Icelandic Lamb featured in Portland dining event!

The Ethical Butcher - also known as Berlin Reed, will be serving Icelandic lamb from

Dolce Farm and Orchards - this Friday, March 5th, 7:30 P.M for the Heritage Breed Supper Club: Icelandic Lamb in Portland, OR.

This dinner is a unique and wonderful opportunity to taste cuts from the whole Icelandic lamb-(including some of the offal) served in many varied styles! The date, times and menu follow-

Berlin is amazingly creative, ambitious and innovative chef. He is also a strong supporter of local farms, sourcing as much as possible raised nearby to add to his dining experiences! He has been featured recently in the Oregonian Food Day, and also creates Bacon from heritage Red-Wattle pigs/hogs (including Icelandic Lamb bacon-featured in the March 8th event) utilizing natural seasonings, some with fruits, spices, herbs, salts and? Wow!

Make your reservations soon - seating is limited-

Here is the menu and more info:

Friday,March 5th 730pm-Heritage Breed Supper Club: Icelandic Lamb

*10% off for those who attended the first Heritage Breed Supper Club, email for details.

savory lamb baklava and stuffed dates
pita, labneh & tabouli

tea, 5-spice and Italian plum roasted rack of lamb

cocoa rubbed spareribs glazed with aleppo pepper and orange

dukkah* loin chop with roasted fennel and mint coulis

*dukkah is a mixture of hazelnuts, sesame seeds and many spices ground finely to a paste. delicious.

lamb tangine with candied pumpkin and herb-pistachio rice

dessert

$28/person, 2 for $50
Guests encouraged to provide personal beverages. Limited seating.

609 SE Ankeny Unit A

Portland, OR 97214

Seating is limited , reserve a place by contacting

The Ethical Butcher

Hey Hay!

We've been searching for good hay to feed our Icelandic Sheep - The lambs really benefit from second cutting hay which has a higher protein content. What with unseasonal rains here in late July which ruined much of the hay crop in the Willamette Valley, more farm land being sold for housing developments - drought in the west, well, that equals a hay scarcity and higher prices. This leads us also to another decision - perhaps to take out much of our Italian prune orchard - many of the trees are 80-100 years old. The gophers are taking their toll - digging around the plum trees and eating the roots- eventually the trees fall over. So every spring it has been a woodlot festival - cutting up the windfalls for our firewood. The plum orchard hasn't yielded a commercial size crop in years - the tree bloom early, and often there have been rains and cold weather, so the pollinators can't get to the blossoms. So the thought is shall we grow hay on some of these plums acres? That way we can control what type of grasses/weeds grow, nutrient levels and perhaps even grow our own organic hay!! Points to ponder... The photo above is our pastures in August, time to feed hay.


Through a local hay connection, a local farmer showed up with a trailer of beautiful second cutting orchard grass - very leafy - 2 1/2 tons at $180 a ton - we jumped on it as I just paid $260 a ton for eastern Oregon second cutting orchard grass - last year's crop. We are firm believers in grass fed lamb, and will be offering lamb for sale sometime in late October - November 2007. The hanging weight is around 35 pounds - Icelandic lamb is very mild and lean, being grass fed it has higher Omega 3 content - our customers have really enjoyed the taste of our lamb. I know Whole Foods is importing on occasion lamb from Iceland, but why not support a local farmer (and of course the price is much lower locally than the imported Icelandic lamb). If you would like more information contact us at http://www.dolcefarm.com/