Josh & Jessica Guptill - We Want To Know Our Customers... Then Educate Them | #86

Josh and Jessica Guptill run Rehoboth Farm in Suffolk, Virginia, where they raise pastured chicken, pork, lamb, beef, eggs, and turkeys. Neither came from a farming family - Josh left the Coast Guard and Jessica is a doula - but together they built their farm from backyard beginnings, guided by faith and a belief in producing “healing food.” Their path is unique: from DIY chicken pluckers and bartering for land to scaling up during COVID, they’ve made transparency and education central to their work. Today they not only provide nutrient-dense food but also host workshops and farm visits, giving their community a firsthand connection to how food is grown.

This episode we discuss:

What backyard chickens taught them about the realities of food productionHow different animals (chickens, pigs, sheep, cattle) work together to regenerate landWhy transparency and on-farm visits build trust between farmers and eatersThe role of farmers’ markets, and what separates thriving ones from failing onesHow faith and community shape their vision of farming as a vocation

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Josh & Jessica’s backstory and first encounters with farming

00:07:00 Early challenges raising and butchering chickens

00:13:00 Deciding to leave the Coast Guard and pursue farming

00:19:00 Finding and moving onto their current Virginia farm

00:25:00 Scaling up chickens, pigs, and lamb during COVID

00:33:00 Why their farmers’ market works—and why others fail

00:40:00 Marketing, transparency, and building customer trust

00:48:00 The meaning behind the name “Rehoboth Farm”

00:53:00 Questions consumers should ask at farmers’ markets

01:00:00 Hosting on-farm classes and why visits matter

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