If you’ve ever taken a close look at the lamb that floods the grocery stores around this time each year, you might have noticed that it nearly all comes from New Zealand or Australia. Even our neighborhood butcher, who sources most of his meat from here in Virginia, gets his lamb from outside the area.  But looking to create a more sustainable Passover/Easter menu last year (we celebrate both, so Easter dinner is usually leavening-free, though not strictly Kosher), I was thrilled to meet the “lamb lady,” Elaine Boland, at our local organic grocer, MOM’s. We served her leg of lamb last Easter and found it to be the freshest, most tender, and flavorful lamb any of us had ever tasted.

Sadly, MOM’s no longer stocks Elaine’s lamb (they have a largely vegetarian customer base), so on a recent sunny spring day my sister-in-law, the toddler and I hit the road to visit the farm in person. Fields of Athenry, near Middleburg, Va., is just over an hour’s drive from the District. The family farm is nestled in the foot hills of the Bull Run Mountains, and the drive through Virginia’s horse country with freshly blossoming trees and new spring grass just popping up could not be more refreshing.

Pulling up to the stately country house, a troupe of friendly dogs rushed out to greet us. A voice called from down the hill, beckoning us down to the watering station and chicken coop. Geese chased each other in the pond, while ewes and lambs lazed about in the sun. A chicken sauntered up and lured the toddler to follow him over to see the chickens and (heritage) turkeys nesting. Two llamas and a horse rounded out the menagerie, all looking content as they soaked up the sun on the grassy hillside.

After visiting with the animals, we ventured into the store. A children’s area with chalk and crayons kept the boy entertained while Elaine and her assistant filled me in on the freshly processed, 30-day aged Black Angus beef that had literally just arrived from the butcher. (Cows and additional sheep are pastured at other locations nearby in Virginia and Pennsylvania.) I picked up some NY strip and short ribs, and selected a lamb shoulder from the freezer. They had just sold most of the lamb to one of the local restaurants they supply. (Last summer, we sampled the phenomenal Baa Baa Black Sheep pizza, with Athenry’s lamb sausage, feta, tomatoes, spinach and balsamic glaze, at Fireworks Wood-Fired Pizza in Leesburg – which, incidentally, has an impressive craft beer list as well as locally-sourced pizza toppings.)

As we witnessed, all the animals raised by Fields of Athenry are able to roam and graze freely, grass-fed and well cared for. In fact, their methods met Alice Waters’ exacting standards and Athenry’s lamb was served at Waters’ exclusive Inaugural dinner party earlier this year.

We had arrived near closing time, and Elaine was rushing out to pick up her kids from school, but took a minute to invite the boy inside the house to meet her 14-day-old puppies. He had been pretty excited by the geese and sheep, (singing “We’re going to the sheep farm, the sheep farm…” as he got dressed that morning) but the look of pride and wonder as he gently held a tiny puppy under his arm was truly priceless. (Click here for more photos from our visit.)

Fields of Athenry is open this weekend (Sat. 10am-3pm, closed Sundays), and is accepting orders for Easter weekend until noon next Weds., April 8. (Note that they will be closed Easter Saturday, so all orders will have to be picked up by Friday, April 10.) They deliver to various drop-off points in Loudoun County (see below), and with enough interest, may be able to arrange a drop-off in Northern Virginia – so do sign up for their email list and let them know if you’d be interested. And if you’d like to visit the farm, be sure to check the event schedule for upcoming “Farm to Community Health Outreach” seminars.

Where to Find: Fields of Athenry’s sustainable meat products (lamb/beef/chicken and heritage turkey for Thanksgiving) are delivered by pre-order to locations in Broadlands, Ashburn, Leesburg and Reston, and are available at the farm five days a week (Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri. and Sat.).

And, their meats are served at Equinox in DC and these Loudoun County, Va., restaurants: Good Stone Inn, Tuscarora Mill, South Street Under, Fireworks, Midas Touch, Bluemont Vineyards, Natural Mercantile of Hamilton, thewinekitchen, Vintage 50, and American Flatbread.

Lastly, one of my favorite Passover/Easter lamb recipes is “Roasted leg of lamb with Artichokes” from Gourmet. I’ve also made one with a shallot red wine sauce, but can’t find it at the moment.

(Shared with Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday – check out the round-up for great info and ideas from fellow real foodies.)

