Travis Robinson, founder of Floyd's Farm & Home, recently outfitted a trailer to provide chicken feed, gardening supplies and other equipment from a mobile storefront. He plans to set up shop in locations around Lexington. / Photo by Ryan Morris
When Travis Robinson added chickens to his backyard several years ago, his search for organic chicken feed came up short. So he decided to source and sell some on his own.
“I knew of a few people who would also be interested,” he said, “so I started out piggybacking on feed orders to a local farm.”
He built up a large enough clientele to buy organic chicken feed a pallet at a time. Then he started raising chicks up to 8 weeks old and selling pullets. “Basically they are young hens that aren’t ready to lay eggs but are all feathered out and don’t need any supplemental heat, like baby chicks do,” Robinson explained.
In 2016 he set up a booth at the NoLi neighborhood’s Night Market, selling chickens along with gardening tools and supplies. “The live chickens were a hit,” he said.
Robinson’s search for organic feed for his own chickens inspired him to source and sell high-quality feed to other backyard chicken keepers. / Photo by Ryan Morris
His side-hustle of sourcing and selling chicken feed and chicks has become a full-fledged business. Robinson named his new venture Floyd’s Farm & Home, an homage to his grandfather, and in April, purchased an enclosed trailer to use as a mobile store.
He plans to park the newly outfitted trailer on the north side of Lexington as often as possible to sell chicken-keeping supplies, such as coops, feeders and waterers, along with gardening tools. The flexibility of being mobile also allows him to set up in other parts of town to offer workshops and sell supplies, or to build or service chicken coops.
Robinson is also “chief chickeneer” for Cooperative Lexington Urban Chicken Keepers (CLUCK), a group of chicken-keeping residents in Lexington. The organization maintains a home base at Good Foods Co-op on Southland Drive, and through CLUCK, Robinson offers consultation for new chicken keepers.
“Education is a big part of my mission, because folks may get frustrated if they don’t have the right tools and information to be successful." —Travis Robinson
“Education is a big part of my mission, because folks may get frustrated if they don’t have the right tools and information to be successful,” he said.
An appreciation of agriculture began early in Robinson’s life. He grew up in North Carolina and spent summers working at his grandparents’ farm in Oklahoma. Robinson developed a lifelong love of community, rural heritage, homesteading, canning and preserving, eating organic and healthful food, and learning about local farmers and producers.
After earning an undergraduate degree in art marketing and production in the early 1990s from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, Robinson went to graduate school at the University of Kentucky for art history. He has worked in museums and arts organizations ever since.
Robinson is also active with the Cooperative Lexington Urban Chicken Keepers (CLUCK). / Photo by Ryan Morris
To build up Floyd’s Farm & Home in manageable steps, he has sought help along the way from organizations available for business owners. The Small Business Development Center, for one, helped him formalize his business plan. In January, Sara Day Evans at Accelerating Appalachia suggested Robinson pursue a loan from Kiva, a platform for crowd-lending, as opposed to crowd-funding. Kiva loans are available for up to $10,000 interest free.
Robinson had to secure the first 25 lenders on his own within 15 days before Kiva would make his campaign live on its site for 30 days. He raised the capital he needed in just 20 days from a total of 201 lenders, many of whom loaned $25 each.
“It was amazing to see that my idea resonated with so many people,” he said.
Robinson is enjoying the process of starting a business, especially one that will “help people provide for themselves and their families, while creating a stronger sense of community, encouraging people to get outside, be healthy and be more in tune with the earth,” he said. “I believe that we’d all do ourselves a favor by getting to know, and working closely with, our neighbors to create a mutual support network.”
Floyd’s Farm & Home also sells poultry feed and supplies, gardening tools and “other cool stuff” through its website at floydsfarmandhome.com. / Photo by Ryan Morris