From field to fork...

...farm to fork...pasture to plate...no matter how it is dressed up with attractive alliterations, eating meat involves the demise of what is being eaten. It happens all the time, breakfast, lunch and dinner, in the animal kingdom, in the human realm. That most of us are completely removed from any experience of what life and death is like for the meat we eat speaks to the reason we have massive monoculture factory farms in this country. If we knew the whole story of each item of food on our plates, I believe we would make more sustainable, health supporting choices.

Three weeks ago my fiance, Matt, joined Dan (the sheep herder I intern for) and myself on a work day sorting lambs. Matt purchased a market lamb back in May. A market lamb is a sheep that is younger than one year old, generally a castrated male. It could also be a female whose genetics a farmer doesn't want contributing to their future flock. A market lamb is also by definition destined for the dinner table. By late September Matt's lamb weighed 90lbs and was 'finished.' Finish is the amount of fat cover on the animal and is decided most easily by feeling the loin area on each lamb.

We sorted all the lambs; those under 90lbs got to go back out to pasture. Those over 90lbs were loaded in the trailer and taken to the nearest lamb processing facility about 55 miles away in Dixon.

The next week, we picked up our meat, a freezer full and seasons worth of roasts, racks and chops.

It might be crass to show these pictures. But in this case, the truth is a bit crass. The transition of living animal to "meat" is a reality many eaters shy away from. My point is, I know my dinner's story, from when and where it was born, to where it grazed and lived, to where it eventually met its end. I know it had a pleasant life in a sun soaked pasture, plenty to eat and drink and was well cared for. It is also one of the most local and sustainable options I could choose for my dinner. The purchase of this meat will hopefully help a small-scale, local farmer stay in the business of feeding his community.

I realize not everyone cares to be this involved in the preparation of their dinner but I hope you care enough about what you eat to find out where your food is coming from...check out a co-op, visit a farmer's market, join a CSA and ask some questions!

9 Lessons of a Shepherd Intern

#9-It is possible to back up a large truck with a sheep cage in the back down a very narrow dirt road without bringing harm on truck, person, animal or environment (you do end up with sweaty palms though).

#8-Setting up electric fence in parched, rocky earth takes a long time, a mallet, a good hat and some personal fortitude.

#7-A tired shepherd and a determined intern can lift a large, sick ewe up a hill and into a truck - just barely.

#6-An unexpected ladybug colony at first appears creepy, but makes your heart smile when you realize they are gentle ladybugs and not giant, pinching ants.

#5-Blackberry bush stalks continue to reach out to rip your skin and clothes to shreds, even after sheep have relieved them of their leaves.

#4-Crowding sheep remind me of what it feels like at the Outside Lands concert.

More than one similarity to sheep

#3-Very important - DON'T open the gate unless you know the plan or Dan the shepherd tells you it's ok.

#2-If you open said gate without a plan or ok and sheep make a run for the hills, two clever border collies and a confident shepherd can fix your mistake pretty quick.

#1-Farming is an incredibly difficult profession that at times offers very little reward.

This weekend felt like a dose of reality to mix in with my idealized farming ambitions. Farming is physically, mentally and emotionally taxing and doesn't always provide the financial return desired for time, effort and labor put in. I can't help wondering, am I cut out for this? can I be successful at this? should I scale down my aspirations?

By late summer most small farmers in this area are run ragged from a long, hot season of watering, feeding, protecting and harvesting whatever their farm is producing. We can show our support for them by buying from them at farmers markets, sure, but what are some more ways we can show support and appreciation for our local farmers? The Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op has a program to raise money for local producers and to preserve future farmland; it's called Once Farm at a Time. If any farmers are reading, what are some ways in which you would appreciate support from your community?

Revisiting

I was recently discussing this idea revisiting with a friend; particularly revisiting a conversation or experience you had with someone if you were less than satisfied with the outcome. Kind of an obvious idea but one I had not thoughtfully considered before. This weekend (as I manned the farmer's market stall on my own) I was afforded the opportunity to revisit an experience I had with a teacher in high school.

One of my favorite teachers at Del Oro High School was Mrs. Millholen, a funny and vibrant art teacher.  I liked her so much I signed up to be a teacher's assistant (TA) for her once I reached my junior year. That year I also had a fun group of friends and quickly found I was more interested in spending time with them than being a good TA. I pretty much failed in my duties to Mrs. Millholen, was graded accordingly and have carried around a fair amount of guilt surrounding this whole experience.

Well, on Saturday, Mrs. Millholen walked by my market stall and I recognized her right away. We caught up a little (she thought it was pretty funny that I am interested in going from a CPA to a farmer). I was debating with myself whether to mention my past failings but then took a chance and apologized to her for being such a bad TA. She thought this was pretty funny too, as she didn't have any recollection of it and here I was dragging around this load of guilt all these years. She hugged me and granted me her forgivness.

None of this was really for her, it was my therapy. With the new knowledge that revisiting is an option, I was able unpack my baggage and heal an old pain. What an unexpected gift to find at the farmer's market!

Vegas the guard dog with her flock in the star thistle field

And speaking of revisiting - when there are sheep out on grazing contracts, you have to revisit them every day, to make sure they are in good health, have enough to eat and have plenty of water in the summer time.  So again on my own (I think Dan was testing my confidence and skills!), I made the rounds in the county, fed guard dogs and revisited the sheep to conclude a very satisfying day.

