Our rams' "one bad day" (Part 3)

What started more than a year ago has now come full circle.

This weekend we watched P-E butcher our first three lambs, after they had been hung in his cooling room for a week. 

P-E in action. That saw was just shouting out "let me saw your finger off!" to me...

Although we want to be able to slaughter and butcher our own animals at some point, it is reassuring to have a professional do it for now. A professional who is also happy to share his wisdom with curious onlookers!

Homemade and home reared liver pâté 
Most amazing ever and a nice break before kicking off major freezer filler action

After spending all morning in the car and standing around watching P-E, we prepared ourselves for a long afternoon and evening in the kitchen. One would not believe how much work is involved in organizing the meat cuts from just three animals. Good thing mamma is ever the well-organized accountant! She may be bossy, but in this situation it is a relief to be bossed around. :-) So while watching P-E do his thing, we separated the main cuts into bags and labelled them, making our life a bit easier at home. 

Bag number 5 contained or roast beef for want of a better description (we're not too fussed about
correct anatomy, as long as we have an inkling of what's in the bag...)

The reward for all that work was a few odds and ends (we're saving the proper cuts for when the rest of the posse return from the UK) cooked on the wood-fired stove. I swear it was some of the best meat I have ever tasted. No bias at all. :-) 

Guaranteed grass-fed and grash finished. Ta-daaa!

Random cuts, sublime taste

Our 3 pigs arrive

Last Christmas my parents kindly bought Cat and me pigs! It took 8 months for them to finally arrive on the farm, but the wait was well worth it.  They arrived today by horse box from a nearby organic farmer, who has decided to turn their focus towards their cows and horses more.

The arrival.

We have 3 cross-breed pigs, a mix between a Swedish Linderöd and an English Hampshire. The latter breed is especially hardy and known to be a good forager, perfect for beginners. We have put them to work on one of our fields that we are planning to grow vegetables and other food in next year. We really want to become as self-sufficient as possible and have realised that our raised vegetable beds in the kitchen garden are just not large enough to feed us all. The pigs will help turn the field over, fertilise the soil and make it full of goodness ready for the seedlings next spring….we hope!

Exploring their new home.

The 3 pigs, Peppa, George and Hermione-Therese, named by lil'T and our sheep mentor Mr. B and his friend, seem to have settled in well, exploring every inch of the field and finding spots to wallow in. We are supplementing their foraging with scrap food and some pig feed. This should keep them going as we head towards Autumn and then Winter.

Hmmmm mud!

They are a great addition to ever growing population on the farm and we are excited to get to know them better. Follow our updates through Instagram and Facebook on the #pppigupdate to see how the pigs do over the next few months.

Wet Feathers

It has been pretty cold here the last couple of weeks with temperatures plummeting to -15ºC and a few inches of snow. The cold weather makes foraging for food and keeping warm difficult for our animals. We have been keeping extra vigilant and making sure they are all as comfortable as possible and well stocked in the food department. But, the other day we noticed that our two Indian Runner Ducks and in particular the drake was looking a bit bedraggled and cold. His feathers were very wet, matted together and he wasn't running around like his usual self.

We decided to keep them both inside in a warm room for a day to see if that helped dry out their feathers and make them feel better. Unfortunately, a day later the drake was still looking a bit sad. After some frantic net surfing, I came across a common condition that affects all waterfowl, "Wet Feather". The symptoms of which are exactly as I described above, waterlogged feathers with no sheen and the risk of becoming very cold.

Bath-time!

There are a number of reasons why this condition may happen, ranging from parasites that make the bird over-preen itself, to having a poor diet, and/or not bathing enough. As our ducks have never taken to bathing themselves in the bathtub we dug into the ground for them, we think it could be latter. The recent snowy conditions could have led to the feathers becoming wet and with no oil protection, quickly waterlogged. So, we filled our sink with warm water and gave our ducks a bath! At first they were not too pleased, but after while they were happily splashing around. Next came the blow-dry treatment, yes, we had to dry their feathers out as best we could. It took some time, but soon they were both preening themselves and their feathers were starting to look a bit more healthy.

Tonight, and for the next few days, they will be sleeping in a heated room, with lots and lots of hay and  a bath and blow-dry to look forward to every morning! Hopefully, we will see them running about with  the other animals again very soon.

The "Not-So-Pretty" Side of Rearing and Eating Animals PLEASE NOTE: BLOOD AND GORE

Mr B is one of our most cherished mentors in all questions sheep, so I jumped at the chance to be his hangaround for a day at the slaughterhouse (actually a small family-owned abattoir deep in the countryside). 

Not because I have some morbid interest in seeing animals die. I have never seen an animal killed before. Or skinned and gutted and hung to dry... But since we eat meat as well rear animals, I wanted to understand more about the missing link between "bah bah black sheep" and the steak on my plate. At some point we might even want and need to do it ourselves. 

When I see the pictures I took, I have mixed feelings. 

On the one hand, I feel sad for the animal that was killed. You cannot but feel for it, or you'd be heartless. 

On the other hand, it was all a very peaceful and quick process. Mr P-E, the butcher, had a very calming presence and the animal was completely still. No bleating, no screaming, no thrashing about. Just calm.  

