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It was the summers he’d sent me here to the farm that taught me what a pack could really mean. Not only had I’d seen the way my grandpas had doted after my grandma, but after she’d passed I’d seen the way they’d taken care of each other as well.
I looked to Riley who was watching me with a concerned expression.
“Not right now,” I agreed, finally answering his question. “But one day.”
“First, you want to show how much of a bad ass you are and win that pie competition don’t you?” he said, lightening the mood.
“Pie competition…figuring out the booth for the Fall Festival, how to make this infamous cider everyone talks about and maintaining the legacy of my family, not to mention making sure the farm runs smoothly and our crop that sustains us year round goes off without a hitch so this whole thing doesn’t go up in smoke. But sure, yes, the pie competition.”
Riley let out a long sigh. “Have a little faith, Autumn. Your grandparents wouldn’t have left this place to you if they didn’t think you could handle it.”
I looked around inside the barn, the baskets and bins lining the far side of the space and the racks that lined the shelves closest to us filled with supplies and jars of preserves left over from seasons past. I took a seat at the long table next to the barn kitchen and pulled out the list I’d been making throughout the week and put it on the table.
“I know,” I said, patting a seat next to me. “But I also know that you’ve had to have been burning yourself out at both ends. My background is in business and marketing, I know what it takes to maintain this place and I know we can’t hold in the same pattern for much longer. Realistically, what do you need the most, Riley?”
“Hands,” he admits with a grimace. “We’ll need more hands than we currently have for the harvest. The land’s doing alright but could use a bit of upkeep and we need more help. The last few years we’ve just been selling the apples wholesale to a large distributor that we haven’t used locally, which is the only reason we’ve been able to make it on the labor front, seasonal help aside.”
“While selling wholesale helps us stay in the green, it doesn’t leave much room. I know we have the maintenance fund gramps set aside, but it’s not enough to cover everything. After the pack passed, I know he was simply maintaining. There’s bound to be machinery and such we’re going to need to update and replace that hasn’t been handled in years and lord knows you could use at least a couple more dedicated staff. All of that is going to require something more than what the orchard has been doing the last handful of years,” I said.
I already had ideas spinning through my head, paths and avenues we could take to set the orchard up for success. My grandparents had already done a fantastic job with the place, making sure it stayed that way was nothing more than some hard work and an honor I was ready for.
“I know I already got you all the crop projections for this year and obviously you’ve been looking over the financials, but I did make a list of the gear and machines that are wearing thin. They should hold for the season, but after that, we’ll need to replace them,” Riley said, producing his own list for me.
It was something I appreciated about him. The beta sure did know how to have fun, but he also worked hard. I knew he loved this orchard just as much as I did. And everything he’d handed me I could trust was honest and necessary. That was huge.
I read through the list, the items and figures not all that shocking. Overall, it just affirmed what I knew all along. We needed to diversify the business and reinvest in ourselves. We were a successful family business for sure, but if we started using our own product to make goods and such it would open so many more possibilities.
Hell, people loved the family cider so much, if I could figure out the recipe and bottle that, it’d probably be liquid gold.
“So first things first,” I said, turning to Riley. “I want you to hire a few people who know their stuff and you trust to be your right hands in the fields, build the team you want. I think we both know my skills lie elsewhere and with that I can concentrate on our showing at the Fall Festival and figuring out our strategic game plan for the crop.”
“You want me to hire them?” he questioned. “Isn’t that an owner thing?”
“Riley.” I leveled him with a serious look. “I know you’ve been doing more work than you’ve let on even with gramps still alive. Make your team. For now, I’m only here for the season. There’s no one else I’d trust to do this.”
A smile stretched across his face, a look of determination in his eye. “I won’t let you down, Autumn.”
“As far as I’m concerned you’re family. We’re in this together.”
“Damn straight we are,” he said, knocking his shoulder against mine. “Okay well, not straight on my part. But I get your point.”
For the next few hours we hashed every little single thing out, which eventually led to me grabbing my laptop from the house to keep organized with the game plan.
The main thing I needed to focus on first was the upcoming Fall Festival and our offerings there. Figuring out what products to make and sell was essentially the perfect launching ground for what I was envisioning for our orchard.
Hundreds of people traveled to Holiday Hollow for the event which meant hundreds of potential customers, especially if I was thinking about commercial efforts. Not only that, but the festival gave back to the community and supported so many of those who were less fortunate. This city was a special place where everyone pulled together, and I didn’t want to let them or myself down.
“You could stay, you know?” Riley said once we were finished. It was such a serious voice for my friend that it caught me off guard. “You don’t have to completely update and accomplish this in one season.”
“I know,” I acknowledged. “But I want to do this not just for the orchard but for me too. I had quite a few offers I left back in the city and sorting this out will help me decide which direction I want to take. I’m not saying I’m leaving for certain, but it’s something I owe to myself to give plenty of thought to.”
To say I was an overachiever was putting it mildly. Then again, maybe the constant stigma of feeling like I had to prove myself twice as hard because I was an omega had something to do with that.
Regardless, I’d come away with my Masters and a handful or so of job offers, all of which I kindly informed I was unavailable until winter. It was a risky move sure, but having and running my own small business was something invaluable when it came to skillset, and once I explained that to the head hunters they practically salivated.
In truth it left me feeling the slightest bit icky at their reaction, but then again, I knew that the orchard was personal to me whereas they viewed it simply as business.
“That’s not what I meant, Autumn,” Riley said, rising from his stool and picking up his cup. “I need to get back at it, start looking for those extra hands as soon as possible. Do you need anything else today?”
