Turakina farmer and entrepreneur Richard Redmayne is a happy chap - his Coastal Spring Lamb brand has doubled in size and he's getting great feedback.
The brand is in its fifth year and launches its 2014 season this week. It was his idea, based on his own farm, but 10 others are now involved.
Mr Redmayne decided lambs born early on warm coastal farms like his should be on New Zealand plates by Labour Weekend, rather than being shipped off to the Northern Hemisphere for Christmas dinners.
In his first year, 2500 lambs from his coastal Turakina Tunnel Hill farm were killed, from mid-October until early January. He said they got the best early spring grass, were not given growth stimulants or antibiotics, and were tender and tasty.
The idea took off and he invited more farms into the group, all of them with warm coastal locations and long histories.
This season there are a total of 11 farms, from both coasts of the lower North Island. They are co-ordinated to provide 2000 lambs a week for killing and processing at Land Meat in Wanganui.
In classic "pasture to plate" marketing, customers can see photographs of the farming families and their land at www.coastalspringlamb.co.nz.
The enterprise is bringing Mr Redmayne and his wife Suze delighted feedback from up and down New Zealand and worldwide.
A Christchurch woman who had farmed in Hawke's Bay got in touch recently, saying she loved eating lamb from the Bay while living in the South Island.
"The feedback we get makes it all worthwhile," Mr Redmayne said.
He came to his Wanganui Chronicle interview fresh from a spring lamb salad served at Wanganui's Element restaurant, where chef Iolie Murphy told him the weddings she caters for are requesting it this year.
She's not the only one inspired by the product - celebrity chef Josh Emett, a guest judge for MasterChef New Zealand, is one of many writing recipes for the lamb which are on the website.
The brand has also been formally embraced by the Foodstuffs New Zealand group of co-operatives. It's the only branded spring lamb brand now sold in 40 South Island New World supermarkets and 10 South Island Pak 'n Saves, and it's also available to all North Island New Worlds.
The owners of Wanganui New World, John and Victoria Kelly, are keen supporters of the product and have asked Logan Brown chef Shaun Clouston to do cooking demonstrations with it in their store on November 29.