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Vegetables How do you rotate leafy greens?

jrv4babies

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We do green pepper every day. And just a tiny bit of carrot (maybe 1/4-1/2 of a baby carrot) every day.

But what I'm wondering is how you rotate your leafy greens? There are so many things I'd love to try to offer her to see what she gets more or less excited about. But a head is usually so big I feel like it'll take forever for her to eat it all.

I realize that I could help eat some too! And I have been picking some things out of my own salads to try. Also I realize this "problem" of mowing through a head/bunch of greens will be cut in half once we get a cage mate.

But still interested to hear everyone's approach on rotating, reducing waste (ie eating in time before wilted!) and staying economical.

Thanks!
 

Rywen

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Mine are happy to eat green or red leaf lettuce every meal (they also get other veggies). If something is on sale I'll buy it so they get occasional variety, for example right now they have Bibb lettuce and radicchio in the mix (they go nuts for radicchio).
 

pinky

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I buy whatever is the best price at the time and usually pick up one or two different choices. In the summer, everything is pretty inexpensive so I offer more of a variety.
 

piggy_mom

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I veggie routine is like this: In the morning, i feed my piggies Lettuce Mix (a pre-bagged mixture of lettuces such as romaine, radicchio, etc. make sure it doesn't contain iceburg lettuce though, it isn't that nutritious to piggies. ) For lunch, they get carrots and cucumbers, and for dinner they get a little bit of parsley or coriander and some green leaf lettuce. Between the veggies they get oxbow pellets and unlimited hay as well as slices of apples or grapes a couple times a week.
 

Christin Barnes

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I give my pig red or green leaf lettuce. A head usually will last me about a week. I don't like bagged salads but that's just my personal preference. I bought one once in a bind and my pig didn't seem to like the bagged lettuce as much and it smells plastic-y to me like the bag it's sealed in. I also find it cheaper to buy a head and cut it myself. I replace the head once a week for freshness and because by then I'm usually out. Occasionally of a store is out of leaf lettuce I will buy romaine for that week but not often because of the high calcium. I also typically give green peppers every day for extra nutrients and a piece of carrot cut up. My pig LOVE the sweetness of carrots, I think that's the first thing he grabs at dinnertime but that is his "treat". I haven't tried many fruits but occasionally I will give him a piece of banana once a week as that's the only fruit I've tried that he enjoys so far.
 

oldnewie

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My girls' staple is grass & peppers every day, has been since I got them, except when grass has been hard to get in summer. They also get cucumber & carrot on alternate days, with baby tomatoes, mandarin, fennel, dandelions & puha for variety; also occasional silver beet, parsley, banana skin, rock or honeydew melon, nasturtium, & marigold. When I can't be bothered walking around looking for grass I buy a bag of baby red & green lettuce mesclun which only lasts 3 meals, then I have to go walk-about again.
Now good grass is getting harder to find, I have started buying a head of plain uncut green lettuce (not iceberg) each week. Although the girls enjoy it, they prefer their grass, & I feel quite bad when they finish the meals & come back after eating some hay & having a rest, asking for more food (yum, but where's our grass?). Holly is the main culprit.
She seems constantly ravenous; always eats every last bit even when Tilly is satisfied & goes to her corner to nibble & doze. At night she has taken to running around the food area then sitting watching me so she can wheek loudly at me whenever I move:
'WHERE'S THE GRASS?'
 

oldnewie

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Sorry, I meant to say baby leaf lettuce or mesclun.
 

janinehunt

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Now good grass is getting harder to find, I have started buying a head of plain uncut green lettuce (not iceberg) each week. Although the girls enjoy it, they prefer their grass, & I feel quite bad when they finish the meals & come back after eating some hay & having a rest, asking for more food (yum, but where's our grass?). Holly is the main culprit.
She seems constantly ravenous; always eats every last bit even when Tilly is satisfied & goes to her corner to nibble & doze. At night she has taken to running around the food area then sitting watching me so she can wheek loudly at me whenever I move:
'WHERE'S THE GRASS?'
[MENTION=26111]oldnewie[/MENTION], I know what you mean about the grass! My girls love it, and they get big piles of it several times a day. My husband and I do spend rather a lot of time hunched over outdoors with our scissors! Luckily I live in a wet and mild part of France where the grass grows pretty well all year round. The worst is in summer. I have started growing a patch of grass for them in the veggie patch that doesn't get cut like the rest of the lawn.

Here's a pic of Bubbles and Pumpkin enjoying a feed:

breakfast.jpg

Otherwise, twice a day my girls get a piece each of tomato, cucumber, pepper and some lettuce. In this season, they are also getting Belgian endive and celeriac regularly, either carrot or squash, fennel, zucchini (but that won't be available much longer), and occasionally swiiss chard, which they love, but I tend to save for nail clipping distraction and bribery! And the odd piece of apple or pear. I also pick lots of forages like chickweed, cleavers, dandelions, yarrow, groundsel, etc.

And one more pic for fun. This is a summer feed with corn husks:

IMG_3792.jpg
 
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