Today we’d like to introduce you to Tim Sutton. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Goober Bub’s is a family-run U-Pick farm (Jeanna and Tim, son Lance and wife Joy, daughter Bailey and husband Tyler) where you can find fresh berries in the spring, off-the-vine pumpkins in the fall, delicious baked goods and fresh jam, and more than anything, fun memories.
Tim and Jeanna used to take Lance and Bailey to summer camp outside of Branson, MO, and would always make family trips to a pick-you-own blueberry farm that also had fresh bakery items. It has been a long-term dream to replicate those memory-making experiences closer to home in north Texas. After a lot of research, we took a leap of faith and opened Goober Bub’s Orchard and Bakery in 2022. The initial year featured pick-your-own strawberries. The bakery, pick-your-own blackberries, and cut-from-the-vine pumpkins were all added in 2023. There are plans for additional activities and goodies in 2024.
The number one questions that we get is where did you get your name? Goober Bub’s is the mashup of two grandpa names – “Goober” is the grandpa name that was given to Joy’s dad. Goober was unexpectedly called home to be with the Lord a few years ago. “Bub” is the grandpa name that was given to Tim.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We purchased land for the farm in 2021, and there have been challenges every year! To have a crop for customers in 2022 (strawberries), we had to order and purchase thousands of strawberry plants before we even owned the farmland. We never anticipated that it would take 11 months to get electrical service. Without electricity, we could not install a well for water to irrigate the strawberry plants – our neighbor generously helped with a solution so we could grow our first strawberry crop starting in the fall of 2021 and have our first pick-your-own season in the spring of 2022.
For the spring of 2023, we opened the bakery. We had a couple of key pieces of bakery equipment delivered and installed and had required inspections and training, all in the final week leading up to our opening.
Since we are a farming business, the weather is always giving us obstacles to overcome, including temperatures ranging from 79 to 8 degrees within a 48-hour timeframe.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about Goober Bubs?
Goober Bubs is a family-owned and operated pick-your-own berry and pumpkin farm that also has an amazing bakery. When the farm was purchased in 2021 and opened in 2022, everyone still had full-time jobs. Tim was able to retire from a long career with HP in the spring of 2023 to fully focus on the farm business. Jeanna, Bailey, and Tyler are all teachers, Lance has a career in financial services, and Joy is a NICU nurse. Goober Bubs is very focused on delivering a fun family experience at a good value. We think we do this by having a friendly atmosphere, having fresh berries (customers tell us there is no comparison between fresh picked ripe berries and the stuff that is sold in the store), the experience of cutting your own pumpkin from the vine and incorporating the things we grow into value-added products like strawberry muffins, strawberry habanero jam, and many others. We are always happy to answer questions about the growing process and how our on-site beehives help make all the produce better.
What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
There are tons of things that we have learned and will continue learn along our journey. The first one was that I never realized how much work was needed to be done just to set up a small business – permits, licenses, inspections, LLCs, financing, and many more. All this before business operations had begun, and we before we learned how to grow a few things!
The second thing came from a statement that I read in a small business blog where a small business owner stated that “your customers will become friends before your friends become customers”. That person must not have had very good friends! We have been blessed beyond measure and would not be open today without all the help from friends and family. That person was correct, though, in that we are blessed with new friendships from many customers that we cannot wait to see from season to season.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gooberbubs.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gooberbubs/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gooberbubs/
- Youtube: @gooberbubs8424
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/goober-bubs-orchard-and-bakery-justin
Image Credits
Goober Bubs Orchard and Bakery
