Our rams 'one bad day' (Part 2)

On recommendation from Mr.B (our sheep mentor) we took our 3, six month old ram lambs to his friend P-E for their 'one bad day'. It was P-E who made the whole experience very calming with his measured approach and the careful way in which he handled our beloved ram lambs. In the end, it happened so quickly, without any panic or distress that we returned home feeling a sense of pride that we had managed the whole process from birth to slaughter for the very first time.

Our 3 ram lambs including offal

As I mentioned in the previous post, we had began our journey to a more sustainable lifestyle knowing that we would have to one day slaughter our own animals to provide us with food. Firstly, we wanted to know that the food on our plate had had a good life and had been reared properly and secondly, it had been given a natural diet i.e grass-fed. Ultimately, we wanted to know everything about the meat we were eating. So for us this was a very important stage in realizing this dream.

The 'one bad day' started with us driving the ram lambs to P-E who owns a little farm not far from ours. P-E has a professional set-up in one of his barns. and with no one else around, in tranquil surroundings, we immediately felt at home. We brought out the first ram lamb and made sure the others could not see or fear anything (they were well-stocked with good grass to munch on). P-E slaughtered the first, removed the skin, bagged the intestines and removed the internal organs. The remainder of the body was weighed and then moved into a chilling room to hang at the correct temperature. It all happened so smoothly.

The skin being removed.

We wanted to make use of the entire animal, even down to the blood that was drained into a bowl for us. And we will use everything, if not to eat, then to use as compost, or for our other animals to eat.

The remaining two rams were slaughtered at the same time, with the third one brought out directly after the second, so it was not left on its own.

Offal cuts: lung, liver, heart and kidneys

Being our first time, we were incredible nervous and wanted to make sure that our ram lambs were well looked after and they were kept as calm as possible. In essence the ram lambs' best interests were a priority for us. We feel that we achieved this and are pleased with the outcome of our first lamb slaughter.

Fifty shades of brown

Cat and I held our second offal cooking course in the local hotel kitchen (Tallhöjden).
Heart, liver and tongue were on the menu for five excited students.

Obligatory welfie ahead of course

 We started with a bit of background information about offal:

• Offal is not just organ meat such as liver, heart, lungs, kidneys, stomach... It also includes other odd bits such as tongue, cheek, tail, feet. The kind of stuff that your grandma used to eat but you no longer find in the supermarket shelves.
• Offal is cheap! When we switched to better quality meat - primarily freerange and grassfed - we needed to widen our repertoire of cuts to keep the bills down.
• Offal is the multivitamin of the animal - liver and heart are two of the most nutritious foods you can eat. CoQ10, iron, vitamins A and B, trace minerals, to name a few...
• Throwing away large parts of the animal is no longer an option for us! It isn't just about the waste of resources, it is simply unethical to kill an animal and not use as much as possible of it. (See note on "cat jar" below - we try to make use of EVERYTHING.)

Slicing liver - note the "cat jar" for the leftovers to the right

The aim of the course was to give the participants a few simple dishes to start their journey into "offal land" with.

• Beef liver pâté with butter, onion, garlic and various spices - very creamy and delicious if we may say so ourselves! 
• Fried lamb heart, thinly sliced and marinated in garlic, ginger and chili - my favourite every time. 
• Tongue - boiled as well as fried.

We added salad to the final dish to avoid too much of a meat overload.

The tasting session last time around was a bit too heavy on the meat, so we added in a bit of salad, sauerkraut and lingonberries to break up the brown on the plates.

To wash it all down, we made our students a shot of bone broth. Beige on brown is such an attractive combination...

Mr K with a plate full of brown (tongue, liver pâté, flash fried marinated heart, served up with a glass of beige (bone broth)

We'll see if we get around to developing the next level offal course sometime later in the year. Kidneys, brain and lungs, anyone?

A Year at Kannesten

I can't believe it has been a whole year since we moved to Kannesten, but at the same time working and living in London seems ridiculously distant. What an amazing year it has been! Here are some of my highlights.

We started our journey towards self-sufficiency in early spring and for a long time it didn't look like we were getting anywhere. Spring was really cold and things just weren't growing too fast.

Cabbage, tomatoes and strawberries in our veg patch.

