Dear Customer,
Each year of farming brings a new set of challenges. Grass farming the way we do, has its own particular set of joys and frustrations. Never was that more apparent than in dealing with this year’s drought. As we rely on grass alone to feed our animals and provide you with the healthiest source of meat, we’ve had to accelerate our plans for pasture expansion and add new fencing to increase our pasturage for grazing. This year’s excessive heat (over 60 days above 90o) also meant that our lambs preferred to rest in the shade most of the day rather than busy themselves by eating non-stop.
Now that that we have cooler temperatures the lambs are quickly making up for lost time, but it is likely that the weights on your orders may be slightly less than in years past. Nevertheless, we can promise you that the lamb will be as delicious, tender, and good for you, as always.
We are delighted to have been chosen as a featured farm in a new cookbook focusing on grassfed meats. The cookbook will include the recipe for lamb shanks we included in our 2000 customer letter. The cookbook, written by Shannon Hayes of New York, should be published sometime in mid 2003. We’ll let you know when it hits the bookstore shelves.
We just received a new shipment of 2-ply sports weight yarn spun from our wool, and it is beautiful. Our yarn is sold in specialty knitting stores for $11.95 a skein, but we can offer it to our customers directly at $8.95 a skein. Please e-mail us at: wool@touchstonefarm.org if you’d like some yarn.
The increased media attention to the health
benefits of grassfed meats has been reflected in the
record number of advance orders we’ve received this
year. We are gratified by the growing interest in
our lamb, but we’d like to ensure that our regular
customers have a chance to have their orders filled.
If you’ve already placed your order, we thank you
for your promptness. If you haven’t yet ordered for
this year, we urge you to do so soon, as we only
have about a dozen lambs left. The quickest way to
order is to
click here
to be taken to directly to our lamb order
page and place your order using our on-line form.
We'll coordinate a delivery time that is convenient
for you. All lamb orders are COD. Our prices remain
a
s
they were last year, $6 a pound for a ½ lamb
(approximately 25 lbs of meat) or $5 a pound for a
whole lamb (approximate 50 lbs of meat). (Please
note that the average weights might be slightly less
this year).
This year’s recipe features an oft neglected cut of meat. Indeed, until one of our customers (Ken Williams from the UK) requested them, we had never thought to include neck slices in our orders. Ken assured us that they were wonderful, and after trying them, we agree. We now include them as a matter of course in all our whole lamb orders. The recipe for Scotch broth below is a perfect restorative meal after a cold winter’s day outside in the snow. Enjoying this soup with some warm crusty bread in front of a blazing fire will make you feel happy and drowsy. Finishing the meal off with some of my Scottish grandmother’s shortbread will ensure that you go to bed quite contented.