Edition of: 08 Oct 2011                     ___                                               NEWS FROM NATIVE OAKS

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LAMB PRICES                 LAUNDERING SHEEPSKINS              MARINADE RECIPE
 

"Anne Leck is the woman behind Sheepy Hollow,
which produces the best lamb around in my opinion." [Trout & Caviar Blog]

"Tell Anne the lamb was wonderful and the butchering was perfect!"
       [Lynn Alpert, founder/owner of the former New French Café]

"My wife and I had our first taste of lamb the other night. My, oh, my, simply the best lamb
I have had since eating in Dieppe, France, where the lamb eat grass that itself is
impregnated with salt. Thanks you so much for raising these fine animals..."
[Richard, Medina, Minnesota]

LOOKING FOR OUR POPULAR LEG OF LAMB RECIPE?
(Look no more! Just go here!)

LAMB PRICES CONTINUE TO SOAR!
Livestock Markets and Grocery Store Prices Up!

16 September 2011
We keep regular tabs on the prices of lamb both at the livestock markets and in the grocery stores. Right now the price of lamb is sky-high. The price for lambs at the livestock markets is way up and it only follows that the price of lamb cuts from your favorite butcher will also be higher. We've seen the price of loin chops as high as $24 per pound and rib chops and racks at as much as $34 per pound. We normally peg the price of our whole lamb and sides of lamb sales at the market price + 10 percent + the cost of butchering as per your individual cutting order. On the other hand, we've held the line on the price of individual cuts and that made lamb from Sheepy Hollow even a better bargain than a few months ago.

Here's our current lamb prices by cut, based on the formula for pricing we have used in the past... rib chops, racks and loin chops have all risen significantly, but we'll hold the other prices here as long as we can. Just understand that all these prices are subject to change because of the volatility of the current livestock market.

We're struggling with the formula we've used in the past to set these prices because we want lamb to stay within the budgets of all our customers; however our costs of production (fuel, labor and feed) have all risen dramatically in the last 8 months. If we can find a way to lower these prices we will.

LAMB COOKBOOKS
Here's a couple of lamb cookbooks you can find and buy on-line. We've tried them both and recommend them to you.

The Arabian Nights Cookbook
by Habeeb Salloum [Periplus Editions]

 

How to Roast a Lamb: New Greek Classic Cooking (Hard Cover)
by Michael Psilakis

We found both of these books on Amazon and the second of them is available in e-book format.
 

A New Cookbook in Our Stocking
One of the children gave Anne a new cookbook as a Christmas gift this year -- because all the kids know that Mom (and Grandma) likes to have plenty of people around the table for special dinners, one of them had the bright idea that she should own Tom Douglas' cookbook, TOM'S BIG DINNERS. There's a wonderful recipe in it for LAMB CHOPS IN CRUSHED CHERRY MARINADE WITH TARRAGON MUSTARD. So far I haven't been able to get permission to publish it here, but, if you email me, I'll send along an abbreviated explanation of how to do it.

DOG ATTACKS EWE FLOCK
We suffered a disastrous and brutal dog attack over the weekend. A large German Shepherd got into one of the pastures where a prime group of young ewes was attacked by the dog. All were to produce lambs for us in June. The dog killed 8 of the ewes and left 4 others injured, 2 of them seriously. We contacted the dog's owner and we hope she will take action to either destroy the dog or make sure it cannot leave her property.

This incident will seriously cripple our ability to meet demand this autumn and through the winter months.

Terra-Waconia features
Sheepy Hollow Lamb
The exciting, little restaurant in Waconia is winning plenty of culinary praise for creative presentations of local, fresh foods. One of the most popular features on the ever-changing menu at Terra-Waconia are creative lamb cuts from Sheepy Hollow at Native Oaks Farm.

[Read this story about Terra-Waconia from MSP Magazine.] Of course, we picked this little snippet from the story to present to you.

“The diner at the next table said his lamb was the best he’s ever eaten,” our server told us. The tiny chops, cumin-crusted, pink-centered, and set on a cloud of whipped white bean puree, were bone-pickingly good."

We highly recommend Terra-Waconia to you if you're looking for a unique dining experience. To find out dining hours and make reservations, call 952-442-3353

We closed the end of the year with a BANG!
We sold a record number of sides and whole lambs in 2010.
We were kept hopping on the few days before Christmas as we scurried all over the metropolitan area delivering lambs to traditional and new buyers. We broke all our records for both production and sales in 2010 and we thank you all for that.

