On the Farm
This tiny farm stand is big on charm.
When Debra Friedrichsen
Shaw asked a neighbor to provide a few jars of homemade preserves for her farm stand in Petaluma, California, Marie Reis says she figured, “Why not?” She had been off work from her job in a grocery store for three months while a broken elbow healed, and it was an opportunity to put a little extra cash into her pocket.
She started with a dozen jars of “simple” jams, like apricot and blackberry. The preserves resonated with Debra’s customers, and the test paid off. “When I made my first $7, I was so excited, I drove into town and spent it on a triple latte!” Marie recalls.
Debra, a third-generation poultry farmer, had been stocking her tiny Farm Barn stand with just eggs from her 2,700 chickens and 53 ducks.
(She also sells at a local farmers market.) “I felt there was a need for the community to appreciate the taste of a good, fresh egg,” she says. “It was also a way to support our family’s legacy.”
Looking to increase options for her customers, she reached out to Marie. “It gives customers more reason to shop,” she says. “Marie recently put in a ‘take a book, leave a book’ box, too. It gets a lot of attention.”
The arrangement between the two neighbors has been fruitful. Marie has branched out to other products—Meyer lemon vanilla bean marmalade, fig pecan port cherry jam, quince habanero jam, chipotle apple butter and spicy pickled carrot sticks. “Anything spicy tends to fly off the shelf,” Marie says. “It has catered to my creative side and made me think outside the box. I love sharing recipes with the public in the form of canned goods.”
The work has paid off in other ways. “I saved all my money from the Farm Barn last year and put a down payment on a new car,”
Marie says. It’s a long way from a triple latte.
Debra runs the stand on the honor system, so customers—many of them tourists driving through California’s wine country— show their appreciation in the form of little notes. “I had a message the other day from a customer saying, ‘Hooked on pickled carrot sticks! Please make more!’” Marie says.
Customer notes are a favorite part of the job for Debra, too. “I love reading our guest book,” she says. “People leave all kinds of sweet thoughts and tell us why they love coming. One woman took a picture of one of my hens, who snuck into the Farm Barn and was sitting on the shelf. She left the photo for me on her next visit.”
`I felt there was a need for the community to appreciate the taste of a good, fresh egg.❞
—DEBRA FRIEDRICHSEN SHAW