Book Review: Coyotes in the Pasture & Wolves at the Door (raising sheep, cooking lamb), Part 1

Coyotes in the Pasture & Wolves at the Door, by John & Sukey Jamison (Word Association Publishers, 2018, 187 pp, $35), Part 1: The Words (reviewed by Skye Anderson)

I have been trying to figure out why I enjoyed this book so much since it contains 22 lamb recipes (with one fruit, one potato, and one cake recipe) and I do not cook. Is it because the authors, the Jamisons, live in the next state over and are about my age, having lived through the Hippie Generation? Is it because there are 22 short chapters (with an intro and epilogue)? Is it because the cover photo is so intriguing? Is it because the Jamisons, farmers in western Pennsylvania, are name-droppers with the likes of Julia Child (former spy), Anthony Bourdain, Jody Foster 

and several nationally known chefs?

Two Mortgages, Three Kids and No Job, But 200 Acres and 3,000 Sheep!

A wealthy cook and her husband start out to buy land and sheep to raise in the 1970s and end up selling to the great chefs of the world. The Jamisons manage to persevere amid the ups and downs of learning farming and became the nearly first mail-order lamb supplier to major restaurants in the country.

Sustainable Food, Humanely Raised Pasture-fed Sheep

Scrumptious photographs of the end-products of the recipes I will never make but will continue to drool over. I suppose I could attempt a couple since they seem easy, simple and I would start on recipes with the fewest number of ingredients like Loin Chops a la Grille on p. 112.

Writing Style, Book Organization and Suggestions

Authors John Jamison and his wife Sukey were English majors which may account for the readability of the short chapters, interspersed with humor and, even though the chapters are rather formulaic, they are still immensely enjoyable. Photos of the recipes are professional and the book is also dotted with family photos (and letters from Julia!), not captioned but easy to discern. The 'wolves at the door' expression refers to living on a shoestring in the early days but if you can explain the coyotes in the pasture, please let this reviewer know!

Stay tuned to more information about the recipes: my usual food reviewer lives across the country but I have found a local expert!

Oh, and two of the 'blog-chapters' also feature dogs, of course, like "Kate, the Wonder Dog"!