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Farmer Spotlight: Little River Farm
201 Plays4 years ago
In this episode of the Direct Farm Podcast, we're delighted to welcome one of our newest members to the Farm Advisory Network, Little River Farm in Rhode Island. Little River Farm was started in 2013 by young farmers Camille Abdel-Nabi and Robert Payne with a vision to create a small farm that could feed people the healthiest and most nutritious food possible. After 5 seasons of experimenting with different growing techniques, Little River Farm became a fully no-till farm.
Show Notes:
https://www.littleriverfarmri.com/
https://Barn2Door.com/resources
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the direct farm podcast, the weekly listen for farm selling direct. We'll talk about the four levers for farm success, which are quality, brand, price, and convenience. We'll hear from outside industry experts and producers like you to delight your customers save time and to increase your direct farm sales and business. We're glad you're here.
Meet Camille from Little River Farms
00:00:26
Speaker
Welcome to the direct farm podcast. I'm Rory, your host for today's episode. We've got a great conversation for you today with one of our newest farm advisors, Camille of little river farms located in Warren, Rhode Island. Welcome Camille. It's great to
Camille's Journey into Farming
00:00:41
Speaker
have you here. Could you maybe start just by telling us a little bit about your farm and what you guys produce over there? Sure. Yeah. It's great to be here where.
00:00:50
Speaker
in Rhode Island, in Warren, Rhode Island. So we are a small farm. We're about three acres and we're certified organic and we've been a no-till farm for three seasons now. So a lot of hand labor and not too much machinery. And our main crops, we've
00:01:11
Speaker
gone towards growing mostly salad greens, microgreens, tomatoes, and other things that you'd need for your salad. But we've really found that to be what we want to do and what our customers want and not doing so much of the heavy stuff anymore like potatoes and winter squash. You aren't from Rhode Island originally. How did you end up deciding to farm, especially there in Rhode Island?
00:01:37
Speaker
Yeah, I'm originally from Buffalo, New York, and I left there to go to college in Hartford, Connecticut. And I was an American studies major. So for my thesis, I decided I wanted to write on sort of why we needed an organic food movement at all. And I was reading all these agricultural books and everything from omnivore's dilemma to
00:02:04
Speaker
really old, you know, Sir Albert Howard on soil science. I just noticed that whenever I read about the farmers, I was just so interested in their lives. And it really fascinated me, just the work they got to do and the lives they got to live. So
00:02:23
Speaker
I sort of had a punch. I would like it, but it didn't really work out for a couple of years. I kept trying to work on farms, but things just got in the way. I graduated in 2012 and I got a job at the University of Rhode Island working in their college admissions department. It was just supposed to be a short 10-week
00:02:47
Speaker
thing and then I was going to go move to South America and live there. But while I was in Rhode Island, I saw an ad for an apprenticeship at a farm. So I ended up getting that and staying here. And the first day that I was at the apprenticeship, I knew it was what I needed to do with my life. I really had a hunch and the hunch was right. What were some of the things you kind of learned through that apprenticeship?
00:03:14
Speaker
Yeah, it was a great farm. I always say I got really lucky because the quality of their produce was so high. So I really just saw what that level of produce how, how well customers reacted to that. And I knew I wanted a quality that high and.
00:03:33
Speaker
As an apprenticeship, I was working 80 hours a week living on the farm. So it definitely showed me the type of work that I was going to have to do and definitely the type of sacrifices that I was going to have to make. I think the first day we did, you know, hoops and row cover for five hours straight. I was just laying on the floor for lunch and I was just like.
00:03:57
Speaker
Okay. And I couldn't even move, but I got to do everything there. I worked the farmer's market. I ran the CSA. I got to seed and harvest. So it really was a small glimpse into all the different things that I would be doing as a farmer. And somehow all that made you want to keep doing it. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think farmers are like sane people all the time.
Starting and Managing a Farm
00:04:23
Speaker
Then you transitioned from that apprenticeship to having your own farm. So what was that transition like for you and what was kind of the early beginnings of your farm like?
00:04:34
Speaker
Yeah, when I was doing the apprenticeship, I met another person there named Bob. So we were just decided to start the farm together and we still run the farm together. And I had six months of experience. He had different years of different types of experience, but we really just jumped right into it and it was.
