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Keeping it Simple: Starting a Successful New Farm
915 Plays2 years ago
In this episode of the Direct Farm Podcast, we talk with Camille Abdel-Nabi of Long Lane Farm in Warren, Rhode Island. We discuss the transition to her new Farm, CSA Subscriptions, the establishment and growth of their Farm brand, and prioritizing convenience for their customers and the Farm.
Long Lane Farm is growing mixed vegetables, greens, tomatoes, and microgreens. With a popular CSA, Long Lane’s goal is to become a staple in their local community.
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Transcript
Introduction to Direct Farm Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Direct Farm podcast, the go-to resource for farms across the US looking to grow and manage their business.
Tips for Farmers: Sales and Customer Access
00:00:10
Speaker
Tune in weekly to hear tips and tactics from our most successful farmers on how to increase sales, access more customers, and save time
Industry Insights: Direct Market Trends
00:00:17
Speaker
and money. We'll also speak with industry experts, business leaders, and partners to share the latest farm business trends selling direct to market.
00:00:27
Speaker
Welcome to the Direct Farm Podcast.
Meet Camille Abdelnabi: Starting Long Lane Farm
00:00:29
Speaker
I'm Richard, your host for today's episode. We have a great conversation for you today with one of our farm advisors, Camille Abdelnabi. She has been a farm advisor with Barndadore for over a year now and has started a new farm, Long Lane Farm in Warren, Rhode Island. We are so excited to learn all about it. Welcome back, Camille.
00:00:49
Speaker
I'm glad to be back. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Well, could you start by telling us a little bit about Long Lane Farm and what you all produce today?
Long Lane Farm: Overview and Operations
00:00:58
Speaker
Sure. Yeah, Long Lane Farm. We're located in Warren, Rhode Island. And we have about two acres of tillable land here. But we're kind of only growing on about half an acre outside. And then we have three high tunnels. And we're mostly doing mixed vegetables, a lot of baby greens, tomatoes, microgreens.
00:01:24
Speaker
And we're, have a pretty big CSA for our size. And we are also delivering door to door currently. And then we have an honor system farm stand that came with the property. So that's been working out really well. Great. I had no kidding. Well, um, and is it just you Camille, uh, who's all working on the farm? So I own and run the farm with my wife, Devin, and then
00:01:52
Speaker
Right now we're employing about 50 hours of help or so a week and then getting a lot of help just from family as we're getting our new farm set up right now. So yeah, this is my 10th year farming.
Transitioning Farms: Challenges and Solutions
00:02:08
Speaker
And for this, I was part of Little River Farm, which I started with a business partner in 2013. And until last year, we were farming both in Warren and then in rented land that we had
00:02:24
Speaker
had since 2013, where we started Little River Farm. And we were trying to grow at both locations and stay as one farm, but they were located 40 minutes away from each other without traffic. So it became pretty clear that doing that commute for either one of us wasn't going to make the most sense. So my business partner is continuing Little River Farm on the rented land. And then we started a new farm as of this year, Long Lane Farm.
00:02:52
Speaker
that's just at the war in property. Awesome. Well, that kind of segues right into the next question I have for you is really how did Long Lane Farm come to be? Was it simply just logistics?
00:03:06
Speaker
That was a large part of it. Yeah. So last year I was commuting back and forth, uh, you know, four days a week and traffic, um, it was taking sometimes an hour and a half each way and it hit the ball and it was like, okay, this isn't really the quality of life.
00:03:25
Speaker
that I want and this isn't sustainable and also just feeling like my stress load was too high and trying to reduce that.
Dream Fulfilled: Living and Working on the Farm
00:03:35
Speaker
So yeah it definitely I think came out of necessity and it's what I've always wanted since day one of starting the farm. I did an apprenticeship where I lived at a farm and
00:03:46
Speaker
I saw just how nice that was to step outside your door and go to work. And if you have a family, they can be involved in the farm. So Long Lane Farm is that dream finally coming true of just walking out the back door and going to work every day. So far, it's been been pretty great, has its challenges starting a new farm, but great. Absolutely. And you know, with all the farms I work with, I can't tell you that a lot gets stuck in rush hour. Yeah, I'm sure it's nice.
00:04:16
Speaker
Yeah, you kind of think about all the farm work you can be getting done in that time. I believe it. I believe it. So with this new farm, Long Lane Farm, what's the mission? You know, what's what's the vision of the farm here?
