Bringing Back Old McDonald's Farm and Selling Direct with Old Rich Valley Farm

• Expand for the PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

  Allyssa: 0:26

  Welcome to the Direct Farm Podcast. We've got a terrific conversation for you today with two of our farm advisors, I am excited to welcome Amy and Will Campbell from Old Rich Valley Farm. Welcome Amy and Will.

  Amy & Will: 0:39

  Hi. Thank you.

  Allyssa: 0:40

  Great to have you here. So Will, I have a question for you just right out the gate here. Why don't you just take a minute to introduce yourself, share how you and Amy got into farming, as well as how you started selling direct online.

  Will: 0:53

  Yeah. So I grew up on a farm. My dad raised, beef cattle and it was one of, it was one of those things where like farming was, it was a dream. I wasn't, I wasn't super certain on if that would actually become a possibility or not. But then about the time Amy and I got married yeah, we, we decided to, to give it a try and we were kind of doing, you know, sort of what, my dad and others in the area have done, which is just, you know, raising beef cattle and sell them on the commodity market. And it didn't take us long to figure out that it wasn't going to work for us. There was just so much variance in the market, you know, it was going up nearing, you know, like a, an all time high and then a couple of years later, it, dipped back down. But our mortgage and our expenses and the feed costs and, you know, all that stayed the same, but, you know, our income was based on factors that were just way outside of our control. And we were like, you know, if we're gonna, provide for our families and make a living we just knew that the direct way was gonna be the only way that we could do it. We had a couple friends kinda got us, turned on to Joel Salitan. We started reading his books and And we're just really drawn to his way of farming. And we're just like, that makes sense. And so we've been trying to go that way ever since.

  Allyssa: 2:03

  And that's encouraging to see too, that I'm sure your time in farming, you've learned it's a learning experience. Once you're kind of going through the motions, you're building this family farm, you're able to see what works and then maybe areas of improvement as well. So kind of focusing and leaning a little bit more on the online side. What made you decide. Aside to go online. And how did you go about that process?

  Will: 2:25

  We live in a, in a pretty rural part of the country we're in out here in the middle of nowhere, really. And so we, we have the ability to produce a lot of food, but there's not all that many people around. You are not next door to a big city so I guess from our end, if we're going to produce food it's all for nothing if you don't have somebody to, to get it to. And so the online has really gave us an opportunity to reach people that we, we couldn't have otherwise. So we're, we're kind of thankful for yeah, the technology and Barn2Door, you know, for being able to, to kind of link us to customers because without that we'd be in trouble.

  Allyssa: 3:02

  I think that's so encouraging just to see the growth that you've already experienced in a short amount of time. So, Amy, do you want to touch a little bit more on that, on how the business has evolved over the years, as well as a little bit more of your take on the story of Old Rich Valley farm your history and how the farm was founded?

  Amy: 3:20

  Yeah. So like Will said, you know, we've started out doing beef cattle and we've kind of changed over to selling directly. And so it was just, Will we don't really have any hired help or anything. And so he was kind of running himself, ragged, trying to get everything done. And the more we've diversified the farm, the more we've added. You know, we were just doing cows and now we've got pigs and chickens and the more, we realized that we needed more help than just Will. And so, I guess about three years ago, I quit teaching. And so now it's the two of us full-time farming which was a huge leap because we were kind of hoping and praying that we could survive without a job in the town, you know? But we have been really blessed with how many people want to buy local meat and the just loyal customers and people that just come back every month to get more meat.

  Allyssa: 4:12

  And I think that is so important too. To focus in on, you know, what is your customer base? How can you meet them where they're at as well, and then thinking about from, you know, business standpoint of how you're able to sustain your business and what makes sense to you. So I'm sure our listeners are curious as to what it is like to work with your spouse. So this is a question I want to pose to the two of you. What are some of the benefits to this kind of having the family farm, the family business, and what are some of the challenges as well?

