Meet Max and Elsa and a Braised Lamb Shank recipe

Early November at Leyden Glen Farm

Hello Friends of Leyden Glen Lamb,

November is here and most of the leaves have fallen from the trees. There are only two weeks left for the Saturday Amherst Farmers Market. Time to stock your freezer with lamb for winter stews and roasts. I’ll have plenty of stew meat and all other cuts with me tomorrow. It will be raining early in the morning but should clear by 9 a.m. If you want anything held for you, email me at kristinnicholas@gmail.com and I will set it aside.

This summer we lost Sadie, one of our Great Pyrenees guard dogs. She was a serious (but sweet) protector of sheep and lambs. She lived at our barns in Bernardston year round and trolled the fields and woods - keeping the coyotes and other critters away. We didn’t lose one lamb while she was on watch. Her brother Beau lives here at our farmhouse where he keeps watch over the sheep in the pastures outside our farmhouse. Beau isn’t quite as serious about his job as Sadie but he is loved by all the families on Glen Road.

Being down a Guard Dog was not something we were expecting as Sadie was only six. We put the word out amongst sheep friends and Pete located a litter of Pyrs in eastern Mass. As fate would have it, the litter was ready to go less than two weeks after Sadie passed. We put down a deposit for another brother and sister pair. Julia and I drove to Holliston one Sunday and we chose two beautiful Pyrs from a litter of five. Both of their parents are working LGD’s (Livestock Guardian Dogs) so we feel confident that the two little bundles of fluff will do their job.

Meet Max and Elsa………

Here they are now learning how to be proper LGD’s with our friend Sam’s four sheep who live at our barns. Max and Elsa learned about electric fencing (ouch!) via a visit to our friends Joe and Hannah’s farm. Joe and Hannah raise LGD’s and kindly volunteered to introduce the puppies to hot fencing. It didn’t take more than a couple zaps for them to stay clear. Every morning Sam or Mark walk the puppies out to the sheep and they spend their days on patrol. They have a kennel in the barn for nights.

To say they are growing is an understatement. They were 12 pounds when we picked them up and who knows what they are now. They have much more growing to do. Sadie and Beau weighed 110 and 130 pounds as adults. Max and Elsa’s winter coats are coming in nicely and their puppy fur is disappearing. By the time they are a year old, they should be able to be left out with the sheep 24/7. It’s an amazing thing to watch a LGD puppy grow and do what their ancestors have done for thousands of years without being told.

It is raining now - a lovely sound considering the drought we have had this past summer. I have some lamb shanks braising in the oven for dinner tonight. Here’s a link to the recipe Braised Lamb Shanks or Shoulders. This recipe is super easy to make and really really really delicious (three really’s worth!). I do all the prep work (barely any) in the morning, set it in a 250 oven for 4 hours and it is done. You can also make it in a crockpot or Instapot (although I don’t have one) and is even better the second day. Serve over polenta, rice or pasta and if you are lucky, you’ll have enough for a second meal.

Hope to see you this week or next at the last two Amherst Farmers Markets of the season.

As always, we thank you for your support of our farm and family,

Kristin, Mark and Julia