DARTMOUTH — Susan Murray and Tony Wood of Apponagansett Farm are working on changes to their South Dartmouth business, including the name. Apponagansett Farm is now Flying Carrot Farm.
In a different universe, Murray said they would have chosen the name Glitter Farm, which their seven-year-old daughter Amelia came up with. Once Amelia saw the logo for Flying Carrot, she got on board with it.
Murray and Wood sat in separate rooms and made lists of their own for the name and Flying Carrot Farm stood out as one that they both liked. Then they brought it to their new business mentors through EforAll — which has developed what it calls an innovative small business/nonprofit accelerator to foster entrepreneurial growth.
The wife and husband business owners participated in EforAll classes for three months in the winter and have continued to check in with business mentors. They wanted to sort out the business side, increase revenue and work on marketing.
"There's a lot of farms out there so there's a lot of names already kind of taken," Wood said. They later realized there's actually a Flying Carrot Farm in Oregon.
Changing the name was getting back to what Murray calls the basics and simple food memories. "We really wanted people to get that feeling of food being fun again," Murray said. Eating healthy doesn't have to be complicated, she said.
"That's what we're aiming to do, is bring a sense of joy, wonder back onto peoples' plates, back into their family's dinners," she said.
Through EforAll, they got a $2,750 check which went toward chickens and items needed for them like "houses" and nest boxes.
The farm went from having 400 chickens to 1,200. It was a leap their business mentors helped them make.
Before, they were constantly out of eggs, Murray said, and have even turned down wholesale customers.
The renovated farm stand at their home base, 607 Elm St., South Dartmouth will be open seven days a week 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and it'll be staffed so they can take various forms of payment including credit cards, WIC, SNAP, HIP and senior coupons. It was previously run on an honor system. They plan to eventually source other local products like yogurt, fruit and meat.
"We want to make buying local produce easier," Murray said. And in an effort to arm customers with more knowledge about their food, they plan to label how items are grown and where they're from.
They've also hired more staff. They have eight employees, three of whom are full time. They became an LLC, hired a bookkeeper, a CPA and gained four acres. Overall, the farmers began to see themselves as entrepreneurs.
Additionally, they're trying out a home delivery service from Marion through Fall River for their CSA for a $6 fee per week. About 15 people are now signed up for it, but Murray admitted they haven't done a lot of advertising. People can still join.
"For us, it's kind of a huge logistical deal to do any sort of home delivery service, but we see that that's the way things are going," Murray said.
Through customer surveys and talking to people in the area, they realized people want local vegetables to be more convenient.
And the new name helps.
"People are remembering our name which we've never, never seen before," Murray said, noting that those that aren't local typically don't know how to pronounce or spell Apponagansett.
They've heard great feedback and are finally connecting with people over the name of their farm which "means a lot to us because we've put a lot of thought into who we are as a farm."
Follow Aimee Chiavaroli on Twitter @AimeeC_SCT
