By Lawrence Emerson
FauquierNow.com Editor

Stomping through cow and chicken manure, he talks about the spiritual nature of farming.

His dark beard, with no mustache, hints that he could be Amish.

His dusty, green Toyota Echo subcompact hardly suggests that its driver lugs bags of poultry feed and cares for more than 1,000 animals on a typical day.

Jesse Straight, 29, came to his life’s work a bit later than most. He grew up as a suburban, soccer-playing kid who graduated from Fauquier High School in 2000. Five years later, he earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from the University of Virginia.

Despite appearances of a successful start on adulthood, Mr. Straight regarded himself as lost, however.

“I was really searching for what I was going to do. From 18 to 26, I was really troubled by what I was going to do with my life. I didn’t know how to figure it out.”

He thought about graduate school. He interned with Congressman Frank Wolf’s office and Smithsonian magazine. He worked as a Habitat for Humanity staff member in Charlottesville and helped a friend build houses.

About the same time, Mr. Straight immersed himself in the writings of Wendell Berry, an advocate of simplicity and life on a small farm.

Each day, he moves the 10-by-12-foot chicken shelters to fresh grass on rented land in Prince William.

Mr. Straight planted a quarter-acre garden in Charlottesville and sold produce to subscribers under the CSA (community supported agriculture) model. He got to know Joel Salatin, the Augusta County farmer who has become a guru for organic producers.

By then, Mr. Straight had married his longtime girlfriend Liz and they had a daughter on the way. He needed to figure out how to make a living — in a manner that suited his ethic.

“Joel is a great farmer and businessman,” Mr. Straight says of the Polyface Farm proprietor, who evangelizes about sustainable practices. “I read his books, and the emotional floodgates just came down. His model freed me.”

Thus, he became one of Fauquier’s leading poultry producers.

This Thanksgiving, he hopes to sell 300 organic turkeys from a seven-acre parcel tucked among subdivisions off Route 605 just northeast of Warrenton. His parents purchased the property as an investment several years ago. They rent the main house to a tenant. Mr. Straight, his wife and three young children live in apartment there.

He also raises pigs and sells eggs from about 150 laying hens on the property.

He rents a rolling pasture in western Prince William County for a handful of cattle and most of his chickens. Each day, he moves the chickens — housed in mobile, 10-by-12-foot shelters he built, using Mr. Salatin’s design — so they have fresh grass to eat.

Four black Angus steers graze ahead of the chickens, eating the tallest grass.

“I’ve really enjoyed the cattle,” Mr. Straight says as he moves a strand of electric fence that defines their grazing area. “Any animal that can be that big and that gentle is just amazing.”

The cattle and chickens work in harmony to help manage the pasture.

“The chickens follow the cattle, eating fly larvae and scratching out the manure to prevent a lumpy pasture,” Mr. Straight explains.

Since buying them in late April, he has given the cattle only grass, dried kelp (as a mineral supplement) and water. An “organic soap” added to their water takes care of worming. They will go to slaughter in early autumn.

In addition to grass, Mr. Straight’s chickens and turkeys eat organic feed from a Mennonite family in the Shenandoah Valley and organic grain byproduct from a brewery in Alexandria. His pigs eat non-genetically modified corn from Midland farmer Wayne Arrington.

The whole operation depends upon balance, “not overgrazing and not over-fertilizing,” Mr. Straight explains. “It’s based on intensive rotational grazing. The animals eat more, chewing on fresh grass . . . . And, it breaks up the host-pathogen cycle, putting less stress on everything.”

His chicks arrive by mail, soon after birth, from hatcheries in the Midwest. Cornish-cross chickens will mature in eight weeks and heritage-breed chickens in 12 weeks. Turkeys take about 16 weeks.

“Everything I do about farming has a theological foundation for me," he says.

Mr. Straight slaughters and processes all the poultry on the seven-acre property near Warrenton. A handful of friends and fellow local-food advocates volunteer to help, using about $5,000 worth of custom-made equipment in an open shed.

“Everything I do about farming has a theological foundation for me, wanting to promote life,” says the devout, converted Catholic. “So much of this is about fertility, what gives life. In some ways, it’s imitating the Creator.”

About two-thirds of his meat goes to restaurants, including Black Bear Bistro and Iron Bridge in Warrenton, Forlano’s in The Plains, the Inn at Little Washington and the Airlie Conference Center.

“We’ve gotten good customer feedback on Jesse’s birds,” says Nick Forlano, who owns the restaurant in The Plains. “I’m happy that we’re able to buy from farmers in Fauquier County. Supporting local agriculture is something this county really needs to do.”

Airlie Executive Chef Jeff Waite says: “We try to get to know local farmers and learn about the health and happiness of their animals.”

Mr. Waite has visited Mr. Straight’s operation and has helped process chickens there.

“His chickens are able to run around freely, and Jesse is just a great guy. He raises great quality birds that we’re happy to serve.”

Mr. Straight keeps freezers in his barn stocked with chickens and makes regular deliveries to local restaurants and to customers who have formed groups in Centreville and Charlottesville. Customers also may buy directly, by appointment, from the farm.

He works about 70 hours a week and runs a small home-improvement contracting business to make ends meet.

“We’re living a simple life . . . and basically trying to figure out what it takes to make a living.”

Within three years, he hopes to farm full-time. To do so, Mr. Straight must increase the number of animals he raises.

“I think what it’s gonna take to be full-time is around 10,000 chickens; this year, we’ll do 3,000. We have to go from 20 pigs to 60 and have a lot more beef. We have 150 laying hens; that’s gotta go to 400 or 500.”

He also must reach more customers.

“At this point, I’ve just relied on the product being so distinctive. People find it important and talk about it. So, it’s word of mouth. I just go out and try to make it known to people.”

He speaks to church and civic groups, “the Sunday Supper Club and the holistic moms’ group . . . . My main goal is that the product and service just speak for themselves.”

Although he has experience with technology, Mr. Straight has built his business without using the Internet. That approach dovetails with his desire to live simply. He again mentions Wendell Berry, who has written about “why a computer doesn’t make a good tool.”

His parents’ recent purchase of long-neglected Whiffletree Farm on Springs Road west of Warrenton should help Mr. Straight grow his business. When he starts farming the 82-acre property next spring, he’ll no longer need to rent extra pastureland and spend part of his day traveling to and from Prince William County.

He also envisions a day when it becomes a family compound, with some of his far-flung siblings returning to Fauquier.

“I love it; I don’t begrudge it at all,” he says of the labor. “We try to live very frugally. All day long, I get to make animals really happy. I get to make people, who love our food, really happy.

“I get to do that in close proximity to my family, where I grew up. I think it’s the best job in the world.”

If he can go full-time and make $50,000 a year, “I’d feel like the luckiest man alive.”

Thanksgiving turkeys
On Saturday, Nov. 19, Jesse Straight will slaughter and process 300 pasture-raised turkeys.
He sells them for $3.75 a pound.
He also sells organic chickens for $3.50 a pound.

For more information or to place an order, contact:

Jesse Straight’s Pastured Poultry
5703 Wilshire Drive
Warrenton, Va. 20187
540.349.3099

Other local links

See Ellen's Kitchen for tips on cooking an organic turkey this Thanksgiving and for links to other local producers.