June 14, 2016

From Point A to Point B with Open Farm Ingredient Traceabilty + Giveaway


One week from today, Boca and I will embark on our 1700 mile road trip to BlogPaws. Our trip is being generously sponsored by Open Farm, a pet food I can proudly promote due to their dedication to humane farming practices and sustainable fishing standards. They recently added one more layer to my confidence with an ingredient traceability function on their website, which makes following the path of the food's ingredients to The Ginger Sisters' bowls as simple as mapping my route to BlogPaws. 


I'm a planner, and I knew I wanted to take two days driving to and from Phoenix, AZ. I prefered not to travel the same stretch of road twice so I decided to make a big loop, incorporating my old hometown of Cortez, CO on the way, and stop through Santa Fe, NM, where I spent a summer living with my aunt and working at a polo barn after college. In addition to the gorgeous location of the conference, the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort, I'll be checking out some other pet-friendly accommodations along the way, as well as visiting some friends. We'll be blogging, tweeting, and Instagram-ing from the road, using the hashtag #bocasbigadventure.


Since it was time to open a new bag of kibble for Ruby and Boca, it was the perfect opportunity to try out the new transparent sourcing feature on the Open Farm website. I had all three recipes to choose from, but felt that the Whitefish & Green Lentil recipe seemed the most seasonally appropriate for summer, especially for my former island girl, Boca. The origin of pet food ingredients has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, and with good reason. Pet parents are concerned about where the meat, meals, fruits, vegetables, vitamins and minerals come from since the devastating pet food recalls of 2007.


Even when products say "Made in the USA" it's no guarantee of the individual ingredients' source. Open Farm has taken the guesswork out of this by providing detailed information about the components of each bag of pet food, down to every last vitamin and mineral (none of which are from China). All I needed was the lot code off the back of the bag, which I could then enter in to the "See What's In Your Bag" link on the Open Farm website.


Above you can see part of the results for our bag of Whitefish & Green Lentil. Additionally, the lot code specifies which fish is used since it can change with the season. In this case, our bag contained wild caught Alaskan Pollock. All of the vegetable ingredients were grown in the U.S., and as I moved down the list, the majority of the vitamins were also sourced in the U.S., along with Germany, Switzerland and France. I am a person who thrives on knowledge and Open Farm allows me to have all of the information about what goes into their food, my dogs' bowls and into our suitcase next week


Boca is very fond of her food and will be eating an assortment of Open Farm kibble on our travels - my plan is to portion out her daily meals and feed them to her throughout the day like treats. Watch for our upcoming post about packing for a summertime trip with a dog and we will see you from the road! In the meantime, Open Farm is giving our readers the chance to try the first Certified Humane pet food. I promised Boca that we weren't giving away her beloved bag. Enter the giveaway below for a chance to win one of two 4.5 lb bags of the Homestead Turkey & Chicken recipe, open to U.S. residents only:


a Rafflecopter giveaway





This post is sponsored by Open Farm as part of our Road to BlogPaws series. You can visit Open Farm on Facebook, TwitterPinterest and Instagram

24 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness I LOVE your photos! My tip is to bring a kong filled with favorite treats. That usually keeps our dog occupied and off of our laps (He's a great dane lol). Thank you for the wonderful giveaway.
    Erin

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    1. Thank you! Boca was really hamming it up. Boca is usually happy to sleep in the car but a kong is a great idea.

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  2. I can't get enough of that picture of Boca loving on her food bag. I swear we are related...

    Your trip is going to be amazing! Memories ahead!!

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    1. She is hilarious and really takes to food modeling.

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  3. Never heard of that stuff. Looks pretty good
    Lily & Edward

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    1. I absolutely will! Thanks for visiting, Rachel!

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  5. I'm so curious...I've never seen anything on how dogs use lentils or how digestible they are for dogs. Have you? To me using lentils as a substitute for other grains is just as bad but again I've not seen much on it.

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    1. After reading the street dog book about dogs evolving to eat garbage, lentils are sounding pretty good! A cursory search yields mainly suggestions for using them as a protein source for vegetarian and vegan-fed dogs (a whole separate debate which I don't necessarily agree with). It's my understanding that there has to be a carbohydrate binder in kibbles, which is why grain-free versions have lentils, peas and potatoes. I will see if I can pick the Open Farm team member's brain about this next week!

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  6. She looks so happy with her food!

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  7. Boca, make sure you stay hydrated and convince your chauffeur to make plenty of pit stops to run around along the way!

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  8. I love these photos of Boca and I think your hashtag is great! I'm still so excited that Open Farm sponsored you! See you ladies next week :)

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  9. Always make sure your furbabies are either crated or tethered when in a vehicle. There have been too many cases of cars in accidents where the dog gets loose. Energetic pets can be a distraction when driving, so keeping them crated can not only keep them safe in the event of an accident, but could help prevent an accident.

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  10. What a cute photo! Take lots of pictures.

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  11. We all await stories of your adventures on the road with Boca. Travel safe, eat well, and hurry back to all your friends here.

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  12. I would suggest getting Boca some boots or mushers secret in case of hot pavement. =) Can't wait to see your pics of your trip

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  13. Enjoy the trip! Lots of fun to look out the window and see new things.

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  14. Can't wait to see the road trip pictures. Make sure to stay cool and wear sunscreen.

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  15. Have fun Boca! We're looking forward to seeing you at BlogPaws! The drive may be long, but the fun and memories will be well worth it :)

    www.tiffanysdiamonddogs.com

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  16. Make sure you drink lots of water and make lots of pit stops (in shady areas) to run around and do your business!
    Digicats {at} Sbcglobal {dot} Net

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