This weekend we enjoyed a brisk (to put it mildly) trip up north to Feezers organic Christmas tree farm in Mariottsville, Maryland.

It was just a little further than the farm we went to last year, and we actually paid a little less for a lovely blue spruce. One caveat, there weren’t a whole lot of taller trees to be found as most topped out around 5-6 feet. They do supplement their offerings with (non-organic) Fraser firs from Pennsylvania. And the complementary hot chocolate and candy canes are just the thing to warm up little hands after the hard work of hauling ones tree back up the hill is complete!

Last week I noted the Green Promise organic tree directory; if you don’t have an organic farm nearby and still need to find a tree, consult the National Christmas Tree Association’s search feature. Even if they’re not organic, a locally-grown tree helps support green spaces and fresh air near your hometown!

On last year’s trip to the Oregon coast, my mom and I visited the Lincoln City Farmers Market and came across the largest zucchini I’d ever seen. This year, we headed to the source, Barking Dog Farms, just south of Lincoln City at the base of the Siletz River. This was perhaps the greenest, lushest little farm I’ve ever seen, clearly benefiting from the cool, damp climate. The toddlers snacked on watermelon and picked dandelions while the rest of us checked out the offerings.

My sister-in-law chatted with the owner about their heirloom seed supplier as we drooled over the beautiful tomatoes, zucchini, and cut-to-order herbs and greens. I brought back a large, freshly harvested leek, garlic chives, romanesco zucchini, black russian tomato, pluots and some local goatzarella cheese from Fraga Farm. The leek and chives were used in my oven-roasted salmon, and I made a roasted zucchini, tomato and goatzarella salad to serve on the side. Just two of those hearty zucchini fed the entire family of 10!

Hitting the road soon? Check out Culinate’s “Local 50: Good things to eat in every state.”

Milk was the first step in our transition to organic foods, as I first learned about bovine growth hormones (rBGH) shortly after getting knocked up way back in 2006. As I had given up soda and all but the bare minimum of caffeine (1 small coffee), I was drinking a lot of milk and it didn’t take much to convince me to switch to organic milk. At first, the husband objected to paying twice as much, and challenged me to tell the difference in a blind taste test. When I correctly identified the organic by looks alone, and then by taste, he started to believe there may be a difference.

Soon after the toddler’s first birthday, and transition to cow’s milk, someone sent a message on our neighborhood listserv that a Maryland dairy would consider starting home delivery to our area if 72 families signed up. Apparently I was not the only one to jump at the chance, as they surpassed that number in two days! In October, the milkman made his first delivery to our front porch, and we couldn’t be more in love. Coming from free-ranging, grass-eating cows, bottled on site in real glass bottles, and appearing on our porch every Monday – could we be any luckier? The toddler is addicted to their milk, and checks the cooler nearly every day to see if the new bottles have been delivered. A few weeks ago, we headed up to the dairy for their Spring Cow Caper Festival. The toddler was mesmerized by the “mooo!” cows, talked to and fed the baby calves, and played for hours on the farm. They had barbecue, made from their beef and local pork, milk and cheese samples, and tasty ice cream.

While the farm is not certified organic, they allow their cows to eat grass or a corn/soy feed that is grown on the farm, are antibiotic and growth hormone free, and use no pesticides on their fields. (I inspected some bags of grain seed in the barn and was pleased to see not a Monsanto label in sight!) Watching the cows graze peacefully in the bright green hollows, it was hard to imagine that most dairy cows live very differently.

Perhaps the most exciting part of our experience is seeing my husband converted into a Creamery disciple – frequently pouring glasses of milk for friends and visitors. Almost without fail, their first reaction is “Wow, that tastes like milk.” I also get a kick out of seeing new customers gush over their rediscovery of what milk really tastes like. Here are some other new customers’ reactions:

• Aimee at DCMetroMoms
• Melissa McCart at Counter Intelligence
• Ed at TheSlowCook
• RedWattle, who aptly titled his post “Love in a Glass”
• Corinne at LittlestBird gave herself South Mountain milk as a Valentine’s present (see a theme here?)

Local? South Mountain delivers all over Northern Virginia, DC, Baltimore and Western Maryland. Check it out!

Updated 7.16.08 to add Baltimore, per Mike’s comment below. Thanks, Mike!