The other prevailing thought was how fast a living being turns into a piece of meat that most of us feel comfortable looking at. I made myself look throughout, from the shot in the head, the blodletting, the very first cut down its midsection, to the deskinning and the disemboweling. It wasn't fun, but it felt right. If I eat it, I should bloody well know how it is killed. 

Mr B holding his sheep right before it is slaughtered 

Letting out the blood after the shot to the head

Skinning the sheep

From sheep to carcass in 45 minutes

I wonder how I will feel about having our own lambs slaughtered sometime next autumn. I imagine it will be a pretty tough experience.

In the Nick of Time!

Our lovely neighbours have let their huge field in Gårdshult to us, meaning that we could put off feeding hay to our sheep for an additional month. Two hectares go a long way, it seems, even when the grass has stopped growing. 

Being complete beginners when it comes to sheep, we try to keep our eyes and ears trained on the sheep and their habits to ensure that they are happy and healthy. Not that easy, as we have nothing to compare to! A few days ago we did notice that they had started eating heather, which doesn't feature much on their usual menu, so we figured it was time to take them home. 

Si bringing home our lovelies

We've got some grass left in two of our fields, so we thought they could eat that for a few days before we start them on our homegrown diet of dried summer grass (aka hay). We're just a tiny bit nervous about it. What if they don't like it? What if it isn't up to their standards? What if we harvested it all wrong and now it doesn't contain the right nutrients??? The things that you worry about as a new "farmer"...

Anyhow, it seems we brought them home in the nick of time. I am so glad that they are now just outside the house, so we can keep an even closer eye on them. As much as we enjoy running back and forth between our house and Gårdshult, this feels safer. 

The snow doesn't seem to faze them

Welcome Sheep

On Monday, we welcomed our first four-legged guests to Kannesten. A friendly neighbour is lending us seven rams for a few weeks in order to eat some of our now very plentiful grass. We are treating it as 'try before you buy' and we were all smitten as soon as they moved in. It is a great feeling seeing the sheep munch in our field. It is as if they simply belong there and the field didn't have a purpose before they arrived. Very deep, I know.

We are now more convinced than ever before that we need some sheep for our land. There are so many benefits:

1. They eat the grass and shrubs in the field. As a result we don't need to spend hours with the scythe. There are more than enough areas where we can do our core exercises with the scythe.
2. They poop, i.e. they fertilise the fields. We may even collect some to feed our vegetables, which feed us. I love the biodynamic thing!
3. They make you happy by just looking at them. Hours can be spent watching them graze.
4. They have lambs, which are even cuter.
5. Their meat is tasty. 
6. The wool is beautiful.

I can't wait until we have some of our own! Meanwhile, I will enjoy looking at the seven handsome rams.

Stock Experimentation Mode

We consume a lot of stock in our house, mostly as a hot drink alongside a savoury breakfast or as a quick way of creating soup for lunch. With a pressure cooker, making stock is a quick, easy and CHEAP way of creating wonder food. In addition, it feels good to make use of parts of the animals that would otherwise go to waste!

For this week's stock of stock (har har) mamma and I decided to go a bit crazy in the meat aisle. We've done pig's trotters before:

Dainty little trotters

But these little beauties were a first (ok, fine, they look pretty gross even to me):

As we say in Swedish: griseknorr

Verdict to follow!

The only little pesky detail is that although these pigs are of Swedish origin (as opposed to Danish, brrrr), they were conventionally reared. :-( I am working on finding ways of sourcing ethically reared meat, but it will take a bit of time. Watch this space!

Swedes to Feed the Sheep

Oh, the things you learn when in the countryside! When on a walk today, we passed several fields with sheep happily munching away at swedes. It turns out swedes make excellent winter feed for sheep. Who knew?

Hang on! That's not grass!

Meat and the Internet

We go through a fair amount of meat in our household and I am always on the lookout for quality organic, free range, grass fed meat. The best way to access this meat would be to live on a farm and care for your own animals. Second best would be to live in the country and visit some farms to check them out. If you are a city dweller like me, the digital era has opened up a third option: ordering over the internet and having all the goodness delivered directly to your door. Hooray for the internet!

These guys got recommended to me: Fordhall Farm. They have some great meat on offer and it is community owned.

I went a little crazy with my order and the fridge is now filled with chicken, beef, pork, offal, marrow bones... Don't worry, half of it is for Cecilia. I can't wait to try the Gloucester Old Spot pork!

Quick Lunch/ Musings on Chicken Feed (As You Do...)

Working from home is quiet and a bit boring, but being able to make lunches like this makes up for it. Quick and so lovely!

The eggs are from Sheepdrove Organic Farm and are always positively luscious (I get them from their butcher in Maida Vale). There must be something in the worms they eat, because the shells are pretty damn hard to crack at times. The colour of the yolk speaks for itself.

The difference to conventional organic eggs becomes especially apparent when I occasionally have to "slum it" with Tesco or Waitrose organic eggs. Whatever organic feed they are using to feed them, it certainly doesn't seem to be optimal, as the shells are much more brittle, the yolks less firm and with weaker colour, the egg whites runny. Goes to show that just because it says organic on the tin, doesn't mean that you're getting your money's worth despite the premium. And that's not even going into the actual animal welfare issue that you think you've got covered when you buy organic. Trying to figure out whether the chickens can actually venture outside by reading on the packet is nigh impossible because of all the fluffy marketing lingo.