now but we are marketing it more as a weekly service is the Sask Harvest Basket.  We sell a 4 week subscription to the $25/week basket here! This is a great way to add Local foods to your diet all year round!  Each basket comes with a recipe that incorporates some of the ingredients in the basket.  You can purchase both the $100 credit and the Sask Harvest subscription HERE

Within the next week or so we will be launching some meat boxes.  These will be a variety of cuts from a certain type of meat.  The meat boxes will be available in 5, 10, 25 and 50lb boxes.   We have some new types of meat that we will be launching at the same time.  Look for Elk and Yak meat!!  There are a few more non meat products in the works too so stay tuned!!

Thanks for your support!!  Make sure you let your friends know about us, if we find out that you have referred a new customer we will give you a $10 gift certificate!!

The Staff at The Green Ranch
www.thegreenranch.ca

As always we also offer our gift certificates-they are available here.  Another great idea for a gift is our 4 week subscription to the Sask Harvest Basket home delivery service!  Give the gift of Saskatchewan grown foods for 4 weeks!  The Sask Harvest basket is a collection of foods with a recipe that incorporates one or more of the ingredients in the basket.  You may even want to purchase one of these for yourselves!!!

We have a few fresh Christmas turkeys left, you can order yours here.  The turkeys will be delivered to Regina on the 20th (Tuesday)  We do still have lots of carrots, beets, and potatoes so if you need any for your big dinner you can order them here!

There is one more Farmers market and we will be there with a great selection of root veggies and meats that you may need for the holidays!  The market is going to be jam packed with vendors on Saturday so come on down and enjoy the last market of the year!  They markets will open again in March.

Thanks for all your support!!!

I think about those first settlers to Canada sitting down to a Thanksgiving meal and each sharing what they were thankful for.  I wonder what they might have shared….Thankful to be in a new country with so much opportunity and beauty?  Thankful for family and friends that had helped them build their new life?  Thankful for good harvests? Thankful for Life?!

Thanksgiving is a great time to think about things we are thankful for!!  Here is our list from The Green Ranch!!

We’re thankful to be Canadians!  Thankful that as Canadians we have the freedom to follow our dreams and achieve them!  Thankful for the beauty and diversity of Canada!  Thankful opportunity that is still very prevalent in Canada and more specifically Saskatchewan!

We’re thankful for ancestors who had a dream and came west to find it!  Thankful that they had a vision for this land and poured their heart and soul into it.  Thankful that we have the privilege to farm this same land!

We’re thankful for our family that have been an incredible support to us.  Thankful that they see and believe in our vision and encourage us to keep reaching for it!

Were thankful for our little baby Gavin that arrived in January….he has brought us so much joy and makes the long hours worthwhile!  He is truly our motivation!  We realize more than ever before how thankful we are for good wholesome natural food when we are feeding our precious boy!

We’re thankful for amazing customers!  Thankful that you realize the benefits of eating wholesome and natural foods, and supporting local producers.  Thankful that many of you have become great friends!

We’re thankful for our hardworking farmers and ranchers.   Thankful that they believe in us and our vision.  Thankful that they are dedicated to producing top quality food sustainably.  Thankful that they care about the animals they raise and treat them with respect.

We’re thankful for our amazing staff!!  Thankful for all the long hours they spend without complaint!  Thankful that they have made this summer fun and fruitful!

We’re thankful for a beautiful summer and bountiful harvest this year.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

The Staff at The Green Ranch

1/2 lb quantities for $7.50

1lb quantities for $14

2lb quantities for $26.

You can order them by clicking on this link

In other news…the garden is growing leaps and bounds, baby potatoes are now ready, carrots, zucchini, beans, cucumbers (long english and dilling) etc…  The corn is late for us, it may be ready in a couple weeks.  This has certainly been a trying year with the record wet spring however the amazingly warm summer has made up for it and we are amazed by the bounty in our gardens!!  If you are interested in veggies in bulk or for that matter any product in bulk make sure you contact us!  We put together bulk packages at wholesale prices for most anything!

The Staff at The Green Ranch

See you at the market on Saturday!

The Staff at The Green Ranch

http://www.charcut.com/assets/pdf/
Western_Living_Magazine

This is the writeup about us:
TIM & CARLA SHULTZ, 30 & 31
The Green Ranch, Osage, SK

The Shultzes, with their herd of cattle, online store and enviro- attitude to farming, may be the sturdiest bridge in the West between family-run farms and young urban locavores.

Thanks for all your support!!  Its been an incredible 4 year journey, we have learnt so much and still have much to learn!  We have benefitted by the relationships we have made with our customers and producers alike.

In other news we want to welcome Leanne Schaeken to our team!  Leanne is super passionate about organics and local foods, so its a pleasure to be working with her.  You will likely meet her at some point either on delivery day, farmers markets, or CSA drop offs.

Have a great week!!

Tim and Carla
The Green Ranch
www.thegreenranch.ca

from the farm to your table…naturally

Its CSA time!!!!!

Its time to start collecting for the 2011 CSA season!  Even though it’s hard to imagine that the garden season is just around the corner … it is!  Our seed order will be placed by the end of this week and microgreens planted in the greenhouse next week.  This is an exciting year for us as we are expanding our CSA to 100 members, which is a level that we have only dreamed about until now!  We will have 3 full time employees for most of the season, which will really help make this an enjoyable year for us!

Now down to the business of the CSA!  The basics of the CSA are going to be very much similar to last year’s program.   Here are the changes…

Because of the increased fuel costs this year, we have been doing a lot of budgeting and analyzing and have decided that instead of increasing the price for each share we will cut one week off of the program.  Instead of 18 weeks like last year it will run for 17 weeks and the prices will remain the same.  We will be continuing the 2 flexible week program as it seems to be very popular.

We have added a new size to accommodate large families.  There is now a 9 items option.

Here are the prices for the different sizes

Small (3 items/week)  $180.00

Medium (5 items/week)  $270.00

Large (7 items/week)  $360.00

X Large (9 items/week)  $445.00

There are now two different types of CSA’s to choose from.  “You choose” – you get to select the products you want in your basket and “We choose” – we put together a selection of products for you.  The advantage of this new option is that you have more variety of products.  There will be certain products that we can’t offer to everyone but we can put into the “We choose” baskets!   We are wanting to have a set number of “We choose” shares out of the 100 shares this year to help balance things out so we will evaluate as members sign up and at some point we may have to only accept “We choose” baskets to fill the quota.  It will be 1^st come 1^st serve so if you want the “You chose” share then make sure you sign up right away!!

Once again we will be offering a $10 discount for members who refer a friend – there is no limit on how many referrals you can make.  Last year we doubled the size of our CSA almost entirely on referrals alone!  It is a great way to build a member group!  One advantage of having your friends participate is you can pick up for each other when something comes up that you can’t make it to the pickup location.  The other thing we like about building the group by word of mouth referrals is that it becomes more of a fun social outing when members know each other.

The start week will be similar to last year, between the last week of June and the 1^st week of July.

The pickup point for Regina will be Tuesday evening from 7:00-8:00pm at the SaskPower parking lot just North of the Science Centre.The pickup point for Weyburn will either be Monday evening from 7:00-7:30 or Wednesday from 4:00-4:30 at the Weyburn General Hospital parking lot.  Please let us know your preference.

Here is the link to purchase your share!  You can either pay via paypal right online or simply check out without paying and send us a cheque to

The Green Ranch

Box 113

Osage, Saskatchewan

S0G 3T0

Looking forward to another great CSA season!!!!

Tim, Carla and Gavin

The Green Ranch

www.thegreenranch.ca