The Tortoise Chef

RosemaryDW

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@Will and @Yvonne G, I was thinking it might be useful to indicate how many tortoises are being fed and/or what the approximate costs of foods are? It would to me anyway! I think my single tortoise food costs are very cheap but being in Southern California with a great farmers market AND an undisturbed field really distorts what most people pay for food.
 

MichaelaW

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@Will and @Yvonne G, I was thinking it might be useful to indicate how many tortoises are being fed and/or what the approximate costs of foods are? It would to me anyway! I think my single tortoise food costs are very cheap but being in Southern California with a great farmers market AND an undisturbed field really distorts what most people pay for food.
Seconded.
 

RosemaryDW

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A trip to my community garden.

I know the area around our garden is not sprayed; as you can see, they mow and mulch. There is an obvious downside here, which is very few weeds after the first mulching or two! I have to look elsewhere for them now.

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Fortunately one edge of the field has some large shrubby "trees" providing shade and that's where I look once the weeds are gone. A favorite at our house is nasturtium. This plant is easy to identify with its round leaves and numerous yellow and orange flowers. In California we will see them in the spring in shady areas; it's not uncommon to see them year round in places with deep shade and water. Nasturtiums easily naturalize, these have seeded themselves from earlier plantings in the garden itself. They are very easy to pick, just grab a handful and pull.

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I check to make sure they haven't been sprayed: nope!

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Another escapee, calendula, is here late winter and into early summer; it's going like gangbusters this spring. This plant is included in at least one popular tortoise seed mix and basically grows like a weed. :)

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I was not surprised to see desert primrose. After years of being used in drought-tolerant gardens, it is everywhere in the spring. It's another plant that's easy to harvest, grab and go. Desert primrose was tortoise crack for my Russian this year. There is wild sunflower here as well but it's not on this week's menu.

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Having only the one tortoise, I don't need a lot of castoff plants but wow, the green waste pile here is the motherlode. Everything is in this pile today, including huge loads of chard and bitter melon vines. Kale seems to be here every time; you can't give that stuff away! Come summer, squash vines will be everywhere, along with monster zucchinis; usually some sunflower. In fall there will be pumpkins and yet more kale.

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Of course I wouldn't randomly take anything out of this pile but I could make some fast friends here on a weekend. We have quite a few tortoise owners in the neighborhood, people are always willing to share. My biggest problem is explaining to people that I only need one turnip leaf for a Russian, not a bucketful.

Cost: free except for my time. I enjoy the garden so it was already part of my regular walks. It's not just me, this garden is attractive to both the tortoise and the hare. :)

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MeAndMyTort

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So here's what was for dinner for my one Greek...

A little bit of spring mix, with the spinach taken out:
ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1492638248.989507.jpgImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1492638261.290407.jpg

Added some cut up cilantro(just a little) and some wheatgrass, then gave it all a good wash.
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And here's a picture of the grass I bought (chemical free) and some grass I'm growing in tiny cups because it's cute:
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And FYI, he doesn't usually get store bought greens everyday, but since today was a supermarket green day , It seemed like a good idea to post.
 

Kapidolo Farms

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I did not take an image, my bad.

My wife noticed grape leaves at the 'North Park Produce' store in Vista/Oceanside. I bought a pound of them $3.59 a pound. I bought a pound, it's several hundred leaves. I cut them up across the face of the leaf, what a great smell. The small P. planicuada were a bit aggressive to eat them, everyone else was just sorta "whatever?"

I guess I am a total 'tortoise chef' dork/nerd 'cause I find it fun to do this and watch the tortoises react.
 

RosemaryDW

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My wife noticed grape leaves at the 'North Park Produce' store in Vista/Oceanside.

