Heading into winter...
Our main growing season is all wrapped up - chickens and lamb now in our customers freezers & bellies. We have a few winter veggies still in the ground to harvest and next years garlic is in the ground (and already had their first weeding).
We are already looking forward to 2018 and expect to get a new batch of egg-layers in early next year. We covered an area outside of the 'brooder' (heated area where the chicks are raised) to let the chicks have some free range area even earlier in life which is somewhat sheltered from the winter elements. We have built a new mobile chicken coop which will allow the laying hens to cover more ground and help us regenerate some more land through disturbance and fertilization. And will mean a few more pastured certified organic chicken eggs for sale!
We are continuing to explore techniques to regenerate our land. We deal with an abundance of water in the winter (despite our rise/run!) and yet a shortage of water in the soil in the summer. With these extremities likely to increase over the coming years we need to plan to be as resilient as possible. One technique that we have been looking into is called 'hugelkultur'. Hugelkultur uses buried wood to soak water up like a sponge and provide a sink of nutrients for the things growing on and around it.
A big thanks!
We sold out of our pastured lamb and chicken this year and have had great demand for the eggs. Thank you for supporting our budding farm. We look forward to continue to provide you all with yummy certified organic meat & eggs.
RECIPES FROM THE FARM: Certified Organic Pastured Lamb Roast
A standard roast recipe, adapted from "The River Cottage Meat Book", which will work for a whole leg or shoulder of lamb. We like to add some blanched potatoes toward the end of the roast into the same pan - all those nice juices from the lamb and the wine are soaked up by the potatoes adding a nice wine-braised flavor.
Ingredients
- Garlic, rosemary, olive oil
- Wine
- Lamb
Directions
Place roast into pan. Start by putting a sharp knife into the meat 2-3cm deep with a sharp knife. Take a piece of garlic and rosemary and shove it into each slit.
Rub a little olive oil on the surface and place in a 450 F oven for the "half-hour sizzle". Take out and turn oven down to 325 F and pour a glass of wine over the roast and return. Leave in for approximately 1.5 hr, adding blanched potatoes halfway through. Check lamb for temperature coming out - we like ours at 145-150 F for medium well done.
A picture is worth...
