Garden of Eden Farms

Garden of Eden Farms natural grass-fed lamb. Lamb, that's better. Better for the lamb, better for the environment, better for you. And better tasting, too! We raise our sheep on the grass for which Kentucky is so rightly known. The limestone soils and abundant rain which nurture Kentucky's world famous Thoroughbreds also produce world class grazing for our sheep. The lambs graze with the ewes until they are naturally weaned- never confined or fed grain, antibiotics or hormones. The sunshine, fresh air and green grass keep them healthy, naturally. That's better for the lamb. Grass fed lamb is lamb that's better for the land, too. Land that's covered in grass and pasture doesn't erode like land tilled for crops. Land used for grazing can be productive without lots of synthetic fertilizer which can wash into creeks and streams before the plants can absorb it. When grazing the sheep naturally distribute nutrients evenly over the pasture, where they can be broken down and absorbed. Not only does this preserve the land, it helps keep our creeks and streams clear, protecting the water we all depend on. Best of all, grass fed lamb is lamb that's better for you and your family. Lambs grazing fresh green plants produce more of the 'good' polyunsaturated fatty acids we are supposed to eat more of, especially CLA, EPA and DHA- and less of the 'bad' artery clogging fats most of us need to drastically reduce in our diets. And the taste? Incomparable, full of fresh, complex flavor reflecting their diet. I live on one end of my husband's family farm in Montgomery County, KY. I have sheep. I also have two small children and the luxury of being home with them most of the time. I have always been serious about food, both from a taste standpoint and from a health standpoint. I banned margarine and other fake fats way back! That seriousness got more intense after I had my children, and started applying the same principles I learned in graduate school studying physiology and nutrition of livestock to feeding our family. I went from formulating rations to rationing formula and formulating weekly menus, menus that had to accommodate the kids' growth and my weight loss while addressing my growing unease with how some commodity livestock were being produced and distributed. You are what you eat. Especially while they are young and growing a lifetime's worth of bones and brains and other organs I felt like the kids deserved and would benefit from the very best quality food I could give them. I also needed to feel okay answering my kids' questions about where their dinner came from. I wasn't sure I could do that with commodity meat. I honestly feel like I live in the Garden of Eden, a little piece of paradise right here in the green hills of Kentucky where I can raise my sheep and my kids in clean, quiet healthy surroundings, with the natural world all around and us a part of it. I know not everyone is lucky enough to live on a farm and understand the difference between commodity food and real food. Crazy though it seems, I know not everyone wants to spend their predawn February hours checking for lambs, or their August afternoons sorting sheep. People still want to participate, feel like they have some input, some control over not just what they put in their mouths and their bodies but the process whereby it got there as well. People should have access to the producer as well as the product; you deserve the chance to ask how the lambs are raised and what they are fed and why that makes a difference. I do things the way I do because it's better this way, better for the lamb and better for the environment and better for the person eating the lamb, both physically and psychologically. I am proud to be the Eden of Garden of Eden Farms and I offer my lamb not just as a taste good, feel good, good for you entree but also as an entree, if you will, to a relationship. It is an invitation to a conversation about food and why it matters so much and what that means on a day to day farm where we raise animals for food.