Big Rock family builds new life on the farm

Scott and Donna Lehrer were at a crossroads.

The Aurora couple was separated and one court case away from a divorce. Scott's salary was cut in half because of corporate downsizing.

Devout Christians, the Lehrers prayed for God's intervention. Their help came in an unusual form: an 8-acre farm 20 miles away.

The couple sold their DuPage County home and moved to the farm -- christening the property Lamb of God Farm -- in the small Kane County town of Big Rock to raise organic specialty crops. Scott quit his job and Donna home-schooled their two children.

That was seven years ago. Since then, the family has started an agri-business to sell the wool produced by their flock of 17 sheep and founded a cooperative organization to develop awareness and boost sales of Illinois-produced fiber.

"It has been kind of a whirlwind," said Donna, co-owner and manager of Esther's Place, a combination retail store, art studio and learning space located in a 19th-century Victorian home three miles from the family's farm. The store opened in March 2006 in the small hamlet about 10 miles west of Aurora, not far from the Reagan Memorial Tollway.

Both the store and the Illinois Green Pastures Fiber Cooperative were the brainchild of 19-year-old Natasha, the Lehrers' daughter. She took up spinning as a hobby several years ago and wanted to teach the skill and other fiber techniques as a way to connect her community to local family-based agriculture and art.

"I think spinning takes you back to a simpler time," Natasha said. "Women in colonial days would do this with their friends -- spin and chat and enjoy each other's company for hours."

Both the store and the co-op are funded in part by grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Donna and Natasha recently returned from Washington, D.C., where their work was recognized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Here's how the co-op system works: Wool producers in northern Illinois like the Lehrer family join as a way to meet others in the industry and reach a larger market with their product. Esther's Place, open to the public Tuesday through Saturday, serves as the co-op's retail outlet.

There fiber is not only sold raw but also spun into yarn, woven into cloth, organically dyed, knit into scarves, crocheted into sweaters, and otherwise used. Natasha teaches classes on weaving, dyeing, knitting, spinning, felting and other fiber arts techniques.

Co-op member Patricia Lamesch, who tends a dozen sheep in unincorporated Winfield Township, said she's made about $100 selling wool through the co-op since joining three months ago.

"Every little bit helps," said Lamesch, a retired nurse who's raised sheep for 11 years.

Old wooden spinning wheels are scattered throughout Esther's Place. Photos of sheep grace the walls. Skeins of wool hang from wooden holders. Balls of raw fiber -- from sheep, rabbits, alpacas, buffalo and other animals and plants such as cotton and flax -- are piled up in baskets and trunks.

"Feel free to look around," Natasha told a shopper one recent morning. "Touch everything."

The business' second floor serves as a bed and breakfast. Fiber enthusiasts are encouraged to spend a weekend there, eating local produce and working with local fiber.

Esther's Place also serves as an art studio, displaying fiber art in the form of clothing and wall displays. In June, the co-op organized a "Fleece to Fiber" festival as part of the 2007 Cantigny Fine Art Festival in Wheaton.

"We want to raise the bar for fiber so it's not just considered a craft but an art," Natasha said. "We're heading more in that direction."

While Donna and Natasha concentrate on the shop and co-op, Scott and the couple's son, 16-year-old Eric, manage the farm. Eric hatches and raises chickens and mentors younger 4-H Club members. Scott, formerly a purchasing manager for a candy company, oversees the farm operations.

It's a world away from where the Lehrers were a decade ago. Back then, as Donna likes to tell folks, she didn't know the difference between straw and hay (hint: straw is for bedding, hay for feeding).

Now she thinks every day about where her food comes from and how her clothing was constructed. She encourages most people she meets to do likewise.

"Every time I grab a piece of clothing in the morning it's like, 'Wow,' " Lehrer said. "We take for granted the time that goes into it."

Lehrer believes the "green" consumer movement -- particularly the popularity of organic foods and the community-supported agriculture concept -- will spill over into the fiber industry. She envisions Americans leaning away from a throwaway, mass consumerism culture toward a sustainable society in which goods are sold locally and producers earn living wages.

"We've got to believe we can survive," Donna Lehrer said. "Sometimes in life there's more than just the dollars and cents."

Donna Lehrer

Occupation: Organic specialty crop farmer (Lamb of God farm) and entrepreneur (Esther's Place fiber arts studio)

Lives in: Big Rock

Age: 51

Family: Husband, Scott; children Natasha, 18, and Eric, 16

Career: Opened Esther's Place in 2006 and Lamb of God farm in 2000; previously worked as an environmental manager for an oil company

Clubs/activities: Kane County Farm Bureau board member, Illinois Green Pastures Fiber Cooperative president

Behind the names: Lamb of God farm: "We wanted to give God the glory and name the farm after him because he gave us a new start. Jesus is the lamb of God."

Esther's Place is named after the biblical heroine Esther. The business' slogan is "for such a time as this," a reference to Esther 4:14. Lehrer interprets the quote to mean now is the time to de-stress, simplify your life and pursue your dreams.

If you go

Esther's Place sells yarn, raw fiber, needles and other accessories and offers weaving, dyeing, knitting, spinning and felting classes. Lamb of God farm offers organic specialty crops, seedling and fertilizer packages and tips on how to start your own organic garden. Upcoming events:

•Esther's Place's second annual "Spin In" is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 15, during the Big Rock Plowing Match weekend. Start a fiber project, listen to storytelling and enjoy the fiber arts.

•Esther's Place is located at 201 W. Galena St. (Route 30), Big Rock; (630) 556-9665. Contact the store for information on Lamb of God farm and its products.

•Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday

•To sign up for classes or for other information, visit www.esthersplacefibers.com