As a story below explains, lamb prices are at an all-time high and market experts are predicting it will go even higher. For the first time in our experience we've seen the top-level grocery stores in the area selling lamb cuts from Australia in order to keep their prices down for their customer. Experts generally tell us that the quality of Australian lamb does not match up with American lamb, but grocery store prices are so high now that even Lund's is looking for a way to keep prices down. Sheepy Hollow prices are still less than prime imported lamb. Costco does sell Australian lamb below our prices, but theirs is not prime and, if you run a little comparison test, we think you'll find Sheepy Hollow lamb far superior.

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HOW TO BUY FROM SHEEPY HOLLOW DURING THE OFF-SEASON
Our customers in the Twin Cities Metro Region can still buy from Sheepy Hollow during the off season by placing orders with us by telephone and arranging for free delivery. We'll make deliveries to Minneapolis once each week and to western suburban locations twice each week. To place orders for individual cuts, call us at 952-955-3180 (if there's no answer, leave a message and we get back to you within a day).

HARVEST MOON FOOD COOP
The exciting and new food cooperative in Long Lake, Harvest Moon, is now handling Sheepy Hollow lamb products and you'll find a visit to the new store and wonderful treat. It's located right on Old Highway 12 (Wayzata Blvd) and Willow Street, just a little west of downtown Long Lake. From downtown Minneapolis, it's only a 15 mile drive out to Long Lake. On your visit to Long Lake, try a breakfast or lunch at the remarkable Country Cupboard (just south of Harvest Moon) next to the AmericInn Motel.

TROUT & CAVIAR BLOG
PRAISES SHEEPY HOLLOW LAMB
How excited we were around here to wake up one day to the news that two solidly generous and praiseful blogs had been written about the lamb produced by Sheepy Hollow at Native Oaks Farm. We suggest you may want to go to the blog to read them:
http://troutcaviar.blogspot.com

"That's [photo below] our half a Sheepy Hollow lamb, dressed weight around 26 pounds. Sheepy Hollow is our Midtown Farmer's Market lamb vendor. Anne Leck is the woman behind Sheepy Hollow, which produces the best lamb around, in my opinion."

RACHEL'S CASSEROLE (GROUND MUTTON)
We've added a new recipe to our recipe section of this web site. It comes to us from one of our customers and is called Rachel's Casserole, using ground mutton. We've tested it and its wonderful.

NOTHING WE LIKE BETTER THAN
SATISFIED CUSTOMERS
and we work hard to make sure you're happy.

Here's a letter that came in on December 17, 2008:

Dear Anne:
My wife and I had our first taste of lamb the other night.
My, oh, my, simply the best lamb I have had since eating in Dieppe, France, where the lamb eat grass that itself is impregnated with salt.
Thanks you so much for raising these fine animals, and for your extra work in getting the order straightened out.
May you and yours have a happy and safe holiday season.
Sincerely,
Richard (Medina, MN)

SHEEPY HOLLOW ENDS SALES AT TRADITIONAL FOODS OF MINNESOTA
South Minneapolis market temporarily closes!
We've ended our relationship with Traditional Foods of Minnesota. The market is currently struggling with its general sales and marketing philosophy and has closed while it restructures financially. It plans to reopen as soon as possible. As of this date (3 November 2010) it has not reopened its facility. When it does reopen, Sheepy Hollow will not be there. Our direct sales program and our restaurant sales are so strong that we couldn't keep a significant enough presence at the market to make it worth-while.

Thanks to TJ

One of our helpers at the Midtown Market moves up North
So many of our customers asked about her this week and missed her smiling face and delightful humor. We miss her too. TJ Harrison, who had been tending our booth along with Anne, the lamb lady, for all of this Midtown Market season, has moved up to northern Minnesota and won't be with us any longer. We'll miss her and so will our customers.

MANY VISITORS TO CARRIAGE PAGE IN 2009
Over 13,000 visitors came to our web page in
2009, smashing last year's record number by more than triple! A day or so before the end of the year finds us over 16,000 visitors for this year.

Our service provider's stats show that 35% of visitors end up on the recipe page!
 

OUR TOWN HOLDS SURPRISES
Independence is an extremely beautiful community. Though we're only 25 miles from downtown Minneapolis, this is a small, rural town with beautiful, open and rolling meadows, small creeks and lovely, dense forest land.

WOW! WHAT A PICTURE!
The following photograph appeared in the November issue of MSP Magazine (thanks to them for permission to use it here).

