Greentree Naturals

"My grandmother told me to never put all your eggs in one basket. This holds true for all aspects of marketing. For the small acreage farmer to succeed, we need to be diversified," shares Diane Green, owner of Greentree Naturals, a small certified organic farm in rural northern Idaho she operates with her husband, Thom Sadoski. From a twelve member CSA to farmers' markets, from restaurant to flower sales that still allows time for workshops, writing and agricultural consulting -- all these pieces add up to a diversified income pie, based on a core philosophy of keeping business as local as possible.

Located between the Cabinet and Selkirk mountain ranges, Diane and Thom farm primarily on 2.5 acres of their 13 acre homestead. "We basically started out with a small garden plot. Realizing size is relative, that first home garden produced enough to feed the neighbors and we started selling our excess produce at the local farmers' market along with my garden crafts," explains Diane. Greentree Naturals became certified organic in 1992, a distinction that Diane is committed to in order to help build a strong market for organic foods and enable her to sell produce at a local natural food store that requires certification. In Idaho, state regulations have been on the books since 1992 that you cannot call produce "organic" unless it was certified by state standards.

Greentree Naturals product mix evolved toward specialty crops over time. "The more we grow, the more we diversify what we grow and how we sell our bounty. We started out growing all of the traditional garden vegetables and flowers. Now we focus on specialty produce, which means less of what everyone else is growing and instead focusing on things like tender baby vegetables and unusual cutting flowers. If you're selling the same thing that everyone else is at the farmers' market, your chances of selling everything that you take are not good, as well as the fact that the prices will likely be lower," shares Diane.

Flexibility and adapting to change proved to be important characteristics for Greentree Naturals. "I'm learning all the time and open to change. There's always something in the garden that will surprise or challenge me. I tell people who take our on-farm organic gardening course that the best way to grow a garden in northern Idaho is to plan for the hottest, coldest, wettest, driest growing season in recorded history."

Greentree Natural's emphasis on specialty crops now garners sales and loyalty from local chefs that can't get these types of crops through conventional produce suppliers. For example, Diane and Thom grow thirty-seven different kinds of salad greens, sixty culinary herbs, fifteen varieties of squash and carrots in four different colors: orange, yellow, red and purple. This specialized restaurant marketing experience led Diane to write and publish a niche how-to book, "Selling produce to Restaurants: A Marketing Guide for Small Acreage Growers," selling over 500 copies and expanding into a revised and updated edition in 2003. "I wrote this book because there really wasn't any comprehensive resource for growers interested in expanding into restaurant sales. We've found there is a specialized approach to marketing to chefs," explains Diane. Producing a consistent product quantity and quality is vital, as well as targeting high-end restaurants that can appreciate and pay for premium produce. "This is a challenge as many rural areas do not have such places," add Diane, explaining that the summer tourist and artisan community of Sandpoint (population 7,000) can fortunately support a consistent customer base, enabling her to keep sales local and not have to drive 60 miles into the Spokane, Washington, metro area.

As Diane's marketing gardening and business expertise deepened, she expanded it into another income source through teaching various farming-related workshops, enabling her to combine her passion for sustainable agriculture with generating income for Greentree Naturals. Workshop topics range from growing cut flowers to organic certification to small acreage marketing, an expertise area Diane has fostered through serving on a variety of state and academic boards and councils, including the Idaho Organic Food Advisory Council and Rural Roots: The Inland Northwest Community Food Systems Association, a non-profit working to improve the economic viability of small acreage farms and communities in eastern Washington and Northern Idaho. Diane teaches both on-farm workshops during the growing season, such as a 16-week organic gardening course, garlic braiding, flower essences and herbal vinegars. Workshops involving travel to conferences typically take place during the off-season winter months. While Diane's outgoing personality is well-suited toward the marketing and public outreach aspects of Greentree Naturals, the work of running the business is shared equally with Thom. Thom also supplements farm income through winter employment planting trees and working part-time at a local organic sheep farm, trimming hooves, cleaning stalls and giving shots.

Creative community involvement also grows Greentree Natural's business and presence locally. The Pumpkin Project is an educational program Diane designed for local elementary school students to plant and track the growth of a pumpkin seed, transplanting the seedling into a growing bed on the farm for the summer and then coming out for another field trip in the fall for the pumpkin harvest. The Pumpkin Project is a voluntary community service effort for Greentree Naturals, one that Diane feels pays back in deeper ways. "As farmers, we tend to isolate ourselves from our customers," says Diane. "Having a small business means letting the public know who you are. By participating in a project like this, you have a great opportunity to educate children and their parents, and, maybe, spark a new generation of farmers." Details for the Pumpkin Project, along with a potpourri of other creative marketing ideas, can be found on Greentree Natural's extensive website.