  Amy: 4:40

  That's a good question. There are a lot of benefits and a lot of challenges, you're right. We are married and, and running the farm full time. It's just the two of us making all the decisions. So there are a lot of conversations and debates about what to do next. One thing that we recently started doing was kind of having team meetings every Friday morning. And so we kind of get on the same page and we'll sit down and, you know, we don't have like a, a group of helpers or employees to make sure everybody's on the same page, but sometimes we weren't even on the same page. So those meetings have kind of helped us know what needs to be accomplished in the next week. And then looking forward to now, where some areas that we can maybe grow or whether we need to do in the next month. But one thing that I really love about it is just the fact that our kids can be with us on the farm too. It is just me and Will, and we have three kids doing all the tourism, all the marketing and deliveries and all this stuff. And we're able to have our kids with us out here, and there's not a whole lot of people that can take their kids to work with them every day. So we're getting to raise our kids and run a business all at the same time, which is really fun and exciting, and neat for our family. Cause we're a very close family because we do spend so much time together. But it can also be quite challenging to you know, make sure you've got a diaper bag with you out on the farm or having the kids entertaining each other sometimes too.

  Allyssa: 6:02

  For sure. Will how about you? What's your, your take on kind of the family farm, some of those benefits and challenges to just the unique business that you guys have set up there.

  Will: 6:13

  Yeah, well, Amy hit on it pretty well, but I guess, I mean, obviously there are challenges that go along with it, but I mean, yeah, we get to work with each other day in and day out. I wouldn't rather spend my time with, with anybody else, you know. This is kind of, one of our goals and whenever we got married was just to have a close family and obviously what we're doing, it creates some challenges, but at the end of the day whatever challenges we go through is just, it just makes us tighter, you know? So I think, if anything you know, our relationship has been strengthened by working together and not just with me and Amy, but with our kids, you know, we're a tighter family because of the way we farm.

  Allyssa: 6:52

  That's great to hear. I think, you know, there there's benefits and challenges to everything for sure. And especially being able to have, you know, the support of your family to raise your kids on the farm as well. You know, that is something that you're able to, you know, share that story with your buyers in addition to, you know, having that family camaraderie, but also to be able to share that story with your community too. So kind of focusing a little bit more on, I would say the mission of your farm. I know you focus a lot on the central theme of health. Health for the land health for the people and health for the animals as well. Will, tell us a little bit more about your grandparents and how they inspired you to pursue this way of living.

  Will: 7:31

  Well, our grandparents, they worked hard for one. I mean, they were just really hard workers and they had to be, you know, they didn't have a lot of the options, that we had, and, and not just my grandparents, but just that whole, that whole generation, you know, of farmers were just really hard workers. And you don't see I don't know that old McDonald's farm that much anymore, but I mean, it used to be normal for our grandparents, they would have, you know, cows and sheep and chickens and hogs, they would kill hogs every fall. And then those farms have just kind of, faded, you know, over time. So we, we kind of wanted to get back more to the way it was. And Joel Salatin's perspective on farming has really helped that. And our having kids has really affected that too. You know, I've not been a very healthy eater for a lot of my life and having kids you know, I mean, I, I guess there's one thing if I'm going to feed myself unhealthy food, but then whenever you start feeding, you're feeding your kids you know, It, it just really changed our perspective on health in general. So we wanted to make sure that we were feeding our kids good. And just wanted them to understand life and understand food and appreciate you know life that becomes food and, and, and being able to farm this way and have, have our kids with us has definitely given them a greater appreciation for the work and for the life and for the sacrifice that becomes our food.

  Allyssa: 8:48

  Yeah. And I think that's so inspiring too, just to see, you know, how it's carried down from generation to generation. And now you're able to share that with your children. And then on the flip side, Amy, for you I understand that you grew up kind of more in the suburbs as well, so I'm sure this was a big transition for you kind of going from that way of living to living on a farm. So do you want to kind of share a little bit more about your story and about your experience raising your family on the farm?

  Amy: 9:14

  Sure. Yeah. I'm actually from Knoxville, in the suburbs and the farm life was a whole new experience for me. Actually sorta knew what I was getting into because when Will and I were dating, he was milking cows for somebody else. And so, when I would come visit, he was working all the time, milking cows. So most of our dates were actually me going to help milk cows with him.

  Will: 9:34

  That's how I knew she was the one.

