Ridge Lane Ranch Delivers Farm to Fork Products and Services

Michelle Pinon News Advertiser

Ridge Lane Ranch, a family owned and operated local business offers top quality beef, pork and poultry to consumers.

They also have a variety of cattle breeds with a commercial herd and purebred Gelbvieh and Speckle Park cattle along with some longhorn breeds such as: Highlands, Longhorns, and Brahmas. On the farm you’ll also find llamas, pig and horses and at certain times of the year, chickens and turkey. They throw in a few goats and sheep for good measure. The farm, located about 20 kilometres from Vegreville was founded by Jim and Hedi Sokalski who were married in 1979. Together they established a yard and a home where there had previously been grainland.

They were brought together by a shared vision of raising their family within a rural setting. Because growing up on family farms meant a lot to them, that was the lifestyle they wished to continue and pass on to their children.

The farm started as a mixed operation with cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens and grain. Over time the grain farming aspect was phased out and the livestock operation flourished. “Our main areas of focus now are cattle and chickens, though we also have llamas, horses and pigs. We have been selling meat chickens directly to customers since 1979; however, within the last five years we also started marketing our beef and pork for farm-to-table sales,” say the Sokalski’s.

“While we are no longer into growing cereal crops, plants are still very important to us! We believe in staying away from pesticides and herbicides in order to turn out nutritious plant food for ourselves and our animals. A huge garden every summer means that we get to eat our own fruits and vegetables for quite a large part of the year - oh so tasty!”

They went on to say, “We strive to be good stewards of the earth by being friendly to our animals and our environment. We are committed to raising our animals as naturally as we can, without added steroids or hormones, and we incorporate a variety of grasses, legumes and other plants into our pastures to help promote soil health. Healthy soil is lasting soil, and without lasting soil...well...WE wouldn’t last!”

They believe their healthy farming practices affect the quality of their meat, and we are very happy to be able to provide direct sales of high-quality beef, pork and chickens to their customers.

“There have been many challenges over the years, but the rewards far outweigh them. We are always concerned about things like cattle prices and the weather, escalating input costs and external factors that are out of our control, such as BSE. The rewards are many: we get to wake up every morning to God’s beautiful creation - fresh air and gorgeous scenery; our children and grandchildren have had natural, wide-open spaces in which to grow and explore. We have had the opportunity to be exposed to the richness of the life cycle right from the time they were young. This is very important to us, because it has given us an understanding of the world.

Recently we have seen a surge in customer inquiries that began around the beginning of April. We attribute most of that initial interest to supply chain interruptions; however, we are hopeful the COVID crisis has caused more people to be interested in adopting healthier eating habits while also opening the door to consumers being more comfortable with purchasing their food directly from the farmers who grow it. We feel the farm fresh approach is a highly sustainable model that benefits producers, consumers, the environment and the economy.”

Currently, four children and nine grandchildren are involved in their own ventures, but remain strongly linked to the family farm. The day-to-day farming activities are carried out by Jim and Hedi and the entire family comes together for more labour-intensive events like cattle drives, branding and tagging cattle and chicken catching and delivery.

There is never any shortage of work to be done on the farm, but this is one family who wouldn’t want it to be any other way.

Pictured from left to right are: Miranda Ketchum, Hedi and Jim Sokalski (holding Ashleigh Ketchum), Matthew, James, Jesse, Austin Sokalski, with Kaden Sokalski in front in the navy shirt. Missing are: Joshua and Ashton Ketchum, Jessica Sokalski, Jon and Mykaela Van Soest and their kids Karol, Gemma, Casimir and Rosalie.