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

Alright, Michael and Nicole thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

At the peak of Covid, we saw a true need for basic food items in general. Grocery stores were bare, and quite frankly a scary place for some people to visit. Everyone needs food-affordable food. Spending time at home had become mandatory which opened up the opportunity to start looking into growing some food for our family. Having 2 young children can quickly increase a food budget, so why not grow what we could? We live on quiet a few acres, but didn’t want to fully jump into mass scale farming. We started small and quickly realized that we didn’t need a huge farm to easily provide more than enough food.
This is where the idea to help others start small, manageable farms was born.

Michael and Nicole, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Once we realized how easily we were able to grow a sizable amount of fruits and vegetables our family enjoyed, we couldn’t help but share our knowledge. Word quickly spread to our friends, neighbors, and their friends that we had extra pickles, jellies, and eggs. We happily sold and traded with people, all while passing along tid bits of knowledge on how we grew our crops. People weren’t just happy to have fresh produce, but they wanted to start to grow their own as well!
Over the past 3 years, we have helped numerous people start their own small farm. Everyone passes along knowledge and sells or trades their extras.

How did you build your audience on social media?

The idea of starting our Co-Op began with the need for affordable, fresh food. Once we had helped a few families start their own small farm, we all realized that banding together would benefit everyone. We started a Facebook group to bring everyone together to give us a space to ask questions, offer help, and to offer up any extra produce we had grown. It has become a great sounding board for everyone.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Good old fashion word of mouth has significantly helped our group grow. When someone is buying some seeds for their next season, eating someone’s homemade hot sauce, or sharing a meal with a neighbor, the conversation of our co-op naturally comes up. The idea of supporting our neighbors is something everyone enjoys.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.facebook.com/groups/smithfarmcoopmonroe
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/smithfarmcoopmonroe