Friday's Favorite Farm Recipe

I do not know anything about sheep but I wanted to highlight a recipe that includes lamb.  In our corner of the world there are a few sheep farmers.  Lucky for me some go to our church so I convinced Glee and Ron to be this week's recipe contributors and pass on a little insight into their family and sheep operation.   I'll let Glee and Ron take it from here. 

Ron and Glee in Hawaii.  No, that is not their backyard in Iowa.

I am not real comfortable talking about myself but I will try. I grew up on a dairy farm south of Monona. I really appreciate the work ethic of farmers and being able to work out in nature. I helped with chores on the farm growing up and worked with Ron side by side for about 20 years before I started working off the farm.

 

I attended college at Winona State University and have a BS degree in education. I started going with Ron my senior year in college and we married a year later.

 

I enjoy reading. I started making baby quilts and really like that but haven’t made too many yet. I am a BIG sports fan. Go Packers and Cyclones! I enjoy watching NASCAR too. Mike is our son. He is a 4th grade teacher and basketball coach. Beth is our daughter and married to Karsten. Beth is an RN and works at the Community Hospital. They have two sons, Jackson who is 4 and Tristan, who is 2. They are the light of our lives. Talk about wrapping someone around your finger. They sure know how to do it. But it sure is fun.

 

Glee and Ron with their grand boys.

 

 

I really don’t consider myself much of a cook. I of course make meals but would rather bake than cook. In the stew recipe I put about anything I can think of in it. If the spice looks like it would work, in it goes.  Glee

 

We have about 175 ewes that we lamb every year. They start lambing in February and we finish by planting time so the work load goes well with our farm.When we wean them the lambs go on self feeders and finish them out for sale starting in August. They will weigh about 135-140 pounds .The ewes go to pastures where ever we find some small lots, like several neighbors yards and around their building sites. We usually have about 7 –8 different places for our ewes. We sell most of our lambs to Phil Yocum from Mable MN, we have been doing business with him and his Dad for about 20 years. They also do our shearing witch we have done about January 1st. The sheep business has been good for our family and we really enjoy the sheep. 

The lamb stew is awesome.  Ron

 

Lamb Stew

1 nice sized lamb roast

several potatoes

vegetables of choice

barley

thyme

seasoned salt

pepper

marjoram

celery salt

 

Cool the roast and cut it up into nice pieces. Put in pot with chicken broth. Cut up boiled potatoes. Put in any vegetables you wish and the spices and barley. Let stew for a couple hours. The longer you simmer it the better it gets. Can also add a can of any type cream soup.

 

Thank you Glee and Ron for sharing your family and sheep business with us.  I have always wanted to try cooking with lamb but never had a recipe to work with.  Now I do!