Community Engagement and CSA Success
00:04:29
Speaker
Yeah, my wife and I, our goal is to mostly have this be a place where we can sell all of our products with CSA and then a farm stand. So our goal is to really have it be a centerpiece in our community and to provide the healthiest food that we can to our surrounding community. So we're going to try to keep it pretty simple and small and
00:04:53
Speaker
produce as much as possible, but trying to really take advantage of the great property we have and have events. And we host a big plant sale that gets a lot of people to our farm and then really continue to grow our CSA while also delivering some shares to the surrounding area as well. I know for me, I'm just trying to create the best life I can for myself. And I've come to realize sometimes that means
00:05:20
Speaker
keeping it as simple as you can while also trying to keep it profitable. So it's a hard line, but to really have a great quality of life and give as much great food as we can to people right around us. That's awesome. I love that. Now you've mentioned your CSA a few times. I've heard some good things you've sold out, correct?
00:05:41
Speaker
We did, we were really not surprised, but we didn't initially have the intention of doing 50 and we sold those out. People kept asking, so we opened up 10 more. So we're at about 60 members and we feel like we definitely could have sold more. So definitely it's great that people are still interested in that and the outpouring of support and just new people who found our farm and wanted to try it.
00:06:10
Speaker
That's awesome. A ton of the farms that I work with are working on building out subscriptions maybe for the first time or trying to get their feet wet with the CSA model here. Tell us a little bit about the CSA setup. What do you think made it so desirable for customers? Was it convenience or what makes it different from other CSAs?
00:06:30
Speaker
I think convenience is a large part of it. I'd say it's about right now, 35% come to the farm and pick up and the other 65% do get it delivered. So I think having that option definitely makes it more popular, especially for people who have families and young kids, and it's just hard to come to our farm during that selected amount of time. I also sell three different shares
00:06:57
Speaker
throughout the year. So we have one in the beginning, it's called our spring green CSA. And I really just try to make it clear that that's going to be a lot of green. So if you don't like that, you know, wait until the summer one and that one we can start in April out of our high tunnels. So it's definitely a time of year when there's not that much fresh vegetable around and we can fill a bag, you know, this week it's basil and beets and garlic scapes and lettuce. So just giving a lot of options.
00:07:27
Speaker
before some other farms can. And then we have our main season CSA that runs from June through mid-September. And then we'll sell another one, that's our winter time CSA after that, that goes until Christmas time. So, you know, having a few different options for people. There are people in our area who garden, so they just want the spring and winter one, but the summer one doesn't work for them. So just trying to give different options for people.
00:07:55
Speaker
We do get a lot of people who pay up front, but having the
Market Choices: Farmers Markets vs. Other Avenues
00:08:00
Speaker
option to pay weekly as well, Barnstor has it all set up that it just automatically charges their card every week. That really works for some people who are more on a budget and makes it affordable for them.
00:08:14
Speaker
Definitely. And that, that accessibility, both in terms of having it delivered to the door and little friendlier for the wallet is huge. Um, people need to eat well and it's what a great way to serve a local community. Now, shift gears here just a little bit. You know, you're starting this new farm. You can really take long lane farm and make it whatever you want it to be. Why did you feel it was important to offer both pickups and door to door delivery?
00:08:40
Speaker
Well, we have been doing the door-to-door delivery as Little River Farm, and we knew how much people liked it. So we wanted to keep something consistent and constant and still be able to reach our same customers. Because the two farm locations were in different spots, we had started to develop some new customers. So it was about trying to keep the new and the old. Now, one thing I noticed while we were chatting, the farmers markets don't make an appearance for fulfillments.
00:09:10
Speaker
You know, is there a reason why you're not leaning into the farmer's markets or anything like that? Yeah, it was definitely an intentional decision that my wife and I made because we were starting this new farm. We really could pick and choose the things that we liked and didn't like about the previous farm, how we had it set up. So at one point with that farm, we were going to three farmers markets a week.
00:09:32
Speaker
And it's, it's, it's a lot of time. And if you're not going, you have to send to other people. So just sending a lot of labor hours there and a lot of time prepping. So we felt that because we already had an established customer base who knew us and we have a good newsletter system and email system that we didn't really need the exposure anymore that the farmer's markets can provide for a new farm. And they are great for that.
