Gael Glen Farm & Apiary: Lamb From Farm to Table

Despite Ian and I functioning in a state of perpetual sleep deprivation, life is still puttering along on the farm. The vast majority of our energy lately has been directed toward making sure our animals and little humans are safe, fed, clean and warm. However, we have managed to fit in some "extras" since welcoming Alistair home. There have been fun extras like taking Alistair for a baby photo shoot. He slept through the whole thing.

I captured this photo on my phone during the shoot
(with the permission of the photographer, of course).

We have also undertaken some less fun, though necessary, farm tasks. For instance, we typically celebrate the life and poetry of the poet Robbie Burns by inviting friends over for a dinner of haggis (a sheep's offal mixed with suet, oatmeal, and seasoning and boiled in the animal's stomach) and other Scottish delicacies each January 25th. This year, while sheep meat was still involved in our Robbie Burns Day festivities, it was in a different way; Ian's hunting buddy Enzo came over to the farm and taught him how to harvest lamb.

Sadly, the time had come to send Cobalt and Lego to Freezer Camp. As much as I love the idea of growing our own food, I am the first to admit that it is much easier to harvest vegetables than meat. I found it difficult to say "goodbye" to animals that I had bottle fed as babies and loved for the better part of a year. Upon speaking to life long farmers, slaughtering one's animals never gets much easier. Yet, harvesting is part of farming and I knew that I needed to "put on my big girl panties" (as one lady farmer on a homesteading group I follow put it) and give Ian my blessing to proceed.

Under Enzo's tutelage, Ian did an exceptional job for his first time harvesting our own livestock. By doing it himself on the farm, he saved us hundreds of dollars in transportation and processing fees at an abattoir and butcher.

Ian involved Liam and Seamus in the butchering process. The boys supervised while he deconstructed the lambs into various roasts, steaks, chops, etc. Like we try to do with field dressing during hunting season, we used this as an opportunity to normalize obtaining meat from our own farm animals. It is important to me that our boys are informed about what meat is and that they are not squeamish about how it gets from farm to table.

This time spent together also provided the boys with the opportunity to work through the emotional side of harvesting the lambs they saw born and raised on our farm and for us to validate their feelings by assuring them that is okay to be sad when we have to say goodbye to members of our farm family. It was a learning process for all of us but we weathered it together and nobody seemed upset when we served lamb neck stew, feta lamb burgers or garlic crusted rack of lamb for dinners in the following weeks.

Lamb Stew