00:04:58
Speaker
probably like the most fun year of farming just because we were so naive and it was just so exciting to actually be growing something. But it was definitely a very, very hard year. You just don't even know what's coming your way. You're just always putting fire after fire out. You don't have much money. So it was really bittersweet. And every year since then, we've just tried to get more organized and more focused. We also that year were just growing
00:05:28
Speaker
every single thing and every crop. And we've now realized that it's smart to be more focused, at least for us. Yeah, definitely. Well, that was kind of my follow up to that was, and that sounds like a major lesson that you learned through that process, but what are some of those other lessons that you learned early on?
00:05:44
Speaker
Well, it's interesting now that we are starting an entire new farm property. I'm thinking back to those beginning years a lot because it's definitely back to that mentality of, all right, what do we have here that we can make work until we fully get it set up? But I think definitely just having that experience of setting it up one time is really helping us on our long-term property to know what we should invest in right away. What's the most important.
00:06:14
Speaker
Having a really nice wash and pack station makes all the difference with efficiency. I think it was really our second year that opened my eyes. We only did an acre the first year and then expanded to three acres and we were just double cropping it and
00:06:31
Speaker
just trying to grow so much, we didn't have any help. And it was not a very good year in terms of our stress levels and just the health of the crop. So we really, after that realized, okay, we need some help. And also you need to rest the soil. You need to really devote a lot of time to getting it where it needs to be.
00:06:54
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. Those are important lessons to learn. Certainly. How has the farm kind of changed and grown even, especially the business side of things since then?
00:07:05
Speaker
Yeah, we've definitely grown a lot. Now we look at what we make in a week and it's like, oh wow, we've made that in a year, our first year. We're definitely just really expanding our customer base. And that's been through a lot of going to farmer's markets and definitely adding on a home delivery. And every year we've just been able to.
00:07:30
Speaker
grow a better quality product and more of it. But I've really seen how my role in the whole farm has changed. And I'm not the one out there doing the grunt work anymore. I remember I used to just go transplant by myself for eight hours straight. And now I'm really doing a lot more of the delegation and the management. And I think when I got into farming, I didn't realize how much of a manager I was going to
00:08:00
Speaker
have to learn how to be. And now I really like it, but it definitely was a learning curve. And now I just see myself a lot more as the organizer, the systems maker, the delegator of tasks or the team builder. And I'm not doing so much of that physical labor anymore.
00:08:20
Speaker
Yeah. Well, and I'm sure that's kind of a weird transition to go
Adapting to Online Sales
00:08:24
Speaker
through. And I'm curious, maybe like, what would be your advice to a farm that's maybe just getting to the point where they need to start bringing on some other employees to work at the farm with them?
00:08:33
Speaker
Yeah, I think one use your community. We were able to not only talk to other farmers who had experience hiring people and managing people, but we reached out to a free local business network who likes to consult with businesses as they're all retired executives and we brought in an HR mentor. So she really just.
00:08:57
Speaker
helped us with that process because I think as farmers, we should be thinking of that entire process just like any big corporation is or any company though. That's the same ideas applied to.
00:09:10
Speaker
to our businesses and I don't think we always think about it that way. And I think my second piece of advice and something with I struggled with for sure is trust people, let go of control, develop good systems, and really try to empower a team because you're never going to do it alone and you need to trust that other people can do it with the right guidance and training.
00:09:36
Speaker
Yeah, that's great advice. And I'm sure that that's a really tough thing taking care of this thing and handing some control over that somebody else can definitely be a tough process. So that's really good advice. Well, at some point along the line, I think it was in 2019 or 2020, you guys decided to, to sign up with barn to door and start selling products online. What was kind of the reasoning for that move and deciding to transition your store and being able to reach people online?
00:09:59
Speaker
Yeah, it was definitely something I was thinking about before that. I want to get my product to more people outside of the farmer's market, but I really wasn't sure how to do that. And then I think like a lot of farmers, it was the pandemic that pushed us towards that. Our farmer's markets closed down.
00:10:19
Speaker
And I immediately said, okay, I need to figure out a way to get this to our customers. So week one, I was using a Google sheet and that wasn't working. And then I went to just our regular website and it was just obviously clearly not going to work long-term. So I looked into different platforms and I really liked that barn to door.
00:10:44
Speaker
gave a lot of flexibility just in terms of how many order dates you could have and fulfillment dates because a lot of them do limit, a lot of the other platforms do limit how much you can do. I really liked the integration with MailChimp and then definitely just the one-on-one account help and onboarding and just all the different things that you guys offer in terms of
00:11:08
Speaker
that type of assistance with marketing and getting the store set up. And I just felt like for, it was a great value for what you guys price it at. We were getting a lot for that. Were there any other kind of challenges that you had to find unique ways to overcome those at the time? Yeah, it was just learning.
