This past year has seen a dramatic increase in the use of the word “unprecedented,” as humanity has once again put its ability to adapt to the test. To slow the spread of COVID-19 and protect those who are highly susceptible to the disease, people have had to adapt everyday activities from socializing to shopping, to working or being a student, everyone has had to make adjustments. And in 2020 the holidays were no different.
Many fall and winter holiday traditions had to incorporate guidance of health organizations, and families sought to create new traditions with friends and family. One local company found ways to offer outside activities to celebrate the season.
Brookshire Farms, based in San Luis Obispo, California, has been hosting locals at their Christmas tree farm and pumpkin patch since 2012. One of the owners of Brookshire Farms, Shawn Callaway, recognizes that this past year brought additional challenges to their organization. People were able to benefit from an inviting and exciting place to take a break from their everyday stresses and overwhelmingly virtual conditions. Mr. Callaways’ favorite part of his unique job is “the number of smiles and happiness we make for people. Especially with COVID this year, things aren’t normal and no one’s feeling normal.”
Of the 15 acres off of Los Osos Valley Road that Brookshire Farms encompasses, six of those acres were planted with pumpkins, gourds, corn and other produce. Due to the number of visitors and the high demand for pumpkins, Brookshire was only able to produce about half of the pumpkins they sold requiring them to bring in pumpkins from other sources for the patch. One of those sources is the Cal Poly Crops Unit. As a token of appreciation, Brookshire Farms even gifted the student employees at the Crops Unit with free admission to the Farm. The remaining pumpkin vendors are contract growers, meaning Brookshire provided the seed or otherwise specified which pumpkin varieties they’d like grown. Forging and maintaining relationships with growers and community supporters, like the Cal Poly Crops Unit, seems to be a major key to Brookshire Farms success over the years.
Photo by Hailey Baldwin
Brookshire Farms’ main enterprise is selling Christmas trees, which the Callaways have been doing for over 55 years in San Luis Obispo. The Christmas trees are grown on their own farm in Oregon before they are cut and brought down to the Central Coast. Brookshire Farms not only provides a personal experience for their customers, but they also guarantee a healthy, fresh, and high-quality tree. They can sell around 5,000 trees in one season between their multiple Christmas tree lots in San Luis Obispo location, Paso Robles, and Atascadero. In preparation for the Christmas season, Brookshire changed their operational style so that they were able to offer activities that were optimal for social distancing guidelines.
Brookshire Farms supports the local community by seasonally hiring about 65 to 75 employees starting in the fall and going through the holidays. Employees include local high school students, college students, retirees looking for something meaningful to occupy their time, and people with disabilities who may have trouble finding work in other realms. Emely Allen Fernandes, a third-year agribusiness and spanish student at Cal Poly, was hired to work at Brookshire in 2020 as a seasonal associate. Her day-to-day responsibilities ranged from harvesting gourds in the field to arranging product displays to observing or sanitizing a variety of attractions. Emely explained what she appreciated about Brookshire saying, “Everyone that works there is so, so welcoming and nice.” She also commented that it was a great way to get away from her computer for a while to meet new people in the San Luis Obispo community and learn new agricultural skills.
Working with California's Department of Rehabilitation
Brookshire Farms works with the California Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) to hire individuals with disabilities, some of whom are accompanied by job coaches, to help them achieve the most success in their workplace. DOR employees receive support from a job coach in the initial process of learning and performing tasks on the job until they reach the ultimate goal of safely working fully on their own. (Department of Developmental Services, 2019). The employees complete tasks like interacting with community members or performing general maintenance, which may include lawnmowing and watering. Other job responsibilities encompass monitoring the activities, driving the tractors, and unloading pumpkins.
Some of Brookshire’s most common attractions were adjusted or replaced with others to better accommodate social distancing regulations. Last fall, visitors who paid for admission at the farm could enjoy a corn maze, grain cart and hayrides, pedal carts, corn hole, large jump pads, a playground, duck races, and many more games and attractions. However, visitors that did not decide to pay admission could still access the pumpkin patch, buy produce and fall décor from the farm stand, and taste the kettle corn, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, artichokes, or a slice of pumpkin pie. According to Ms. Emely Fernandes, the kettle corn was “such a great taste of fall,” making it a fan favorite leading up to Halloween. Another unique seasonal activity that visitors look forward to is the Night Maze which allowed guests to venture through the corn maze with flashlights in the dark.
One of the most difficult challenges due to COVID-19 was the added costs of insurance, with $5,000 to $6,000 total being spent to cover the various attractions, including the inflatables, hayrides, and games. In order to operate safely and plan for the season, a COVID-19 plan was created to specify how they would sanitize, what they would use for cleaning, and how many extra employees were needed to assist with these processes. Another main challenge with operating the farm last season was enforcing mask-wearing to everybody, since some visitors came to the farm with the understanding that wearing a mask is not required of them in an outdoor setting. Additional costs were incurred by the business to offer more handwashing and sanitizing stations, social distancing signage, cleaning solution and supplementary labor throughout the farm to meet CDC guidelines and to offer a safer experience to customers.
When reflecting on the obstacles this past year has brought, Shawn appreciates that the business was still able to operate. “We are very blessed to have the ability to open and run business, because a lot of businesses aren’t able to, and we’re running at capacity. It has been a challenge, but it also has been a very rewarding process to know that people were very, very happy.”
During the off-season, much effort is spent improving the facilities and developing new activity ideas. Brainstorming starts in March, planting for the popcorn and flint corn in May, planting pumpkins in June, and lastly the corn maze is planted on July 4th. In the future, Brookshire Farms plans to add other seasonal activities to their offerings by introducing an Easter event or spring season festival.
The industry of agri-entertainment is growing as new opportunities for the general public to experience agriculture and seasonal fun continue to be developed by creative families like the Callaway's. Brookshire Farms demonstrates the importance of being flexible in business operations during a pandemic, by continuously adapting to offer community members a memorable and festive experience. Shawn Callaway remarks that “It’s a great family atmosphere, fun to come out and feel like a kid again.” Next holiday season be sure to support local agri-entertainment businesses by experiencing the unique activities they have to offer with friends and family.
Photo by Brookshire Farms
This fun family destination is also family-owned and run. Shawn Callaway, a fifth-generation San Luis Obispo native, and Gretchen, also a San Luis Obispo County native, took over the pumpkin patch that existed on the land of La Familia Ranch in 2012. The previous owners were a family that were going into retirement after working on the land for about 25 years. Shawn and Gretchen had been selling pumpkins and Christmas trees in retail lots for many years prior in the surrounding cities, so the previous owners reached out to them to see if they were interested in taking over the land. The Callaway's have now finished their seventh, full active season on the ranch and remain grateful to continue their business and bring festivities and happiness to the SLO community.
Brookshire Farms (Based in San Luis Obispo, CA)
Facebook | @BrookshireFarmsSLO
Instagram | @brookshire_farms
Photo from Brookshire Farms
Article header photo by Hailey Baldwin.