Are you considering starting a lavender farm
or other unique agritourism specialty farm?
or other unique agritourism specialty farm?
We are often asked for tips, advice, wisdom, business methods, etc for starting up a similar lavender or other specialty micro crop farm. The following are the tips we offer. But we truly recommend you do your own research for your local area on Google and utilize other professional services (US Lavender Growers Association), etc for best practices.
We are novices compared to the many resources you will find with just a little research on your own - just like we did when we started! We started from scratch, so can you! Have fun creating and making it your own!
* Identify which type of lavender best grows in your climate zone.
* Do you have a property layout to support guest traffic, parking, etc. How will your neighbors feel about it?
* Hire a good lawyer AND tax professional to help you start your LLC and prepare for paying semi-annual sales tax and filing yearly tax documents according to your state.
* Website design can be done on your own with services like Weebly, etc.
* Set up your social media accounts and utilize them to harness local interest. This step is key - you need to learn social media analytics and marketing methods to reach and maintain interest/followers.
* Develop good systems for managing expenses and record keeping. (Quicken/Quickbooks)
* Ticketing programs such as Eventbrite can help manage customer tickets and financial exchanges.
* We purchased tons (literally) of soil and sand, created mounded rows, and planted field plugs by hand.
* Weed mat, commercial grade, may be helpful with weed control. Otherwise, be prepared to weed completely by hand yourself or hire it done.
* Services such as StickerMule can help you create labels and will ship finished supplies to you. We however now use our own color printer and design and print our own labels using online design software. You can order bulk blank labels online.
We are novices compared to the many resources you will find with just a little research on your own - just like we did when we started! We started from scratch, so can you! Have fun creating and making it your own!
* Identify which type of lavender best grows in your climate zone.
* Do you have a property layout to support guest traffic, parking, etc. How will your neighbors feel about it?
* Hire a good lawyer AND tax professional to help you start your LLC and prepare for paying semi-annual sales tax and filing yearly tax documents according to your state.
* Website design can be done on your own with services like Weebly, etc.
* Set up your social media accounts and utilize them to harness local interest. This step is key - you need to learn social media analytics and marketing methods to reach and maintain interest/followers.
* Develop good systems for managing expenses and record keeping. (Quicken/Quickbooks)
* Ticketing programs such as Eventbrite can help manage customer tickets and financial exchanges.
* We purchased tons (literally) of soil and sand, created mounded rows, and planted field plugs by hand.
* Weed mat, commercial grade, may be helpful with weed control. Otherwise, be prepared to weed completely by hand yourself or hire it done.
* Services such as StickerMule can help you create labels and will ship finished supplies to you. We however now use our own color printer and design and print our own labels using online design software. You can order bulk blank labels online.
If you would like to speak to us directly and/or make arrangements for 1 on 1 consultation services please contact us to make arrangements:
Fee of $75/hr
Fee of $75/hr