This weekend I had the pleasure of doing a butcher demo at Tangle Ridge Ranch for Slow Food Edmonton.
The cuts of lamb I butchered were quickly whisked away and thrown into a delicious marinade before being wrapped in banana leaves and tin foil before heading to the bottom of this China Box. It's a Cuban method of cooking whereby meat is placed into the box and coals are heated above on the tray.
Needless to say I thoroughly enjoy my part of the day, such an honour to be asked to work with Slow Food Edmonton & Tangle Ridge Ranch. Really great bunch of people, fabulous farm and excellent quality lambs produced the right way, couldn't have been better.
At Tangle Ridge Ranch, we firmly believe that we are stewards of the land we are entrusted to. Healthy land produces healthy animals, healthy food and healthy people. The tour of our ranch will include a pasture walk where participants will be able to see first-hand our multi-species (sheep & cattle) grazing system at work. We will talk in detail about rotational grazing, and have a look at pasture that has just been grazed, currently being grazed and ungrazed land to be able to objectively talk about the benefits of grazing, herd effect and stock density. For our grazing plan to be successful we use electric fencing, both permanent and temporary to manage the movement of animals and we will go over the basics of fencing and technology used. Water is a critical element, and participants will be able to see both our portable watering systems as well as our solar winter watering system. As we walk, we will look at the grass, identify the varieties growing and talk about the traits each variety brings to our pasture. And of course no pasture walk is complete without talking about the animals! We raise Katadhin and Dorper sheep and Longhorn cattle and will discuss why we chose these specific breeds, how we manage them, and how they compliment our ecosystems!