Farmer Spotlight: Basecamp Farms
A Flower Farm in a not so flowery economy—what are they doing to survive?
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Georgia and Jordan Monroe own and operate Basecamp Farms in Millican, Texas, where they grow and sell cut flowers locally to retail customers and businesses, as well as offering on-farm events and workshops. Georgia explained how their Farm came to be, and how the business is evolving to survive, and thrive, during the pandemic.
Georgia grew up on a cattle ranch in West Texas. Her parents had a large vegetable garden, and she showed lambs through 4H and FFA. She met her now-husband, Jordan, while she was in nursing school and he served in the Army in Killeen, Texas.
“I’m a learner by personality,” Georgia shared, “When Jordan was on tour, I spent a lot of time learning about gardening. I’ve always enjoyed having bouquets of flowers in my home. We had no money in those early years, so I couldn’t afford buying flowers from floral shops or grocery stores. I thought, ‘I’ll just grow my own!’ So, 4 or 5 years ago we tore up our little backyard and grew sunflowers and zinnias. I enjoyed the whole process, watching them grow and sharing them with our friends and family.
My parents wanted to be closer to their grandkids and bought the property we grow on today; we had some land to play with and started growing vegetables at pretty high volume. I became the full-time Farmer, since Jordan worked in town and my parents were retired. After 40 hours one week of washing onions and carrots, I put my foot down, saying ‘I’m more passionate about flowers, we’re switching over.’ We transitioned over 6 months and have been doing flowers for a year and a half.
I enjoy being outdoors, and enjoy problem solving. Being an entrepreneur and a business owner was important to me, and I love sharing our products and story with our community.
Before this week, we were about 50% retail and 50% wholesale. I sold to florists and businesses, as well as to individuals. We specialize in pick-you-own events at the Farm, DIY flowers and field trips. We’re building a small pavilion and event center. Truthfully, it’s a challenge coming up with consistent, diversified channels for sales. I can grow all the flowers I want, but then I have to sell them. Flowers—I imagine any farm products—don’t sell themselves, I have to be actively marketing and selling. And Mother Nature can throw a wrench in even your best-laid plans at any time.
With the current world affairs, we’ve had to again be creative with our sales outlets. Our wholesale orders are basically zero. The floral industry is in despair right now. Many florists have been shut down globally, since all the weddings and events have been canceled or rescheduled. None of my florists are buying right now, or they are placing only tiny orders. I’m having to quickly shift my attention to retail and direct-to-consumer sales.
Part of dealing with external variables or events is adjusting. We’re postponing tours, opening our event pavilion, and ‘pick-your-own’ until the Fall. That changes the crops I plant now versus what I plant later. While we wanted to double production this year, we will put that on hold. We’re not going to expand, just maintain our numbers. I have 3 part-time employees, so I’m trying to keep them paid and help the business survive—hopefully thrive!
Let’s take this week for example. I had no wholesale orders, which is normally a huge portion of my sales. Luckily, I was able to switch over and do retail sales through our Barn2Door site (online ordering system built specifically for Farmers); we offered pickup at the Farm and launched home delivery. I had several delivery orders, and made the run yesterday afternoon. Some orders were previous customers, and some were new customers. We actually sold out this week, which is amazing.
Prior to using Barn2Door, I was taking every order on my phone, by text or call. Having the site up and the store in place made my life a lot more organized. Having 24 hour access to our store has been wonderful for our customers and made it easy for them to order. I’m hoping to have merchandise available for shipping next week! This [Barn2Door] will be the most important tool for our business going into the future.
My advice to other Farmers facing similar challenges would be to keep sharing your stories online. You need to be active on social media and email. Now, more than ever, is the time to explore more direct market sales. This is a time to restart your business. After the pandemic has ended, a lot of our options and supply chains will be different. Now can be a good time to restart and reconsider how you approach your brand. If you focus on the brand of your business, not only your products, you can create a premium product and sell it at a premium price.”
At Barn2Door, we’re working with Farms in all 50 states to get set up on web, mobile, social and email to help them promote their brand, offer convenient ordering and serve their local communities. We’ve also compiled free coronavirus related resources in case you find it helpful. If you’re interested in seeing how Barn2Door could work for your Farm, feel free to watch this 5 minute video.