Botanical Paradise in Suburbia

Fort Collins, CO

Suburban sprawl may not jump to mind as a hotbed for new agriculture start-ups, but Oberle Botanical blooms strong and solid in the heart of Fort Collins, Colorado. Run by Matt and Sue Oberle, this diversified operation blends a variety of horticulture ventures with a commitment to keeping things local and using sustainable agriculture methods.

“I really like the idea of having people know where their food came from,” comments Sue, who launched this business with her husband, Matt, in 1996. “Being close by we have an incredible market right out our front door.” Drawing from both Matt and Sue’s academic horticulture, forestry and ecology backgrounds, Oberle Botanical formed the couple’s first entrepreneurial farming venture. Matt’s passion for growing stems from his childhood summers working alongside his grandpa on the family farm in Iowa. “As for me, I grew up in suburbia,” laughs Sue. “But in the fourth grade I simply decided I wanted to be a farmer.”

Today, Oberle Botanical blend Matt and Sue’s passion for growing with creating a viable suburban-based business. Two acres of growing space include their own big backyard, 1.5 acres of rented land a mile away and rented greenhouse space, primarily for seed propagation. When a strong spring storm took down some of their greenhouse space a few years ago, they shifted to learning how to grow more in the fields and not being so greenhouse dependent. “We’re trying to work with Mother Nature and our Colorado climate,” adds Sue.

Oberle Botanical’s growing portfolio includes a range of items for the kitchen, garden and craft room. Fresh seasonal produce, culinary herbs and cut flowers form the core of the business, including over forty annual and perennial flowers and “woodies,” decorative wild plants such as bittersweet. Focusing on farmers’ market sales, Sue has seen the local area market grow significantly in the last couple of years, both in sales volume and appreciation for more gourmet products. “The market for sophisticated food has increased tremendously. Last year — for the first time — I could finally sell baby squash,” Sue says, pleased. According to the USDA, farmers’ markets have grown at a brisk clip of ten percent a year since 1990.

Given this growth in premium-priced foods, Oberle Botanical continues to increase their sales to area chefs, helping stimulate the growth of a local organization, Colorado Crop to Cuisine. Now in its fourth season, Colorado Crop to Cuisine hires a coordinator to facilitate sales and delivery between growers and restaurants. “We’ve found that chefs in our area don’t use e-mail so it is important to have someone dedicated to on-site visits and building relationships to grow this business area,” explains Sue. In the off winter season, Sue and Matt further develop their relationships with area chefs and community relations by volunteering for Taste of the Nation, a nationally based fund-raising event for area food banks that features local restaurants, breweries and wineries. “Understanding how restaurant businesses operate helps us serve them better,” continues Sue.

Expanding Oberle Botanical through innovative, inventive means remains a forefront challenge for Sue and Matt. Sometimes this means re-packaging existing products creatively to increase sales. Container “bowl” gardens proved to be a surprisingly strong seller at the farmers’ markets. Priced at $15, these container gardens cover different themes, including a “kitty bowl” with catnip varieties, a “basil bowl” showcasing seven different types of basil and a “pesto bowl” including Italian parsley. Container gardens appeal to folks with limited growing space, altitude limitations or people who are new to gardening and want to try something without much commitment. “We sell the bowls so that buyers can harvest a quarter pound immediately, making the bowl a good value,” adds Sue.

Other business expansion areas for Oberle Botanical over the last couple of years include public speaking, workshops and specialty garden design, designing custom gardens for the growing conditions of Northern Colorado with kitchen, cutting, herb, dye plant and medicinal themes. Sometimes these off-season diversification endeavors evolve to better suit Matt and Sue’s own personal desire to have a balanced, fulfilling livelihood. For example, Sue started creating and shipping hand-made Christmas wreaths during the holidays, utilizing various dried natural items from the garden. “The wreaths were selling well and the income was needed in December, but I found the holiday market stressful — between unreliable shipping and customers in bad spirits. So I’m shifting my focus to do wreath-making workshops, teaching folks how to make their own. More fun, same money, less stress!” exclaims Sue.

Sue’s best advice for folks starting or moving into diversified agricultural businesses is to keep things small. Oberle Botanical started on $500 the first year primarily for seed plants, farmers’ market fees and rented greenhouse space. “The hardest part for me wasn’t the growing part, but learning how to run a business. It’s a lot easier to make mistakes on a small scale, on $300 versus $30,000,” she says. Running a suburban-based business also creates different sets of zoning and public utility challenges. Sue’s experience working with the city of Fort Collins regarding zoning has been positive, with local government supportive of retaining an agricultural community within city limits. An on-going challenge for Oberle Botanical remains water use, given the need for everyone in Fort Collins to conserve water. A drip irrigation system helps efficiently water and keep up consistent quality of produce.

Another piece of advice from Sue is learning how to do everything on your own, at least at the beginning. “So many people told us we needed to hire experts for various things, but — aside from an accountant — we’ve been determined to learn things ourselves, partly for financial reasons and partly for later when we did hire and pass along a job to someone else, we understood what was going on,” explains Sue. Matt learned hyper text mark-up language (or HTML) and Sue learned the basics book-keeping. The business now generates approximately 40% of the couple’s income while Matt still keeps his full-time job he enjoys with the USDA Forest Service. Just as a healthy plant, Oberle Botanical has learned to grow slowly and healthily with time.