  Allyssa: 9:37

  That's so sweet.

  Amy: 9:38

  So I kind of had a glimpse of what farm life would be. But I have definitely had to learn a lot. You know, just, even over the years before I was farming. When I was teaching, I realized that a lot of what farming is or what we do, it depends on the weather or the seasons. And so a lot of times we couldn't submit the plans to something because, well if it was a pretty day, we were going to be farming all day long, you know? And so that has been a challenge, it's a whole different pace, a whole different way of life on the farm. But I do love it. And especially now that we have kids just the way our kids are raised. They have all this room to play and roam and discover. And Holly, our oldest is in kindergarten this year, so I homeschool them and that's just been a really great experience so far. of just being able to teach. There's just so much to learn on the farm, you know, just the hands-on learning experiences and and the flexibility that that's given us. And I don't know. I'm, I'm sure this isn't the way everybody would want to raise kids, but it works really good for us.

  Allyssa: 10:39

  That's so sweet. I love how you shared your first state story or one of your date stories. That's, that's great to see that early on. You were like, all right, this farming life. This is for me, for sure. So.

  Will: 10:51

  She knew what she was getting into.

  Allyssa: 10:54

  Um, Will to kind of transition a little bit here and talk a little bit more about the convenience aspect. So thinking outside the box, I understand that you guys include recipe ideas. You also offer pre-made meals. So kind of walk us through the decision process.

  Will: 11:11

  It's been a work in a work in progress. And part of it is just understanding, you know, one how, how busy we are and how busy everybody else is. Our goal is not to raise, you know, cheap and convenient food, but we want to raise you know high quality food and embrace life and health. At the same time, we definitely want to make that as convenient and consumer-friendly as, possible. And that's been a struggle for us as we originally transitioned to direct farming, because we didn't really have the website or the, you know, the on online farm store. And so it was hard to manage or to keep up with, somebody would call or text me for an order or, or Amy, or, we'd have emails and messages. And like, it was just, it was just scattered. It was very unorganized. Which is not good for us or them. But, the online model has really helped us keep everything together and organized. And that allows us to offer more convenience to the consumers. And we do know how and a lot of it's just kind of driven by just kind of by meeting our needs. We stay pretty busy and a lot of times Amy's out here, you know, working a lot and doesn't have time to prepare a big meal all the time. And so we, without compromising the quality of the food, one of the things that we started doing was just smoking a whole lot of, a whole lot of meat at one time, vacuum stealing it and put it in the freezer. And that way, if we had to throw a meal together pretty quick, then we could do it and it would still be good stuff. We could have a, a quick convenient meal without compromising the quality. And then, and so that was a lot of our meals and we were like, you know what, we need to, we need to offer this to other people. Other people are, are as busy or busier than we are. And so, that's kinda where we got the idea for the, for the on-farm kitchen, with the smoked meats and stuff like that, I guess.

  Amy: 12:52

  And with our like recipe ideas and stuff where we are, again, kind of in the middle of the nowhere, there, there aren't any restaurants or anything around. So I pretty much do have to cook every night and so I'm learning to love to cook over the years. But it has to be simple and pretty quick or I don't have time to do it. Cause a lot of times we're eating it like 8:30, nine o'clock at night. That's the type of recipes I share is just kind of, simple and quick recipes that I know other moms that are pretty busy, like us that, that would be easy for them to use.

  Will: 13:24

  And so many people have shared, you know, recipes and ideas and stuff with us, you know, like, well, Hey, why don't you do this, chuck roast this way? And we're like, Oh man, that's, that's awesome. And so she's like, yeah, we need to share this with other people. And so a lot of it was just kind of, just passing on what's worked for us and, you know, in hopes that it'll it'll work for others as well.

  Allyssa: 13:43

  That's great. And I think taking a problem that, you know, okay, how do we save time for you guys as a family and being able to see that, you know, that's a problem that a lot of other families have as well. So by sharing those recipe ideas and those pre-made meals, you're not only fixing your own problem of, okay, how can we save time as a family when we're eating, but also thinking about how you can share that with your buyers too.

