Gabe Spurgeon shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Gabe, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What is a normal day like for you right now?
This time of year, harvest, I typically make a To Do List. I write “TDL {Date}” at the top of a 5×8″ note pad usually in the morning, sometimes the evening before. I get my crew on task then set out to work on my priorities. Quickly, I will receive a phone call from a customer, vendor, or employee that completely derails those priorities. A couple smaller items on the list might get knocked off, but I joke that the days are for what everyone else needs me to do and the evenings are for my tasks. One thing I really enjoy about farming is the variation in tasks from tractor operator, maintenance man, or the business side with accounting and marketing. I typically wear all of these hats and more in a day.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Gabe Spurgeon. The main business I operate is our family farm, South Baldwin Farms, which is owned by my father-in-law. I also own GTO farm where we grow primarily vegetables as well as owning some rental properties. South Baldwin Farms primary crops are peaches and apples as well as production of apple cider. We have several unique apple varieties, such as AutumnCrisp, LudaCrisp, EverCrisp, and Sweet MAIA that help us stand out for retailers. We have a great following on our apple cider. Keeping it seasonal keeps it special and helps us maintain quality by producing when apples are still fresh.
When I was 13 years old, I began working summers in a peach orchard in my hometown of Stockton, MO. I did that for 7 summers. I went on to college and became an engineer for 8 years, but always had the itch to work with my hands and break away from the desk. I asked my father-in-law if I could plant some peach trees on a section of his properties. It’s a bit of a blur how we got from there to 70 acres of tree fruit, but it happened quickly as we only began planting in 2015. All of our trees are planted in high density to maximize resources and yield. We are still growing our business as our trees mature and produce more fruit. We broke through what I called the awkward middle school phase where we weren’t quite big enough to deal with warehouses, but we were too big to work on the scale of individual deliveries. Now we are working towards moving semi loads of fruit at a time.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who taught you the most about work?
I’ve had many people in my life shape how I work. I pride myself in my work ethic and ability to just get things done. While my dad worked in a completely different field, he taught me work ethic, accountability, and how to be a self starter. My dad and maternal grandpa both taught me humility in successes and accountability in failures. I’ve had other mentors who taught me through different seasons in life. My father-in-law, Dave Miles, has taught me a lot about how to treat customers and customer relationships. I remember a couple months into being an engineer fresh out of college, I was working a little late and a machine had issues at the beginning of the evening shift. The supervisor came looking for help and I literally slouched in my cubical hoping he wouldn’t see me because I knew what they wanted. When they found me I said I wasn’t sure and we’d have to wait for a more experienced engineer in the morning. He said well right now you are the most experienced engineer here. That was a little bit of an accountability lightbulb for me that the season of life where I get to hope someone else can do it has passed. Now I frequently say, let’s dig in…problems don’t generally fix themselves.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Many times on a small scale I have wanted to give up, but the sun rises the next day and I find a new outlook. There was one year where we were looking at the best peach crop I could imagine, I think it was 2020. We had done so many things right over the course of 4 years to get to this point and I felt we were about to show how our growing system for peaches could be a big step in higher yields and lower labor for peach growers. Then on April 21 of that year we had a frost knock out 70% of our crop. Farming can be so humbling. 30 minutes or an hour below critical temperatures and poof….that’s it for the year. Not just income, but everything you worked for the last several months was for nothing or a fraction of what it was. That year took me several weeks to really reclaim my motivation. There were a lot of other reasons to struggle with motivation in 2020, but we pulled through. It wound up being a great year for our on farm store and u-pick.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
I’m very much what you see is what you get. I’ve definitely reached a point in my life where I’m not afraid or embarrassed to be my true self. I’m also too busy for anything else.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
This is the definition of being a self starter and self motivated. You have to be in farming. You’re by yourself much of the time, who’s going to pick you up? Nobody. I believe in entrepreneurship in general, you’d better be prepared for no one to praise what you’re doing and still press ahead. I try to teach my kids the difference between motivation and discipline. And this is it….Give your best when no one is watching. Go out and do the thing you really don’t feel like doing, but it has to be done. Alright, on that note, I have some paperwork to catch up on…sigh
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.southbaldwin.com
- Instagram: @southbaldwinfarms
- Facebook: South Baldwin Farms
Image Credits
Individual photo of Gabe in gray SBF shirt: Kayla Kohn
Family photo on gravel road: Wyatt & Quinn Photo Co.
All others are mine
