Barbara grew up in the family nursery business. At 12 years old she was cashier in the office. Alongside her four other brothers and sister they learned botanical plant names, how to propagate and shift plants, and manage nursery stock. When it was time to go to college, Barbara chose San Jose State University and majored in Marketing. She came back to work in the family business and took over in 1995. In 1999, she began marketing the newly installed gardens for weddings. They went from having 2 weddings the first year, to 12 weddings the next, and 60 weddings per year every year after.
Dan grew up right up the street from Barbara and her family nursery. Although he didn’t grow up learning about plants he has learned A LOT over the past few year building the farm. Dan and Barbara have decided to put down roots in the Central Coast, and bought the property for Hartley Farms in 2005. The property had no improvements. All the water, power, landscape, and trees have been added since then. Dan enjoys working on the tractor and getting dirty on the farm with the kids.
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