where to buy lamb straight from the farm?

Hazen · Post by **Hazen** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:12 pm

Hi all,

Does anyone know where to buy lamb, eggs etc straight from the farm in Southern Finland? I recently bought some organic beef from a farm in Porvoo (http://www.bosgard.fi). Apart from the great taste, I like the idea of being able to see the conditions in which the animals are raised.

Thanks

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lionel · Post by **lionel** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:58 pm

Hi

The problem you will find is that although many people produce organic live stock, they are only allowed to sell it to registered farms or butchers. We used to sell lambs and sheep as "lawnmovers" for spring and summer then they went into the freezer before winter but now we cant even do that as anyone wanting to buy live animals has to register as a farm and get an official farm no. Obviously your casual summer cottage person doesnt want this problem. Also with home butchering you can only use the meat for your immeadiate family if you want to give, swop, share it etc you have to have a butchering certificate of competence and it has to be vet inspected...........

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 1:26 am

That's interesting. We used to get our sheep from a farm in Fiskars but this year he has stopped doing it. It was excellent meat and the cost was much less than the going rates in the supermarkets.

I guess you could try contacting Mr. Wotkins and put in an order for a whole sheep in October/November (they are usually slaughtered after the first snow fall). Try calling their tehtaanmyymälä in Sörnäinen (it's just round the corner from Heino).

http://www.chef-wotkins.com/index.php?p=yhteystiedot

BTW the best Finnish lamb is supposedly from salt marshes in Åland. Reinin Liha in Hakaniemi market sells it. Very pricey.

Karhunkoski · Post by **Karhunkoski** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:43 am

All meat must be slaughtered in premises with a meat licence. A farmer is allowed to buy back some of the meat, perhaps this is what he was selling to you Pen?

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 9:54 am

We either picked up the lamb(s) in a box already slaughtered and butchered (not sure where the butcher was located, but I know there is one at West Chark in Pohja so it could have been him) or, a few years back, we grazed sheep (our mökki neighbour had them on her land) and then we had them slaughtered by the local butcher.We never slaughtered them ourselves and I know farmers are not allowed to do it.

Either way, it looks like we cannot do it any more. I will have to look into the legislation though as there must be a fine line between having a pet pig and technically being a farmer. Sheep are really good at keeping the grass down between the trees (and maybe more eco-friendly than the lawn mower) - I guess it is another EU directive aimed at stopping Parisians from raising cattle in their suburban backyards

I am surprised though, there are a TON of people raising their own pigs and sheep in the UK (see the forum on Hugh Fearnley Whatsits website, very trendy thing to do amongst the Aga Set) and I doubt very much if they are all registered farmers.

Karhunkoski · Post by **Karhunkoski** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 10:41 am

penelope wrote: I guess it is another EU directive aimed at stopping Parisians from raising cattle in their suburban backyards

Or perhaps aimed at making sure you don't turn a corner and find a man with a struggling sheep between his knees, having it's throat cut

wattypiper · Post by **wattypiper** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 1:49 pm

"Or perhaps aimed at making sure you don't turn a corner and find a man with a struggling sheep between his knees, having it's throat cut

"

So you've been wandering around Greek villages too!

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:29 pm

To return to the original poster's question...

You can buy organic eggs in every supermarket (at least down here you can).
Eggs are tested for salmonella and if they are infected they are diverted to the factories and processed. So it is OK to eat raw any egg that you buy in the shops (eg mayonnaise, chocolate mousse). The salmonella testing obligation may explain why fresh eggs are not sold fresh from farms.

If you really want to eat organic then you gotta learn to shoot

Karhunkoski · Post by **Karhunkoski** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:43 pm

Do they test every egg though?

lionel · Post by **lionel** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:37 pm

Karhunkoski wrote:Do they test every egg though?

They do faecal testing on the chicken pens as far as I know, as thats all they did with our birds and then you are usually ok for 6 months unless your birds start showing symptoms of salmonella

Karhunkoski · Post by **Karhunkoski** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:46 pm

Thanks lionel.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 9:37 pm

Bought some organic pork from a farm in Ekenas today and they also have organic beef but no lamb. The beef is from their own cattle but the pork comes from a farm (organic) in Ostrobothnia and is frozen. The farm shop has a brilliant selection of home grown grains/flour including spelt.

The farm is called Mörby Gård and it is on the road (might be 1013???) that runs from Pohja 111 down to Ekenas. This is a grit road about 14 kms long and I guess the farm is about 1/3 of the way down from Pohja. There is a sign pointing down another grit road towards the farm, it isn't difficult to find. Phone 019-205 090 (they speak English). Mrs. Alm said the availability of meat is usually posted on their website.

http://www.saunalahti.fi/~talm1/index.html
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Eu ... i-R-1.html

I also found out that there is an organic sheep farm in Ekenäs but I haven't found it yet. Will let you know more when I have been there!

Kupcake · Post by **Kupcake** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 11:35 pm

penelope wrote:Bought some organic pork from a farm in Ekenas today and they also have organic beef but no lamb. The beef is from their own cattle but the pork comes from a farm (organic) in Ostrobothnia and is frozen. The farm shop has a brilliant selection of home grown grains/flour including spelt.

The farm is called Mörby Gård and it is on the road (might be 1013???) that runs from Pohja 111 down to Ekenas. This is a grit road about 14 kms long and I guess the farm is about 1/3 of the way down from Pohja. There is a sign pointing down another grit road towards the farm, it isn't difficult to find. Phone 019-205 090 (they speak English). Mrs. Alm said the availability of meat is usually posted on their website.

http://www.saunalahti.fi/~talm1/index.html
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Eu ... i-R-1.html

I also found out that there is an organic sheep farm in Ekenäs but I haven't found it yet. Will let you know more when I have been there!

This is good information Penelope - thanks. The Christmas festivities sound nice too.

Please let us know how the meat tastes.

onkko · Post by **onkko** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 12:22 am

Since im bored i decided to do some googling (i have black belt on google

).
There is organic(food) union and they have searchtool.
There is also union for berry and fruit farmers and they also have searchtool.
If you want to buy wine then look this.
Those are all "buy directly from farm" places (suoramyyntitila in finnish) but unfortunately mostly in finnish.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:07 am

And the organic association:

http://www.luomuliitto.fi/

(also only in Finnish)

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