The Conservation Fund is working to revive and sustain Chicago metropolitan area farms through its Farms Fund program. This is the second in a series spotlighting its work with farmers in the south suburbs.
Marty Thomas previously never gave much thought to what was in his food or where it came from, and he believed buying organic food was a waste of money.
That all changed for he and his wife, MariKate Thomas, after he survived a battle with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of cancer linked to exposure to glyphosate, a chemical prevalent in conventional farming, the couple shared.
“After he got on the other side of the cancer, we started asking what are we doing with our lives, what was the meaning of everything we went through,” said Marikate Thomas. “What is the meaning of all the things we learned through this experience. … We wanted to make a difference.”
That led them to launch Kakadoodle, a farm business that raises chemical-free and antibiotic-free chickens and produces pasture raised healthy eggs. Initially it operated on 5 acres at their home in Frankfort. Kakadoodle now also has a 74-acre site in Matteson the nonprofit Virginia-based environmental group the Conservation Fund purchased for them.
The couple are a participant in the Conservation Fund’s Farms Fund program which acquires land for farmers who lease the property and then purchase the land at agriculture value in three to five years. The goals are to help keep communities supplied with healthy, locally produced food and to tackle inequities in farmland ownership.
The program is designed to help address the biggest challenge facing the next generation of farmers — finding affordable and secure access to farmland, said Kelly Larsen, the fund’s Chicago Metro farms fund manager.
Since the program launched in Chicago in 2022, it has secured five farms totaling more than 220 acres, which are serving more than two dozen farmers. The farm businesses are more than 70% owned by Black farmers, Indigenous farmers, other people of color and women.
Kakadoodle started with about 100 chickens. It now has about 2,500 chickens and is producing about 5,400 dozen eggs a month, said Marty Thomas.
There is a hunger among consumers for healthier foods, but for new farmers interested in satisfying that demand, it’s difficult, he said.
“People have this desire even in urban areas to know where their food is coming from,” he noted. “That’s increasing. I think there’s a lot of opportunity for farmers to take advantage of that market, but it’s almost impossible to do because you can’t get access to land especially in our area where it’s fairly populated.”
Farmland is getting eaten up by subdivisions, and the value of that farmland, because it has development value, it’s “prohibitively expensive,” he said.
“There’s no way we could have afforded to get onto farmland in this area without the Conservation Fund,” he said.
The Farms Fund program’s work with farmers in urban and suburban communities can make a positive difference, he said.
“I think it’s going to increase our communities’ awareness of what good food is and why it’s important and the effects that processed foods and chemicals can have on our bodies,” he said.
He also expects it will help “breathe new life into communities through agriculture.”
Kakadoodle’s site in Matteson, with pastured birds and their guard dog. (The Conservation Fund)
Kakadoodle’s eggs are sold at Dunning’s Market in Flossmoor, Randy’s Market & Deli in Orland Park and Brookhaven Market’s metropolitan area stores. The couple plan to soon open a pick-up location in downtown La Grange, said MariKate Thomas.
Besides being egg producers, Kakadoodle produces garlic, pumpkins and fresh flowers, and it runs an online marketplace with delivery service that sells chemical-free eggs, dairy, produce, greens, meat and other products produced by 20 Chicago metropolitan area and Illinois family farmers, said Marty Thomas. He previously worked in web design and software technology.
The couple said the marketplace business grew out of its desire to make locally sourced, healthy food easily accessible.
But it’s “more than just a marketplace; we’re a community-driven initiative dedicated to reversing the negative impacts of industrial agriculture on our health and environment,” its website notes. “Embracing regenerative farming practices, we ensure every product we offer contributes to a healthier, more sustainable world.”
Regenerative farming works with nature to grow food free of chemicals as opposed to against nature, and the end result is more nutritious, healthier food, Marty Thomas explained. He shared that before his cancer experience, he didn’t know what regenerative farming meant. He’s glad he knows today.
The work is fulfilling, the Thomases said.
“Interacting with the community and the people we are serving has been awesome,” said MariKate Thomas, who worked as a nurse before becoming a farmer. “People say this is what we needed. This is so important. We want this.”
They are looking forward to expanding Kakadoodle’s reach.
“We are looking to get real chemical-free food in the hands of as many people as possible,” Marty Thomas said. “We currently only serve about a 15-mile radius of our farm. We are 40 minutes south of Chicago. Our ambition is to start to work our way toward Chicagoland as we start to expand geographically. We’re going to let this go as big as God is willing.”
“It’s really awesome to be on the front lines of this,” said MariKate Thomas. “At the end of the day, at the end of all of this, we are going to be really proud of what we’ve built because it’s for good. It’s leaving something for the next generation, growing our food in a healthier way.”
Francine Knowles is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.
