Spring has pulled asparagus back on to menus and Coastal Spring Lamb, a Wanganui initiative, hits the supermarket shelves to accompany it on Monday.
It's the third year of promotion for the Coastal Spring Lamb brand, the brainchild of Turakina farmer Richard Redmayne.
The lamb comes from five farms this year - Mr Redmayne's, the O'Neill farm in the Whangaehu Valley, a farm at Tangimoana, a farm at Hawera and a farm inland from Hastings in Hawke's Bay. They are all intergenerational family farms.
All the meat is processed at Land Meat in Wanganui, and this year it's being sold in all lower North Island New World supermarkets, 20 Auckland New Worlds and 10 South Island New Worlds. It's also at four selected butchers in New Zealand, a limited amount is available online in Hong Kong and wholesalers Neat Meat and Chef's Choice will be offering it to restaurants again this year. Wanganui's Red Lion Inn is one of them, and chef Sam Jones is working on a new signature dish.
Mr Redmayne is in discussions with a party in Europe, with a view to possible export, and has signs advertising the lamb on SH1 and SH3 near Bulls and Turakina.