---

This Week’s Story: Secrets of Smith Basin

“There’s dynamite in Smith Basin,” Nancy said simply. “Yep. I’m sure Jack put it there. We was up there doing some diggings for gems. If I remember right, he’d kept a powder cache up there in a cave.” She smiled while looking past me, rocker creaking next to her too-hot-for-me-to-stand-it woodstove, obviously remembering those good times in wild country with Jack…..

Store News

Next Shipping Date: Monday, May 12th

We generally ship every Monday, holiday weeks excepting (see calendar). You’ll get a tracking number when we ship your order. UPS may initially show an extra day of transit time, but will correct late Monday night when orders hit the Salt Lake hub.

Next Restock Date: Wednesday, May 14th

We restock every Wednesday and send out a sale flyer on Wednesday in the early evening with the week’s deals.

Back In Stock

Organic grass fed regenerative beef sticks are back!

This Week’s Reader-Only Deals

Use the code “ALLROASTS” at checkout to get 10% off organic grass fed regenerative brisket roasts, organic grass fed regenerative eye of round roasts, grass fed regenerative (non-certified) rump roasts, and grass fed regenerative (non-certified) eye of round roasts!

Use the code “GROUNDBEEFBUNDLE” at checkout to get 10% off grass fed regenerative (non-certified) 20 lb. fattier ground beef bundles!

To access these sale items, and for more deals and products, you can click the button below!

Ranch News

It is just getting light, and the crew is catching horses and saddling up at 5:45am. Today begins the ride to the range for Alderspring’s mama cow herd. The crew is trying to beat the heat so the cows don’t stall on the climb out of the river canyon. Photo credit Rose Morris.

After a hike down the valley, the couple hundred head and riders cross the Salmon River and begin the climb up out of the river canyon along the rugged uplift of the Salmon River mountains. They cross the river at about 4800 feet; the grazing range they will walk this summer goes up to nearly 10,000. At this point, Josh has his horse just right, as the last thing he would want to do is push the cattle too hard. It’s about a hundred feet of steep cliff and rock down to the river. We’ve never lost a cow over the edge, but non-attentive riders have pushed the herd perilously close to the edge. I recall one steer that managed to hold it together on a tiny ledge above the river, and then slowly but certainly made his way back up, rock climbing all the way.  Photo credit Josh Whitling.

This is the crux of the trail up to McDaniel springs. It was the warmest part of the day, but the herd and riders were so close, and with a little coaxing, icewater was awaiting them. The cows had never been to this point, and needed to trust the cowhands–that they would know the way. Photo credit Melanie Elzinga.

That’s Annie, one of the middle Elzinga girls, with her faithful companion, Baby G. The trail up to the range from the valley was long, pretty dusty and warm. It went very well, with no ill effects on anyone, but when they arrived at McDaniel tanks for a drink, everyone relished the rest. Baby G controls Annie to some degree, and Annie complies, and gives her tired feet a rest. Photo credit Melanie Elzinga.

Our lowest grazing country is a rain shadow caused high desert. About 10% of the range country is still under 3 to 6 feet of snow, so it’s natural that we work in the low country at the beginning of the season. A spring fed pipeline we have feeds water into the low country from 8 miles away. This tank, the Dick and Helen McDaniel memorial stock tank, is the only water for all of the Dry Gulch country. The McDaniels used to ranch, running sheep up to this county for about 55 years. They sold and moved to be with their kids about 15 years ago, but not before Dick regaled us with many stories of the Hat Creek Country. Photo credit Melanie Elzinga.

On the range, it is backcountry. There’s no fences, and the country is big. Wild instinct is the key to survival, and these range cows have to pull out all the stops to ensure survival of their newborns. This 2 day old calf lies secure, out of the incessant arctic wind in the care and under the watchful eye of mama. Photo credit Melanie Elzinga.

Those babies are fresh. This one was probably born yesterday. The range grasses are just barely coming in; much of this country just saw snow within the past week. Photo credit Melanie Elzinga.

The Dry Gulch country. It’s the first drainage that we cover this year with greenup. In the far distance under the snow-capped Pahsimeroi Range is our home valley and headquarters, right around where the cloud shadow is. If you look very closely, you can spot Jed alone on his saddle horse in the lowest right (think black speck with a straw hat on), with a single file line of cattle he’s taking back to the stock tank. Photo credit Melanie Elzinga.

That’s Jed, our newest cowboy on Alderspring, saddling Ben at sunup for a day on the range. Jed and Melanie likely rode 30 miles on Thursday with the mother cow herd in the wilds of the Dry Gulch canyon area of the Hat Creek ranges. There they were bringing the cows to new grass, monitoring their calves, and keeping stock water systems going. It’s early in the season, and after an 18 hour day mostly in the saddle, horse and rider get pretty worn down. They categorically get the next day off–both human and horse. Photo credit Melanie Elzinga.

Your purchase supports our regenerative work. For more information go to https://www.alderspring.com/regenerative/.