The Tortoise Chef

[Toddrickfl1]

Breakfast Redfoot style, this morning they had Kale, Green leaf lettuce, arugula, dried mulberry leaf and plantain weed (from @Kapidolo Farms ), mango, papaya, banana, mashed Mazuri, and sprinkled with a little Repashy SuperVeggie. I use the Repashy every couple weeks for some added nutrients.

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm impressed. was it very hard teaching him to use the spoon? ?

 

[Toddrickfl1]

I'm impressed. was it very hard teaching him to use the spoon? ?

Murphy won't use the spoon. He has no manners lol

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

looks like i'd like to try it myself.

 

[Toddrickfl1]

If it's barely even spring yet and your already gathering goodies for next winter does that mean you have a problem? I think I need an intervention.....

 

[Maro2Bear]

If it's barely even spring yet and your already gathering goodies for next winter does that mean you have a problem? I think I need an intervention.....View attachment 288475

What kind of tree blossoms? Good on you, but I often wonder if there really is any nutritional value in tree blossoms like that? Maybe @Kapidolo Farms has some insight? At least no lawn spray on them.

 

[Toddrickfl1]

What kind of tree blossoms? Good on you, but I often wonder if there really is any nutritional value in tree blossoms like that? Maybe @Kapidolo Farms has some insight? At least no lawn spray on them.

These are pear tree blossoms.

 

[Maro2Bear]

These are pear tree blossoms.

Right...we have tons of blooming Bradford Pear trees & everything else blooming as well. Kind of a month early. Cherry Blossoms at the DC Tidal Basin are at peak this week. Spring is here....dandelions blooming too.

 

[Toddrickfl1]

Right...we have tons of blooming Bradford Pear trees & everything else blooming as well. Kind of a month early. Cherry Blossoms at the DC Tidal Basin are at peak this week. Spring is here....dandelions blooming too.

Yep we've got everything blooming here early too. Starting to see dandelions and my hibiscus are already putting out leaves when they don't usually start till May.

 

[RosemaryDW]

Today was interesting. After a week’s closure due to COVID-19, we learned our farmers market would be open again so I walked down. Turns out they have switched it to a drive-thru! They give you a list of what’s available; you mark down what you want and they bring it back to you. I didn’t feel like returning to wait in a very long line for three dollars worth of tortoise food so went back up the hill to the community gardens to find weeds and anything that might have blown over the fence and reseeded itself. I found what are either turnip or radish leaves and that was about it. For weeds there was plenty of mallow and wild lettuce. I felt like I’d hit the lottery when I found a plant of what looked like stinging nettles, I’ve only found them once before. I tested to make sure that’s what they were (ouch!), then used my sleeve to grab a handful. My pain seems to have been for nothing, she doesn’t care for them so far. Fine with me, they cook up great with pasta.

 

[waretrop]

I have been feeling like a chef these days and when I found this topic I coundn't control myself. I hope I am not overstepping my boundary but I want to share. I have enjoyed Little Alice, my Sulcata, very much while she stays with me. I am in Pennsylvania and we are still in winter. I never really know much about different veggies before so I wanted to let others know what I have learned. With the help of my ethnic store that I visit every Monday, I have found so many great foods for Alice to enjoy. I am still not happy with her serving trays and I will create something better soon. I have been using the front of the tray for it seems to keep her from laying and flattening the food at the front. First I give her pellets that I keep out all the time. She grazes at will and has not overdone it over the years.

Here is now I start.

She has her own fridge. We share our hot tub room with her.


Her tray which I am not happy with because she has sat and flattened her food and drags it off when she is done eating.


I give her pellets to keep her occupied while I load up her second tray. Otherwise when she hears the bags rustling she hangs out under my feet.


Next I layer her fresh food. It changes each week but you get to see what's going on this week.


Dandelions


banana leaves, I buy in full leaves and take out the center vein.


