I'm thrilled to announce that we are working with Alex and Gwilym Owen at Launde Farm Foods on their online content and social media marketing. As well as being a passionate and consciencious family business, their lamb is the best I've eaten in a long long time - so it's really easy to write good things about them!
Among other things I have learned at our initial meetings and photo sessions, they have loads of points of difference I can't wait to start shouting about-
- their ewes come in from the field a month earlier than most, in January when the grass has turned to mud, so that they can have a healthy diet of home grown silage until they are turned out again in mid-late March. This is far more nutritional than the standard hay and feed pellets most sheep are fed at this time of year, and it is just one of their 'slow food' approaches which gives the meat a better finish and makes your Spring lamb much more tender.
- Speaking of Spring lamb, this apparently is a bit of a myth (probably invented by the supermarkets?). Traditionally reared, grass fed, slow grown lamb is actually at it's best from June. Basically, for your lamb to be on the table for Easter it would need to be spurred on with a supplemented, less natural diet and sometimes even nasty 'bulkers' depending on the quality of meat you buy.
- Launde Farm don't blanket bomb their sheep with chemicals and treatments - they routinely test the droppings and take samples to see who needs what to keep the sheep healthy while avoiding unnecessary stress and chemicals.
- Once ready, the sheep are slaughtered within 5 miles of Launde Farm. Not only does this have obvious benefits for keeping the sheep as calm as possible and reducing their suffering, but it is also thought to contribute to a better quality of lamb - as the sheep are less stressed, the meat stays tender. Not nice to talk/read about that bit is it? But i think we (meat eaters) have a responsibility if we do choose to eat meat, to know where it comes from and how the animals are treated.
- And on to the good bit for restaurants and chefs - tender being your aim, Launde Farm is your best bet for consistently high quality, tender, well hung lamb. Unlike many meat wholesalers, their lamb will always come from the same place - provenance you can be confident to put on your menu. It will also be slaughtered, hung (for at least 10 days) and butchered in exactly the same way, every time. You can even speak to Gwilym directly about how you like it butchered.
I will be talking about all of this (in much smaller chunks) over on instagram @laundefarm, be sure to give them a follow to see behind the scenes craft butchery and traditional farming with modern gadgets, like this one, 'Robo-farmer' -
We have taken a first batch of behind-the-scenes photography (some featured at the bottom of this post) so I'm off to design their Instagram feed and do a rough content plan now. I'll post images and explanations of how the process works on those later in the week.
We're also doing the first studio photography session next week - product shots for online retail, and we will be doing lots of recipe content writing and food photography with their lamb over the next few weeks as well. And lots more! Exciting :)
Watch this space! Oh and following on from this work their website will soon be live at www.laundefarmfoods.co.uk (give it a couple of weeks maybe)
