Looking Forward To Thanksgiving & Christmas Family Meals

Have you been thinking about what meat to prepare for your Thanksgiving & Christmas Family Meal?

Many of our customers have! And have contacted us to see what is available.

Well, the bad news is we did not get our infrastructure done in time to start turkeys. There was just so many other priorities like chicken brooder & tractors and not having our red meat slaughter available that would have freed up travel time back and forth to the processor.

And, what I am hearing is the price of pastured turkeys this year is $10 lb. and up! WOW...

But, the GOOD NEWS is we do have non-traditional options you may want to consider that is much easier on your pocket book.

The first option is CHICKEN. This idea actually came from one of our customers (Mary D.) who emailed me - "I love knowing I’m feeding my children healthy food. Our favorite way to prep the chicken we buy is to brine it for 24 hrs or so, drain/dry it, add a rub and then put it in our smoker. As a family we unanimously voted to have smoked chicken on our Thanksgiving menu this year instead of turkey."

Our October 20th batch we processed was loaded with chicken that ranged from 5-7 lbs. each. So, I have added two new chicken items (6 & 7 lb.) so you can get the size that best fits your family needs. Here are the links:
6 lb. 7 lb.

And, there are a lot of videos on the internet on how to spatchcock a chicken.

Thanks to Mary for her inspiration for this excellent idea.

Our second option is LAMB.

In the latest issue of meatingplace magazine James Scarpa states - "Lamb wins big on consumers' increasing culinary confidence and interest in sustainable farming practices." Some key comments from his article include:

• Lamb demand surged in 2020 when millions of people were thrust into home chef duty due in part to supply disruptions and stock up buying depleted beef, pork, and chicken
• Lamb dollar sales jumped 24.7% over 2019 sales. Moreover, demand for lamb is holding up into the second half of 2021
• This created a group of about 30% who cooked very differently - demographically skewed toward Generation X, Hispanic and Asian backgrounds
• The consumer is saying, I'm willing to try new things. I'm willing to spend more time. I care about the quality of ingredients
• Ground lamb is a great foot-in-the-door SKU that allows people to test the taste but not be intimidated by the price or skill level
• With lamb, specifically, we often lean into the idea that if you can cook beef, you can cook lamb, because the preparation techniques are often very similar

So, if you are a seasoned or novice lamb customer, at Nature's Gourmet Farm we have many cuts in stock that will fit your needs.

Additionally, when Homestead processed my last four they left the "rear leg" mostly whole at about 5 lbs. each. Because there are only three or four available, when ordering Lamb Leg Roast you will need to put a comment in your order that you want the 5 lb. leg roast.

Many have asked about Christmas Hams!

We certainly have the pigs available. Right now it totally depends on Hugh and if he gets the kinks worked out of the slaughter trailer in time. Ethan at Homestead has told me he cannot process them until mid-December or so.

If you are interested in a Christmas Ham please email me and let me know about what size you would like. Thank you!

As always, we thank you for rewarding our hard work with your trust and support.