Level up your health with LAMB!
Did you know that lamb is easily the most nutritious and ecologically sound meat we sell? As smaller herbivores, sheep are incredibly efficient at turning sunshine (in the form of perennial plants) into highly nutritious meat. Lamb is exceptionally high in iron, making it a key protein source for women. Even kids enjoy our lamb for its clean taste. (Shhhhh, they won't know it's not beef tacos and the variety is VITAL for their growing brains and your health, too!)
Our lamb is different than anything you've had before. And it's better than any meat you've had before. It's sweeter and has no gaminess or greasiness on account of our slow-growing, heritage breed of 100%-grassfed sheep. In fact, when we cook lamb (which we nearly always do) for our guests, most just think it's exquisitely good beef. Lamb is an especially healing food for women, and a clean protein for men.
In fact, sometimes I go on a “lamb fast." No, that doesn't mean I don't eat lamb. It means I eat lamb instead of other things… And the results have been spectacular, particularly for my mental health. Which has been important with the crazy times we are in. If you get yourself an outside project big enough, you won't care what's happening on the tube, promise. The amount of clean energy to think, plan, and jump off hay bales in a single bound would blow your mind. There's nothing on earth like lamb. Trust me.
Our favorite way to cook lamb? Molly Steven's All About Braising. You can confidently cook every cut of lamb with this book, and after you're through a half lamb, I promise you that you'll know how to cook like a boss, period. Molly walks you through every step and teaches you along the way.
This is a mama ewe and her ewe lamb from last spring. We love to see relationships among the animals and we will go a long way to keep those relationships intact, even if it is a husbandry decision that doesn't always make perfect sense. Contentment is more than food/water/shelter. These critters are relationship-beings much like us.
And did you know that sheep are the most ecologically sound critter you can support with conscious eating? That's right, sheep can graze a more diverse variety of forages and improve the soil health faster than cows. Their small frame size means that they literally (and figuratively) have a lighter foot upon the earth, and they are able to thrive on a larger variety of plants than cattle. They do well on pastures that still need improving, and help us to improve the soil along the way.
Our sheep are hair sheep which means they do not have wool and shed their coats every spring – a boon for the local bird populations. They are primarily St. Croix, which is a breed on the Slow Food Ark of Taste. Our lamb is sweeter, less gamey and cleaner than any you've ever had, promise.
Today I put four rams on a trailer. The sweetness of their faces sticks with me. I prayed with them and thanked them. I cry as I write this. And I also realized that I'm eating cold lamb chops as I write this. Life takes life. We do our best to be good stewards of what is good and just.
Back to my lamb fast. I want you to experience this. And I encourage you to try it for one month. Eat lamb 5x a week for four weeks. (More is better, I've been known to eat lamb 2x day!) Report back to me how you feel. I expect to hear that you think clearer, sleep more soundly and snack less. You may even lose a few inches of pudge around the middle. I did. One of our dear customers has gone off medication for blood-sugar issues and she attributes it to the nutrient-dense food. I'm convinced lamb is an unrecognized superfood. You have to see for yourself. Then pass it on. The world will be more sane, promise. I'm wiping my fingers from my cold lamb chops now. Seasoned with only garlic, onion powder and salt. Pan-seared. That's it. They are in our ½ lamb packages. Shop our 100% grass-fed lamb bundles here.
My most earnest plea is please don't be intimidated by cooking lamb. It is every bit as forgiving as beef, and truly a superfood beyond what beef can even touch nutritionally. I'm convinced that there is no better food for women in particular on earth than lamb. I consume lamb year-around, however winter lamb stews are one of my all-time favorite hardy meals in the colder months. The “lesser” cuts are always my favorites to braise. Once you learn to braise, you'll wonder why you cooked other ways so long… easily the most nutritious way to cook because it involves bone stock!
Molly Stevens will teach you how to cook it, and your life will be better forever. You will become superstar chef, and your only hat trick will be a smooth braise. Because it's all you need. A locally famous chef ate at my house once and I braised lamb, and his wife whispered that I was the better cook. Truth: I'm not that skilled. The lamb is just that good. What I actually whispered back is that I didn't have mad skills, I just cared more about the ingredients.
Lamb is life-changing food. And it has healed my metabolism and mental health better than any other thing I've done. And I already eat clean.
Lamb is special, that's all.
When the farm started, she was in my belly. Vivian is our most capable worker, the one who dreams with us and names the calves and can take care of just about anything on her own. They are always watching, learning, absorbing. And this mama couldn't be more proud.