Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brenda Frketich. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Brenda, appreciate you joining us today. Can you share a story with us from back when you were an intern or apprentice? Maybe it’s a story that illustrates an important lesson you learned or maybe it’s a just a story that makes you laugh (or cry)? Looking back at internships and apprenticeships can be interesting, because there is so much variety in people’s experiences – and often those experiences inform our own leadership style.

I returned to my family’s farm after earning a business degree from Loyola Marymount University. When I first realized I wanted to be on the farm, both my parents and I weren’t sure what that would really look like for me to come back to our family business. The business side of things seem to be somewhat handled or at least introduced conceptually by my experience that I received through business school. But the farming side of things was a little different. When I worked on our family farm growing up my main experience was during the summer during harvest. I would work all through the summer during harvest driving different pieces of equipment, walking fields, weeding, and washing and waxing equipment. A year-round farm however looks a lot different when you take every season into account. My mom thought of an idea that maybe I should be an intern for two years to really get the feel for what year-round farming would look like. That way we could come back together in two years, removing some of the emotion from decision making. For me it took some of the pressure of making a lifelong decision at a very young age. So, we just did just that, I worked as an hourly employee for two full years as an intern. I learned the ins and outs of driving all the pieces of equipment that I never had experience on before. I was able to experience the business side of contracting, negotiating, budgeting, and in general the running of a farm. I made crop decisions alongside my dad and learned so much about how to raise a healthy crop and what challenges we faced on the farm. After two years, it was obvious to both parties that this was going to work out and could be something that we could then move forward into a more long-term proposal. Transitioning any business but especially a family business can be difficult to do. Looking at the questions, such as if someone is really interested in that business, or if they’re more interested in the idea behind the business, but not the work side of the business. Allowing me this time to be “just an intern” gave us all a step back from making some of those choices and gave us a chance to see what it would really look like over a period of time. I’m very grateful that my parents allowed for this model to take place, and I think it really helped in our transition story.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I grew up on my family’s farm as the third generation. Our farm is located in the Mid-Willamette Valley just south of St. Paul, Oregon. We grow several different crops on our farm and today I currently manage the operation alongside my husband while also raising our three children. I came into farming at a very young age, starting to drive tractor for harvest at the age of 11. After graduating from high school however, my plan was not to stay on my family’s farm. I ended up attending Loyola Marymount University and graduated with a business degree in management. After about three years of Los Angeles life, I realized that I was ready to come back to Oregon and was very interested in the opportunities that not just my family’s farm, but agricultural endeavors would be available to me after graduation. After one final year in Los Angeles, I came back and began as an intern at my family’s farm. Two years of that led to more serious discussion about my future on the farm and eventually a transition and succession plan that led me to where I am today. My husband and I are the current owners of the farm. We have added several crops to the farm, but also have a lot of the same core crops that were grown when I farmed alongside my parents. Our main crops today include grass seed, hazelnuts, or filberts as we like to call them, crimson clover, wheat, some vegetables, and vegetable seeds. In 2012 I began writing a blog to help reach out to folks and be more of an advocate for agriculture here in Oregon. My blog which is www.nuttygrass.com covers a myriad of topics with everything from why we grow the crops that we do, how we raise the crops, how we raising our kids, to funny stories and experiences, and general information, including some political pieces. I have a true passion for talking and sharing about what I do, and luckily, I also really enjoy writing. While in the most recent years, my time has been divided greatly between the responsibilities of running a farm and raising a family, the blog has taken somewhat of a backseat. However, I truly enjoy thinking of and creating content, and posting when I get the opportunity. I hope that my blog will continue with more stories and information yet to come.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My first business partner was my mom and dad when I first came back to the family farm. My current business partner, however, is my husband, Matt. His background was not farming, but in excavation where he worked for around 20 years. Right before we got married, my dad had taken a major step back from the operation and was transitioning into becoming a retired farmer. At that point, I realized that I was going to need some more help on the farm as we had been running it with four full-time employees; losing him created a gap in what we could accomplish. My husband said that maybe he was ready for a change and we both decided to give it a go working together. We worked together for about a year before our first son was born. During that first year there was a lot of learning, transitioning, and figuring out where we both fit together on the operation. After our son Hoot was born, my job took a more intense role of being a mom which required more of a schedule that a lot of the tasks of farming don’t necessarily allow for. Today after almost 10 years together farming, and adding another son Davor, and daughter Millie, we’ve settled into where we both know our strengths and our weaknesses. We both have a lot of trust in each other to make decisions for our business. One of the biggest things, and maybe even one of the simplest things I’ve learned is to always assume good intent. We both want this business to be successful and I know we’re both making decisions to make that a reality. We don’t always agree on every decision that’s made but we fall back on who knows a little more in that situation or who is most comfortable making those decisions and we go with that. It doesn’t mean we always see eye to eye, but we always allow for the opportunity to learn from mistakes and move forward together.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I am by no means an expert on how to do this in the most efficient way possible, and you won’t be terribly impressed with my numbers if I’m being honest. But for me it isn’t about clicks and reach as much as just telling my story. Word of mouth, especially from my dad telling people about my blog; he tells everyone, has been the most used way that I have grown! When I started my blog however, I decided that numbers weren’t my goal. My goal was to grow my blog with folks who are curious about our way of life and what we do on our farm, not spend a ton of money in promotion just to increase clicks. What I’ve always done is simply try to stay consistent in posting, I don’t post for money or promotion, and I stay very true to my “what and why” of farming while sharing our way of life out here on the farm.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.nuttygrass.com
• Instagram: NuttyGrass
• Facebook: Nuttygrass
• Linkedin: Brenda Frketich
• Youtube: Nuttygrass