Ever wonder what it takes to grow a hobby into a successful career, in a brand new industry? Throw in the uncontrollable challenges of nature, weather… and thousands of living creatures and you will find Jacob Goth’s Swallowtail Farms.

Swallowtail Farms began as a hobby between Jacob and a close friend, but eventually grew into an incorporated business with employees and national distribution. He says he didn’t choose to grow butterflies for a living, the career chose him!

“Great sacrifices had to be made in those start-up years. There were many trials and errors since we were the first company to start in this new industry. We didn’t have a model to follow. This posed great challenges for us, but also great rewards in the end. I’ll never regret heading down this path which God chose for me.”

The greatest challenges are things beyond human control – nature and weather. Agriculture is very weather dependent and the butterflies have their own unique requirements as insects. “We can do everything right and have a great batch of thousands of fresh butterflies stocked in our flight house and then the county will have an ‘unannounced’ round of insecticide
helicopter sprayings during mosquito season. These events are great for reducing the mosquito population, but bad for butterflies!”

Jacob shares the many beautiful aspects of butterfly farming – greenhouses filled with rows of fresh sub-tropical milkweed growing vibrantly, butterfly hatching labs with newly hatched caterpillars, the size of a pencil tip, munching away on milkweed plants.

“That one plant may contain up to 5,000 caterpillars, which will devour the plant within hours.”

Or the flight house which is the final stop for the monarch butterflies before they are packed and sent to release events like the Home Hospice Butterfly Release & Family Celebrations.

But, Jacob says his favorite part of the job is receiving letters, pictures or cards from customers who were greatly moved by their experiences with the butterflies.

“There are not many products out there that create such a wonderfully joyful experience as the butterfly release. Many tears of joy have been shed from the experience of releasing our butterflies, especially at a funeral or a memorial service. I’m so thankful to be a part of that and I cherish each and every note I get back from my customers.”

Jacob says with God’s grace, they’ll be growing butterflies for many more years to come. That’s great news for those of us who will be holding one of those amazing creatures as we honor our loved ones this year!

Visit www.swallowtailfarms.com

What inspires you to keep doing what you do?

As for your deep and profound question – hmm. I guess I haven’t really thought about it that much. It’s just what I do and what I have been doing for the last 20 years.

But, putting some thought into it, I’d say there are multiple reasons. The first is the obvious one – I’ve got bills to pay and a family to feed! But that doesn’t really answer the heart of your question. I have an MBA degree and so there were a lot of options for me in the earlier years to go multiple directions career-wise. Yet I chose to do this. There’s something about this business that is extremely fulfilling yet at times very challenging and frustrating. I guess you can say it’s a lot like a marriage!

I enjoy the fact that our product sells itself. We don’t need to ‘sell’ butterflies. We just have to make sure we do the best we can do for our customers and make sure that we deliver on our promises. But, there’s no push selling and in fact we often turn away customers because we believe the experience might not go well (if it’s too cold, for example). People are surprised when we actually tell them it wouldn’t be right to sell them butterflies.

I love the fact that our product makes people happy and brings great joy. There aren’t a lot of industries or companies that get the privilege of receiving so many kind notes and pictures from our customers. It’s very rewarding.

Although the challenge of working with living creatures (both plants and butterflies) can be overwhelming and impossible at times, it’s a wonderful thing to constantly be around butterflies and witnesses these amazing creatures. I admit I take it for granted way too much and hope that I would appreciate this business more than I do. It’s easy to focus on the negative. So, I appreciate the fact that you asked the question and caused me to be reminded of the great privilege I have.