Crockpot Monday

This is really "Crockpot Sunday" because today we're having meatloaf from the oven. But yesterday we used our crockpot for our Easter dinner, which was a lamb roast. I mean we can't very well eat ham while we celebrate Jesus, King of the Jews can we?

We have a local farm that has cows, hogs, and sweet, precious little lambs that we can eat.  Normally we get their meet in town but on Friday we drove out to the farm. It is so far out in the middle of nowhere that we crossed into a different time zone. My husband was nervous that we were lost but the drive was so pretty that I encouraged him to press on and put his faith in the fruit-branded electronic that he is always attached to. In the end we did not get lost and enjoyed seeing a different part of the place we live. Even after almost 3 years of "country living" we are still surprised at where we end up.

The girl that owns the farm is very sweet and I would call her our friend. She is one of those people that makes you feel right at home and speaks as if we have known her our whole lives. She's younger than us but has 2 small kids and another on the way. It's always nice to find another mommy to talk to.

When we got there, it had started to rain a little---that misty, sticky rain that is just not really a rain but maybe more of a wet fog. When she came out of her house in her rain boots and began to lead us out to the barn [although I wasn't sure where we were going at first] I quickly regretted wearing my ballet flats with no socks. Kathryn only had on one sock and no shoes as she always removes her socks in the car and I couldn't find them anywhere. So there we were, feeling more city and less country with each passing minute. I kept Kathryn's foot warm in my armpit and wondered just where in the heck we were going. Finally we arrived at a barn and were greeted by a friendly "coon hound". We walked through the barn stepping over piles of you-know-what and all the way in the back there was a restaurant sized deep freezer full of glorious organic, minimally processed meats.

A couple of years ago, there would have been no way that I would have walked into a barn in the middle of nowhere without at least imagining that I was probably going to be murdered and fed to the livestock. But the thought never crossed my mind this time.

As we were making our selections, this sweet girl who, in her third trimester of pregnancy, is hoisting trays of meat around as if they were light as a feather. We kept offering to help but she said she was used to it. We got lots of great meat [including the lamb roast we ate last night] and were given lots of information on when she is harvesting some hogs in a couple of weeks. We are thinking of having a whole lamb processed after we purchase a deep freezer.

While we waited on her to total up our purchase, we walked around near the house to see other farm animals. Yes, it was still raining but I did finally find Kathryn's shoes and socks and she did have on her coat. She was not interested in the horse, but he was a sweet horse who just wanted his nose rubbed. There were lots of other dogs, chickens, and we got to get really close to the lambs. Some day when it isn't so wet I'd love to let Kathryn lose in the lamb pen. The farmer said her kids play with them all the time. I think it would be good for Kathryn, as long as she doesn't try to ride them or poke their eyes like she does our dog. We even saw a lamb carcass that George the sheep herder had dragged up from a back pasture. Also, I am unclear if it is "lambs", "sheep", or both. I will let you know.

Just another day in the pursuit of real food. That's what's good about country living.