Telling An Authentic Story with Ashley Clark: Keeping Maple Traditions Alive
Hear from Ashley Clark as she shares how her seasonal Family Farm, Sacred Roots Maple, sold out after adding shipping and delivery options for their customers.
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Allyssa Knutson: [00:00:00]
All right welcome back everyone You are listening to the Direct Farm Podcast. Today we were having a conversation with Ashley Clark from Sacred Roots Maple. It was great to connect with her to learn more about her family story and how their farm's history is rooted in keeping maple traditions alive.
Their focus on price, quality, convenience, and brand has empowered this family farm to share their story, expand their reach and ultimately increase sales. I'm delighted to introduce you to Ashley. One of our newest members of the Farm Advisory Network.
Welcome Ashley. Great to have you here. Why don't you introduce yourself how you got into farming and selling direct online
Ashley Clark: [00:00:39]
Yes. Thank you so much for having me, Alyssa. I was really excited to be a part of this today. We got started at the beginning of the summer. We have been trying to sell our products online, just using social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, lots of word of mouth. I'm sure we'll get into it.
But when we bought the farm from the original owner, he had a lot of connections. As well. So we we're able to continue that what we were starting to notice, things were becoming a bit hectic. We were getting orders from like multiple places and just the sticky notes and life were just, it was just getting a little bit crazy and we really.
Felt like we want it to be able to streamline things, to make things really simple, not just for us, but for the customer, because it's so much easier to be able to go on a website. And for me speaking personally, go online, click, purchase, and be able to get my product when I want it. And I really felt, we felt that we wanted to move in that direction to make things easier for people to be able to access, maple syrup, good quality, pure maple syrup, not just going to the grocery store.
Allyssa Knutson: [00:01:42]
I love how you touched on the importance of providing quality products that are also convenient to purchase. Both are essential to a large majority of potential customers. When they're looking to make a purchasing decision. Tell us more about the story of Sacred Roots Maple, how it was founded and how the business has evolved over the years.
Ashley Clark: [00:02:00]
Yeah. Yeah. The property that we own we purchased it. So we bought the farm and the home in 2016. But Ben has actually been involved in sugaring for 20 plus years. He actually started as a young teen we're working here at the farm with the original owner. Just learning about the property, learning about the trees, the process.
So he's really been involved very closely with the entire process of sugaring. And so for me, when I met Ben and I married Ben, it was a brand new experience for me. I didn't really grow up drinking regular, pure maple syrup. It wasn't really something I gave much thought to. But when we got married and we purchased the farm, it just really became our lifestyle.
We've been able to jump really quickly into the process of replacing all of our regular sugars with maple. Just making it a regular lifestyle for us and being able to live on the property with our farm right here has just been such a blessing to be able to, truly live out that lifestyle of living off the land and being able to gain resources from our property and being able to share that with other people.
So we really love that full circle of, having these maple trees, being able to take care of them, we call Ben a tree shepherd. Because it truly is, being passionate about the trees. Yes, it's not animals, but these are our, our property, the pieces, and we just really, we really love them and we want to be able to keep their health as the top focus as well as being able to optimize the productivity of what they can produce.
Allyssa Knutson: [00:03:33]
Great to hear, that what started as a passion project for your family has turned into a thriving business. And how over the years you remain focused on your roots, taken care of the land and trees while providing quality products for your customers. I know you and Ben take pride in being able to start and finish the cycle of creating maple syrup directly at your farm. Walk us through that process
Ashley Clark: [00:03:55]
Yeah, absolutely. So we we live on 60 acres. Of a maple farm. So we have so many maple trees I can't even quite and give you a good number, but it's just a wonderful location to be able to do this. And so we literally from start to finish are doing everything right here on the property.
So Ben cuts and splits all of the wood not just for the sugar house, but for our home as well. So he's out in the woods often, like logging and finding wood that we can use. And then we also collect only this sap from our property on our farm. We don't take sap from other farms. We really pride ourselves on being able to do everything right here on this farm.
The sap comes directly from our trees right here. And everything flows right into our sugar house. For the most part, we do have to sometimes collect the sap and other locations on the farm, but we're able to have all of this that brought in and then we actually continue. So we are up to speed with the newest technology with the maple industry.
We use, the lines and the vacuum system, and we have a reverse osmosis, but we still use a wood-fired evaporator because A: we have so much wood that it just makes the most sense for us. But we really do think that it impacts the flavor of the syrup. So we really love to be able to just keep everything right here on the property.
And then obviously we do all of our bottling, our canning here, and we make all of our products that we have, like maple cream, maple sugar, maple melts here as well, all by hand. It's really, it all starts here, it all finishes here, and it's something that we want to continue. We've talked about, if we were to expand, what would that look like?
But to us, we're right at the size that we like, because we keep it all here, do the work here and really be able to keep that story that we. And we really are passionate about.
Allyssa Knutson: [00:05:38]
What are unique and inspiring story. Being able to see the product go all the way through that process is something that you can share with your customers and is at the core of your brand identity. With your commitment to living simply while keeping maple traditions alive, tell us about what motivated your decision to grow your business online.
