[MikeLM]

Visiting daughter & family in Pittsburgh. Today we went on a tour of local farms supplying provisions as organized by

PASA - Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable

(We happened to be here last year to catch the first such tour, so we knew it was Fun For Foodies.)

We visited the Jamison Farm, where John and Sukey have raised grass-fed lamb for over 20 years.

Jamison Farm | Taste the Lamb the World's Greatest Chefs Call "America's Best"

They are evidently pretty well-known in professional food/restaurant circles (he mentioned Charlie Trotter and also a restaurant in NYC that they supply with 100 racks per week; also unspecified places in Vegas.) They have their own USDA packing plant in nearby Greensburg, and ship anywhere.

Their farm is a modest place up the side of a small mountain near Latrobe. That's not unususal - everything is up the side of a small mountain areound here.

They're both down-to-earth, and John was kind enough to have his sheep dog run a small flock past his visitors a couple of times. God knows how much weight they ran off- that dog moved them along pretty fast.

That dog is obviously smarter than some people on this site.

Nicko- I advised John Jamison (I used to run a consulting company, so I'm more than willing to offer advice) to look into advertising on this site, so I will expect an appropriate commission if something happens.

Anyway, we came back with a butterflied leg and some ground lamb. I'll report on the results when we prepare them.

We love to visit Pittsburgh, now that the steel mills are gone. My youngest son, then a dealer in industrial valves, helped to tear down several of them to salvage and rebuild the valves. There are a LOT of valves involved in steelmaking, in addition to the more spectacular furnaces.

So far, we've spent our time shopping for food, prowling the Strip - an ultre-funky district of restaurants and food and provision shops - and eating in nice restaurants. They've educated their two daughters - 14 and 11 - to appreciate the finer things in life, usually available only in upscale restaurants. It seems to me a really shortsighted approach to child rearing.

Mike