Farm Fresh Eggs

Free ranging Rhode Island Reds

Are you looking for farm fresh eggs? We sell them at Find A Way Farm, and they are significantly less than the Athens Farmers Market. For more information contact us through our website.

Ground Lamb on Flatbread

Featuring Find A Way Farm Lamb

Tonight  I tried a new ground lamb recipe for dinner worthy enough to be added to the permanent Find A Way Farm recipe collection.  Why so amazing, you ask?  A variety of spices were combined with our very own Find A Way Farm lean grass-fed lamb to create a  cornucopia of flavor. The lamb was served on warmed flat bread with a side of salad  and Greek yogurt cucumber sauce.

Ground Lamb on Flat bread

Ground Lamb 
1 lb Find A Way Farm grass-fed lamb
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 t kosher salt
3 T grated onion
3 T chopped parsley
1 T ground coriander
1 t ground cumn
1/2 T ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground allspice
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/4 t ground ginger
1/4 t black pepper

Mash the garlic and salt into a paste using a mortar and pestle or the flat side of a chef's knife. Mix the garlic into the lamb along with the other spices.  Let stand for at least 30 minutes for the flavors to mix well with the lamb.  Brown lamb in skillet.

Salad
1/2 cucumber seeded and diced. 
1 tomato diced
1/2 red onion diced.

Mix salad ingredients and set aside.

Sauce 
1/2 cucumber shredded, drained and squeezed
1 clove mined garlic
Feta cheese to taste
8 oz of Greek yogurt

Serve all three on warmed flat break.  Enjoy!

Lamb Rams on the Hay Feeder

Our 2013 lamb rams are going through a good amount of hay, and hay is all we feed them.  We keep them on pasture all though the winter inside electrified poly-nets and after each round bale is consumed, usually in seven to nine days, they get moved to a new spot. (This is the same way we do it the rest of the year, but they only stay for 24 hours.) The great thing about this, even through it's winter, we are still getting manure into the pastures. We put them in those pastures that we want to continue to improve. The other great advantage to this is that the sheep stay completely healthy.

Ram lambs feeding on round bale

Ram lambs on hay

Winter Scenes 2014

Content lambs

Although it's been a tough winter for us, our Katahdin sheep have fared the cold temperatures very well. Actually, it's the heat during the summer that cause sheep the most stress.

Fulfilling her purpose

This is our Great Pyrenees, Winnie. She protects our sheep by living with them 24/7, 365 days of the year. I snapped about 20 pictures before I finally caught her sitting still. She gets so excited when we visit her, she jumps, twirls in the air and then drops to the ground signaling to us that she wants to be pet. She's a great dog!

If nature doesn't provide you a path, make one

During a walk the other evening, I stopped by the hen house to check for eggs. I don't know why I never noticed it before, but I could distinctly see a chicken path. Our Rhode Island Reds are hardy birds; however, if given a choice, they prefer a path without snow. Since it's been too cold for our snow pack to melt, they made their own clearing. Do you see the chicken path?

On the way to the hen house

We cross this creek by way of a little bridge on our way to the hen house. Isn't it beautiful this time of year?

A paddock with a view

This is our most mature flock of sheep. Aren't they fortunate to be surrounded by such lovely scenery?

Apprenticeship Program

We are currently accepting applications for an apprenticeship program on our farm, which is being run through the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA). You can get more information about the apprenticeship and the application process at the OEFFA site; look for the apprentice logo on the lower left column. Potential applicants will have to set up a free online account with OEFFA first. But in a nutshell, it’s eight weeks in length and will overlap our spring lambing. The intent is to offer an opportunity for someone interested in learning about a sheep operation during the most intensive time of year, and see how this fits into a homestead operation.  It will be a great opportunity to work side by side with us and through it receive both formal and informal instruction.

We do offer farm stays and farm visits throughout the year to folks interested in homesteading or who want to purchase lamb or sheep from us and want to see firsthand how our sheep are raised. Contact us through our website to coordinate available dates, pricing and lodging.

As a caveat, we don’t consider ourselves experts by no means. We’ve been at this since 2006. But what we bring to the table is an opportunity to see a homestead and sheep operation in its beginning stage, which is what one doesn't see too often. Instead one goes to various sheep lectures at well-established farms with high overhead and resources the upstart just doesn’t have. You can certainly learn a lot from the old hands, but too often the brass tacks are not discussed. We feel as though that this is a missing component in a deliberation process a potential farmer needs. So we are willing to open ourselves up to show you how we got started, along with the costs, and how we run our operation with limited resources. If this interests you then contact us through our website and we’ll discuss a way to meet your needs.

Limited number of 2013 lambs for sale

We currently have a limited number of 2013 lambs for sale. Weights vary between 100lbs to 60lbs. We are taking orders for our 2014 season. For more information about our product or to place an order refer to our website and go to the contact page.

The Butterball Brothers

We were surprised to find that one of our ewes birthed two little ram lambs about a week before Christmas.  The reason I say “surprised” is that most of our lambs are born in the Spring.  For the last two years, we’ve experimented with “out of season breeding”.  Not having any luck with breeding out of season last year, we really weren’t expecting too much to happen this year.  And what’s interesting about expectant ewes, is that it’s hard to tell they are expecting until right before they drop without special ultrasound equipment.  So, we quickly jumped into action and got the ewe and her two little ram lambs into the barn.  Moving them to the barn temporary allows us to weigh the lambs and monitor them for a few days to ensure bonding occurs between mom and babies.

Day old lambs with mother

Then… we had another surprise.  Brian went out to check the flock first thing in the morning and noticed that one of our ewes was in great distress while birthing.  He called me down to the pasture to help assist.  It was not looking good for the ewe.  Fortunately, Brian was able to help with the delivery which saved the ewe’s life, but it was too late for her lamb.   We got her to her feet as quickly as possible and got her to the barn to monitor her for a few days as well.

Month old lambs with surrogate mother

So now we have two lactating ewes and two lambs in our barn.  The result… the Butterball Brothers!  This is what we’ve named the two – what were little – ram lambs in our barn.  Both ewes share the mothering of these two rams.  Instead of one supplier of milk that they had to share, they now have two sources of milk on demand.  Needless to say, both guys are packing the pounds on very quickly and will soon be too heavy to lift.

The Butterball Brothers

Find A Way Farm Page on Facebook

We finally got around to getting a Find A Way Farm Facebook page up (here). You don't have to be a member of Facebook to view the page, as with Google+ so check it out when you can, and give us a "like."