Ashley Clark: [00:05:57]
Yeah, I think, a big part. I absolutely love being a part of the online community, because you can meet so many great people and hear their stories. And I think that's the part that I really feel is what connects people to farming. I think that there's this huge disconnect often, but once people can connect with a family or a group of people and hear their story, they feel like they're also part of the experience in the process too.
So yeah, people aren't necessarily coming out and tapping our trees and making the maple syrup, but they can get to know us by visiting us or reading about us online. And they feel like they're part of the connection. So maybe when they order a thing of maple syrup and it's sitting on their table for breakfast, they're able to talk about, Hey, like this is from upstate New York and this is how they, they boiled this to make this and it gains more of an appreciation.
And I think that's something that we really find valuable when we're looking for farms to connect with or buying our meat or other products locally. We try to really hear that story so that we can support that group or that family and continue that process.
Allyssa Knutson: [00:07:03]
Establishing an online community, and sharing your farm's story with them gives your customers the ability to not only connect with you, but to interact with you as well. From communicating through social media channels, to newsletters, emails, and ultimately your website where they can purchase directly from you. What was the experience like working with the Barn2Door team to build your site an e-commerce store?
Ashley Clark: [00:07:26]
Yeah, I really, I think for me, I really, I appreciated that initial getting to know the person that I was working with. They took time to hear about us. They took time to learn about us so that they could then take, that story component or just learning more about us and adding that into the website and the store concept.
So to us, that was really valuable. We had. I had a phenomenal experience. I was the one that mostly dealt with the Barn2Door staff, and I had such a great experience. I'm not super great with the web design and all of that. So they were super patient. They're flexible with my schedule, knowing that I have a small child and that we're busy.
So it was just a really great experience. It's from beginning to end and still even now getting the support, even just this week, we had a ton of sales over the holidays, and I had some questions that came up. And if they couldn't find the answer or they tried to find it from someone else in the staff.
So. We just, we speak very highly of that because we've had such a great experience.
Allyssa Knutson: [00:08:22]
It's wonderful to hear how you're experiencing such great success with sales this year, especially over these past few weeks during the holidays.
On this podcast, we love to talk about levers, price, quality, brand, and convenience. Things you can do to build momentum for your business and keep growing. Tell us about what levers resonate with you the most.
Ashley Clark: [00:08:47]
Yeah, that's a great question. I think the brand, again, I come back to just our story and our lifestyle. We're a young couple, a young family that just really have a passion for taking care of the land. I think, when I talk about the meaning of our name, we truly hold our faith and our values and beliefs.
And this place of being able to live that out and also just living that out with, our property and the land and taking care of what we've been blessed to have. So I think that's, that story or that brand deal call it that we want people to be able to feel connected to. Yeah. I just think there's something really special about that.
So I think with, with the price point with all of the maple, I think it's tough because it's easy to go. Let's say to the supermarket and get a bottle of maple syrup and not maybe spend a ton of money. And so sometimes when people go onto our site and they look at like the price of a quart of maple syrup, they're like, wait, Why is this so high, but again, We are trying to convey that story of the process of what it takes to make maple syrup.
It's not just, mixing a bunch of different maple from different farms and companies. We're actually making it from start to finish right here on the land and bringing it to completion. And that price point is the entire process. And so I think having that. Ability to convey that through the site and being able to convey that to our customers is so key.
So they realize, Hey, I'm not just getting like a really great quality product, but I'm also educating myself and understanding what, how products are being need and wanting to be able to continue that process and buying locally and supporting small business.
Allyssa Knutson: [00:10:23]
How have you conveyed the quality of your products to potential customers tell us more about Ben's 23 seasons in maple and how you carry out the entire process from beginning to end on your farm.
Ashley Clark: [00:10:37]
Yeah, I think again, Ben's experience we're so blessed to have that amount of time and years he spent underneath learning from the original farmer that had this farm, through the experience. And then just further education, Ben went to school to be able to learn how to take care of forest management and just taking care of the land.
I think that speaks again to that quality product as well. But also, putting our story and educating people out through social media, through our website letting them know, Hey, we have a lot of experience and time under our belt that we are giving to this industry. And we were passionate about that.
Allyssa Knutson: [00:11:17]
Passion and quality truly go hand in hand, being able to communicate that brings your customers into your story and helps them better understand and appreciate your products and your brand.
Many farms who serve have seasonal businesses. Tell us how you engage customers. Year round was sacred roots maple.
Ashley Clark: [00:11:35]
Yeah, this is actually a question. Sometimes people ask what do you guys do when you're not making the maple syrup? Because obviously, we start making maple somewhere around probably like end of February and latest into April. So we spend a lot of time educating people on, what we do in the off months.
So again, as I mentioned, we. Split and cut all of our own woods. So that takes a good chunk of time. We also have to spend a lot of time out on the woods doing just like line management and taking care of, the spouts and the lines and making sure everything is well connected so that things can properly flow and things can go well when we actually hit the season we also spend some of that time, whether it's going to events in the community we're really invested in our local community that we live in and we love.
