The Truth About Curly
Okay, it’s nearing that time of year again. That awesome, nail-biting, raw and real time of year.
LAMBING TIME
Wherever I go, I always mention to people what a magical few weeks (err, months, because the breeding was a little sporadic this year) we are about to enjoy here on the farm.
Wobbly, brand-new to the world, curly lambs will emerge and rapidly begin to find their place in the world. Mothers, most new this year, will lovingly dote over them and make sure that they are dry, fed, and warm.
Backs will arch and stretch, and ears will flap when they get up from their naps near the hay pile. I’ll take ten million bad photos and gush to the clerk about the new babies.
And then it happens: the look of horror and disgust.
Just how in the world could I bear to eat these poor things?!
And that’s what this little service announcement is about: the truth about eating Curly.
You see, you will receive farm updates that will inevitably include pictures of these sweet newborns, and that is fantastic! But, I’ll let you in on a little secret….
They don’t stay that way forever.
Yep, only a few weeks in and these bad boys are growing by leaps and bounds, getting into mischief, ramming each other, and driving their poor mothers out of their minds.
Lambs grow into sheep. They don’t stay small for long, and by the time ours head to the processor, they are already breeding age. Our lambs sometimes lamb as lambs!
A lamb is a sheep that is a year old or less: We are not eating newborns here! There’s no meat on those blasted things!
It is so easy (and natural) to fall into the mindset of believing that those sweet newborn lambs were given the short end of the stick. We hear stories all of the time about these misconceptions, and I have had husbands back out of a sale (surprisingly, not the wife) when he thought about eating a lamb.
But, guess what?
That two pound shoulder roast didn’t come from a newborn lamb.
When we eat a hamburger, we don’t sit there and envision the cow as a newborn calf. We don’t say, “Hey honey, pick me up a pound of that grassfed beef, you know, the one that used to be a calf.”
Let’s keep in mind that we all have a beginning and and end, and it’s what’s in between the two that matters.
We lamb on pasture here at Pell’s Pie Patch & Family Farm (not pens), we allow the mother and lambs to self-wean, we don’t tail dock, and we don’t castrate. The lambs are happy and healthy from the time they enter the world until the time that they leave it. They live a fulfilled life and have one bad day.
Every animal has a time and a purpose when they are here, and it is our job to make sure that they are living their best life during that time.
Warm, well fed, allowed to roam as a flock, and content- it is so wonderful when our family and children get to see that!
You are so welcome to come out to the farm and see how we care for our animals. Please do! Your children will learn that their food is REAL!
You can feel confident, instead of hesitant and sad, when they ask you about the meat on the table.
We’re all about quality over quantity here, and you can see and taste the difference!
Mothers! Less sick children, more energy (for you and them- you’ll need it!), the list goes on! Healthy food results in healthy people. Healthy families.
Meals you feel great about.
So, just keep these little tid-bits in mind when the pictures start to flow. They are precious and new and sweet. They are supposed to be!
And then they grow up, nourish our bodies, and teach our children such valuable lessons.
We love it when fellow families share in what we have, whether it be an awesome new recipe or just a walk around the farm and cup of coffee.
We’ll see you in the Spring, and in the meantime, stay tuned for those pictures of Curly to show the children.