What can be said about 2020? We had our best January in the history of our business. After about 8 years of selling flowering branches, we hit the Chinese New Year perfectly. Mind you it came from a lifetime of working hard on sales and tough lessons, but January and February were for the record books. At the end of February we stocked 3 large coolers with cherry to extend their season into May. Our last shipment of cherry filled the cooler to the brim, this was one week prior to the lockdown from Covid. 98% of this cherry was thrown away in June…
We went from setting new records each week, to sales of 5-10% of normal for over 2 months. There was a complete lack of events and weddings which were the source for most of our sales. Later in the spring our sales increased to 30% of normal and then about 50% throughout the summer and fall. Christmas was good however, and so was our pumpkin patch.
We’ve been through hard times before, we diversified and did what it takes to keep things moving forward. After completing some decorative concrete jobs for our wedding venues, we realized my talent in decorative concrete. So i got my contractors license and I’m doing decorative concrete as a supplemental business for the time being.
For the past 8 years i’ve directed so much passion and energy into coaching, that energy is now focused on OCF Decorative Concrete. I’m passionate about all that i can learn and about all the cool projects we have planned on our farm and new barns.
Our daughter, Nina, is now a senior in high school. We are busy building the new “Big Barn.” It is certainly a labor of love–we’ve been working on the rock wall for about three months now and have one more to go! We are excited about the possibilities of the Hydrangea Ranch and its potential as a farm recreational events center.
