Farmer Spotlight: Sacred Roots Maple
Hear Sacred Roots Maple on the Direct Farm Podcast
In 2016, Ash and Ben Clark purchased 68 acres of Farm land in West Chazy, NY. Sacred Roots Maple is a family Farm rooted in keeping maple traditions alive. Their story is rich in history. In fact, many of the maple trees have been in constant production since the 1800s. What started as a passion project for Ben, quickly grew into a thriving family business. Ben has actually been involved in sugaring for 20 plus years. He started as a young teen, working on the same Farm with the original owner --- learning about the property, how to tend the trees, and the process of producing syrup.
Ashley mentioned, “when I met Ben and we got married, it was a brand new experience for me. I didn't grow up consuming regular, pure maple syrup; it wasn’t really something I gave much thought to. But after we purchased the Farm, it became our lifestyle. Being able to live on the property with our Farm right here has been such a blessing. We are able to truly live out a lifestyle of living off the land, where we gain resources from our property and can share that with other people”.
From start to finish, Ashley enjoys every aspect of tending to her trees and the process of collecting fresh syrup. They laughingly call Ben a tree shepherd because he is so passionate about the trees. Over the years, Ashley has fostered relationships with buyers by interacting with her local community online, sharing stories and connecting people to their Farm. Her focus on storytelling, through images and words, paints an authentic picture of their unique Brand that is all their own.
“People aren't necessarily coming out and tapping our trees and making the maple syrup, but they can get to know us by visiting us, or reading about us online. And that is often enough; they feel like they're connected to our Farm, our story and our products. In turn it gives their customers a story and a meaningful connection. For example, a customer might have maple syrup sitting on their table for breakfast that is from their farm and not a generic brand at the store; they connect with ‘who’ harvested it, ‘where’ it came from --- upstate New York --- and they might even have knowledge of how it was made.”
Buyers enjoy learning about how their food is produced, the process, and the hard work that goes into it. When Farmers share their personal experiences, and day-to-day life on the farm they create authentic connections with their buyers, which grows brand loyalty and builds trust. Loyal customers spend more annually with brands they connect with which translates into more consistent sales for Farms.
Ashly talked beyond their brand and their dedication to the quality of their product. Another part of providing an enjoyable buyer experience is making it easy for customers to place and receive orders. By focusing on convenience Ashley gives her customers the ability to choose the best option for them. Customers can choose between shipping, delivery, or pickup options, which means no matter how her customers prefer to shop she meets their needs. Sacred Roots Maple can now share their quality handmade products with customers across the country through their online store. Recently, they have experienced a surge in demand and have even sold out of their most popular items.
On working with Barn2Door, Ashley shared, “...they took time to hear about us, so that they could then take that story component and add that into the website and the store concept. From the whole experience of setting up the website and our ecommerce store, that's opened up the door for us to be able to ship easier and to ship faster. Also it's helped us to want to ship smarter too. ‘How can we optimize what fits in different boxes? How can we make sure we're using packaging material that's eco-friendly?’
Ben and I are going to create a map showing all of the different states we got to ship to this holiday season. Last night, we shipped one box to Hawaii and it was so exciting, we've hit so many different states and it's just so much fun. Being able to get connected with different shipping options has been huge for us. Being able to learn about shipping and how the mail carrier comes to our house to pick up our boxes, versus us bringing everything in a truck to them. It’s been a great process and launched us in a really great direction.”
Reflecting on the past and looking ahead to the future, Ashley urges Farmers to take the next step and focus on expanding their business online. Buyers are flocking to online stores to purchase groceries, in fact 1 in 3 Americans ordered food online in 2020.
“… don't be afraid to jump into it and you can handle it. It's going to take work, but it's well worth it. And if you're going in the direction like we did with Barn2Door, you're going to have a lot of support. You're not going to be alone in the process.”
As for what's next for Sacred Roots Maple, we are expanding! We are in the process of adding on a new kitchen into our sugar house and adding more space. We're excited to jump into more maple creations and to continue taking care of the land and doing more of what we're doing already. I think that's like a big piece for us, just staying the course and expanding on our offerings.”
Barn2Door is honored to support Sacred Roots Maple! It’s exactly the success story we exist to support. It is a joy watching them build a strong Brand with loyal customers, successfully engaging customers online, growing and expanding their business. We live for a today and a future where Farmers like Ashley and Ben are the backbone of our food system.
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