To be able to, whether it's through markets or just, talking through different events, sharing our story and sharing the process and the products. And then also, with the holiday season, it's always fun. Like just this year, for example with the holidays, we put out our maple staple, which is a box of maple products that you can ship anywhere in the U S for $50.
And we took like some of our favorite products just like a good box of things to get started with the maple experience and made it really accessible to people so that they would be able to experience it during the holiday season. And it would also be an opportunity for us to continue sharing, our products with our customers.
Allyssa Knutson: [00:13:00]
How has your decision to start implementing delivery and shipping options for customers enabled Sacred Roots Maple to expand its reach?
Ashley Clark: [00:13:09]
Yes, absolutely. In fact, we, Ben and I were just talking about last night, cause we were getting out some shipment. We want to have a map showing all of the different States. We got to ship to this holiday season because I think actually last night we shipped one box to Hawaii and that was like so exciting.
Cause I feel like we've hit so many different States and it's just so much fun. But working with Barn2Door and being able to get connected with different shipping options has been huge for us. Just being able to gain access to, learning about different sites that help with shipping and the process of being able to have, the mail carrier, come to our house and pick up our boxes versus us, like bringing everything in a truck to them.
So just from that whole experience of setting up this website in our e-commerce store, that's opened up the door for us so much to be able to ship easier to ship faster. Also it's helped us to, want to ship smarter too. So how can we optimize what fits in different boxes? How can we make sure we're using packet packaging material that's eco-friendly so it's just been a really great process and it's being able to start our website and then just launching us in a really great direction.
Allyssa Knutson: [00:14:15]
I noticed on your website that Sacred Roots Maple offers a wide variety of products that are also packaged differently based on size product type, et cetera. Explain the vision behind diversifying your product offerings and how it has allowed you to bring in more customers.
Ashley Clark: [00:14:33]
Yeah. So again because we purchased from another farm that Ben was able to really work closely with, he actually was able to learn from someone who has been in the maple world for such a long time. So he was able to help learn and you show us how to make the different products. And then we were able to take that and say, okay, how can we then present this awesome thing that he taught us how to do and keep pushing it forward.
And then also to Educating people that maple doesn't just have to be like on pancakes. That's a big thing for us. We're really big into cooking and baking. Like we pretty much live in the kitchen all the time. And so we're always like figuring out how can we use maple in this recipe? How can we use it in that?
How can we put maple cream on a salmon or, incorporate maple cream on a burger for a sweet and savory experience. So there's just so many creative ways. And I think. I think what it does is it allows Ben and I just have fun in the kitchen and then want to share that with other people.
Cause I think that's what it's all about. Just letting people know, Hey, you don't just have to have this on pancakes. Here's how you can use it. And maple is such an amazing natural sweetener. It's full of different properties and really healthy minerals. So there's just so many things that we could expand on with that, but it's just again, educating people on how to use it on and have fun with it.
Just, I never thought I would be like scrubbing maple sugar on my body, but maple sugar is really great for skin. And then combined with, I use an organic coconut oil. It's just, it's so funny. The first time I made it then actually tried it in the shower and he ate it. Cause it is literally just two ingredients, but again, it's so good for your body. And it's super simple to make, and it's just really fun to get creative with it.
Allyssa Knutson: [00:16:11]
That educational piece is crucial. Being able to not only entertain your customers, but to also educate them on all the ways that can use your product is a great way to establish buyer loyalty. What's your final piece of advice for farmers selling direct to consumers and what's next for Sacred Roots Maple?
Ashley Clark: [00:16:30]
I think definitely, don't be afraid to take that next step. We were really hesitant to jump into creating a website and the store because we were a little nervous, honestly, like we are the only ones that make our products and make them all by hand. So we don't really use certain equipment that you could buy to make products.
So we were nervous about, making more and having to get that out. But, don't be afraid to jump into it you can handle it. It's going to take work, but it's well worth it. And if you're going in the direction like we did with Barn2Door you're going to have a lot of support. You're not going to be alone in the process.
And as for what's next for Sacred Roots Maple, I think we just are continuing to make a solid product and that we're proud of that we use that we can share with other people. We are in the process of adding on a new kitchen, into our sugar house and adding on some space with that. So we're excited to jump into more maple creations and to continue just, taking care of the land and doing what we're doing already. I think that's like a big piece for us, just staying the course and offering maybe some new maple packages to people, but, continuing in that direction.
Allyssa Knutson: [00:17:41]
So again, that was Ashley Clark from sacred roots maple. Here at Barn2Door we are humbled to support thousands of farms across the country, including farmers like Ashley and Ben Clark, who keep maple traditions alive while supporting their local community and providing quality products for their customers.
Join us next week to hear Joelle Orem's story from Orem Family Farms and learn how her diverse background in marketing and design have enabled her to establish a strong brand identity online. Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you next week.