00:11:28
Speaker
So many different parts of getting the deliveries out. I had to learn how to use a route planning app and even just figuring out how, what packaging is the best, you know, one, it was just brown paper bags and it was clear that wasn't going to work long-term. So.
00:11:46
Speaker
you know, once you start implementing it, you really see, oh, wow, there's, there's a lot of pieces to make this smooth and efficient. And it, you know, a few months later, we were able to get a refrigerated van and get a delivery driver. And it took a second, but definitely the early stages helped me figure out what I really needed to make it work for us and our customers. And then just trying to really communicate with, with the customers.
00:12:14
Speaker
what was going on and how to get our product was really important. Are there any things that you learned in that process that you were like, no, this isn't something somebody has to mess up to figure out that you could maybe like provide that insight and, and maybe it's as you're setting up a delivery program or even just as you're starting to sell online. Were there any of those things that you're like, Oh, we mess this up, but maybe this piece of advice could help somebody not have to go down that path.
00:12:39
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think for us it actually did go pretty smoothly. And I think one thing that I regretted was trying to just text and have people call me with orders and email me with orders and not use the platform. And I think just trying to actually funnel everybody into the platform that you can
00:13:04
Speaker
as fast as possible is a really good idea because those phone calls and those texts, it's as much as you want to do it. They usually ended up in some type of confusion, either for me or my employees, just because it was out of the ordinary and a lot more communication was needed if someone texted me last minute to try to pack up an order. So I think just really trying to push people in the platform, make them stick to the deadlines that you set and
00:13:34
Speaker
Just try to get them on board with that as quickly as possible is a good idea. Well, yeah, definitely. I know it's something people run into too. It's like friends and family that still want to call you and order over the phone or shoot you a text and say, Hey, I need some carrots or some lettuce or something. I think that just gets overwhelming because it's more and more to keep track of. It affects your inventory numbers. So yeah, definitely trying to get everybody at least in one place. It definitely makes things easier to keep track of. Awesome. Well.
00:14:01
Speaker
You guys have developed a really successful CSA program over the years. So could you maybe talk about how your CSA is set up and how is it set up in a way that makes it convenient and simple for customers to order and get your produce?
00:14:16
Speaker
Yeah, at this point it's all done through bottom to door and our customers, they can either get the boxes delivered or pick up at our farms. They're at the market. So I just have a rolling subscription with it. So our customers can.
00:14:35
Speaker
I have different bundles. So I have one that's a salad lover, CSA, that's really for people who eat a ton of salad and that's mostly what they want. And I have that a more diverse, more typical CSA and I'm trying to roll out a microgreen CSA. You know, I don't expect it to be super popular, but at least just have that option and, you know,
00:15:01
Speaker
I actually try to make a smaller box every week. I just sell our boxes for $25 because I always found that people actually were throwing away vegetables with it. And I decided I'm going to actually make it a smaller box. And then I sent out an email every week with what they're going to get and just remind them that they can go on and order more from the store and also
00:15:26
Speaker
They get a 10% discount on all other items or try to, you know, sort of incentivize, but we're not going to overwhelm you with produce every week. Cause sometimes I think we'll do get overwhelmed with it. No, definitely. I mean, especially too, if you're getting things that maybe you've never gotten from the grocery store before and there's new things to learn how to cook with that can be a common problem. Yeah. Have you guys always had your CSA or was that something that you implemented later on in your farm?
00:15:53
Speaker
No, we always had a CSA. We actually used to have a much bigger CSA and we did it almost farmer's market style. People came and chose what they want based on pounds. And it was a lot to manage and we felt like it wasn't something that was going to work for us. So we actually took a little bit of a break from the CSA and I didn't start it back up until we started with Barn to Door.
00:16:20
Speaker
And I just had a much easier way to manage it and to sell it. And so just having it as an option, I'm definitely increasing it every year. And it's not a huge, huge part of our business at this point, but it's just, we might have 40 people who do it every year. And just to know that we can account for the vegetables they're getting every week and they pay upfront or they pay weekly, it's just that guaranteed revenue. That's really helpful.
00:16:49
Speaker
What are some of the specific areas that using the subscriptions feature within Barnadore cut out some of the extra work that you had before with the previous kind of setup that you had?
