Oberle Botanical
Botanical Paradise in Suburbia
Fort Collins, CO
Suburban sprawl may not jump to mind as a hotbed for new agriculture
start-ups, but Oberle Botanical blooms strong and solid in the heart of
Fort Collins, Colorado. Run by Matt and Sue Oberle, this
diversified operation blends a variety of horticulture ventures with a
commitment to keeping things local and using sustainable agriculture
methods.
"I really like the idea of having people know where their food came
from," comments Sue, who launched this business with her husband, Matt,
in 1996. "Being close by we have an incredible market right out our
front door." Drawing from both Matt and Sue's academic
horticulture, forestry and ecology backgrounds, Oberle Botanical formed
the couple's first entrepreneurial farming venture. Matt's
passion for growing stems from his childhood summers working alongside
his grandpa on the family farm in Iowa. "As for me, I grew up in
suburbia," laughs Sue. "But in the fourth grade I simply decided I
wanted to be a farmer."
Today, Oberle Botanical blend Matt and Sue's passion for growing with
creating a viable suburban-based business. Two acres of growing
space include their own big backyard, 1.5 acres of rented land a mile
away and rented greenhouse space, primarily for seed
propagation. When a strong spring storm took down some of
their greenhouse space a few years ago, they shifted to learning how to
grow more in the fields and not being so greenhouse dependent.
"We're trying to work with Mother Nature and our Colorado climate,"
adds Sue.
Oberle Botanical's growing portfolio includes a range of items for the
kitchen, garden and craft room. Fresh seasonal produce, culinary
herbs and cut flowers form the core of the business, including over
forty annual and perennial flowers and "woodies," decorative wild
plants such as bittersweet. Focusing on farmers' market sales, Sue has
seen the local area market grow significantly in the last couple of
years, both in sales volume and appreciation for more gourmet
products. "The market for sophisticated food has increased
tremendously. Last year -- for the first time -- I could finally
sell baby squash," Sue says, pleased. According to the USDA,
farmers' markets have grown at a brisk clip of ten percent a year since
1990.
Given this growth in premium-priced foods, Oberle Botanical continues
to increase their sales to area chefs, helping stimulate the growth of
a local organization, Colorado Crop to Cuisine. Now in its fourth
season, Colorado Crop to Cuisine hires a coordinator to facilitate
sales and delivery between growers and restaurants. "We've found
that chefs in our area don't use e-mail so it is important to have
someone dedicated to on-site visits and building relationships to grow
this business area," explains Sue. In the off winter season, Sue
and Matt further develop their relationships with area chefs and
community relations by volunteering for Taste of the Nation, a
nationally based fund-raising event for area food banks that features
local restaurants, breweries and wineries. "Understanding how
restaurant businesses operate helps us serve them better," continues
Sue.
Expanding Oberle Botanical through innovative, inventive means remains
a forefront challenge for Sue and Matt. Sometimes this means
re-packaging existing products creatively to increase
sales. Container "bowl" gardens proved to be a surprisingly
strong seller at the farmers' markets. Priced at $15, these
container gardens cover different themes, including a "kitty bowl" with
catnip varieties, a "basil bowl" showcasing seven different types of
basil and a "pesto bowl" including Italian parsley. Container
gardens appeal to folks with limited growing space, altitude
limitations or people who are new to gardening and want to try
something without much commitment. "We sell the bowls so that buyers
can harvest a quarter pound immediately, making the bowl a good value,"
adds Sue.
Other business expansion areas for Oberle Botanical over the last
couple of years include public speaking, workshops and specialty garden
design, designing custom gardens for the growing conditions of Northern
Colorado with kitchen, cutting, herb, dye plant and medicinal
themes. Sometimes these off-season diversification endeavors
evolve to better suit Matt and Sue's own personal desire to have a
balanced, fulfilling livelihood. For example, Sue started
creating and shipping hand-made Christmas wreaths during the holidays,
utilizing various dried natural items from the garden. "The wreaths
were selling well and the income was needed in December, but I found
the holiday market stressful -- between unreliable shipping and
customers in bad spirits. So I'm shifting my focus to do
wreath-making workshops, teaching folks how to make their own.
More fun, same money, less stress!" exclaims Sue.
Sue's best advice for folks starting or moving into diversified
agricultural businesses is to keep things small. Oberle Botanical
started on $500 the first year primarily for seed plants, farmers'
market fees and rented greenhouse space. "The hardest part for me
wasn't the growing part, but learning how to run a business. It's
a lot easier to make mistakes on a small scale, on $300 versus
$30,000," she says. Running a suburban-based business also
creates different sets of zoning and public utility challenges.
Sue's experience working with the city of Fort Collins regarding zoning
has been positive, with local government supportive of retaining an
agricultural community within city limits. An on-going challenge
for Oberle Botanical remains water use, given the need for everyone in
Fort Collins to conserve water. A drip irrigation system helps
efficiently water and keep up consistent quality of produce.
Another piece of advice from Sue is learning how to do everything on
your own, at least at the beginning. "So many people told us we
needed to hire experts for various things, but -- aside from an
accountant -- we've been determined to learn things ourselves, partly
for financial reasons and partly for later when we did hire and pass
along a job to someone else, we understood what was going on," explains
Sue. Matt learned hyper text mark-up language (or HTML) and Sue
learned the basics book-keeping. The business now generates
approximately 40% of the couple's income while Matt still keeps his
full-time job he enjoys with the USDA Forest Service. Just as a
healthy plant, Oberle Botanical has learned to grow slowly and healthily
with time.
Sue & Matt Oberle
Regions:
ColoradoOrganization type:
Business - family


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