We had the good fortune of connecting with Jane Lindsay and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jane, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
For me it was fairly simple when I decided to start a business, I was a 60-year-old autistic woman, and artist, living in rural West Texas. I had to quit my job during COVID and I knew I would have to make my own job to survive. So I decided to create a job I love and started a hemp farm called Maggie Jane’s Farm. It started as a vision, with no money but the vision manifested despite my poverty. In fact, living off food from the food bank greatly influenced my goals and desires for Maggie Jane’s farm. Currently, we have 3 products, Maggie Janes Greene Goddess Lube, Maggie Jane’s Botanical Salve, and Maggie Jane’s pure CBD oil. We have CBD creams, body oil, and paper coming soon. Maggie Jane’s farm uses the entire hemp plant to benefit art and our health. Maggie Jane’s Farm Inc. was incorporated in April 2022. We just hired our Marketing company and our new website will launch at the end of September. We are so excited it’s a game-changer!!. www.maggiejanesfarm.com coming at the end of September.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As an autistic person, I think and learn through pictures. I believe I was born an artist rather than I became an artist. My work is important to me for many reasons, one being that my pictures are my first language in communication, they are the way that I can express love, compassion, and understanding in the world around me. I was diagnosed with autism and dyslexia when I was 27, at the time of my diagnosis, I could only read at a 4th-grade level same with writing. I had to go to two years of special classes to learn to learn, so that I could go to graduate school. It wasn’t just reading and writing that I had to learn I also had to learn better social skills and how to cope with the increased sensory issues I experience every day in the world around me. As an artist, I make art about things going on in my world and or things I can relate to in others. One thing I believe that sets me apart from other artists is that I always implicate myself in my work and my pictures. And I use my work as a language to navigate my experiences in the world. I believe making art for me is as necessary as drinking water or any other basic need. Most of my work is speaking to social justice issues and human rights such as prison reform, mental health, food poverty, and rural life in the US. For me, I find there is rarely anything in life that is easy including making art, staying employed, and getting by socially in the world. The best way I have found to overcome challenges is to decide to overcome them. To keep moving forward even if the path seems impossible. I meditate every day, I work hard to concentrate on staying on the path of least resistance. Even in the worst of times, I look for light and gratitude. And I create every single day, even if it is just making a picture on my phone.

From 2017- 2020, I worked for the public defender in Lubbock texas. I went through so much bullying by my colleagues. It was not just the normal bullying autistic people go through but also I had to deal with violence in the workplace. For example, one colleague use to pretend like he was going to run over me with his truck when I would walk in the parking lot. He would drive his truck to where it was an inch from hitting me and stop. When I reached out for help I came upon deaf ears and was blamed for overreacting. There were many incidents like that I endured. Mostly because I was so afraid to quit the job because I know only 15% of autistic people have jobs and I knew getting another job would be nearly impossible at my age and with autism.
Finally in 2020 with the stress of COVID killing my clients living in jail and group homes and the intense bullying I had a major meltdown and quit. It took me a full year to recover from the trauma of that job. Luckily I had an attorney who would file EEOC charges against their office. During 2021 I was so poor I was living off food from the South Plains Food Bank seniors program. That food was so bad that I began making a series of food alters with the food they gave me because it was all food high in sugar and sodium. That body of work got me through some very hard times and at the same time it speaks to food poverty and food deserts, some of the images are included. www.janeblindsay.com.

In the summer of 2020, I began working on a dream of an art practice and a hemp farm. Those things are manifested in my daily life now and I am truly happy. In my art practice, I make alternative photo process and teach them to people in Lubbock and I teach as an adjunct photo faculty for Arizona State University. My hemp farm is now incorporated into Maggie Jane’s Farm and is producing lubricant, salve, CBD oil, and finally paper. And by the way, we use the whole plant who wouldn’t be excited about that?! I am so excited that at the end of September Maggiejanesfarm.com will launch out into the world. Maggie Jane’s Farm is committed to justice for everyone especially those living in rural areas, people with autism, and those who struggle in poverty and mental illness.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Well, I live in some of the most areas in the US so I would take them to things you can’t do in the city. Like, look at star constellations in the night. We would make art together, maybe tin types or other alternative processes. We would hike around the Paladuro Canyon the second-biggest canyon in the country. For a mini vacation, we would drive to Marfa and look at art and the Marfa lights and then down to Big Bend National Park for hiking and swimming. In my town, we would go hang out at the secret restaurant run by undocumented women trying to make a living for their children. We would find time for good conversation, games, and walks. we would talk about how crazy it is to not have a Target or Walmart for 40 miles. Would float in the lake and hunt for cool rocks. We would watch for snakes and wild animals, and breathe clean air. At night we would watch a show and eat popcorn. During the day We would visit friends and make pictures. All very boring and at the same time pretty darn fun.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Liz Allen
Becky Ross

Website: www.maggiejanesfarm.com and www.janeblindsay.com

Instagram: janeblinday

Linkedin: janelindsay10907@yahoo.com

Twitter: janelindsay10907@yahoo.com

Facebook: jane lindsay/. Maggie Janes Farm

Youtube: janelindsay10907@yahoo.com

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutSocal is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.