Jessica Paige has a new vision for the future of food producers in America, whereby increasingly more people might build their own organic farm-to-table enterprise from the ground up and feed themselves and their community.
Every week, the 26-year-old first-generation Illinois farmer fills up boxes of her own “beyond organic” produce—heirloom tomatoes, spinach, carrots, onions, the works—and ships them off to her growing network of community support clientele, ensuring her a certain steady income flow.
She heads to the farmers’ market in Marengo, northern Illinois, on Saturdays and hears customers exclaim: “Best spinach on the planet!” and “I didn’t know spinach could taste this good!”
Duke’s Alehouse & Kitchen, a local farm-to-table gastropub, places multiple orders a week with Paige. So does the local Food Shed Co-op in Woodstock.
“Seeing these businesses prioritize local, regenerative food gives me hope for the future of small-scale agriculture,” Paige tells The Epoch Times.
With next to no experience, she dove in boldly, armed with little more than her religious faith, knowledge from a short farming apprenticeship on several small organic farms, and her studies, majoring in environmental science.
She'd attended college in New York before moving back home to Illinois to launch her new venture.
“The first few months were an intense whirlwind of activity,” she said. “Since the land had been previously farmed, I ran soil tests and immediately started building fertility with compost and cover crops.”
She added that starting out “felt both exhilarating and terrifying.”
Paige built an infrastructure system comprised of raised beds and irrigation, which a neighbor helped her with by lending her his tractor for several months. Soon it was time for planting crops, then to market her produce and build a community network.
“I mapped out my crop rotation plan, started ordering seeds over the winter, worked on building customers, setting up the CSA [community-support agriculture] program, securing spots at farmers markets, and made an effort to connect with other local farmers,” she said.
Paige started with a modest-sized garden, so her 63 acres still offer much room for future expansion.
With ideas of regenerative farming in mind, Paige says, her aim was to harmonize her farm with the local environment, working with nature, not against it. The “no-till” and “beyond organic” approach she uses means protecting the soil’s structure while using neither pesticides nor sprays of any kind—not even approved organic spray.
“I became really fascinated with sustainable agriculture and how we could heal the land and produce food in harmony with nature,” she said.
Regenerative farming is a self-sustaining, non-invasive way of growing food. Paige aims to create a mini-ecosystem that’s both “balanced and interesting” by raising a diverse mix of crops with varying needs and natural pest resistances. She introduces flowers into her garden to bring beneficial bugs and pollinators—not to mention beauty to match her flair for fashion.
By the end of the first year, Paige noticed that the soil had responded well to her methods. Her vibrant yield included tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, garlic, beets, leafy greens, and more.
But the effort wasn’t all sunshine and daisies. Plenty of work and sweat went into it.
“While I had worked on farms, running my own was a different challenge,” she said. “I questioned whether I had the stamina and resilience to handle long days in the field, unpredictable weather, and the pressures of self-employment.”
Last year, Paige’s farm was flooded and suffered crop losses. Other times, damage from pests struck unexpectedly. The Illinois climate can also bring plant-killing frosts.
Her response was to dig trenches and add more cover crops in the lower elevations to absorb the water next time. To protect from frost and insects, she now uses row covers. She always seeds extra, plants in succession, and strives for diversity in species so that if one crop fails another might succeed.
She says one of the big lessons she learned is that staying adaptable is imperative when facing nature’s unexpected curveballs.
A Garden For Community and Faith
Two years on, Paige has grown more than just food; she’s built real ties with her community, which intertwines with her regenerative approach. It’s mutual synergy—bugs, soil, crops, people, and relationships, all sustaining each other simultaneously.So, has her regenerative farm positively impacted Marengo, Illinois? Has it opened more doors for others to do likewise? Paige says the clean food she sells to her CMA members has “changed how they eat, encouraging them to cook more at home.”
“I’ve never eaten this many fresh greens and fresh produce in my life,” one customer told her—attesting to a latent demand for locally-grown food in the community. It’s possible more grassroots farmers will tap into that customer base.
Perhaps natural distribution channels also lie dormant, waiting for new local farmer startups like Paige’s to activate them. Local businesses like Duke’s Pub, for instance, received Adama Farm with open arms.
But not all have.
“Not everyone understands why I farm the way I do, and some people are surprised by the price of truly organic, hand-tended produce compared to grocery store prices,” Paige said. “I’ve had to educate people on why beyond organic farming is different and why it’s worth the investment.”
She plans to host workshops on sustainable farming and possibly farm-to-table dinners, featuring seasonal produce straight from the fields.
Projecting into the future, Paige says Adama is on track to being a profitable business by its third year in operation. But, she noted, the farm is more than just a business—it’s based on her Christian faith.
The name “Adama,” which means soil or dust, reflects that faith. “I chose that name after a lot of prayer and reflection,” she said. She had deep conversations with others about how the Scriptures are full of agricultural metaphors.
Adama reminds her that “from dust we came, and to dust we’ll return,” she says. While we live, we “care for the dust.”
“There’s a lot of hope and even a bit of spiritual audacity in farming—you put a seed in the ground and trust that God will bring the growth,” she said. “When I harvest in the summer, I am experiencing grace and abundance.”
In hard times, Paige leans on prayer and faith.
“I see farming as more than just a job or a business venture—I truly see it as my ministry of sorts,” she said, citing Genesis, wherein God puts Adam in the Garden of Eden to work and nurture it.
