By LOIS KINDLE
lekindle@aol.com
Exciting things are happening at Council Growers Sod Farm garden center with the addition of its new manager, Jessica Colabuno. Since arriving in late May, she has redesigned the space; launched a branding campaign; created a potters bar; and infused the center with a fresh, forward focused energy.
“The hook for me was the Councils didn’t want this to simply be a garden center,” she said. “They want people to feel like they’re coming to the family farm.”
Colabuno is just what owners Travis and Amber Council needed when the garden center’s first manager, Ida VanDamme, told them she was leaving.
“We were devastated when she gave her notice,” Amber Council said. “She left to focus on starting a family and be closer to relatives in New York.”
But then Jessica applied for the job.
“Ida helped bring our ideas to fruition with an amazing work ethic, an eye to educate the customer and a farming background that married with Council Growers farming history,” Travis Council added. “Jessica brings positive energy and creativity to the nursery every day. She’s a great motivator and teacher to everyone she’s around at the farm. She understands that we truly want to do more than simply sell a plant. We want to give the customer an experience at our farm.”
Colabuno is the first to acknowledge she has a great sidekick in Becky Council — Council Sod’s director of communication and a recent graduate of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Ga.
Becky Council, Council Growers Sod Farm’s director of communications, is working hand in hand with garden center manager Jessica Colabuno to take it to the next level by planning new classes and events, including an on-the-farm market event in October to share the family’s love of plants, gardening and the community.
“Becky’s the glue,” she said. “We work as a team to keep everything fresh. Our latest project, the new potters bar, will give customer’s the hands-on experience of selecting a piece of pottery, choosing their plant or plants, and doing the potting here at the farm with soil we provide.”
Colabuno said Becky’s role is steadily expanding at the farm. Her father, Travis, has seen that development firsthand.
“Becky has had two great mentors in Jessica and Ida, each with very different skill sets,” said her dad, Travis. “She's building her role in the company, using her strengths and working hard every day to continue our family farming tradition.”
She and her new mentor have already developed a series of fall classes and are in the process of planning a new, fall on-the-farm market event in October to share the family’s love of plants, gardening and the community.
About Jessica Colabuno
Council Growers Sod Farm’s new garden center manager is originally from Perry, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland; wife of Army Sgt. Major Joe Colabuno for 22 years; mother of their three children; and a longtime volunteer with the Red Cross, USO and Military Family Readiness Group. She has an associate degree in graphic design from the Art Institute in Pittsburgh; and many years of gardening and marketing experience.
For more information, stop by the garden center at 3226 24th Street SE, Ruskin, visit Instagram or https://www.facebook.com/councilgrowerssod or call 813-633-8665.