00:10:00
Speaker
What I like about the online ordering is it's all paid for before it's harvested. So you really know exactly what you have to get. When you're going to the market, you can take records, but there is some randomness to it. So you can harvest a lot and then not end up selling it. Because we're so small, how we produce here and the no-till way, it was really about how can we like maximize efficiency and not have any waste and
00:10:27
Speaker
also just be able to have our weekends to not have to base it completely around the farmer's market schedule. Definitely. Well, I love it. Now, tell me a little bit about that transition from farm to farm. I mean, a lot of folks are in a similar position where maybe they apprenticed at a farm for a long time and are now starting their own or rebranding.
Learning and Infrastructure in Farm Transition
00:10:51
Speaker
What was that transition like for you?
00:10:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's, it's a weird feeling right now because now that I'm a year 10 farmer it's much different than year one where I really was just learning how to grow things and run a business and, and what that all meant now I feel like I have those skills, but I don't have the correct infrastructure to necessarily grow as much as I want as we're still.
00:11:15
Speaker
putting in an agricultural well and a fence so it's a different experience right now for sure. Definitely, you know, going back to those beginning years I would just
00:11:29
Speaker
encourage farmers, you know, try to really focus on a few things that you can do well and start there. I think we've made a mistake for a little bit of trying to do too many things. It's nice setting up a new farm, also having that experience of what worked and what didn't work and what you really don't want to let happen. Like, you know, let all your weeds go to seed and then you have a problem forever. Right.
00:11:54
Speaker
Awesome, okay. Well, one of the decisions you made when making this transition to Long Lane Farm was to hold on to your online presence in Barn to Door.
Brand Development with Barn to Door
00:12:05
Speaker
You know, what role did Barn to Door play when it came to that transition and, you know, why stick with Barn to Door?
00:12:11
Speaker
Yeah, as I was saying before, we felt like sticking with them was a good choice because our customers were familiar with it. We were really familiar with it. We knew that we could sell subscriptions through Barn to Door, that we could get really good pick lists, that we could integrate it all with our delivery. And we're pretty used to that. So we knew we wanted to continue the online presence with just how successful it had been. So Barn to Door was really great because they
00:12:40
Speaker
pretty quickly built us a whole new website and designed the farm logo. So it was really appreciative of that. It only took, I think, a month or five weeks, you know, it was very quick. So that was very much appreciated because it really was like, okay, we can't sell the CSA shares until we have the new website and the new barn to door store. So that was a really good process and we were really appreciative of it.
00:13:08
Speaker
Why not? Well, I know with your account manager and, you know, hearing through the grapevine with the other folks with hands on your account, people were pretty excited and we're leaning in to help you with that transition as well. Now, speaking of, you know, the logo process rebranding, you know, brand is a huge deal. And so how did you come up with the name of the farm? And, you know, the brand, how did you rebrand and really move forward with that?
00:13:34
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, Long Lane Farm, it's named after literally the road the farm is on Long Lane. So we were going back and forth between a few things, but I always think it's really nice to kind of have a descriptor of the land or what's around it in the farm name. And then we had a small list of names we liked and we put it out to the public through an Instagram poll and
00:13:56
Speaker
got a feel for which one people liked of Long Lane Farm 1. It also used to be the name of this farm. So kind of honoring the history of it because it's been a farm since 1930. And the community really has a connection to it. So it felt like a nice thing to do to really keep that tradition going. Yeah, well, that's awesome, too. I mean, what better way to, like you said, honor the community and carry on a legacy from something in the 1930s. That's incredible.
00:14:26
Speaker
So tell me a little bit about updating the brand and the logo process. You mentioned that we leaned in and helped you out, but what was that logo process like? Yeah, it was a really great process. I believe we worked with Serena and sent over the forms and she had us fill out some things we were thinking about and different color ideas. She also did our website, so it was kind of one package. So I definitely encourage, if any farmers do go through that process,
00:14:53
Speaker
make your answers as detailed as possible and that will create really good success on the other end. So it was great. She designed it all and then we had a Zoom call and we went over everything to be able to give feedback and it was a really quick process and now we already have the logo on our new farm sign.
00:15:13
Speaker
and on our t-shirts. So it was really nice also because when you do design a logo with Barn Story, you get all the different photo formats sent over a bunch of different color options. So it's definitely a lot more than what I was used to where we just had a friend, you know, design one logo and it was kind of hard to use on things. And so this one has made it really easy to put it on labels and kind of anywhere that we can.
00:15:41
Speaker
Awesome. Now, when you, when you saw the logos that they presented to you, was it anything that you expected?