Photo is of Sheepy Hollow lamb (rib chops to be exact) being served at Terra Waconia (see story to left).

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SPRING PHOTOGRAPHS from
SHEEPY HOLLOW
Want to see some early Spring photographs of the sheep in Sheepy Hollow? [click here]

SPRING LAMBING SEASON SUCCESS
We had a good spring lambing season. More than 80 healthy and strong lambs were born and are now growing. It's always a beautiful sight to see the lambs frolicking around as Spring arrives.

Spring Arrives at Sheepy Hollow
Officially, it's called Spring. We call it the mud season and it will be especially muddy this year. We'll keep the sheep and lambs more confined than usual this year as the flood waters rise. The entire south border of our property is part of Ox Yoke Lake and Pioneer Creeks winds and bends it's way through our property from north to south, coming all the way here from Lake Independence and emptying itself into Ox Yoke Lake. Both the lake and the creek are extremely high this year and more than 2/3 of our south pastureland is flooded.

It looks like it will be well into April before we get grazing land. However, there is plenty of hay (all grown under conditions we control). The lambs are anxious for spring conditions that will include warm sunshine and rolling, green meadows.


The lambs will dine in confined conditions for a longer period this Spring than usual.

The sheep will be kept only on high land for the next several weeks while flood waters recede.

Lamb Sales Set Sheepy Hollow Record
Lamb sales in 2010 have been extremely brisk, setting a Sheepy Hollow record for volume. We experienced our heaviest volume ever at the Midtown Farmers Market this year and we often ran out of many cuts before closing time. What pleases us most is that the vast majority of our customers are returning as frequent buyers. One gentleman boasted this summer that he has been buying from us for nine years. It caused us some pause. Is it really nine years that we've been setting up at the Midtown Farmers Market?

We have also increased our restaurant sales this year and we are now also selling lamb at the Harvest Moon Cooperative, in Long Lake, and the sales there have been increasing steadily.

We raise the question for ourselves: Can we really increase production to meet the rising demand without decreasing the quality of our product? That is the challenge ahead.

LAMB RECIPES FROM CUSTOMERS
Minced Lamb Stir Fry
with Ginger, Hoisin and Green Onions
This recipe was submitted to the Midtown Farmers Market Web Site by someone who, we imagine, is one of our customers. It sounds great. We'll try it soon and report back to you.

Serve this quick stir-fry with with rice:

2 Tbs orange juice
1 Tbs corn starch
1 pound of ground lamb
1 Tbs oriental sesame oil
2 Tbs minced, peeled fresh ginger
1 Tbs minced, fresh garlic
1 Tbs minced, orange peel
1 bunch green onions, chopped
¼ cup Hoisin sauce
Butter lettuce leaves

Combine orange juice and cornstarch in a small bowl. Saute lamb in heave large skillet over high heat until cooked through, breaking up with back of spoon (about 5 mins). Pour lamb with its juices in colander and drain. Heat oil in same skillet over high heat. Add ginger, garlic and orange peel and stir fry 30 seconds. Add green onions 30 seconds. Add Hoisin sauce and lamb to skillet and stir until blended. Add orange juice mixture and stir until thickened (about 1 min.). Spoon into lettuce leaves.

All right! We like the sound of that one and we'll give it a try.

See a new recipe from Kim
One of our customers at the Midtown Farmers Market gave us this recipe for an "Easy Mutton or Lamb Skillet" using ground lamb from Sheep Hollow.

Pat Goshgerian's Loshkabobs
Here's a recipe that comes from one of our regular lamb customers. Pat is married to an Armenian fellow and has really taken to cooking those kind of ethnic meals for him. Here's one that Pat says he and even all their grandchildren just love.

Ingredients:

4 pounds of ground meat -- 2 of lamb and 2 of beef
(she likes to use mutton rather than lamb for the additional flavor)
1 chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
8 oz of tomato paste
salt and pepper (on generous side)
lg dollop of Dijon mustard
1 egg

Mix. Pat mixture and press all together around a heavy wooden skewers that your butcher can provide. the mixture is about 4 or 5 inches long, rounded like a hot dog. Grill. Serve with a rice pilaf.

Sounds great, Pat. I'm going to try it and let you know how it goes. If they're great, I'll add them to our recipe page.

Look for many more recipes at our lamb recipe page.