Next endive


kale on the side


parsley I only do leaves, no stems


bok choy leaves only, we eat the bottoms


broccoli rabe



swiss chard


napa cabbage


prickly pear cactus leaves that I have burned the thorns off at my gas stove


aloe that I have skinned and soaked and rinsed 3 times to get the poison off, I store it in a plastic container and rinse it every day


alas, Alice is eager to eat


She dives into it and loves everything.

Now every week it changes for the stores may not have everything. I have not been able to get mustard greens lately but she loves them. I might also tell you that I rinse off all the food I buy and let it dry mostly before rebagging it.

Hope seeing what I do will help others. Also in summer I save as much as I can from outdoors, and go into the fall using all those wonderful things. Some things I freeze and some things I dry.

I get so much joy in feeding her.

 

[MichaelL]

Wow, thanks for asking @Will !

I don't know that I'm a chef, just someone with time on my hands and a great location in Southern California.

There are a couple of threads I made about shopping at farmers markets, particularly those with Asian or Indian produce. Small and large Asian markets are in many cities, for those wanting to poke around at new foods.

This is one from when I was first feeling comfortable with our market; I have since found several more plants (chayote and bitter melon vines are frequently available). I've also gotten more comfortable with throwing in the occasional random Asian greens, as her diet is so varied. http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...pecializing-in-asian-or-hmong-produce.140654/ It's interesting how often people tell me of a tortoise or turtle they owned or cared for; usually they've been feeding it wrong, alas.

This is one from a trip I took to the market where I got well more than I needed for $2 and change: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/cheap-freebie-day-at-the-farmers-market.146540/

I did another recently that I hoped would help new owners figure out if the weeds they are picking are "safe" from pesticides: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...ng-if-your-weeds-are-safe-photo-heavy.153035/

Not an individual thread but I always like to tell new members to check their hispanic markets for spineless cactus, marked "nopales."

As for this week's offerings, it has been a phenomenal year for rain so we still have weeds galore; yesterday I picked wild sunflower, mallow, bindweed (she's a Russian!), bristly ox-tongue, sow thistle, prickly lettuce, wild geranium, naturalized nasturium. These weeds won't stay green for long so I like to load up while I can. Also on the menu for this week are some daikon radish leaves and fifty cents worth of bitter melon vines and amaranth from the farmers market. Amaranth is a "no" food on the Tortoise Table list because of oxalates; I personally don't worry about oxalates, partially from what I've read here from @Will !

She's also eating yarrow, evening primrose, and sage from the garden, along with whatever flowers drop from the abutilon plants (Indian Mallow.) When we aren't looking, she's trampling clumps of iris to get to the flowers.

This sounds like a ton of food for one week but she's in a very large area and her appetite has been enormous this spring. I don't have anywhere near the experience our multiple tortoise owners do but I've been really impressed at her willingness to try new foods after a full year of being fed by us. She's finally slowing down, this should be more than enough for the week! Should we somehow run out, I've got plenty of chicory and frisee in the human fridge to share.

View attachment 204368

Your tortoise is so beautiful!!! How long have you had her? Somebody knows how to take care of their tortoise?

 

[Seb]

We've been for a walk in the countryside around our house today and managed to forage a feast for our little tort!

Here's his salad ? Hope he likes it because there's enough for a week. Although he'll probably just pick out the dandelions and forget-me-nots, the fussy bugger.

 

[RosemaryDW]

We've been for a walk in the countryside around our house today and managed to forage a feast for our little tort!

Here's his salad ? Hope he likes it because there's enough for a week. Although he'll probably just pick out the dandelions and forget-me-nots, the fussy bugger.

That’s awesome. I love seeing what grows in different places. Yours is much greener than mine.

