Shady Grove Ranch

We are a real family-run farm dedicated to producing truly natural and healthy meats using rotational grazing practices, while avoiding the use of genetically-engineered feeds, subtherapeutic drugs, and icky additives to feed, the processing line, and the final packaged product. It seems that if there was something that could be done to mess up modern food, they’ve figured out a way to do it, and often don’t tell consumers like you about it! We believe food matters to good health and we are determined to raise our products cleanly and in a way that enhances the health of the soil, air, and water, that enhances the well-being of the critters, and that enhances the nutritive intake of the eaters–that’s us! Read on for more details. Meet the Cadmans. Matt and Jerica met during engineering studies in college. Jerica was a freshman and Matt was a “super senior,” and though Matt stands a good 13 inches taller than Jerica, it seems we were a perfect match for each other! We married in 2006 and moved to Shady Grove Ranch in 2010, the same year that our first child was born, and the same year that Matt’s parents joined us in East Texas to carry out this crazy dream of a pasture-based farm run by engineers. Matt and Jerica now have 4 children with another expected to arrive in the spring of 2018. Jerica’s two brothers and mother have also relocated to Texas, and Jerica’s mother plays the ever-supportive and essential role of Gigi to all her sweet grandbabies. Early on in college, Matt was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a chronic (“incurable”) autoimmune disease of the intestine, and was able to keep it in moderate remission for a number of years, but had to be very careful about the things he ate, still not really understanding that this remission was likely temporary and drug-induced. Just after we became engaged, Matt was hospitalized with a terrible flare-up of his disease. He was absolutely debilitated and only by God’s grace was he able to escape from the medical machine with his body still fully intact (aka no surgical removal of the colon). After Matt’s strength returned, we were married, and Matt faithfully took his pills and followed doctors’ orders, eating his prescribed low-nutrient, highly-processed diet, and desperately attempting to avoid sources of bacteria, misunderstanding that not all bacteria are bad. Still, less than 6 months after the wedding, Matt was hospitalized again with the same severe degree of terrifying symptoms. And again, only by God’s grace was he able to be released without surgery, and it was then that we started down the path toward healthier eating. We began implementing traditional eating principles based on the work of Dr. Weston A. Price. Nothing too shocking or strange when one considers what people have eaten for millennia. The foods Dr. Price prized as most healthy have only recently fallen out of favor with the rise of industrialized agriculture and food processing. But it was hard to find the right kinds of foods raised in the right way, especially here in East Texas. We had a passion to help others struggling with autoimmune disease, so we decided to use our engineering training to become full-time grass-farmers. In 2010, Matt’s parents and Jerica’s mother all teamed up with us in various ways to begin growing these wonderful, healing foods for East Texans and North Louisianians. We are excited to be here to serve you and hope our efforts aid you on your journey back to good health! What kinds of foods are really healthy? As it turns out, there’s no magic diet. The foods that are best for people also happen to be best for the land and animals, too! We strive to eat wholesome, old-fashioned foods raised in a natural way and prepared at home without chemicals, preservatives, genetically-engineered foods, and artificial ingredients, and most importantly, animal products from critters raised on living green vegetation. We added things like real mineral salt, raw milk, yogurt, fermente