A First on the First

I swore I would never do it, but I've softened some in the five years I've been on the farm. I used to keep the ram lambs as wethers, figuring I could always use their wool - but they grow into big spoiled bullies most of the time and push the ewes away from the food. The livestock world is the perfect place to practice my "male bias." Could it have something to do with three brothers that made my life pretty miserable growing up???? You only need one good male to do the job on the farm. Excess males are problematic...although Denzel, my three year old wether keeps giving me hot wet kisses lately, making him less likely to take the four mile, one-way ride to Edmeston. I can't remember ever eating lamb, but I'm going to give it a try. Mia says I never served it to them while she was growing up. In my fuzzy logic it seems better to keep them on the farm and eat them than to bring them to an auction - a frightening situation for them and me. At least this way, I know where they are, safe in my freezer and feeling no pain. A local abbatoir took care of them for me and it was not as awful as I feared. I dropped off four yearling boys on my way to work and it was over in a short time. It's much cheaper if we cut them up ourselves. I picked them up the other day and dragged four quarters over to the Sisters next door. Sister Bernadette was standing outside and didn't blink an eye. I said Here's your New Year's dinner. I told her I had no idea how to cook them, but she said Sister Grace would know. Sister Grace said to smother it with spices and cook it at 350 "a long time." So that's what I'm doing - lots of salt, pepper, curry, rosemary, and Herbs de Provence. We'll see how it goes. I'm willing to give it a try. I was okay with eating the piggies, but when I tried to eat one of my rabbits the aroma of them cooking made me ill. I think it was a throwback to when I was growing up and had to eat my bunnies, very upsetting at the time.