Lambs Farm is a non-profit organization in Libertyville, Illinois, that provides vocational and residential services for over 250 adults with developmental disabilities. Located on a 72-acre (290,000 m2) campus, Lambs Farm includes several family attractions, including a petting zoo, a pet shop, a miniature golf course, several small amusement rides, a restaurant, a thrift shop, a country store and a bakery. Lambs Farm community members work at these attractions, or at a nearby vocational center.
Lambs Farm was formed in the 1960s by Corrine Owen and Robert Terese. Owen and Terese had been teaching at a school for adults with developmental disabilities, and were discouraged by the limited opportunities available to such people. In 1961, they opened a pet store near Chicago's Gold Coast and employed twelve of their students, who enthusiastically helped tend to the animals. Four years later, Owen and Therese acquired a farm in Libertyville with the help of W. Clement Stone and began developing the current Lambs Farm facility. By the late 1980s, Lambs Farm was hosting over 300,000 visitors a year, making it the third most popular attraction in Lake County, Illinois (behind Great America and the Ravinia Festival).
The farm takes its name from John 21:15, in which Jesus tells St. Peter, "Feed my lambs."
Famous quotes containing the words lambs and/or farm:
“When I from black and he from white cloud free,
And round the tent of Godlike lambs we joy,
I’ll shade him from the heat till he can bear
To lean in joy upon our father’s knee;
And then I’ll stand and stroke his silver hair,
And be like him, and he will then love me.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“His farm was “grounds,” and not a farm at all;
His house among the local sheds and shanties
Rose like a factor’s at a trading station.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)