We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sadie Merchant a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Sadie, appreciate you joining us today. So, what do you think about family businesses? Would you want your children or other family members to one day join your business?
Our Farm Market is all about family! We are a 3rd generation cherry and apple farm in Northern Michigan and currently raising our 4th! There are multiple reasons related to family for opening our market. First of all, it meant I no longer need to struggle to find daycare for my kids when I am working, I can take them to the farm and right along with me. Second, the farm market helps to supplement our generational farm. Farming is tough right now smaller farms have to adapt and do things differently in order to maintain sustainability. Lastly, we opened a market to provide visiting families a fun unique experience! Allowing them to visit a farm, learn about where their food comes from while also enjoying family time and yummy farm fresh treats!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Sadie Merchant, I am a mother of 4, a nurse, a wife, a daughter, and sister to 3 close-knit siblings. I live in Williamsburg, Michigan, born and raised on a 350 acre cherry and apple farm. 2 years ago I quit my full time nursing job and opened a farm market on our farm with my Mom – Sue Hubbell. The farm has always meant a lot to me, I worked along side my dad all through high school and college. Once I graduated I started my career as a nurse and then came marriage and babies. Life was busy and my cup was full; however, I always seemed to find myself dreaming of more. My mom and I have always been extremely close, both nurses and our hobbies were much the same – we love creating, re-finishing furniture – “junkin’, pickin’, and paintin'” if you will. Through the years we had dreamed about one day owing or own store and after covid the burnout in our nursing career was at an all time high and we knew it was time for a change. Life is to short to not do something you love. And that’s when the idea for Myrtle and Maudes was born. Named after our nicknames, our market opened in 9 months after we first established our game plan.
Our family owned farm market sits on our 3rd generation farm. While our market offers a unique shopping experience when compared to other local markets, with a large store front full of locally made goods and décor, refurnished furniture, and vintage finds, it also offers our homegrown cherries and apples when in season along with multiple baked goods and treats made from our fruits. We offer wagon ride farm tours, yard games, kids play area, u-pick pumpkins, and other fun weekend events!
The market has helped me find my place on the farm while also allowing me the time I was wanting with my family and children. I feel so blessed to be running a business with my mom the also gives me the opportunity to share my passion for our small town family farm.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
While I dont have the little star by my name, the social media I have put out there tot he world has proven time and time again to be one of the most effective strategies to get customers to come visit our market. If you ask my family, I am the last person they ever thought they would see doing live videos on social media! I dont even really like to text message, let alone spend my time making videos of myself to broadcast to the world … But I have to say, it is worth it! The best advice I can give is to not compare yourself to the all the ones with the little blue stars … that’s not the end goal. The goal is to build a following that is loyal and will act on their heart clicks every time they see your feed and not just click like and scroll on.
The videos and posts that portray my REAL life and family are the most successful for me. People want to feel relatable, show them the raw footage of real life and they will follow. Although it is a struggle for me to stay “up to date” on all the social trends, I do my best. And every time we get a customer in the store saying, “Oh I saw your post and I knew I needed to come and buy this before it was gone, I just love your videos” – I know I’m doing something right!
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
This goes with the questions above… social media hands down. The advertising on IG and FB has reached far more customers than any other source we have utilized. We reach more people and gain a larger following each year. Our market has become a destination spot for many people that live farther away, which is ultimately our goal. We want people to come to the farm and spend some time soaking in the experience of it all. Social media adds a hype to our business and the events we put on that cannot be recreated by other forms of advertisement.
Contact Info:
- Website: [email protected]
- Instagram: @myrtleandmaudes
- Facebook: @myrlteandmaudes
Image Credits
EM Creative Photo