Grove Ladder Farm is a 12 acre, pasture-based livestock farm serving Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto Counties.
We keep a flock of 1000 laying hens on our farm, starting a new flock every six months so that we can provide our customers with fresh eggs year round. We also raise Florida Cracker Sheep and Florida Cracker Cattle on our property to provide our customer family with ethically-raised beef, lamb and wool. Our sheep and cattle are critically endangered breeds with a rich Floridian heritage.
We raise our birds and herbivores on open pastures, with a species appropriate diet which includes full access to tender grasses and sunlight. Our chickens receive the highest quality NON-GMO grain; our sheep and cattle eat native Florida grasses.
Rotational grazing is a top priority on our pastures. Everything on our farm property moves, which means that our happy hens never sit on one spot for very long. We rely on moveable electric fencing and our wonderful Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs to protect our flocks from predators!
OUR FARM STORY
We truly are a small, family operation, run entirely by husband and wife team Tim and Chelsea Clarkson. We met at age 12 in our hometown of SRQ! Our four daughters, Celeste, Rosa Maeve, Guinevere, Sunniva, and our son Henry, are at the center of farm life.
Our dream began as a backyard hobby flock. Tim eventually left his county job to farm full-time and we began selling pasture-raised poultry at several Farmer's Markets. After five great years of working the markets and building relationships with customers and vendors, we decided to move to an online sales platform which would allow us total freedom over our inventory. Now our customers have a wider range of products to choose from, can shop on their own schedule and know exactly what products are in stock at all times.
We are proud to partner with many amazing local farmers and artisans to ensure that we are offering a wide range of ethically-raised, nutrient-dense food to our customers. We love providing our area of Florida with the best quality meat, eggs, vegetables and more. Our slogan says it all:
PASTURE TO THE PEOPLE
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Tim ClarksonFarmer
Tim ClarksonFarmerTim was born and raised in Sarasota. He grew up hunting and fishing, studied agriculture in high school and in his twenties escaped a job at the county landfill to become a full-time farmer! When he's not farming, he enjoys life as Pa to his 4 little farmgirls. He's happiest on the front porch of his cabin. Find Tim on Instagram by searching Grove Ladder Farm!
Chelsea ClarksonFarmwife
Chelsea ClarksonFarmwifeChelsea is a mama and a writer. She writes a column called Mothering Honestly for our local Mommy Magazine, all about life with her many daughters. On the farm, she mostly enjoys spoiling her flock of sheep! Her interests include handspinning, fiber art, literary fiction and hot sauce. Search chelsea.clarkson on Instagram to see photos of life in the #littlehouseonthepasture.