00:17:00
Speaker
Yeah, well, I think one thing we didn't like about the CSA was all the individual sort of attention you had to pay to each customer. Not that that's a bad thing, but you know, they'd want to go on vacation and they're emailing you that they want to skip a week or someone else has to come get it. And you're trying to accommodate that. But when it wasn't on a platform, I had to manually remember that and note that and pass that information on. So now.
00:17:28
Speaker
Now that the number of CSA's goes onto the pick list every delivery day, I know how many I need. And if someone emails me that they need to delay away a week, I can just go into the platform, change the date. And I don't have to think about it when that date comes, you know, they're going to be on the pick list. So it's just really takes out those extra steps and the extra energy of giving people personal attention. Cause I do allow them to.
00:17:57
Speaker
choose a biweekly CSA if they want or if they do need to skip a week, you can provide a little bit more of that customization without making yourself go crazy.
00:18:07
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And how has the whole subscription format kind of affected how you're able to kind of monitor and track your inventory better? Yeah, that's definitely the number one thing I love about just doing the online sales in general is that there's no waste involved. It's compared to the farmer's market where, you know, you're guessing what you're going to sell. And if there's some outside event or the weather turns bad, you're
00:18:34
Speaker
just have all that waste. So I just love that I get the pick list and it's all been sold before we even harvest it. And I feel like that's just a very smart and lean business model to have. And definitely with the subscription, I can think the week before, like, okay, I know I have 10 people getting the CSA next week. I'm going to reserve
00:18:56
Speaker
Ten batches of this and we do do some buying in of products. If I want to buy in something special for them, I know how much. It just has really helped, I think, cut down on waste at our farm and really allowed us to increase our profits, just selling online in general.
00:19:16
Speaker
Awesome. That's great to hear. And in addition to kind of like how much you're able to pick and offer and having some certainty in that, I'm also curious, how have you adapted products and the products that you're growing over time to match the demand, especially like within your local community and provide more value, whether that's in your subscriptions or just in your store in general?
00:19:38
Speaker
Yeah, we definitely kept finding each year. We just never had enough greens, especially in the hot summer months when they're more difficult to grow, but eat them. So we really saw that the sky was the limit with that. So.
00:19:56
Speaker
We just sort of kept devoting more and more beds and time to the greens and less time to some of the other crops and less space and cutting them all together. We're not a farm that's for everybody. Like if you like the broccoli and the cauliflower and all that stuff, we just don't do that. But if you really love fresh greens, then we're the place for you. And I think that really is the customer that
00:20:21
Speaker
has found us and has appreciated us so we just saw that demand and we really saw also the demand for it in the shoulder season so in the early spring and in the winter so we've really also just shifted to growing more and more in high tunnels and trying to expand the season with those greens and also with the microgreens.
00:20:45
Speaker
I know you guys, you leverage social media really well. Have you ever done any kind of education through social media? I know you mentioned MailChimp as well, some of your email marketing.
Marketing and Customer Engagement Strategies
00:20:55
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. I'd say a couple of years ago, my whole approach to, you know, social media and marketing really changed. I used to just use it as a way to sell things to say, Hey, we're going to be at the market today. You know, come buy this, come see us. But I realized I really needed to use all the avenues to tell our story. And what people really wanted to hear about was.
00:21:20
Speaker
the people and the dogs, you know, behind the scenes. So I've just really tried to make it a lot more about the people, do features on different employees, do features on us, just really keep people updated what's happening day to day.
00:21:36
Speaker
telling them as much as we can about the whole process and they want to know that. And then we supplement that. We always make sure to do various tours during the summertime. And so people actually come to the farm and meet us and see what we're doing. So we found that to be really helpful.
00:21:56
Speaker
And just using sort of that same mindset for our newsletters, just saying, you know, yeah, I want you to know about this product, but also here's what we've been doing and here's what you can expect. And people just want to feel part of your adventure and your story and just including them in that is, is a really helpful thing. And these people become.
00:22:18
Speaker
you know, really close to us and we feel like we do have a community and we haven't even met everybody that we feel that way with. I noticed in your online store have played with the different ways you kind of offered your microgreens to customers, whether some of them are, like you said, some blends and some mixes. So what kind of went into deciding on those and how'd you go about choosing those and then also how you package them? What kind of went into the decision and process for deciding all those things too?