HONEY FROM AMES FARM
will be a wonderful treat for you. Some call it the best honey in America. Look for Ames Farm at the Midtown Farmers Market on Saturdays. Some of the hives are here at Native Oaks Farm.

OUR WEB PAGE SPONSOR
is St Boni Motorsports and we thank them for their cooperation. They cover the cost, top to bottom, so Native Oaks Farm can appear on this server. Be sure to visit its web site. St. Boni Motorsports is in Saint Bonifacius, Minnesota (8 miles west of Excelsior on Hwy 7).

VISITORS FROM FRANCE
Artist and family visit from France
A French artist of significance visited Native Oaks Farm this past summer, along with his delightful wife and three children. Not only did they take advantage of our hospitality, but they pitched in and helped out around the farm -- including unloading 4 large hay wagons that required bales be stacked in our hay storage barn. To relax, we spent a couple of afternoons frolicking on Lake Minnetonka.

The family enjoys haut cuisine dining, so we took them to Terra-Waconia, about 12 miles south of our farm, and treated them to some of chef Craig Sharp's artistic presentations. "Tres, tres bon!" That's what the lovely mother and father both said. "Great," the kids added. [See the story about Terra-Waconia immediately above.]

CHARLIE'S BLOG (Ad Astra)
continues to grow in readership. In 2010 the average number of weekly readers exceeded 7,000 and comments have been returned from all over the U.S. and many parts of the world, including France, Spain, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, South Africa and Japan.!

Nearly two years ago we moved the blog from the farm page to its own blog site because of the amount of traffic it gets.

Charlie's approach has been called "refreshing and eclectic and there seems to be a surprise everyday."

MY TOWN

Here's some information about our wonderful community that most people don't know and are surprised to find out.  This is a great, little community that needs protection from careless officials who don't know how to say "no" to certain proposals and they appear willing to allow almost any kind of usage on any type of property.

• We're the home of the Twin Cities Polo Club!
  The spectacular Polo Festival takes place on the first Sunday of August every year.  It is a delight to attend and there is so much more than polo that happens there -- entertainment, exhibits, parades, music and wonderful food. It's great for people-watching because most of the 'swishy' and fashionable people are there.

• Wind Song Farm Golf Club, one of Minnesota's finest golf courses and most distinguished golf clubs is located right next door to Native Oaks Farm.  Watch for big things to happen at 'Wind Song" in the coming months.  Want to see a photo of the beautiful 16th hole -- a par three with incredible carry!  [click here]

• This is the most rural, undeveloped community in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.  That's not an accident!

• Our community is 36 square miles in size.

• Dozens of magnificent, beautiful horse farms are located here. Among the finest, but not at all a complete list, are...
  Brightonwood Farm
  Ashland Farm
  Fairhaven Farm
  Fox Meadow Farm
  Native Oaks Farm
  Noland's Ark

• One of America's most beautiful and most highly respected llama farms, CoRect LLamas, is on the southwestern border of our community, just to the west of Native Oaks Farm.

• The Luce Line Recreation trail crosses the entire southern part of our community in an east-west direction.

• Pioneer Creek Golf Course is one of the metropolitan region's favorite public facilities.

• Pioneer Creek Community Park is a lovely community asset located on Co Rd 90 just north of Hwy 12.

• Large amounts of the original Big Woods still exist here.

• Our community is one of the state's leaders in both protecting and restoring natural wetlands.

• We're home to the famous Shrine Horse Patrol and the Shriner's maintain a lovely horse farm on Country Road 92 just south of Rockford.

• Our rolling hills and forested land is part of the prime riding and hunt area for the Long Lake Hounds fox hunting club.  The fox hunt is an extraordinary sight to see and a photographer's dream.  The hunt begins about Labor Day and ends on Thanksgiving Day.

• Our community is divided among 3 different school districts: Delano, Mound and Orono.

• Two lovely county parks touch our borders and lie partially within our city limits -- Baker Park Preserve and Rebecca Park.

• Lake Independence is a large and beautiful recreational lake that can be accessed by the public through Baker Park Preserve.

• An Open Spaces Task Force is working on behalf of the open spaces in Independence, seeking to assure many of the most vital areas will be preserved and kept open.

• Many local publications have frequently said that Minnesota's best hamburger can be purchased at the Ox Yoke Inn (just south of Co Rd 6 on Co Rd 92).  We certainly rate the Northwoods Burger and the Luce Line Lucey as the best in the state.

Independence is home of the Twin Cities
Polo Club and features polo competition
every Sunday during the summer.