Ooh, I'm always looking but I've never seen them for sale at our Persian market. That seems like a great price. My tortoise likes them nearly as much as squash leaves. Unless it's Tuesday, in which case, forget it. o_O
 

Kapidolo Farms

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@Will and @Yvonne G, I was thinking it might be useful to indicate how many tortoises are being fed and/or what the approximate costs of foods are? It would to me anyway! I think my single tortoise food costs are very cheap but being in Southern California with a great farmers market AND an undisturbed field really distorts what most people pay for food.


A case of Escarole is 24 heads, and ranges in price from $24.80 to $28.60, as I use it it will last about a week, as will all the other I list at first
A case of romaine is 24 head, will cost $7.99 to $24.00. An alternative is to buy cleaned heads in six packs for 2.49 to $2.99, but they don't have all the big fluffy outer leaves.
A 3# bag of Spring Mix costs $4.95, two per week.
A 2 pound bag or baby arugula costs $4.75
A bag of baby kale is 1.5 pounds and costs $4.95
A bag of rainbow Kale is 2.5 pounds and costs $4.95

Opuntia is harvested

These last two to three weeks, and are in a rotation so two or three may be in play at any time
A 22 pound box of yellow or green or grey summer squash ranges from $7.00 to $25 a box, I only buy it when it's under $10.00
A 32 pound box of Bok Choy can range in price from $12.00 to $35, I only buy it when it's under $17 or so.
A 4# case of bananas cost $4.74 to $4.95, I get one every two or thee weeks, freeze what I don't use before it gets mushy. A 40# pox costs $17.99 and I have considered that but don't have that much freezer space to spare.
Yams and Sweet potato are in 22# boxes and I don't recall the price.
A 30 pound box of acorn squash costs about $20.00

Most of these things have seasonal price swings, and so I elect to go with a best deal at the time. Many restaurant suppliers have what might be thought of as "B" grade odd boxes at about half the price, that deal leads me to those things.

Sometimes they have cases of mushrooms at 2/3 off and I always buy them then, the Manouria seem to have no upper limit on the the amount of mushrooms they will eat, and all the hingebacks like them too. I buy no less than a 2# basket of mushrooms at Costco once a week for the Pyxis planicuada,

Mulberry leaves are supplied by a friend, so no cost and last year round as fresh or dried.

40 pound bags of grass pellets are in the $20/bag range and last about 6 months.

A low cost week is about $45, a high cost week is about $80 total.

I don't publish a list of animals in total ever anywhere.
 

Neal

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Just went to Restaurant Depot and a case of 24 heads of romaine was about $60....I have never seen it that high. Normal price is $13 give or take.

I noticed the supplier is different than normal, and the heads were wrapped in sealed plastic instead of wrapped in an open plastic bag. Hopefully it's just a temporary thing.
 

Kapidolo Farms

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Just went to Restaurant Depot and a case of 24 heads of romaine was about $60....I have never seen it that high. Normal price is $13 give or take.

I noticed the supplier is different than normal, and the heads were wrapped in sealed plastic instead of wrapped in an open plastic bag. Hopefully it's just a temporary thing.


Yeah, It is because the AZ producers have shut down and Salinas Valley is still a bit recovering from being swamped by California rains. AndyBoy farms 6 packs are still under $3.00 though. Hard to find. I do a sweep on the way home of three Smart and Finals and a Costco. As I buy for about a week at a time I get four 6 packs and call it done for the week.
 

RosemaryDW

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Back to the farmers market!

I was at the market by myself today. My husband is a patient man but there is only so much time he is willing to stand in the sun while I meander the stalls.

I usually pick up a few squash or melon leaves: today was chayote squash. If you look closely, you can see these vines from one of our largest Hmong vendors are not at all cheap at $6/pound. They have just about everything at this stand, all terrifically clean and organic. Everything has easy to read signage and the staff spend a good amount of time describing the uses of all the vegetables to customers. All of this is reflected in the prices. Unlike some vendors, they sell most green vegetables loose, which is why I shop here. I only needed a couple of squash stems, which cost me 25 cents. When I told the cashier it was for my tortoise, he tells me his mom has desert tortoises and would they like this? "YES!" I presume he can get his at cost. ;)

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If I was buying in quantity, I'd pop down to another large vendor that is very nice but not organic nor as well staffed. Just about everything they sell is in $2 bundles. Typically the bundles hold a very large handful of whatever plant it is, so the weight varies. They are selling bundles of bitter melon stems that I estimated at least a pound plus--I've posted a picture of one bundle by itself in a produce bin. In summer their zucchini bundles are huge, far too big for me to even consider.

