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 production
- How different animals (chickens, pigs, sheep, cattle) work together to regenerate land
- Why transparency and on-farm visits build trust between farmers and eaters
- The role of farmers’ markets, and what separates thriving ones from failing ones
- How 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