00:15:48
Speaker
a little bit but not completely and three were presented which was nice and there was one we just we really loved but we were like you know actually this other one is a lot more just usable in terms of everywhere and if I would like to think because we sell some of our stuff in small grocery stores and it goes out into the world so kind of what looks the most
00:16:13
Speaker
professional and what can people from a wide audience connect with? So that's why we ended up choosing the one that we did. Wow. Well, I think that's a really good perspective to bring up. You really liked one logo, maybe one was speaking to you a little bit more, but thinking about it pragmatically, you know, what's going to make the most sense for our brand and our marketing and our presence and our packaging. So definitely a great thing to keep in mind there. So awesome.
00:16:40
Speaker
Now, especially when it comes to starting up a new farm, any farmer I've worked with personally anyway has not had a lot of spare time, right?
Efficiency Tools: CSA Management and Delivery
00:16:49
Speaker
So in what regards has Barnadore helped you save time and managing your farm a little easier?
00:16:55
Speaker
It's definitely helped manage the CSA subscriptions immensely. When we had first started farming, we really did a big CSA, but we ended up moving away from it because I felt like it was a lot of individual management. People were mailing in checks or you were sending in invoices and had to manually keep track of if people needed to skip a week or who was paid. So it just felt like a lot of management of
00:17:24
Speaker
each customer so barn to door selling the subscriptions through them has just really helped streamline that and you know the number of CSAs for each day just comes right up on the pick list so that's really useful and because we do deliveries using the delivery sync with Rautific has really made doing that
00:17:44
Speaker
a lot easier and it's just all in one place and then we do really take advantage of the MailChimp integration so definitely all those different integrations where it's just automatically uploading the things you need everywhere you need it is really useful and not having to keep track of so much just you know on a piece of paper in your head.
00:18:06
Speaker
Certainly. Well, you know, I know a lot of the farms we work with are familiar with MailChimp. We get them plugged in right away for their email marketing, but not everyone that we work with takes advantage of a tool like Routeific. Could you share a little bit of your experience and kind of what you think about Routeific and how it's helped you?
00:18:24
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. If you're doing deliveries, you absolutely need a route planning app. And we were using another one previously that wasn't integrated with bard to door and it was great, but we would have to manually download the spreadsheets and then format them to be back downloaded, um, you know, into that other app. So once we started using route, it was really easy because you literally just press.
00:18:47
Speaker
sync to RoundTific and then you log into RoundTific and everything's there and you just click optimize route and it's all ready to go. So it definitely took out a lot of steps and it made it so much quicker to do that for sure.
00:19:03
Speaker
Perfect. Perfect. Well, anything to hopefully at the end of the day, allow you to kick your feet up. Awesome. I'm happy to hear that. Now, you know, we're at this exciting position for long lane farm.
Future Goals: Soil Health and Expansion
00:19:15
Speaker
So what's next? You know, what are some of the goals for long lane farm this coming year?
00:19:19
Speaker
Yeah, our goal is right now to build out our infrastructure and continue to build up the land that we can farm on. Definitely the land needs some rejuvenation from where it was when we found it. So definitely focusing on getting the soil to where it needs to be.
00:19:38
Speaker
so we can grow the best crops for people. And then just continuing to grow our CSA, we're hoping for the winter we can take closer to 70 people or so and continue to keep that going as we go into next year and
00:19:56
Speaker
increased sales at our farm stand that just kind of happens by word of mouth and it's been a really nice connection to have to local chefs they find us through the farm stand they come and shop there so really our focus is our get our soil and our farm where it needs to be to grow food, increase sales at our farm stand and then increase our CSA going into the fall and winter time.
00:20:21
Speaker
Awesome. Well, we're excited to be working with you some more Camille and especially Long Lane Farm. I want to extend my thanks to Camille for joining us for this week's podcast episode. Here at Barnadore, we are humbled to support thousands of farms across the country, including of course, Long Lane Farm. If you want to connect with Camille and other farm advisors, attend Barnadore Connect. Register for weekly sessions at barnadore.com slash connect.
00:20:46
Speaker
And for more information on Long Lane Farm, you can follow them on Instagram at LongLaneFarmRI. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next time.
00:20:59
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in. For more free farm resources, tips, and tactics that are most successful farms use to grow and manage their business, visit barnadore.com slash resources. Also don't forget to subscribe to the direct farm podcast to automatically download our weekly episodes. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.