September 9, 2004
Dear Customer -
Plenty of rain has made this Spring and Summer a non-stop grass fest! Lambs had record weaning weights in June. They've continued to pack on the pounds this summer, so you should receive a nice sized lamb this fall.
Farming has been relatively uneventful this year. Because of the rain we had to wait again until August for the first cutting of hay. Last year's hay was so good that the ewes gave birth to some of the largest lambs ever, and they're still fat as we head into breeding season. They're currently on a diet to slim them down for their big date. This breeding season will be a bit different than most because we'll be breeding by artificial insemination. Even though I promise you 'all natural lamb,' we made the decision several years ago to help rescue the Clun Forest breed of sheep from its slow demise in the UK. To that end, we collected semen from the three top British Clun Forest rams last year and imported it in early 2004. Over the next several years, our top ewes will be bred to these three rams in the hopes of not only preserving the best British bloodlines, but also to improve the size and 'meatiness' of our lambs for you. While the long-term effects of this decision are entirely in your favor, the immediate short-term effect will be that there will be very few market lambs available for customers in 2005. We ask for your understanding in advance for the short supply available next year.
In July the folks at Certified Humane called to see if they could send out a photographer to take some pictures of me with the sheep for a new ad campaign. The sheep are more photogenic than I am, but I was happy to comply. The photos, by Linda Spillers, are terrific and you can see some of them in this letter and more on our website.
Shannon Hayes' long awaited cookbook on grassfed meats has finally been published. You can order the book by clicking here. Touchstone Farm contributed a recipe to this book and it promises to be a treasure trove of recipes designed to bring out the great flavor of grassfed meats while still preserving the health benefits.
Also this summer the Baltimore Sun published an article on humanely raised livestock in which regular Touchstone Farm customer Tina Boyd said some very nice things about our lamb (thanks Tina!).
Finally, after seven years of holding the line on prices for our products I've been forced by rising costs to raise the price of our lamb. I hate to do this, but both the increase in fuel prices and the increase in slaughter house costs have forced me to up our prices by 50 cents a pound. Our 1/2 lamb packages are now $6.50 a lb, while a whole lamb will be $5.50 a lb. I hope to go another seven years or so before I have to raise prices again, but I can't make any promises!
In addition to our lamb, we still have plenty of 2-ply sports weight yarn available. It's 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.
Fashion Model Ewes
Once again we've had a record number of advance orders for lamb this year, with many new customers who have heard about us through word-of-mouth. Thank you for spreading the news about our great tasting lamb!. Luckily we've been expanding production to meet demand, and this year had 55 lambs born on the farm. 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, I urge you to do so soon, as we only have 15 lambs left. For those of you who place the same order each year, I would suggest that when filling out the order form this year you put a request in for a "standing order" in the custom box in the order form. That way we can automatically reserve a lamb for you each year and keep your order up-to-date, so you needn't worry about us being sold out before you had a chance to place your order.
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 pick-up or delivery time that is convenient for you. All lamb orders are COD. Our new prices once again, are $6.50 a pound for a ½ lamb (approximately 25 lbs of meat) or $5.50 a pound for a whole lamb (approximate 50 lbs of meat).
I've noticed in the past that a fair number of you have ordered the breast and flank meat to be made into stew or kebobs. While this is do-able, the results are not half as good as stew or kebobs from other portions of the lamb. The reason for this is the higher fattiness of the breast and flank meat. It makes for fairly poor stew meat, but is absolutely the best for ground lamb. Touchstone farm lamb is leaner than most lamb to begin with and ground meat from other portions of Touchstone lamb may be too lean to make really good ground lamb. Not so with the breast and flank, which terrific ground lamb for burgers, pizza, and pasta sauce. This year's recipe takes advantage of the ground lamb from the breast and flank. I find the cumin onion lamb burgers to be a very quick and easy casual meal for family and friends. It really hits the spot after a long day hay-making in the August sun. Combine the burgers with a refreshing insalata caprese and ice cold beer and you've got a memorable late summer dinner to eat while watching the sun set. (note: these burgers are best served with a "lighter" tasting American or Mexican beer, such as Corona, Bud, Miller High Life, or Tecate. "Heavier" beers tend to fight a bit with the cumin spicing.)
Enjoy your Lamb!
Yours,
Alan Zuschlag
Cumin Onion Lamb Burgers - serves 4 people
1 1/2 pounds of ground lamb (breast and flank meat the best) 1 medium onion (diced in a food processor) 1 teaspoon ground cumin salt & pepper 1 lemon (cut into wedges) Fire up the grill or broiler. Fire should be medium and rack should be about 4 inches from heat source. On a cutting board, spread out the meat and sprinkle the diced onion and cumin over the ground lamb. Work the onion and cumin into the meat until evenly distributed. Shape the meat into four thick burgers. Add salt and pepper to taste. Grill burgers for roughly 8 minutes, turning once. Cook a little longer for medium well. Serve on toasted buns and squeeze lemon juice over burgers before dressing with your favorite toppings.Insalata Capresi (Capri Salad) - serves 4 people 4 fresh ripe medium tomatoes (best if you use a really beefy tomato like beefsteak or big boy) 1 pound fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese (don't skimp and use the fake stuff!) 1 bunch of fresh basil (largest leaves possible) olive oil freshly ground pepper Slice tomatoes in thick slices. Slice the mozzarella in slices as thick as the tomatoes. Arrange the tomato slices on a plate (figure on one tomato per person) and top each slice with a slice of mozzarella and a large leaf of basil. If making ahead of time, this can be kept in the refrigerator for a few hours. Just before serving drizzle the salad with copious amounts of olive oil. Grind pepper over the salad to taste.