00:22:47
Speaker
So we found the ones that we could grow really well and tasted really good and that people reacted to. And we always ended up having a little bit extra pea shoots and sunflower shoots and micro radish. So we ended up sort of blending them all together to make a
00:23:04
Speaker
we call it the farmer's favorite micro salad blend. And people just reacted really, really well to that. And that became really popular. And that was sort of just like a mistake that turned into a great product. And then we really found that some people were buying a lot of the two amounts or a lot of the six ounce pea shoots. So
00:23:27
Speaker
I started putting up bigger sizes. I call them family sizes. So for the pea shoots, I do a one pound bag and for the smaller like micro broccoli, I do a four ounce clamshell. I give a discount on it and I also.
00:23:40
Speaker
tell people you're saving money and you're saving on plastic and people just reacted really well to that. So that's something I want to keep expanding on the store is giving people more bulk options in general, because I found some people will buy a three pound bag of salad mix, you know, if they're having a party and
00:24:00
Speaker
The more things you can offer, all customers are different. Some customers buy one small bag of spinach every week and other customers buy four one-pound bags. So just trying to appeal to everybody who's out there is really helpful.
00:24:17
Speaker
Well, I know also in the last few years, you guys launched a delivery program so that customers could get your guys's products right on their doorstep.
Expanding Delivery Services
00:24:25
Speaker
So what kind of made, what kind of led to that decision to start doing that door to door delivery program?
00:24:33
Speaker
Yeah, we started it when the farmer's markets closed at the start of the pandemic and no, it was just one day a week and it just kept growing and growing. So it grew to two days a week. And now we're thinking of adding even another day on. And I just really liked that we were getting customers who we never had before too. Because if you think about the farmer's market, it's open three or four hours a week at this very specific time. And I think.
00:25:03
Speaker
If people have kids who have to go to soccer games or just have other commitments, getting to that market is really, really hard. I know I don't think with my schedule and my life that I'd be able to make that happen. So I just realized that there was this huge population of people out there who do want our products and who want to buy local. But if there's not convenience involved, then they're not going to do it. So once I saw that
00:25:31
Speaker
people were going to use the service. We've just steadily tried to increase it and we've just gotten more customers and we're actually sort of trying to move away from the markets in the coming years and move more and more to a delivery service.
00:25:48
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I think a great exercise kind of that you did in that process was like putting yourself in the customer's shoes a little bit and thinking through like, what is convenient for them? What, what are they expecting? What would they want? What are some of the other kind of key tactics that you've used to, as you've developed the program and doing more and more deliveries to make that program a success?
00:26:10
Speaker
Yeah, definitely getting a refrigerated van was really helpful. So we could just cover such a bigger area with one driver and one vehicle and now we can.
00:26:22
Speaker
know the driver's going out and she not only has the home delivery orders but she has all the stuff going to the grocery stores and you know it's an eight nine hour day of driving and it's getting to all these people at you know 36 degrees like it just came out of the cooler so just having it even be that much more fresh for them really helped and
00:26:45
Speaker
We made sure to just plaster our name all over the van. And that has been a great marketing tool. People will email me and say, I just saw your van on the road and I looked at what you did and I'm interested. So that's been great. And just really communicating.
00:27:04
Speaker
using the order reminders a lot on Barn to Door. Like once you guys told me we'll send one out, you know, 12 hours before the deadline is going to happen, I immediately saw the sales going up and we try to make it so it's only 48 hours before that they have to order. I'd love to somehow figure out the night before super convenient delivery ordering window, but I haven't quite, you know,
00:27:31
Speaker
that yet and be able to harvest it and get it all out.
Importance of Organic Certification
00:27:36
Speaker
The organic certification is kind of a really important part of your brand and does a really great job of kind of in a word pretty much summing up the quality of your products. How do you kind of use that to communicate to buyers the quality and the level of the products that you're providing them?
00:27:54
Speaker
Yeah, we definitely knew from day one of the farm that we were going to be a certified organic farm. And at our original property, we had to wait a few years because of the previous management style. It's three years before you can be organically certified if there was a chemical or any type of thing sprayed on the land.
00:28:15
Speaker
just went through the application process and it's definitely a lot of paperwork and you have to really keep your records and it's not the most fun thing to do but it's the only label that's out there that people can really see and know that you are organic and that you can say you're certified organic and I know it's not the most perfect label that there is and there's issues with it but
00:28:42
Speaker
It just gives customers a peace of mind that you're willing to go through the process of being inspected and apply and have your farm be open to come and look at your practices. So I don't think everybody cares about it, but we always do a customer survey and it's definitely one of the top reasons that people do buy the product and it can just give them peace of mind that they're getting healthy food that's not sprayed with chemicals and
00:29:12
Speaker
They can feel good about eating it. Yeah. Well, you, you actually just did another great segue for me because my next question was about those surveys. Cause I know I think this is a really cool tool that you guys are using to, to hear what your, your audience is, is wanting and needing from you. I think customers really appreciate that you at least want to hear their feedback. So could you maybe talk about how you've used surveys, what you use them for and, and some of the results of those?