Boise sharing a drink with his goats

I used to think picking starthistle was bad...

...and I still think it's a lousy way to spend a summer morning. But did you know that if accustomed to it and given little other options, sheep eat star thistle for breakfast, lunch and dinner this time of year?!  The seed heads are high in protein when most other free-range sheep feed is too dry to be provide for their nutritional needs. If you are not familiar with star thistle, this is what is looks like up close:

This is what an entire hillside of it looks like:

And this is what sheep who can absorb the protein from star thistle will do to it! 

Brown = grazed star thistle, green = new paddock

When I was young and an "indoor girl" I was occasionally required to weed a hula-hoop sized section of star thistle from our water deprived yard during the summer. Oh the pain, agony and complaining this chore inspired!

Now I volunteer to tromp through a field of waist high barbed weeds and bang electric fence into hard, crusty earth on the weekends. Oh how things change, how we are led to places we never imagined in our youth. Who would have thought such a heinous childhood chore would now incite smiles at a difficult task well done?

Weekend in the West



Sometimes sheep will wait their turn


Saturday I enjoyed working at the Auburn farmer's market (beef and sausage this week!), then sweated through moving sheep in Rocklin in the afternoon. I absolutely admire people (and animals) who work and live outdoors everyday; a life so weather dependent, so different from working in a temperature controlled office, with a ceiling.

After I was done in sheep-land, I headed out of town (via a drive around shimmering North Lake Tahoe) to visit a friend in the pretty and quiet desert town of Minden, NV.

On Dan's recommendation, we sat down to dinner at JT Basque, a local family style restaurant, no menu necessary. We received a green beer bottle filled with red wine and shot glasses to drink it from; then bread, soup, salad, beans, french fries, beef stew, a choice of entree (I had roasted rabbit and carrots, my friend tried lamb chops for the first time), ice cream and coffee! The food was well prepared and full of flavor and the company was awesome and we had leftovers, yay.  

And yet, the weekend was not over. For the 4th, we went to a beef brisket bbq at Dan's and I hardly have to say, the food was great!

I had a hard time putting my fork down long enough to get a picutre

The dogs got to have a little fun working sheep (a border collie's most favorite thing to do).  Watching everyone else with their fantastic dogs really gets me thinking... 

Paul and his new border collie, Ben 

 The littlest shepherdess

A weekend filled with family, friends and food, I don't think it could have been any better!



Let's Eat

As Courtney exclaimed to me, we achieved "yogurt perfection" with our sheep milk yogurt this time! Because of possible contaminants (the ewe knocked the bucket a bit), we pasteurized the milk before we made the yogurt (heated it to a point to kill off dangerous germs). Pasteurizing also kills some harmless and useful bacteria as well and can destroy some of the nutritional content of the milk. There is an interesting article on Raw vs. Pasteurized milk here. Raw sheep's milk tastes more like ice cream than anything else, it is mild in flavor and easier for most people to digest than cows milk. It is definitly worth trying at least once in your life. Regardless, the finished yogurt was super tasty. There is one brand of sheep milk yogurt for sale in the area, I have found it at the Sac Co-op and Magpie Cafe thus far. 

On a seperate and equally tasty note, if you are in the mood for local food Saturday, we will be grilling lamb for a Greek feast at Carpe Vino restaurant in Auburn at 6pm. This is the third year in a row that Flying Mule Farm lamb has been featured in their feast and I am really looking forward to being part of it!!  (Looks like the weather will even cool down, yay!) Hope to see you there.

Back to Work

After having last weekend off, I was recharged and ready to work this Saturday. Right now there are sheep spread out over 2 counties, so checking up on them all can be time and gas consuming. However, everything went smoothly this day and we finished early!

Ewes at the Old Chinese Cemetary

Ewes at Sierra College campus



Herding ewes at Whitney Oaks subdivison

There are also lambs in Grass Valley and rams, goats and guard dogs in Auburn!

No sense of personal space

During the summer when the grass is dried out there is not much protien or energy for the ewes to gain from it, so we supplement it with these tubs of molasses based, easily digestible protein and energy. The ewes all end up looking pretty silly with brown splotches from the molasses on their faces.

Taff the hot dog

 Getting enough water to the ewes is extremely important in the summer, for them to stay hydrated enough to keep eating the grass, as well as to continue moving around enough to trample what they don't eat.  When the sheep are out contract grazing, getting water to them creates all kinds of interesting logistical issues, such as:
       How do you haul a large amount of water? (a big truck and a big water tank)
       How much water can a truck hold (a gallon of water = 8 pounds)
       Where do I get water (fill up at home, look for spigots that aren't on lockdown near the sheep)
       How do I get the water from the tank in the truck to a barrel the sheep can drink out of (a series of gravity flow hoses, generally)

It's very easy to take water for granted in this counrty, but having livestock forces you to realize that the lives of all these animals depend on your ability to provide water for them. That is a lot of responsibility and if you are their shepherd, you don't get a day off.

Water is also a lot of fun, if you are Ernie

And to all the Dad's out there who work so hard and love their families so well, Happy Father's Day!