Our Story
We are Chad and Kesha Bates. We were both born and raised in Southern Illinois and are now raising our family here as well. Chad grew up farming alongside his family and, like every farmer, it is in his blood. I (Kesha) did not have a farming background but have always had a love for all things "old fashioned." Whether it involves music, cooking, food preservation or herbal remedies, my heart is happiest learning new skills and sharing the fruit of that labor with my family. We have 4 daughters and each one seems to have fallen in love with a different one of those areas. Chad is an old soul as well and that, combined with our tendency to be dreamers, means that we have spent our entire marriage attempting to create our perfect homestead.
As our family has grown over the years, so has our faith. A few years back our eyes were opened to areas of our life that we felt God wanted us to change. Certain scriptures and ideas were laid very strongly on our hearts and, after a lot of prayerful consideration, we decided to make a change. Chad left the family farm to pursue vegetable farming and expand our tiny homestead into a full market farm. In taking this giant leap of faith, doors began to open and we are very excited to see where God leads us.
We are enjoying this opportunity to learn and grow all together. There has been more time for Chad and the girls to play music together and to serve with our church, which has been such a blessing. We have been homeschooling for over 10 years but the knowledge and experience our children are gaining through all of this is invaluable to us.
Scroll down to learn more about our vision for the market & our practices at Bushel & a Peck Farm Market.
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Our market name came from my grandmother. Our girls didn't get to spend nearly enough time with her before she passed but she left that phrase engraved on our family. The scripture that is referenced in our logo is in regards to our deep desire to serve God through charity. While you likely won't see us openly sharing all that we do, just know that a good portion of every dollar you spend with us will be passed on to someone in need.
We believe that quality matters, as well as being aware of what you put on and in your body. (We also value time and realize that convenience definitely has its place!)
We have combined our love for the old fashioned ways with our love for farming. This has led us to create a market that will include everything from locally raised produce/meats and baked goods to handmade skincare. Ultimately, we pray that our market can be a blessing to our community, and that we can always be humble and willing to make it whatever God wants it to be. We hope that you will join us on this journey as we figure out our best way to serve!
Our Practices:
We have seen both sides of the fence when it comes to farming. We have spent the past 17 years row crop farming for a living while also building our own personal homestead. We have educated ourselves in organic growing over the years and feel that staying as natural as possible is best for any direct-to-consumer food. However, we also understand that, unless the amount of small-scale growers increases dramatically, there is still a need for conventional farming. It is very difficult to grow organically on the large scale that is needed to feed the current population.
While we still use conventional practices on our row crop farm, we are doing our best to avoid pesticides on our market farm and will fully disclose any exceptions. We source safe and reputable ingredients for our skincare products, extracts, etc.
We purchase organic flour, whenever possible, for our breads but at the very least we will always use unbleached. You should be able to pronounce all of our ingredients and if you are ever unsure, please don't hesitate to ask for more information! We are growing, cooking, baking and creating all of these products for our family as well. So, we care very deeply about what goes into them.
