Shelby County family shares Earth's Promise
By CHRIS ALDRIDGE, Kentucky Agricultural News
Sandy Corlett grew up in Louisville, but she dreamed of living on a farm and growing all the food her family would need. At college in Wisconsin, she was exposed to books by ecologists John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, and Aldo Leopold. She could often be seen immersed a book titled “Farming for Self-Sufficiency on 10 Acres.”
Sandy Corlett watches over her chickens at Earth's Promise Farm in Shelby County. (Photo by Bill Holleran) |
Jason Tucker’s childhood was spent in his native Campbellsville and later Louisville. He grew up working in his family’s vegetable garden, which always covered at least an acre, even after moving to the city.
Corlett’s knowledge and Tucker’s experience have resulted in Earth’s Promise Farm near Shelbyville. The couple specializes in organic pastured poultry products – chicken, eggs and Thanksgiving turkeys – and operates a small CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) growing organic vegetables.
“Jason had a more realistic view of what we were trying to do, while I had more of a romantic view,” Sandy said. “When we decided to do this, Jason said the two things he didn’t want to raise were dairy cattle and chickens – and what are we doing? Chickens! Jason didn’t want chickens because of the smell, but with pastured poultry, we don’t have the health issues, sanitation problems or smelliness.”
Sandy makes a clear distinction between free-range chickens and pastured poultry. “Free range just means they get to go outside,” she said. “Pastured means they’re outside on a pasture.”
Most free-range chickens are raised using the chicken tractor method, in which a tractor regularly moves cages containing chickens to different parts of a pasture. Earth’s Promise pastured poultry uses a tent method, in which the chickens are kept inside large electrified nets that are moved to different parts of the pasture every two weeks.
“We give them a lot of room,” Sandy said. “They’re not in a cage, so they can act like a chicken. They can chase bugs, and they can eat fresh clover and grass.”
Sandy believes the fresh vegetation that her pastured poultry consume, supplemented with organic whole grain feed, makes her chicken taste better. “Several people have told me we have the best chicken in the state,” she said. Proponents say eggs, meat and dairy products from grass-fed animals have less fat, fewer calories, more vitamins and antioxidants and more omega-3 fatty acids (which are believed to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease and help brain function) than those from grain-fed animals.
Sandy said when she saw their first batch of chickens come back from the processor, she thought Jason had ordered the birds to be skinned.
“There’s no fat between the skin and the meat,” she said. “I thought they were skinned because the skin was almost transparent.”
Earth’s Promise sells its poultry primarily at farmers’ markets in Shelbyville and Louisville. It’s also sold at Metzger’s Country Store in Simpsonsville. Lilly’s restaurant in Louisville buys Earth’s Promise pastured poultry to use in its dishes.
“The timing for us is pretty good,” Sandy said. “We’ve kinda been aiming at this for a while, and right behind us is the whole local food craze.”
Earth’s Promise is doubling the size of its CSA organic garden, which grows everything from flowers and herbs to heirloom varieties of tomatoes and beans. The CSA operates from May through October, with produce pick-ups in Louisville and Shelbyville.
“We get many compliments on our chicken and vegetables,” Jason said. “Repeat customers will come for quality food.”
