We recently connected with Christi Falls and have shared our conversation below.
Christi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later
I’ve always loved plants. There’s something about growing something and watching it thrive under your care- or fixing whatever is wrong.
As a young child; I was always collecting plants from the woods and bringing them back to share with my grandma, who wasn’t able to get out and hike around.
When I had children of my own, it was important to me that they learn to grow food and care for things, so we started a garden together. We got chickens.
The kids loved it all, and we shared our surplus with friends.
One day; our oldest son was talking about an expensive new train set he was wanting, and I joked he was going to have to get a job to pay for all his expensive train wants.
He shrugged and said, “no problem, I’ll sell some of our extra tomatoes and eggs.”
I let them set up a little roadside stand, and they sold peppers, tomatoes, eggs and cut flowers we had grown.
As it grew; we decided to make it a legitimate business- it was perfect because it was something we could all do together as a family.
My land owning dreams came through a couple years ago, when we found a beautiful piece of land close to our current home.
We set to work as weekend warriors, trying to salvage the 123 year old home, but quickly realized our limitations and hired a contractor. First thing; he had to cut holes in the 123 year old floors to put in support beams, and build a foundation, as the house was sitting on rocks.
The entire project has been like that- 2 steps forward, 3 steps back. We are starting to see the progress, though, and hope to move there soon.
One thing we have completed, though, is our beautiful retail greenhouse, and that’s the centerpiece of what our farm is offering right now.
After a hard year with the loss of my husbands mom and our children’s grandmother, we didn’t get the vegetable and flower plants in, so our produce and cut flower offerings will have to wait until next year.
I hope to have the next portion of the old barn renovated by next spring, to be able to open up the old fashioned farm store I’ve been dreaming of.
I wish we’d started sooner, because I always feel I’m so far behind where I want to be- but I’m so grateful it’s finally happening.
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.
Our long term goal for the farm is that we want to create a place where people can slow down and relax. When people come to visit the farm store, they can shop our locally grown produce, cut flowers, eggs, honey, beeswax candles, plants, and other items.
They can also roam the farm, visiting with goats and cows, chickens and cats, or take a stroll through a flower field.
I want to recreate that feeling of coming back to grandma’s house and having no worries.
We want to be a place where people can gather and relax- whether it’s a gathering of plant collectors, a flower festival, or a birthday party.
In the future, we hope to offer farm camp experiences for kids to learn about nature and caring for plants and animals. We want to work with local organizations to work with children who wouldn’t normally have the opportunities to get their hands in the dirt and grow something with their own two hands, or care for an animal.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Before we started the farm, I was a photographer. I worked in newspapers, and then in a studio, and then as a wedding and portrait photographer.
When we started a family, I found myself increasingly frustrated that I was missing weekends with my family, and then glued to a computer the rest of the week- editing, blogging, uploading, emailing, marketing, etc.
I left the photography business when we had our third child, but found myself looking for something to do outside my role as wife and mother- i had always had a job, sometimes multiple jobs, and needed a project.
Our son deciding to sell tomatoes to fund his train hobby helped push me into doing something I’d always loved, but on a bigger scale, and with my family- instead of always working away from them.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
As I said earlier, I’ve always loved to grow plants. I always gardened, even as a little kid.
When I left the wedding world; I was pregnant with our third child, and my kids had started their little farm stand.
I had gotten us an LLC, and went ahead and got my nursery license as well, since we would sometimes sell vegetable plants as well.
During Covid, the demand for houseplants became very high, and I sold some houseplant propagations here and there, but nothing major since I had a new baby and was homeschooling our other two.
After years of trying to convince my husband, he finally agreed that we would look at finding some land so I’d have more room to grow things (we had moved and our home didn’t have space for gardening).
I found a beautiful piece of property with huge oak trees and established pecan trees and fell in love immediately.
We are still very much in progress- it took months to clean out the old barn, and weeks to take down all the old rusted fencing, and we are in our second full year of trying to restore and build onto the original house built in 1900.
In that time, the well went out, the foundation had to be redone, we had to cut holes in the floor I was trying to save, the septic tank got run over by a concrete truck, etc. You name it, it’s been an issue.
But, we just keep going at it a little at a time, celebrating the little things we can cross off our to-do list as we can.
I think what we are building will be worth it in the end, even if it’s slow going.
Getting the greenhouse finished was huge; I had been moving plants around from the porch to the unfinished shop, to tables outdoors. To finally have them in a spot of their own has been such a relief.
Last year, we started hosting plant swap and buy/sell events at the farm where local plant lovers could set up a table and trade or sell plants. The events have been a big success; and have helped get people out to visit the farm who might ordinarily feel we were too far away to just pop in.
I’m really excited for our August event, because we have a large importer of exotic plants from Ecuador (Tropicals-Plants from South America) to come to our little farm for a pop up shopping experience, which I think will be a huge draw for us.
That event will also feature a small group of other amazing local plant sellers with different specialties. I love that the farm is able to draw people together to collaborate instead of compete.
I got my perennial flower garden established this year. I was going to plant all the perennials in the ground, and my husband talked me into raised beds.
I protested because of the time and cost, but I have to admit it looks really nice and the upkeep will be a lot easier.
I’m looking forward to having a beautiful annual field of flowers to go with the perennials we planted this year, and be able to offer bouquets to our customers as well.
In the future, I look forward to offering farm camp, community outreach, and lots of different classes for adults and children.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.fallsfamilyfarms.com
- Instagram: @fallsfamilyfarms
- Facebook: Www.Facebook.com/fallsfamilyfarms
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCyE-x6VvtzqPaqIhlLsYHsQ
Image Credits
LunahZon Photography