Organic Lamb Celebration. Workshop of cooking sheep in the ground.

Workshop of cooking lamb in ground. Later eating it together. First it is necessary to dig deep hole and line it with stones. Then there has to be a fire for the hole day. Then meat is put to the hole and the hole is covered with wood and soil. It cooks for about twelve hours.

Organic Lamb Celebration is series trying to find answers to the question what could be modern and sustainable way of living in rural Estonia. Estonian aboriginal small and resilient sheep breed, Kihnu native sheep, is perfect symbol to represent this question. Number of shepherds and number of sheep is constantly declining in Estonia and also the number of farms actively engaging in agriculture is in decline. Agriculture is concentrating to the hands of major producers and their decisions are based on economic considerations. Slowly growing Kihnu native sheep that has modest meat production does not seem profitable and major producers are never going to grow this breed. Does this mean that time is ending for the rare breed that has lived here for at least three thousand years? Or are there still other values and reasonings so that someone would still keep these sheep?

Most people living in rural areas are working in the cities, not in agriculture. Why would someone do hard and dirty manual labor, when it is possible to order food online? Why would someone produce something and work in mud when it is easier to just consume? Modern major agricultural producers are so effective that only very few workers are necessary. Is there any point in doing something yourself? What could people do for leisure on the countryside? Is there any point in living in countryside while living in suburbs is more comfortable and cheaper? Would it be shortsighted to loose old knowledge and skills? In this series we explore both new possibilities for rural living as well as rediscover old skills. We will seek place for our native agricultural species and explore what could be done with their produce.

Organic Lamb Celebration. Workshop of cooking sheep in the ground. is a part of the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024 side programme.

If you want to grab a bite or need a place to stay, see what the Tartu 2024 hospitality network offers in the area: https://tartu2024.ee/recommendations-kanepi