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If I was looking for a bunch of dandelion (chicory) this is where I'd shop. This bundle is huge, making it perhaps half as expensive as other vendors.

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I purchased a bundle of methi (fenugreek) here because it is often recommended to/by owners in Asia and India and I wanted to see if it would pass muster with a Russian. I got ten ounces for my $2 and I was surprised that Adila ate a few leaves the first time I offered it to her--it's extremely bitter. I'll try her again when she is hungrier. Obviously she won't eat the whole bundle and as I don't make much curry, this was an experiment I undertook for the benefit of forum members! :) They let me take a few daikon (big radish) leaves. Addy will eat regular radish leaves but she much prefers these; they are also easier for me to clean and feed, being so large. (Addy gets whatever I throw down whole, no beautiful salads for her!)

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My tomato "guy" sells some other vegetables, along with squash blossoms. He gave me his last two flowers (they were a bit squashed!) and when I asked if I could have a turnip leaf, pulled out a double handful of tops of all kinds for me to take. I convinced him I needed just the one leaf.

I made my last purchase at a vendor selling cleaned opuntia pads for $2 pound. This is on par with other vendors, but our primary vendor only sells it in two-pound bags, already sliced. I wanted one tiny pad, which they gave me free when I said it was for my tortoise. Honestly, telling people here you have a tortoise makes you an "A" list celebrity.

I was poking around another vendor when I noticed they had a large box of vegetable tops and loose lettuce leaves out front. Customers often ask vendors for tops, for their chickens and compost bins, occasionally for tortoises. This vendor must have decided it was easier to leave things out front than keep pulling things from behind the counter; I've never noticed it before. I see some collards in there, along with chard, beet tops, various lettuces, and carrot tops. I'd rinse anything I took from here but you can't beat free.

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Here we are at home with everything washed. Total cost $2.25 but without the methi experiment, it would have been just the 25 cents. It's not food for an entire week, just some additional variety to the weeds I picked earlier. At this point, my entire food budget for the week is 25 cents unless you factor in the very high cost of living in this neighborhood. Once that number is included, the total cost is approximately one squillion dollars. :rolleyes:

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RosemaryDW

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I purchased a bundle of methi (fenugreek) here because it is often recommended to/by owners in Asia and India and I wanted to see if it would pass muster with a Russian.

Wow, she devoured this today, ignoring just about everything else. I've posted a picture of the aftermath. She ate quite a few stems so you can't quite get the full effect, it was a ton of food. At this rate, I'll get my money's worth!

ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1492988738.063129.jpg
 

Kapidolo Farms

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Wow, she devoured this today, ignoring just about everything else. I've posted a picture of the aftermath. She ate quite a few stems so you can't quite get the full effect, it was a ton of food. At this rate, I'll get my money's worth!

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I am thinking that the squash vines are a great "long" fiber inclusion in the diet. I had spent many Tuesday afternoons at a Farmers Market in Mira Mesa, but now living in Carlsbad don't get there. There is a farmers market in Vista, I went once, but no Asian vendors with all those vines with leaves. I have grown some, but the amount they will eat surpassed my production. All good stuff.
 

RosemaryDW

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There is a farmers market in Vista, I went once, but no Asian vendors with all those vines with leaves. I have grown some, but the amount they will eat surpassed my production. All good stuff.

They are popular as cooked vegetables. We have large populations of Asians and Indians living here; the market sells all kinds of things I've never seen elsewhere.

We gave up growing it as well. We only needed one plant but our cat insisted on sleeping in it. :/
 
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