  Amy: 14:06

  Oh, yeah. And we can't keep the smoked meat in stock, as soon as we announce that we've smoked more meat it's all sold really quickly. Sometimes it's hard for me to get stuff for us to eat.

  Allyssa: 14:17

  That's awesome. That's a good problem to have. That means that, you know, your buyers are definitely craving, you know what you're selling, but yeah, you guys should enjoy some good stuff too. So I want to stick to the topic of convenience, but kind of flip it a little bit. We tapped into, you know, the buyer side for convenience a little bit on the farm side, but how do you ensure that not only do you save time, but you're also wanting to focus in on recurring cashflow? So I understand that you also offer subscriptions. Can you walk us through your decision to start offering subscriptions as well as different lessons that maybe you've learned over time as well?

  Will: 14:52

  So the subscriptions, we started doing hard shares for our beef and cows and pigs. We started that back last summer, it's been you know, a real . Blessing to us. With the pandemic and everything, you know, going on last spring and last summer it created a bottleneck with the with the processing facilities especially, you know, around here locally. And so, so right now we're having to, you know, schedule, processing dates over a year in advance. That's, that's hard to, hard to plan ahead that far, you know. It's a hard, hard to guess at, you know, how much beef and pork we're going to need, you know, in and whatever, you know, August of 2022 or, you know, it's but anyways, that's kinda where, where we are. But the subscriptions or the hard shares is really helped us plan, you know, and, and not just help us, but that's also helped the consumers know that, you know, every month they're going to have meat and they're going to know where it's coming from, and they're going to know how, how much it's going to cost them. So, I mean, it's not gonna change over the course of the year or whatever. But so basically for our hard shares, we have different options. We've got like, a half a beef, or a quarter beef, or a whole hog, or half hog. So essentially they can get, you know, a half a beef and subscribe and pay monthly and have that half a beef divided up over 12 months. And so it really, it helps us to know that, how much meat is going to be going to be moved. Because if we don't know that, like we don't have an infinite amount of freezer space and, we don't have that much wiggle room with inventory. If we've got these dates and these animals, and, you know, we we're gonna have to have a place to go with it. And the subscription model, the, hard shares has, really helped us. And from what we're hearing from the customers, they're happy to know that every month they've got their meat coming and they don't have to worry about whatever's going on in the food industry, I guess.

  Allyssa: 16:31

  That's great to hear that you're experiencing big success with subscriptions because I think buyers, these days they're subscribed to so many different platforms, whether it's music or, you know, entertainment with Netflix and Spotify. So being able to also see that, you know, they need food on the table every day and, you know, they can subscribe and be able to have, you know, fresh pasture raised beef, pork, chicken delivered and not have to worry about it, like you said. So that's something that is encouraging to see that there is that interest there and you're experiencing big success, especially in this area of subscriptions.

  Amy: 17:07

  Yes. And that is something that we definitely could not have done without Barn2Door without the online store, because it is just so easy for the customers to go in there and they can choose which subscription they want. They choose their pickup location or their delivery drop. And then their payments go through automatically. So they really don't have to think about it or worry about it for a year. And then I get. The list printed out of who needs what every month. And it just makes it a whole lot simpler. And like we said before the orders were coming in through Facebook and emails and texts and calls, and they were just coming in everywhere. And so it was just really hard to keep up with. But yes, the, the ordering through Barn2Door and especially the subscriptions is just been such a blessing.

  Allyssa: 17:51

  I want to focus in a little bit more on product diversification. So Amy, I know that in addition to, you know, the pasture raised chicken, the beef, the pork, you also sell branded merchandise. And you run a successful Airbnb on the farm. So tell us a little bit more about your decision to not only diversify your product offerings, but how it's empowered to you to engage with your local community in a new and creative way.

