So the 2012 season is well underway over here!

Are you a satisfied lamb customer? We would love to include your feedback here on our website! If you would like to contribute, please email your testimonial to contact@redfernfarms.com.

One of the oldest breeds developed in the United States, Tunis sheep are the centerpiece of our gourmet grass-fed lamb operation. The Tunis is a heritage breed that is well-acclimated to the South and has been recognized for its outstanding flavor.

History
Tunis sheep are an excellent dual-purpose breed characterized by cream-colored wool and red faces. Their ancestors originated in Tunisia--hence the name--and were first imported to the United States in 1799. The resulting breed soon garnered recognition from prominent American agricultural figures such as George Washington Custis, James A. Guillams, and Judge Richard Peters.

In the 1800s, Tunis sheep were quite popular in Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland for both their meat and wool, but declined in popularity when the majority of the Southern herds were destroyed during the Civil War. Tunis sheep are currently on the "watch" list of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, and one of our goals in raising this breed is to assist in its conservation.

Then and now, Tunis sheep were known for the fine flavor of their meat--in fact, the Slow Food USA "Ark of Taste" lists the Tunis for both its delicious taste and its important heritage. The breed also earned second place in a recent blind tasting given for over 90 chefs, food writers, and connoisseurs at an ALBC/Slow Food USA "Legacy of Lamb" event in Virginia.

Why Grass-fed?
Grass-fed lamb not only tastes better than grain-fed meat, but it's also more nutritious, being higher in omega-3 fatty acids (one of the most essential nutrients for humans), vitamins C and E, and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). Grass-fed is also better for the sheep themselves. Sheep are ruminants, so their digestive systems were designed to efficiently convert plant-based forages into protein and fat. A grain-based diet disrupts the careful balance of a ruminant's digestive system and inevitably results in health problems that are then treated with synthetic medications and antibiotics. And that's not to mention the poor quality and GMO-contamination of the corn and soybeans that compose most commercial grain feed. As the old saying goes, "You are what you eat..." That's why our lambs are never fed grain and are on pasture year-round.

Our Practices
We maintain a closed flock, so all of the lambs we sell were born and bred on our farm. We select for parasite resistance, conformation, and overall health in our meat lambs and breeding stock. Our goal is to breed healthy and resilient animals that thrive on pasture with little to no intervention outside of routine management like shearing and hoof-trimming. We never use synthetic medications, and if absolutely necessary, only treat the sheep with holistic, natural medicines such as copper oxide wire particles, herbal tinctures, and homeopathic remedies. So you can be confident your lamb has enjoyed the highest quality of life, feed, and care before processing.

Purchasing Information
We sell our grass-fed lamb by the whole lamb, cut to customer specifications and priced by hanging weight. We process lambs in the spring and fall. The lead time for a lamb is approximately 4 weeks from the time we receive your order to the time the meat is ready for you to pick up at the farm. Lead times can be longer around holidays (particularly Christmas and Easter), so plan ahead! Our lamb is processed by the fine folks at Upstate Farmers Alliance--a local, SCDA-approved facility--and cannot be sold across state lines. For more information or for current availability, please send your inquiry to contact@redfernfarms.com with the subject line "Grass-Fed Lamb".

Recipe Support
We are currently in the process of developing a cookbook with at least two recipes for each of the standard cuts that makes up a whole lamb. Until then, several of our favorite recipes can be found in the Recipe section of our website.

On the Menu
In addition to on-farm sales, you can find our grass-fed lamb on the menu at Terra Restaurant in West Columbia and American Grocery Restaurant in downtown Greenville.

A Certified Master Gardener for more than 20 years, Katherine is our idea person and part of our market garden team. Her green thumb knows no bounds in the greenhouse, where she starts all of our production and retail stock from seed. She has a special interest in unusual and heirloom vegetable and herb varieties, as well as heritage chicken breeds. We also rely on her encyclopedic knowledge (we call her the "Walking Wikipedia") in the kitchen, where she oversees the preparation and preservation of what we produce.

