Reese the watchdog guards the flock. Photo courtesy of Magruder Ranch

Four yearling lambs and a four hundred-pound sow have arrived from one of our favorite purveyors, Magruder Ranch in Potter Valley. Soon, a steer will also be coming our way.

Currently, Magruder Ranch is lush and green, and the young lambs have been feasting on clover and annual grasses that have awoken now that winter is over.

“Beginning in March, when the days get longer, the grass has more strength, and it’s easier for the lambs, which fed on mother’s milk over the winter, to gain weight. When spring comes around they really blossom,” says Mac, the ranch’s owner. As Patricia Unterman once said in her article for the San Francisco Examiner, they are “particularly succulent, whispering of pasture.”

The abundance of green grass his animals have access to means a high level of Omega-3s, the heart-healthy fat found in foods like olive oil and avocado.

We have big plans for our meat. This weekend we’ll be making salumi with the sow. We will work with our steer piece by piece over time. For now, look for cappellaci, a stuffed pasta filled with lamb, with asparagus and pecorino cheese.