  Amy: 18:17

  Yeah, I think I don't know. It's scary to have all your eggs in one basket. And when we first started farming All of our eggs were in the beef industry. And so, the more we've gotten into it, the more we've diversified. And so we're not just stuck in one area. In case one area goes down, then we've got other stuff to lean on, you know? And so we, I guess it was two years ago, we decided to build a little cabin. We have some cousins that have an Airbnb cabin, a couple of hours away. And so, We just thought we live in a beautiful area, and we're just so blessed to live out here. And if we just thought other people might want to come visit and, but again, we're in the middle, nowhere, totally a gamble on whether it would be successful or not. But it has been a huge blessing to us. Because it's neat to meet people that come out to the farm and it's neat to hear their experiences of being around the farm animals and just the beauty of nature. We get a lot of people that live in the city and so they don't get to experience these beautiful views like we do. So it's just been a blessing for us and just financially it stays pretty booked. And so yeah, having our eggs in that basket has definitely helped a lot in the last couple of years.

  Allyssa: 19:27

  For sure. And then you also sell, I believe hats and t-shirts and other branded merchandise. Right?

  Amy: 19:33

  We used to sell Old Rich Valley Farm hats and t-shirts, and it's neat to see just to be out in the community and you'll see somebody that, you know, or maybe sometimes we don't know that have our t-shirts on and that would need to go up and talk to them and this to be able to share with the local community like that and be connected.

  Allyssa: 19:51

  That's awesome. And I kind of want to lean a little bit more on that engagement piece. So how are you regularly checking in with your buyers, engaging with them online from your social media presence to possibly some E-newsletters and blogs. How do you interact with your buyers throughout the entire year?

  Amy: 20:12

  Yeah. So when we first started kind of selling directly or marketing directly we were just using Facebook. We created our farm page and so we just put up videos of us farming or our kids on the farm and just information about our cows and pigs and chickens. And so we got quite a big a good amount of traction with our local community that way. And we, we do realize that we don't always, or we're not going to always have, say in what Facebook shows or we don't understand all the algorithms and stuff, how that works. So we have just recently really tried to collect more email addresses and connect with our customers through our weekly emails. And in those weekly emails, we tell them kind of what's going on on the farm. And when the pickup locations for the month are, and any specials or recipes or stories that we want to share. And so, we do get a lot of feedback from a couple of people that Enjoy reading about what's going on, on farm. And then I'll say with our emails, there's links to the farm store. So that's a really good way to remind people to go ahead and order and easily just click on the farm store. They can order pretty easily there. And then Will is, he's more of the writer actually between the two of us. So, he does quite a bit of blog writing or any of our longer posts on Facebook are definitely from him, not me. I do more of the admin as far as answering people's emails or answering questions through Facebook orders and stuff like that.

  Will: 21:39

  One of the things that we love about direct is as we do get to you know, see and meet and talk to the people that that we're producing food for, and they get to see us. And you know, the farmers that are raising it for them. A lot of the food produced in the industry. There's that disconnect between the people on the farmers. Everything that we produce, Amy's the one that hands it to them, and so she gets to see the faces of the families that were feeding and, it just kind of helps grow, our community and, and just, you know, builds more relationships.

  Allyssa: 22:10

  And I think it's also great to see that you, between the two of you, you're able to divide and conquer, you know, when it comes to the social posts, the newsletters, the blogs, because I'm sure for one person to tackle all that, but to kind of lean into your strengths and will for you to focus in on, you know, the blogs and then Amy, for you to focus in on the email communications, does it kind of help to segment it out that way as well?

  Will: 22:32

  Yeah. I mean, it can all be a challenge sometimes, you know, we've got a lot of different directions to go. And a lot of times we just feel like we're spinning in circles and not going to not going anywhere. Amy and I, we are a pretty good team and we're on the same page and, we're getting better at you know, dividing and conquering and figuring out what we need to work together on and who can do what, but we're just learning and learning as we go. And we've definitely learned, learned our fair share of the hard way.

  Amy: 22:55

  Yeah. And just speaking of technology, we're both pretty technologically ignorant in a lot of ways. So that has really been hard. Before we joined Barn2Door here, I tried to build a website for us quite a few times, unsuccessfully. So we are just really thankful for just the Barn2Door website or how they helped build the website for us and the support. When we decided we want to start a blog page to communicate that way. You know, I didn't know how to do that. And so, having that support team through there has really been helpful to us.