Eventually, and much later than we expected, we were able to enjoy some homegrown vegetables. They weren't always the prettiest looking, but we soon got over that, as they were amazingly tasty. We ate the last of our root vegetables in January and we are now planning for the 2016 harvest - fingers crossed, it will be bigger and better. We also spent a fair share of the summer/autumn foraging for blueberries, lingonberries and mushrooms, filling freezers and jam jars for use in the winter. The berries will last us until the next berry season - pure luxury.

They come in all shapes and sizes.

Vegetable patch in all its glory.

The chickens were the first animals on the farm, soon followed by ducks, sheep and cats. Vera had some fluffy chicks in May, then Stina and Sara… and then Vera again. She was a busy girl. We didn't get many eggs though. Turns out that we need a few more hens to sustain our egg-eating habits.

First fuzzy chicks in May.

Our sheep have been an amazing addition to the farm, they are so friendly now. They love a good cuddle and keep us both busy and entertained.

Animal love.

We kicked off our course activities with a few sauerkraut courses and an offal course. It's so inspiring and fun to share our passion for nutritious food with like-minded people.

Everyone getting stuck in at our very first fermentation course.

The year involved some incredibly hard work, but also opportunities for play. And best of all loads of fresh air.

Hard work.

Play.

In such a short time, we have been fortunate to get to know many of our lovely neighbours. They are friendly, hospitable and generous with sharing knowledge and even surplus from their harvests. Loving our village!

Us at the Autumn Market in Simlångsdalen and our contribution to the annual October Fest.

Yoga teacher training kept me busy during the latter part of the year. I certainly improved my physical yoga, but the training also opened my eyes to the philosophical side of yoga. I am encompassing both in my yoga classes in Simlångsdalen and Halmstad.

Us yogis spend a bit of time upside down.

I am grateful for everything I have experienced this year and I bet 2016 has some pretty amazing stuff in store for us all.

Do You Eat Offal?

When we moved to Sweden, our food bills went through the roof. We had to do something about the meat... Eating grassfed meat is expensive, even if you only buy the cheap cuts.

So we started exploring offal. Not only is offal relatively cheap, it is a fantastic source of vitamins and minerals not otherwise found in muscle meat. Also, as conscientious meat eaters we were feeling increasingly uncomfortable NOT eating the "other bits" of the animal. Today we eat liver, heart and tongue on a weekly basis and make bone broth daily. 

We recently shared our passion for offal in a course at our local hotel Tallhöjden. Five gentlemen showed up, eager to learn a few tricks. Imagine our surprise when all of them confessed to already eating offal. And to being hunters. That sure put a bit of pressure on the teachers...

Liver, heart and tongue! And a few other bits and bobs. 

It all went down a treat, though! We made liver pâté, flash fried marinated heart and boiled (and fried) tongue, served with seed crackers, carrot sticks and sauerkraut. I admit that the condiments were lacking a bit, given just how much meat ended up on the plate...

We had so much fun that we forgot to take photos until after dinner...

The one "complaint" that our participants voiced was that we could have gone a bit more advanced. Brain, lungs, you know, the PROPER icky stuff. Next time, next time. We need to do a bit more product development first! :-)

The Lowdown on Lamb Offal

Well, the butcher did ask us if the lamb kidneys, liver and hearts were for the dog... I now understand why. Sort of.

The reason we got lamb offal was simply the short notice we gave him. And since we're generally feeling pretty adventurous, we said "why not?".

So what was the verdict? Not too favourable, I'm afraid.

• Lamb kidneys behave like little bouncy rubber balls and taste of barn. A barn full of sheep. Pooping sheep. 
• Lamb liver tasted plain weird. The pâté tasted as if a whole bottle of shampoo had been dropped into the batter. Lil T didn't seem to mind too much though. 
• Lamb heart stuffed with lamb mince and wrapped in bacon was a winner though. Tasted of lamb, yet not too strongly. The free anatomy lesson was a bonus. Let's just say that some parts are easily recognisable. 

Anyhow, next up is organic, free range beef offal. Lamb was just a bit too weird.

I Heart Heart

Since going paleo, I have come to love liver. Lucky me, given its superior nutritional profile to for example muscle meat.

However, there are plenty of other types of offal, including kidneys, lungs, brain and heart. Yesterday, the day had come to try out the latter in the shape of ox hearts.

Ox hearts

We brought out the pressure cooker again and made a stew: 

If I hadn't known, I would never have guessed

We used a recipe for heart stew, but realised that we might as well have used any old recipe for stew. The verdict: Heart tastes similar to normal braising/ stewing steak, but with a slightly gamey touch. Lovely!