Clark Mizell
Owner/Operator

With an extensive background in accounting, Clark juggles a day job, the management of our livestock and pasture, and the farm's financials. In the pasture, he cares for our Tunis sheep and other livestock by utilizing a rotational grazing system, selecting and breeding stock for the healthiest animals and best flavor, and maintaining flock health through regular physical check-ups, hoof trimming, and yearly shearing. Clark is also our resident soil and grass expert, and although he tends to stick to the pasture rather than the garden, he enjoys watching Top Chef and has almost gotten to the point where he'll eat beans.

Meredith Mizell
Farm Manager

A graphic designer by trade, Meredith now serves as the full-time farm manager. Her duties include day-to-day operations, scheduling, marketing, public relations, design, and more. Meredith sees that everything makes the transition from greenhouse to garden to market successfully, and prides herself on rigorous quality control. She has a special interest in garlic and herb production as well as alternative housing--so much so that she's planning on building a yurt on-farm in the coming year. Meredith also arranges internships and volunteer stays, work days, and general farm visits.

The cost is $25 per adult (includes lunch) and registration is required. Space is limited, so sign up early! Visit the GOFO website for more information.

This is a welcome change. It feels like I've been waiting so long. There are even bigger changes that I'm waiting just a little longer for, but...I'm almost there. More on that very soon.

A good number of fall plants are already in, and even more are still waiting to be potted up or planted out. There's kale and cabbage under the row covers in the photo above, and the kale is just going crazy already. It loves the cooler weather, the rain, and the heaping handfuls of vermicompost we mixed into the holes as we planted. I've been yearning for kale for months--since it fled from the summer heat--and it's almost here.

We stripped the greenhouse of its old, torn plastic--the naked frame is visible on the right--and we obviously still have some work to do to get it in shape before the first frost comes and we need to shelter our tender perennials like lemon verbena, bay, and gotu kola.

This is the time of year I begin to look back at the frenzy of the last six months or so. I think about the successes and the failures, and all the things I meant to get done but didn't. That's the beauty of the upcoming season, though--it's perfectly suited to rest, and reflection, and planning for the future. It's heady stuff--the promise of free time! But there's still a tremendous amount of work to be done before December, when we take a month off from all but the most essential farm jobs. I still have to get through garlic planting without worrying myself half to death.

I have a laundry list of things I want to analyze and plan this winter...finally offering some on-farm workshops next year, fun farm events (maybe a potluck or two?), the herbal products I want to start selling at the market, whether or not to try an herb CSA or a pay-as-you-grow pilot program, getting a blog up and running for Crop Mob Upstate, and so much more. We'll have a permaculture plan to implement, too, by the end of the fall.

There are great things going on in the community, too--things that encourage and comfort me. It's easy to get so focused on my own farm that I start to feel rather alone; I need to get out more, make more connections. The recent Crop Mob activity has helped tremendously, and I can't wait for the mob in Greenville this Saturday. I expect that working in a community garden will be a lot like working in the garden at the Folk School, and that's a delightful thought. I don't think I've ever written about my time at the Folk School here on the farm blog, but I should do that sometime. In August, I gave a gift to a friend for his birthday--it was a little dream pillow filled with herbs. I told him that I'd dyed the fabric myself, and his first question was if I'd done it at the Folk School. When I said yes, he said, "That makes it even more special, because it came from the place that saved your life."

I paused at that statement--it was just so matter-of-fact. But then I realized: yeah. Yeah, it did. And here I am. Almost to the place I knew I needed to be when I left the Folk School four years ago. Almost there.

Of all the aromatics, garlic is perhaps the most polarizing--and one of the most pungent! Here on the farm it's one of our favorite crops to both grow and eat. We're currently selling this year's harvest at the TD Saturday Market in Greenville, so stop by and pick up a bag! Following is a list of the varieties we've been selling, along with the label abbreviations we've used so you can reference which one you purchased.

2011 Varieties:

Ajo Rojo (AR): Softneck. Medium garlic flavor. Along with Chesnok Red and Metechi, this is a great all-purpose garlic, good for raw use in dips, pestos, salsas, etc. as well as quick sautes and stir-fries.

Brown Tempest (BT): Hardneck. This is a spicy one for the garlic lovers! Very hot when raw, Brown Tempest retains good garlic flavor when cooked. Recommended for slow-cooked sauces, roasting, or a spicy salsa for the truly adventurous.

