Randy Little has gone from boots to berries … and he is not kiddin’.
Previously the Ozarks’ king of western put on, Little now spends his mornings amongst 1000’s of strawberry, blackberry, and blueberry vegetation on a farm in western Greene County.
Whether or not frozen, pre-picked, or picked your self, Missouri Berries’ blueberry and blackberry vegetation at the moment are prepared for purchasers to reap by the bunch. Little instructed the Information-Chief that each one his strawberries have already been picked this season.
Hours at Missouri Berries are primarily based on subject ripeness and climate and may be discovered on the Missouri Berries Facebook page.
“It is nice to see these develop,” Little stated. “You are taking all 12 months to attend for one month. And all of the issues that may occur between freezing, the late frost, all the pieces else.”
Little is finest identified within the Ozarks as the previous proprietor of PFI Western Retailer, residence of Bootdaddy. PFI began promoting feed in Springfield as Most well-liked Farmers Included in 1975 and have become a Springfield mainstay when the enterprise started promoting western put on. The shop was additionally residence to the famed Get together within the Parking Lot live shows, and introduced Skilled Bull Riders (PBR) exhibits to Nice Southern Financial institution Area for greater than a decade. PFI was offered to western put on chain Cavender’s in 2021.
It was a quick transfer, Little says. Inside 30 days of signing a letter of intent to promote the corporate, PFI, its stock, and its actual property had been owned by Cavender’s. When that sale occurred 4 years in the past, an legal professional who represented PFI instructed Little he’d higher discover a interest.
“It was the toughest factor to make that call, however if you do it, you then bought to dwell with it,” Little stated. “So that you higher keep busy afterwards.”
Little discovered his interest: berry farming. He took over a 40-acre U-pick berry-farming operation close to Republic, which was beforehand run by a younger household residing close to the property. Little spends his time as of late driving a golf cart by means of rows neatly lined with 54,000 strawberry vegetation, 6,000 blueberry vegetation, and 1,250 blackberry vegetation.
He recruited a staff of bankers, attorneys, pilots, farmers, associates, and household to assist plant strawberries and blueberries. For the blackberries, he bought down on the bottom and planted them himself.
“It is a course of, however I planted each one in every of these one after the other by one by scooting down and planting them, simply to see, at my age, if I may,” Little stated, gesturing to the ripe blackberry vegetation.
Little, 73, has at all times been a farmer. However his specialty was cattle (of which he nonetheless has about 400 head). He knew he wanted extra schooling on the berry business. Little turned to Google for recommendation on cultivating berry crops, and he discovered that mitigating illness within the vegetation could be his biggest problem. Little additionally discovered useful packages by means of the College of Missouri and the College of Arkansas.
“My diploma was in economics, and I wound up in retail. And I assumed, ‘I am executed with college,'” Little stated. “You are not. You go to strawberry college, you go to blackberry college, you go to blueberry college, and also you repeat. And you then go surfing and also you search for ailments.”
Little stated all the pieces on a berry farm is labor-intensive. Whether or not its harvesting, rotating strawberry vegetation, weeding, or overlaying vegetation to guard from ailments and the climate, the Missouri Berries staff stays busy. On a given day, there is likely to be 8-10 staff working. The berry-pickers, nonetheless, are available in a lot bigger numbers.
“There’s nothing a couple of berry farm that does not take a number of labor,” Little stated.
On June 2, Missouri Berries hosted its first ever “Bluegrass within the Berry Patch” that includes expertise Rhonda Vincent. In accordance with Little, clients and part-time staff alike have adopted the household from PFI to Missouri Berries. Admission to the farm is free to the general public, and berries value $4.25 per pound. Along with fields of berries, the farm additionally encompasses a children exercise space, a Little Free Library, a strolling storybook path, picture alternatives and picnic tables. It is also onerous to overlook the concession stand, full with frozen berry lemonade and berry doughnuts.
Nonetheless, Little imagines extra for Missouri Berries. He is aware of it could take a number of work, however he is on the lookout for somebody within the agritourism business to take Missouri Berries to the following degree. His imaginative and prescient would benefit from all the acreage, that includes an occasion middle, wedding ceremony chapel, and different agritourism facilities. The property already has a fishing pond, and Little has plans for a pumpkin patch, too.
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“I do know what I might do if I used to be 50, however I am not,” Little stated.
Little stated he’s open about what occurs subsequent, and he’s actively on the lookout for a companion with these ambitions within the agritourism business. He does not wish to promote the land to builders who would construct homes close to the farm. As Little places it, “they do not make any extra land.” He’d moderately see it’s used for agriculture or agritourism.
“This must go to somebody who enjoys agritourism and other people,” Little stated. “Ultimately that is what I am desirous to do, is to verify it goes to someone down the road that enjoys the agriculture facet or the agritourism facet, as a result of it is turning into greater and greater,” Little stated.
This text initially appeared on Springfield Information-Chief: Former PFI owner opens Missouri Berries, u-pick berry farm in Republic
