Christopher Bean:
Managing a Volatile Business, and Loving It

Christopher Bean and I sit in the shed of The Bean Farm, sharing laughs and stories about the Second Annual Westwood Living Bean Farm Summer Bonanza, presented by Kadeema Rentals and Ian Brown Land Design. Close to 350 people showed up on August 29, enjoying a beautiful summer night with friends, and this chat gives us a chance for some post-event analysis – your two co-hosts swapping notes.
 
“The Bonanza was incredible. We had an awesome turnout,” said Chris. “It was great to see a lot of new and familiar faces come through the farm. A lot of families came and enjoyed their time here. We had some great food from Pollard’s Test Kitchen. We had a lot of local veggies from the farm on the menu, which was awesome – people getting to see the Bean Farm’s products and try it on site. We had the animals here, which was great. All the kids loved that.”
 
Chris has been a kid on the farm, so he speaks from first-hand experience. He grew up watching his grandfather, father and three uncles manage the day-to-day, backbreaking operation, but he also was drawn into the romance of farming, its routines and potential to make a difference in many lives.
 
“It just kind of hit me as a kid, being around the farm and my grandfather taking me to other farms and going to see animals at the Norfolk Aggie School and sitting in the tractor with him around here,” said Chris. “I just fell in love with that lifestyle, and once he passed when I was in middle school, I started to say, you know what? I want to take interest and start doing this myself. I got my hands dirty, learned how to drive the tractor, use all the implements for the tractor, and just kind of took off from there. I knew that’s what I wanted to do, and I love doing it.”
 
While the farm isn’t open year-round, it’s a year-round job for the person who runs the show. Chris strategizes about what products he’ll grow and later sell to customers, how he’ll most effectively produce those products, where and how he’d like to expand, and assesses what challenges lie ahead. He studied at Cornell, majoring in Agricultural Sciences, and brings an expertise to his job every day that’s necessary to prosper.
 
“I wake up with a plan, but there’s always challenges that come up,” said Chris. “Labor is a huge issue in today’s world, especially on a farm, where it’s back-breaking work. You’re out in the heat and the humidity, and it’s hard to attract a crowd to want to do that. I’m fortunate that I do have a small crew of people that help me out and do a wonderful job, but there’s a lot that goes into it, and it’s a labor of love.”
 
Also a labor of love is the Bean family’s dedication to Christmas, and the business shifts on Black Friday to selling Christmas trees, wreaths and other holiday decorations that are genuinely prepared from scratch and delivered with love.
 
“My grandmother busts her butt. She makes all of the bows. They’re absolutely spectacular,” said Chris. “Super-long tails. Then she also creates custom decorations, little cones and cherries and holly leaves, stuff like that, to make some custom-decorated wreaths. It really is a lot of work. We start making those bows in October. We’ll sit down for a couple of hours each night and try to make 15, 20, 25 bows. It’s a lot of work and a lot of twisting with your hands and pinching, pulling the wire. So it’s not easy, but so worth it.”
 
Frankly, farming inherently presents a ton of logistical and unpredictable challenges. It’s a volatile business, crucial to our survival, yet among the most difficult industries to master.
 
“To be honest with you, that’s why I love it, Tom,” said Chris. “I get up every day, and every single day, I do something different. You’ll have a plan in the back of your head of what you want to accomplish, what you want to get done, but it’s a farm. Something comes up in a split second and your whole day changes.”
 
What doesn’t change is the Bean Farm’s commitment to community, from hosting parties, to giving back, to providing the sustenance you need to survive. It’s all come with the territory, since 1971.