 

[RosemaryDW]

I have been feeling like a chef these days and when I found this topic I coundn't control myself. I hope I am not overstepping my boundary but I want to share. I have enjoyed Little Alice, my Sulcata, very much while she stays with me. I am in Pennsylvania and we are still in winter. I never really know much about different veggies before so I wanted to let others know what I have learned. With the help of my ethnic store that I visit every Monday, I have found so many great foods for Alice to enjoy. I am still not happy with her serving trays and I will create something better soon. I have been using the front of the tray for it seems to keep her from laying and flattening the food at the front. First I give her pellets that I keep out all the time. She grazes at will and has not overdone it over the years.

I get so much joy in feeding her.

This is the thread in which to share all the things you feed. Your Alice is very lucky but I know you feel you are the lucky one.

 

[RosemaryDW]

Your tortoise is so beautiful!!! How long have you had her? Somebody knows how to take care of their tortoise?

Technically five years but the first year we picked her up off the road and she hibernated while we were looking for her owners. We were hopeful but still surprised when she popped up in the spring. It’s only the four years we’ve overseen her entire year that “count.”

She certainly enjoys her food and has gotten large enough to be a true force of destruction. Today I took my lunch “break” outside and watched her break down the fencing around some delicate buckwheat. She’s been testing it for days and finally made it through. Then immediately started to break her way back out. Lol

 

[MichaelL]

Technically five years but the first year we picked her up off the road and she hibernated while we were looking for her owners. We were hopeful but still surprised when she popped up in the spring. It’s only the four years we’ve overseen her entire year that “count.”

She certainly enjoys her food and has gotten large enough to be a true force of destruction. Today I took my lunch “break” outside and watched her break down the fencing around some delicate buckwheat. She’s been testing it for days and finally made it through. Then immediately started to break her way back out. Lol

View attachment 292245

Love it!! ?

 

[Seb]

That’s awesome. I love seeing what grows in different places. Yours is much greener than mine.

One of the joys of living in the English countryside! Having a tortoise has definitely changed our walks - we can't go a few steps without trying to ID another plant.
I think Esio's happy anyway, straight to the food after his bath

 

[jsheffield]

I live with five tortoises: a Redfoot, an MEP, a Homes Hingeback, and two Russians.

Although they have differing nutritional needs, I try to multitask when putting together their meals.

The Redfoot (meal pictured) gets a bit of everything this Saturday: greens, mazuri, butternut squash, some sprouted microgreens, mushrooms, and my dry mix of flowers and weeds and herbs and seaweed shaken over everything.

The MEP and the Hingeback get less mazuri and more mushrooms, but get everything else.

The Russians get mostly greens, don't get mazuri, and only get a tiny bit of squash and mushroom, but get the rest.

The Redfoot, Darwin, is the biggest, oldest, and incredibly omnivorous, so his is always the last meal I make... he gets whatever's left after I've made the meals for the others.

Jamie

 

[RosemaryDW]

The pandemic is making itself known even here in mild and sunny California. I think we are done with any real rain for the season, meaning we won’t have weeds for long. All the sow thistles are done. We have wild lettuce and bristly ox-tongue, which will not interest my Russian for much longer this year but I grabbed a bunch of it. I found a giant stem of something that might have ended up as a prickly sow thistle? Black mustard? I honestly don’t know but can tell it’s safe and take it. There is still lots of bindweed so I rip out hunks of it as well.

My community association seems to have made a commitment to RoundUp this year. Most of our mallow looks suspiciously brown at the base, indicating it’s been sprayed. I find a tiny bit that looks safe while roaming around and ignore the rest.

I take a couple of stems of the cardamom plant I randomly found last week, just in case. Finally, without shame I snag a giant zucchini leaf that’s been culled and left in the community garden green waste area. She doesn’t really like this one but I’m hoping for the best.

It’s been iffy so far. The cardamon got sniffed at, which is more than I thought would happen; she’s never interested in anything in this plant family. She ate some zucchini leaf, that’s a relief. She has eaten all the mallow and the giant stem of whatever it was. Let’s hope that wild lettuce and bindweed will be adequate for five more days.

Next weekend I will either have to commit to the two-hour drive thru farmers market or see what our Korean market is offering.