Under the Wings of Giants: Continuing the Jamison Lamb Farm Legacy at Ridgemeade Farm
After five years of intensive research, experimentation, and reflection, we finally made the decision to raise grass-fed and finished lamb, not just because it’s incredibly good for you, but because it’s the most beautiful, soulful, and expressive meat we’ve ever tasted.
But in choosing sheep and regenerative farming for our focus in life, we didn’t want to just follow a trend—we wanted to follow the truth.
That’s why I sought out John and Sukey Jamison as my mentors. Not because they were the loudest voices in the regenerative movement, but because they were the first, and in my mind, still the best.
Long before the Rodale Institute, before ‘organic’ was a label, and before Joel Salatin had ever coined the phrase “pastured poultry,” the Jamisons were already out there doing the real work. It was the early 1960s, and they had come across a book that would quietly change the course of American farming: Grass Productivity by André Voisin. That was the spark. Where others would eagerly build a brand, the Jamisons bought a quiet farm east of Pittsburgh and got to work. Every day they rotated sheep, built soil, honed flock genetics, and honored the land.
Their lamb—raised with patience, diligence, and precision—100% fed on native pasture—was legendary. Praised by the world’s culinary titans like Jean-Louis Palladin, Julia Child, and Dan Barber, amongst many others, it graced the plates of America’s finest restaurants from coast to coast. Not because of clever marketing or boutique labeling, but because it was simply that good. Period.
While some modern gurus monetize every tip and email, the Jamisons share freely, over coffee and a bowl of Sukey’s world-class soup. They remain the exact opposite of the modern influencer: grounded, humble, and uncommonly generous with their knowledge. No subscriptions required. Just open fields, open minds, and a lifelong passion for truly good food, stories, and laughter around an abundant table.
In their 80s, and now that they’ve retired their flock, we at Ridgemeade feel both honored and compelled to carry on the Jamison Lab Farm torch. Under their guiding hands—truly, even a single day of mentorship at the Jamisons’ farm table has been a gift—we graze our sheep with the same reverence and the same rhythms they perfected over decades. No grain. No drugs. No gimmicks. Nothing behind the curtain. Just good grass, healthy soil, and animals raised as they ought to be.
We are not reinventing anything. We are continuing a tradition—one rooted in humility, stewardship, and the quiet excellence of doing things right as modeled by so few individuals in this world. The Jamisons are such individuals - salt of the earth.
Our lamb stands shoulder to shoulder with the Jamisons’—equal in quality, flavor, and integrity. If it didn’t, we would abandon our efforts. But it does and we know it, and so do the chefs and customers who come back again and again.
At Ridgemeade, we’re proud to say we don’t just believe in better food—we believe in honoring the people who showed us how to grow it, the people who changed everything. Thank you, John and Sukey, for the trail you blazed and for showing us how to walk it with integrity. We’re walking it—faithfully.
To learn more about John and Sukey, read this Pittsburgh Magazine Article or visit their website HERE.
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Reserve Your Lamb Share Before They're Gone
Our pasture-raised, grass-finished lamb is typically reserved for the region’s most celebrated restaurants—but for a limited time, we’re offering whole and half lamb boxes direct to discerning home cooks.
Naturally raised with no grain, no drugs, and no shortcuts, each cut is expertly butchered, flash-frozen, and shipped nationwide in just 2 days.
Quantities are limited. Taste what the chefs already know.
