Being able to ‘read the room,’ so to speak, regarding the focus on the part of some consumers in the lives and habitats of livestock, Paige feels the way they raise the hogs on her family’s farm may help to alleviate concerns held by conscientious consumers. “I know people are all about … pasture raised, … organic, … all that good stuff. … And I just think our hogs thrive on the open barn [system] and doing whatever they can,” she said. Word of mouth, they say, is the best marketing platform, and Paige said her family has heard from the processor they sell their meat to, that customers are happy with their pork. “A lot of people like our bacon … because it has a bunch of marbling on it,” she said.

 

With an eye on practicality, Paige understands that freezer space for large amounts of meat, which would be necessary for a whole hog, could be a problem for many potential customers. To remedy this, she has designed purchasing options for customers to select varying amounts of meat. “I sell in boxes, so I [have] a starter box, which is a quarter of a hog. … So, it’s roughly 20 pounds of meat [and] you get … the main cuts everyone knows – bacon, chops, sausage, and around here we have a lot of pork burger sales, so we have those too,” she said. In addition to the quarter hog, she offers options for a half a hog and a full hog as well.

 

Paige has big plans in mind for her future after high school. Currently her strategy is to attend Lake Land College in Mattoon in pursuit of a degree in Agricultural Business or Agricultural Production. “I want to do something in agriculture. I probably will come back to the family farm and help my dad and my uncle farm, and hopefully keep this business I have, and hope that it will keep growing and expand on production,” she said.

 

Paige also enjoys sports, playing volleyball on her school team as well as club volleyball, for which she has the opportunity to travel a little. “I’ve been to St. Louis, … I’ve been to Indianapolis, … Belleville area, and Champaign Not too far, I don’t go, … crazy, like everywhere, [so] it’s not too much,” she said.

 

A strong sense of community is also very important to Paige. Through the CEO program, she’s had the opportunity to connect with business leaders all over Jasper County, and it’s been an eye-opening experience for her. “We go on a lot of business trips, or have guest speakers, and every time they talk, I’m reminded how big they are in Jasper County. And it’s just … it’s kind of crazy, like, ‘Oh, I never knew that’, you know. And it’s kind of cool what they do and how they give back [to the community],” she said.

 

As a whole, Paige said, the community is great at supporting and helping each other out, be it students, local businesses, or individuals. “They really do support the school a lot. … I’m in FFA, and a lot of businesses support the … FFA, and they give a lot of money to it. Same thing with CEO, the community and a lot of businesses – we have a lot of investors who really care about … all the clubs here at NCHS,” she said.

 

There’s a lot to be said for Paige’s ‘do-what-you-love’ thesis. There’s a lot of meat on that bone.