To check availability of Uptown Farms lamb or beef, visit here.

It's time to stop being intimidated by lamb!  Lamb is fantastic meat to wow a crowd and much easier to prepare than most people think.  Here are a few quick tips for buying and cooking lamb:

• Look for American lamb.  This is not a safety issue so don't panic if you've already purchased imported.  Imported lamb, almost always coming from Australia or New Zealand, actually makes up about 1/3 of the lamb consumed in the U.S., and is completely safe.  But it is finished differently and will have more of a "flavor shock" to US consumers versus American lamb. American lamb will be fresher and more tender, which makes sense if you think about the distance imported lamb has to travel to get here.  Lamb purchased in stores, at a farmer's market, or directly from a farm family like ours will be safe and nutritious - no guilt allowed there!  
• Cook lamb above the drippings. Unlike beef, which can simmer in its own drippings all day for great added flavor, most people prefer the flavor of lamb that has been cooked away from it's own juices.  That's why we love to grill lamb or smoke it (right on the grate).  If we do roast lamb we use a pan with a raised rack so the meat sits above the juices. 
• Don't be afraid of your favorite beef marinades and seasonings! People often try to make seasoning lamb harder than it has to be.  We fall back on garlic, rosemary, onion and mustard but there are dozens of good beef rubs that highlight lamb well.  For simple cuts like burgers, chops and steaks a simple dusting of salt and pepper goes a long way.  

Smoked Leg of Lamb
Directions:

1. Marinade the lamb 4-6 hours.  You can untie or unwrap boneless legs or leave them tied.  ​​
2. Pat exterior dry and using Dijon or regular mustard, cover the lamb with a coating of mustard if you'd like.  This helps the rub stick and adds some flavor but isn't necessary.  
3. Apply the lamb dry rub to lamb.
4. Set smoker at 275 degrees and smoke until lamb reaches an internal temperature of 135 - 140 degrees.  Allow the lamb to rest for 20 minutes and it will rise to 145 degrees, medium-rare. Avoid overcooking lamb.  We prefer apple or cherry wood chips but a lot of people like mesquite with lamb as well.
5. You can also grill or roast the leg with a set temp of 325 degrees.  Doneness will be determined when lamb reaches 135 - 140 degrees. 

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Everyone is all paper straws, and bicycles, and reusable grocery bags and water bottles, and then we’re over here like, “Here’s our dirt.”

Actually, we call it soil. And we have to make that clarification or our college soil professor will drive down here and make it for us.

But seriously. Did you know our soil, when managed right, is a massive carbon bank? That’s right - we are storing carbon right here, right below our feet!

What you’re looking at is a crop field where we grow grains to harvest every year. You’re seeing green cover crop, that was planted in the fall before harvest of our corn to make sure our soil was never bare.

You’re also seeing all the corn trash (that’s what we call the stalks, leaves, and all parts of the corn plant that gets left after harvest). This will not get plowed or tilled on our farm.

Farming practices like no-till and cover crops are one of the ways we keep our soils, and our environment, thriving. These practices allow the soil to stay in place the way it was designed to and keep the millions of living organisms in the soil healthy.

This translates into some really cool things like more carbon stored, less run-off and erosion, better water quality, better habitat for creatures above and below the ground, and better crop production for us!

It really is a a win / win! This is modern farming.

Fun Fact: 20 million acres of cover crops (which the U.S. was on on target to hit in 2020) has the potential to sequester enough c0-2 equivalent to offset 12.8 million passenger vehicles! (SARES)