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

Alright, Doug & Amanda thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Looking back, what’s an important lesson you learned at a prior job?

Both Doug and Amanda have held a wide variety of jobs over the years; pizza restaurants, country club, commercial dishwasher repair, corporate veterinary medicine and multi-unity management, sales jobs in the legal industry, etc. Over the course of our years we’ve held onto the strategy that no matter what, we’re ready to outwork the other guy. It’s easy when it’s your passion, and Doug never thought he’d be a “farm guy,” but the country life has sure grown on him!

Aside from being ready to work hard, Amanda’s most important lesson she attributes to her success has been communication and customer service. When working in corporate veterinary medicine she held a position that was called a Field Trainer, where she conducted onboard and communications training for a 17 hospital market. There she learned about and trained team members on how it’s so invaluable to take the time to just communicate with customers. “Our world is so fast paced these days that we forget what it means to just take a couple of minutes to talk with people. When people feel understood, they feel valued, and valued customers stick around,” says Amanda.

Doug says, “If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.” This is something that doesn’t come naturally to everyone, but one lesson that benefits some the most once learned. It’s important to understand that our job is to ask, and it’s others’ jobs to respond with what they feel comfortable with. His time in sales helped hone this skill that’s proven invaluable in every aspect since.

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.

Amanda started raising chickens in 2016 more so as a hobby, and because she had just moved onto a larger piece of property with no restrictions. Once they started laying eggs on a regular basis, more than she could use in a week, she started selling eggs on occasion.

After moving to Brookshire in 2017, and the house having a barn in the backyard, Doug and Amanda decided to get more chickens, because why not?! They got married in 2018 and decided to start going to small farmer’s markets. After the first 5 hour market, where they sold out in 45 minutes, Doug saw the business potential and was hooked.

As chicken math would have it, he agreed to no more than 10 chickens, but 12 would make a dozen eggs if they layed an egg everyday, so 24 chickens it was, but a few extra in case they didn’t lay an egg. 40 plus chickens, 7 ducks and 6 goats later….that’s how that works!

Doug and Amanda eventually started growing produce during Covid thanks to all that time off, which need preserving in some way, thus the jams, jellies and pickled item lines were born. After getting connected with the Your Neighborhood Farmer’s Market group, Neuendorf Farms finally had a regular place to go that spanned half of the Greater Houston area.

Neuendorf Farms now offers farm fresh eggs, craft jams and jellies, all kinds of pickled items, homemade spaghetti sauce, fresh produce when in season (grown biodynamically), hooded towels, makeup bags, and a new line of kitchen utensils coming soon! Thanks to the new update to the Texas Cottage Law we can not only sell our items directly to consumers through markets, but also online, and can even ship! Our website is currently being worked on now and will have everything, except eggs and fresh produce, available soon!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

As we mentioned before, Neuendorf Farms kind of started out of a hobby that Amanda had developed when she moved to a larger piece of property. The reason behind Amanda’s move was because of her divorce at that time. Her ex-husband had chosen to walk away from the family, but Amanda was raised as a fighter who doesn’t give up easily. An opportunity came up to move to a larger piece of property in Montgomery rent-free, where she focused on going back to school to get her Master’s Degree, 10 years after graduating with her Bachelor’s. Building the coop was kind of like a therapeutic project for her on the weekends that her kids were at their dad’s house, as a way to keep her mind off the fact that they were gone and her worry for them. She grew up in Ag and FFA in high school as well, so the “farm life” has always fascinated her and has been something she’s dreamed of as well. “There’s just something so grounding about growing your own food, getting your hands dirty and working for what you have or want,” Amanda said.

Much in the same way, Doug’s first marriage ended in the same way, and he found himself single again with goals for his future. He wanted to purchase his first home within a year, before the lease on his apartment had expired. He’s always had the mindset that he will outwork anyone around him, whether that be that he puts in more hours, comes up with different and unique ideas, puts in that little bit of extra effort, or more.

Both Doug and Amanda are the babies of the family on both sides, so they’re accustomed to the challenge of proving to the world that they really do know what they’re talking about and really can make good decisions. Sometimes it’s a battle between your loved ones worries and your own goals, but the good thing about being so accustomed to proving yourself is that we’re not easily swayed.

The cool thing now is seeing that same resilience and entrepreneurial spirit in their kids. Joni and Madi have started Neuendorf Sisters Lip Balms this last year as their own business line and love to help at farmer’s markets. They’re learning about hard work, business models and responsibility through their 4-H projects as well. Madi showed chickens for the first time this last year, and learned so much! Both have raised goats in the last 3 years, and their does had their first set of babies this past March. What an experience that was through pregnancy and birth! They’re excited about this year’s Waller County Fair!

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Doug and Amanda are the Neuendorfs of Neuendorf Farms and actually met online! They joke and say they’re the best things they’ve ever found on the internet. Early in their relationship they discussed dreams and goals, what they imagined their future would look like and where they’d like to be in 5 and 10 years. It was like your typical job interview, but better! The cool thing was finding out just how entrepreneurial eachother was, and how much both of them wanted more so they could do more, not just for their family, but to be able to give back.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.neuendorffarms.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freshnotfaux
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/freshnotfaux
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/freshnotfaux