German Extra Hardy (GXH): Hardneck. We fell in love with this variety this year--absolutely amazing raw in tzatziki sauce and gremolata, with a delicate, almost pure flavor when cooked gently.

Metechi (ME): Hardneck. A sturdy medium garlic, Metechi is a workhorse of a garlic and is great in a variety of applications. Bold when raw, it mellows nicely when cooked and has a clean finish.

Music (MU): Hardneck. Like Metechi, a medium garlic. Music has an earthy quality that Metechi lacks, almost a "low" garlic note that I especially enjoy in my favorite garlic-lime aioli that's a must with sweet potato fries.

Amish Rocambole (AR*): Hardneck. Description coming soon!

Killarney Red (KR): Hardneck. Description coming soon!

Chesnok Red (CR): Hardneck. Description coming soon!

Georgian Fire (GF): Hardneck. Description coming soon!

Silver White (SW): Softneck. Description coming soon!

Lorz Italian (LI): Softneck. Description coming soon!

Storing Your Garlic:

Be sure to take your garlic bulbs out of the plastic bag when you get home and store them somewhere with good air circulation. A shallow bowl or basket works well, as do commercial "garlic keepers" so long as they have enough air holes. And don't forget to label your containers if you purchased more than one variety! Once out of the plastic, you can leave your garlic out on the counter or in your pantry and it will keep until you need it--at room temperature, cured garlic can keep for up to six months after harvest. It's best not to refrigerate garlic, as the cold and humidity of the fridge can encourage mold and premature sprouting of the cloves.

After an intense wave of early heat, the temperatures have stabilized at about 90 degrees during the day, give or take, with the occasional brief thunderstorm. There's not been nearly enough rain from those storms, but that is absolutely par for the course and we're well used to it. The heat wreaked havoc on some of our early plantings--I'm still trying to get a planting of basil to take, and have fingers crossed for the most recent one--but most things are moving right along these days.

We continued to play "musical interns" through May, but things have settled down on that front now, much to our relief. Donna, our spring WWOOFer, came back to stay the season and we're currently hosting Meaghan, a short-term WWOOFer from New Hampshire. And in August, we'll have a short-term volunteer from France staying with us. But last week we bid (a temporary) goodbye to Annie, our part-time helper, for the season as she headed off to Australia for a semester of studying abroad. I have to say, I'm a little envious that she'll get two winters in a row--one Down Under and one when she's back state-side in December!

(You can tell how tired we are of the heat based on our after-dinner conversation the other night: Donna, Meaghan, Dad, and I spent a solid 10 minutes rhapsodizing about winter, cold temperatures, indoor activities, early bedtimes, and cheery fires in the hearth.)

If you're on our mailing list, you'll know by now that I've spent most of my "free" time recently cleaning garlic. With help from Annie, Donna, and Meaghan on that front, I've been able to take a breather and work on garbling herbs this week. The verb "garble" is usually used in the context of communication, meaning "to so alter or distort as to create a wrong impression or change the meaning," according to Merriam-Webster. But it also has a little-known alternate definition, and that is "to sift impurities from." That's precisely what you do when you're garbling herbs--you pick out any bits that aren't up to standard and prepare the good stuff for storage. Hand garbling is slow and laborious, but it's also a meditative process. And seeing big glass jars fill up with dried lavender and lemon balm and mint is a reward in and of itself.

I'm not quite done garbling all the lavender, but I have to switch back to the garlic tonight and tomorrow to get more ready for the market on Saturday. I hope our garlic customers have been enjoying the different varieties as much as I have! We've amassed quite a stash of too-small-to-sell bulbs from each variety and they're taking up part of a shelf in the pantry now. It's fun trying out the different varieties in different applications--last night, for instance, I was making a big batch of eggy rice to feed the hungry masses and grabbed some Ajo Rojo (a medium garlic) for a lovely and subtle cooked garlic flavor. I almost went with Brown Tempest (a much stronger variety) but decided to tone it down a bit since I was using yellow onion too. I've got another variety, Georgian Fire, that I haven't sampled yet but am looking forward to because it's supposed to be a really spicy one.