  Allyssa: 23:27

  That's terrific. I'm just, I'm so happy for you guys. To see, you know, the growth that you've experienced in such a short amount of time, and to be able to see, you know, the direction you're headed in, because you're not done yet. I know you guys are still plugging away and moving forward and you know, thinking of what's next. So what is next for Old Rich Valley Farms? . Will: Well, we're trying to Yeah, we do have a lot going on and we know that the sky's the limit in terms of opportunity and potential, but we also know that we can't, we can't do everything. We're really just trying to get better at what we are doing and just, you know, continue to work the kinks out and our production and just be more, more efficient. Just surviving. And if it's working, you know, just kind of leaning into what's working and adjusting, you know, what maybe needs improvements, but it sounds like you guys definitely are, you know, kind of situated right where you need to be. So, so that's great. Do you have a, a final piece of advice for farmers who maybe are considering pursuing this direct to consumer route?

  Amy: 24:27

  My advice would just to be patient and don't get discouraged. You know, we sell at the farmer's market and and we now have some. Just buying clubs or pick up locations. But definitely those first few farmer's markets we went to we didn't sell a whole lot. And so, it's hard when you go into those places and people already have their meat vendors or their protein vendors or whatever it is you sell. Those first few markets can be hard. Or those first few Facebook posts, we try not to like look at every post and see how many likes or shares we got. Because somethings are going to go big and some things aren't, you know, and so I guess you just can't get discouraged when things don't go quite how you expected or when they're slower starting out. But but yeah, just sticking to it and making the best product you can. And then finding more people that will tell more people, you know, word of mouth is just the best marketing or advertisement that any of us can have. And so, we do try to encourage our customers that if you like what you're eating or you like your subscription experience who can you tell, do you have any friends or family members that you can also tell them about it and see if they want to join us too.

  Allyssa: 25:37

  Yeah, that's great. I think keeping it simple and kind of starting, like you said, you know, with that one first step of, you know, what can I implement now? And then you can always go from there. You can always add to it, but being able to interact with your buyers and focusing in on that quality, because that is. What your brand is, you know, around and your convenience is able to kind of lean in on how you're able to offer those products to your buyers too. Will, did you have a final piece of advice as well? On your end?

  Will: 26:04

  We're more concerned and just trying to do the best we can. And then, you know, if, if we just kind of stick to our values, you know, hopefully there'll be other people that value what we've produced. And the pricing has definitely been something that we've had to, to learn and learn the hard way too. Part of the beauty of, direct marketing is as you get to, you know, control your prices. But part of the, the harm in that is you gotta make sure that it's profitable, that it's sustainable. And so it's really forced us to, know the cost of producing, whatever it is that we're selling, you know, if we're just trying to compare it to what everybody else is selling for then it might be profitable or it might not. Before we were, whenever we were selling on the commodity market, it was all just, we just try to keep the costs as low as they can and sell for as much as we can. And. At the end of the day, we hope that we're profitable, but you know, we, we have to really I mean, if we're going to set our prices, you have to know yeah. That it is profitable and sustainable. If it costs us $15 to produce a chicken and we're selling it for 10, you know, selling more chickens is not gonna be sustainable.

  Allyssa: 27:07

  I think that's great advice, kind of leaning in on what we call the four levers for farm success. So that's the Brand, the Quality, the Price, and the Convenience. And you need all four to be successful. So understanding you need that quality product. And then once you have a strong brand, you need to offer those convenient options. But in addition to that, like you just mentioned, how is this product priced? If it's a quality product, I can price point it higher than maybe, you know, a different product. So being able to differentiate yourself in the market. So that way you stay on the positive side of things and you're able to build that recurring cash flow as well, I think is important too. So thank you so much. Will and Amy for sharing and thank you as well for joining us on this week's podcast episode.

  Amy: 27:51

  Yeah. Thank you for having us. This has been fun.

  Allyssa: 27:54

  Well here at Barn2Door, we are humbled to support thousands of farms across the country, including Farmers like Will and Amy who support their local communities. So for more information on Old Rich Valley Farm, you can visit their website OldRichValleyFarm.com. And to learn more about Barn2Door, including access to numerous free resources and best practices for your farm, you can go to Barn2Door.com/Resources. Thank you for tuning in and we'll see you next time.