Say hello to Olive Barn and Jackie D’Elia

I started hearing from Jackie months ago – some comments on GardenRant and the occasional helpful tip ("That link's a dud!"  And for the record, I WANT y'all to tell me these things! )  Then  last summer I asked for eco-dubies to step up and pay my expenses to attend an awesome conference about Urban Gardening, and within an hour of publishing that plea Jackie emailed me on behalf of Olive Barn to offer $100.  Other good people stepped up and the project was a go, with two reports (about Bette Midler's NYC nonprofit and about Greenmapping your city) so far, and more coming.

Then I started seeing Olive Barn adverts in the prime, top spot on on GardenRant.  For a whole month, I think it was.  So when I got my nerve up to contact potential sponsors last month (October is apparently the month for advertising bids), I naturally thought of Olive Barn and that nice Jacqueline in charge of their marketing, and sent her my spiffy proposal.   Boom, I heard a big YES from Jackie right, and we hit the phones to chat about it.  

That's when I found out she's the owner, not just the marketing person.  And look what else she is, (from her blog's About page): 

I’m an Aggie with a BS in Horticulture from Texas A&M. I practice organic gardening techniques and refrain from using any pesticides or synthetic fertilizers in my garden.  My dream garden is uncluttered and balanced with elements of water, wood and stone. Join me as I share my personal experience in converting my urban space into a livable and sustainable garden.

An Olive Barn is Born

So on the phone I asked for more info about how Olive Barn came into being and learned that Jackie had, in her first career, been a software developer, then did IT consulting for large corporations. It was at the age of 43, suddenly "between jobs," that Jackie turned to her first love – gardening – and entered the hort program at Texas A&M.  So why not put her marketing and web experience to use to help pay for that hort degree?  Voila (in 2000) she launched her very own "eco-friendly garden home store, Olive Barn,

Not all alone, though.  She commuted with two good friends to A&M hort-school, and ran Olive Barn out of her home with their part-time help.  That was six years ago and now Olive Barn fills a 3600-sq-ft warehouse in Houston and her green baby saw over a half million in sales last year.

In her off hours she gardens, of course, and writes the gardening newsletter for her 900-home community association.  (Uh oh, HOA rules about landscaping!!)  So Jackie, how's that going, your relationship with the HOA?  Let's just say she'll be encouraging her neighbors to get their  St. Austine grass off of performance-enhancing drugs (synthethic fertilizer), since she's learned in her own yard that it'll look fine (after an initial period of detox, of course).

To round out her professional life, Jackie works as a garden coach and produces two outasight blogs.  The Olive Barn blog is called Growing Green + Living It™ Sustainable Living blog, and her individual gardening blog is Southern Post Journal, where her macro photography is inspiring me to figure out that feature on my point-and-shoot.  (Oh, yeah, I'm pretty basic.)  She recently started blogging for the Houston Chronicle in their gardening section.

Well, let me say this about all that.  I LOVE second career stories (have one myself) especially if they involve gardening. 

So, a new sponsor of Sustainable and Urban Gardening is born, and now you know something about the new company over there in the sidebar.

Tagged as: Jacqueline D'Elia, Olive Barn