00:29:39
Speaker
Yeah, we've done them now for five or six years. So we've always made some sort of change based on the survey.
00:29:47
Speaker
One example is we asked where people wish they could get their products and people were saying these smaller grocery stores and we went and approached them and got our product in there. We also just asked for general feedback and when I started the home delivery people were giving me feedback on that after the first year and it was just littler things like
00:30:11
Speaker
I'd love a lower minimum order for free delivery or it was sort of confusing to know if something was coming in a bunch or loose or it's really helpful if you say if they're large sweet potatoes or small sweet potatoes or, you know, this year. One thing that one person said was that they really wanted to get more updates about what was in our farm stand through social media. So it was just something really little that I could start to do on a daily basis, just give that update. So.
00:30:41
Speaker
It's really helped us to know, you know, where should we sell our products? How do you want us to communicate with you? What products do you want us to grow or buy in that we don't have? And generally, it really helped this year. We finally sat down and wrote a mission statement and we could really go through and see
00:31:00
Speaker
What were the top three things that people bought our product for? And we saw that it was local, that they liked to support our business, that it was organic, and we could really make a mission statement around that.
00:31:15
Speaker
That's awesome. That's so cool. And, and also what a great way to learn some holes in your store. Like you were saying, if somebody's going there and they're confused about a product, so maybe they don't purchase, but then you, if you're getting that feedback, then you can know, you can make the change.
Customer Engagement through MailChimp
00:31:30
Speaker
I was curious how you've been utilizing that barn to door and MailChimp integration to reach customers through email and how much of a priority you put on it to kind of keep that regular interaction there.
00:31:41
Speaker
And then also maybe if you've had any success utilizing like customer journeys or email newsletters. I have started to use MailChimp more this past year and I really made it a goal and almost a must do was to at least send a newsletter out monthly to really just give updates on. Oh, we're going to be back at delivery in a week or we're back at the farmer's market or.
00:32:06
Speaker
Hey, we just build new tunnels in Warren and here's what we're going to grow in them. I'll be at the farmer's market after I send one out and the customers come up to me and they start talking about what they read. So I really see that for the people who do care to read it, they, it does mean a lot to them. And usually we, I immediately see a spike in sales from those newsletters. So right now I'm just starting to work with you guys to make a customer journey.
00:32:34
Speaker
And I'm really excited about the potential of using Mailchimp more so haven't sent one out yet but hopefully in the next few weeks we're going to be getting that done so
00:32:47
Speaker
I'm really excited to see how that helps just bring new customers in or all the customers back. I have a feeling it will be a big success.
Future Goals for Little River Farm
00:32:57
Speaker
As one of our newest members of the Farm Advisor Network, what are you kind of most excited for about joining that team and being a part of the Farm Advisor Network really?
00:33:06
Speaker
Yeah, definitely getting the experience of sharing my knowledge to a wider audience. It's something I really liked doing and I've been able to do here in Rhode Island, but I've definitely thought about how I could do that more. So when this opportunity came along, I was really happy about it and just really excited to get the experience. What's next for Little River Farm and what do you kind of maybe have as some of your goals going into the coming year?
00:33:37
Speaker
Yeah, our number one goal is to get our new property set up as much as possible. Even though we had it last season, we did not grow here. We have started growing in our tunnels. We have a nursery here now. We're going to do a big plant sale so people come to the farm and know that we're here. Just get as many people as possible to come see the farm and see the farm stand in.
00:34:00
Speaker
to just grow a lot of food and make our dream of stepping outside our door and going to work a reality because we've been commuting for nine years to go to work. And I think all of us that want to become farmers, definitely not driving every day is a huge appeal. So just making that dream come true this year, hopefully.
00:34:25
Speaker
I want to extend my thanks to Camille for joining us on this week's podcast episode. Here at Barnadore, we're humbled to support thousands of farms across the country, including farmers like Camille who implement sustainable agricultural practices and support their local community. For more information on Little River Farm, visit littleriverfarmri.com.
00:34:45
Speaker
To learn more about Barn to Door, including access to numerous free resources and best practices for your farm, go to barn2door.com slash resources. Thank you for tuning in and we'll see you next week.