When you talk about Icelandic meat, you talk about lamb. Since I came to Iceland lamb became my favorite main course. I still crave good beef stakes, but in this island, cows are rare and too expensive. Fish can hardly be called "meat" and chicken, is only a bird.
In this blog I'll try to educate myself to be more familiar with me food. It takes a long way for my lamb chops to resurrect on my dinner plate. This is how it happens:
Every spring thousands of sheep are released from their pens and cover the Icelandic prairie and mountains in what looks like a cotton balls plague. They are practically everywhere. White hairy dots can be spotted high on the mountains, down the valleys and crossing roads. During summer when the sun is shinning and there is plenty of grass to eat, it's party time for the Icelandic sheep.
The exodus of the Icelandic sheep.
We humans know that parties don't last forever. Just before winter, when temperatures starting to drop and the nights become longer it is the moment of truths for the Icelandic sheep. Farmers and their families go out on foot and on back of horses to gather the sheep back to the farms. It is time for the Icelandic sheep to meet its maker.
Not like our God. The God of Sheep is not so merciful for he has only one purpose for its devoted followers.
Every spring thousands of sheep are released from their pens and cover the Icelandic prairie and mountains in what looks like a cotton balls plague. They are practically everywhere. White hairy dots can be spotted high on the mountains, down the valleys and crossing roads. During summer when the sun is shinning and there is plenty of grass to eat, it's party time for the Icelandic sheep.
The exodus of the Icelandic sheep.
We humans know that parties don't last forever. Just before winter, when temperatures starting to drop and the nights become longer it is the moment of truths for the Icelandic sheep. Farmers and their families go out on foot and on back of horses to gather the sheep back to the farms. It is time for the Icelandic sheep to meet its maker.
Not like our God. The God of Sheep is not so merciful for he has only one purpose for its devoted followers.
One last drink before the party's over...
After the farmers collecting their sheep they will be gathered around the farms, where they'll be sitting and waiting for few more days until the right moment will come. Then (and this is where the second part of the blog take place) they will reappear in different forms and shapes in the supermarkets and meat stores.
After the farmers collecting their sheep they will be gathered around the farms, where they'll be sitting and waiting for few more days until the right moment will come. Then (and this is where the second part of the blog take place) they will reappear in different forms and shapes in the supermarkets and meat stores.
For those cute cotton balls are needless to say, very very tasty.
Back to the farm. This family appears to have more than one black sheep.
And this is how it sounded like...
Back to the farm. This family appears to have more than one black sheep.
And this is how it sounded like...
5 comments:
Beautiful pictures. We recently returned from living in Germany for almost four years and some of our best friends were natives of Iceland. While we never managed to venture that far north I've herad the scenery is absolutely beautiful.
Thanks for stopping by my blog and following!
LOL, I spend time on a ranch in Montana and have done the fall cattle drive to send the cows to market...it's very loud! All the babies bawling for their mothers.
In summer traveling around Iceland makes you think you are in one big farm. Horses, Sheep and cows are everywhere. Not so many humans though.
The pictures and video (my boys will love the sheep sounds!!) are wonderful!! What an incredible experience you are having.
Question: does the wind always blow? I have this image of it being windy most of the time...
I'm looking forward to more posts...it's always nice to meet new "friends"!!
a vegetarian's nightmare
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