Cobden, Illinois

Five years ago Gerardo Jimenez was speaking at a conference in Illinois when his wife Carol fell in love with a nearby plot of land. The couple purchased the property, and today peppers of all different shades of green and red spot the land the Jimenezes named Rancho Bella Vista.

Gerardo and Carol Jimenez’s farm is located in Cobden, Illinois. The Jimenezes had always grown peppers as a hobby, but after retiring they decided to develop their pastime into a business, Darn Hot Peppers. Today, they grow 21 varieties of peppers that they use to make salsas, jellies and seasonings.

Gerardo Jimenez said he learned about agriculture as a child and his experiences helped shape the way he runs his farm.

Growing up in a family of migrant farm workers, Jimenez said he labored alongside his brothers and sisters. The fields were sprayed constantly with herbicides and pesticides. After watching the people he knew become ill because of the chemicals from the fields, Jimenez said he decided he would produce crops without the aid of harmful herbicides and pesticides.

“I wanted to be able to walk to the fields, see a good pepper, pick it up, take a bite and be comfortable knowing that the peppers have not been sprayed,” Jimenez said.

Growing peppers without chemicals is difficult work. Jimenez said he wakes up at 6 a.m. every morning to pull weeds and maintain the farm.

“You really have to love what you are doing,” Jimenez said.

In his efforts to maintain a natural farm, Jimenez uses techniques such as crop rotation. He also uses garlic and fish for fertilizer and to deter insects. He said a local high school boy’s soccer team works in the fields during the week and they always complain they can never get dates because of the smell.

Jimenez divides his time between the farm and traveling to farmer’s markets in larger cities like Chicago, Springfield and Peoria to help spread the word about his pepper business. In the beginning, Jimenez said it was difficult to sell Darn Hot Pepper products, but they eventually found their niche.

“People know that we are growing different peppers and we have what they need, which is something that you can’t find in your local grocery stores,” Jimenez said. “We have established a very good online market and then we do a lot of farmer markets in the metro areas.”

Jimenez said running a small business can be difficult at times, especially since the pepper business is seasonal. Darn Hot Peppers competes against the larger salsa companies that can shelve their products all year long in Texas or Mexico.

“Peppers grow when it’s hot,” Jimenez said. “It’s a short season and we pick peppers from August to September.”

Since the Jimenezes have been in business, they have enjoyed hot summers, which have resulted in profitable peppers. In their first season of business, Jerry was able to fill the bed of his pickup truck with green bell peppers.

In addition to farmers markets, Jimenez sells his Darn Hot Pepper products out of the small store on his property. People have traveled from as far as North Carolina to visit Rancho Bella Vista. Jimenez has created his pepper farm to be a part of Agritourism, a practice in which tourists travel to a farm, in order to walk into the fields and pick the product themselves. The tourists can also shop at the store or sit outside to enjoy the view.

“We are doing the best we can to make a beautiful place even better,” Jimenez said.