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My rule is if it looks like it has grit, dirt etc on it or it has roots, it gets rinsed. When I rinse greens I do so right before serving and I blot them dry with a paper towel.

I do recommend the use of the Ready Pac organic spring mix (baby greens-no spinach) from Costco. It is easy and saves me a bunch. At my Costco they also have a four pack head of Romaine and sometimes butter lettuce.

I also pick weeds from my garden (yes I rinse them). I have found at the new Stater Brothers Grocery Stores (if you have them in your area) carry dandelion greens and prickly pear cactus (Nopales) occasionally even cactus fruit (Burn or scrape off the spines with a potato peeler). Aloe I feed sparingly as it can give your Greek diarrhea. I don’t give my Greeks hay any more. I may offer them some wheat grass that I grow or you can get it in the organic section of stores or at Petco or Petsmart. I find my Greeks don’t like the hay or grass unless it is to hide in.

Greeks and Squash, mine seem to like most soft squashes, zucchini, yellow crook neck, summer and hard squashes like pumpkin (you can use canned-not the spiced pie one) Butternut and acorn- no they do not eat the seeds of the hard squash. I clean the hard squash just as you would if you were eating it. Just like cleaning out a jack-o-lantern. Some of the squash you can get frozen if you don’t eat them yourself or you can freeze the fresh ones as some of these are rather large veg.-texture is a little softer which may even make it easier for small torts to eat. I grate the fresh harder squash for mine. At first they didn’t eat it but now they seem to love it.

You live in Az. Have you tried contacting any farmers or ranchers in the area for prickly pear cactus? In my area (the upper Midwest) if approached properly the land owner will let you collect prickly pears just to get them out of pastures. I am speaking only of prickly pears not other cactus which I know is often protected.

I just checked out Opuntia genus (prickly pear) online and found that O. fiscus-indicus will grow in Phoenix. This is the agricultural prickly pear. You may be able to find this in your local nurseries. If so, you can grow your own.

Crazy1 Wrote:Great info Anja.
However I just had a discussion with Danny regarding hay for Greeks. I was chopping it up fine and sprinkling it on their food. He suggested fresh grass but no hay as it contains concentrated silica(?) when dry which the Greeks don’t digest well. I stopped using it on the Greeks and they have much better poops now.

silica is sand...could he have meant cellulose?

Yvonne

Sprouts sells dandelion greens, don't buy the spring mix from sprouts though, buy it at costco, they want to much at sprouts. I have not seen cactus there but if you find some let me know. Depending on what part of the state you live in, you can take them out for some sun in the grass. Mine go out everyday that it is 60 degs or higher, granted they don't stay out that long when it is 60 deg.