Pick of the Crop – Snider Bros.

Don’t Need a Ticket for this Bus!!!!

If you are one of the “cool” kids, you have been on this bus.  If you haven’t stepped foot on it yet, and you want to be one of the cool kids, you better hurry.  Time to meet the big guy at the SOJ Markets, Snider Bros.

These are truly brothers, Jason and Jake Snider,  hailing from Blacksburg, Virginia.  They have done many things together.  First it was music, then bands, then a music studio/crash pad/art haven type of residence.  But their mutual interests led them back to wanting to have an office home for their landscape design and service business.   Jason credits Jake with the idea of having an “ice cream truck for gardens.”  Bada boom, bada bang, the idea was born.  Then some very serious research started, including the viewing of a children’s show call “How They Build It.”  One show featured the International Bus Factory in Oklahoma City which showed how buses are manufactured.

What Jason and Jake needed was to un-manufacture the bus; at least the ceiling and part of the sidewalls. They found a similar plan in Bozeman, Montana and started their re-design.    They searched for a bus broker and found one in Virginia.  Mechanically, they are well pleased as school buses are some of the best maintained fleet vehicles you can find.

When you enter the bus, look up at all the rivets and joints and panels that they created to provide a greenhouse on wheels.  Some fine craftsmanship is present.  As of this writing, the business has been cruising along for more than a year doing events at First Fridays and both markets.  They also visit the Children’s Museum once a month.  At the markets, the bus boasts of an inventory of rare houseplants, herb plants, succulents, shrubs, and vegetable and flower plants.

Jason and Jake have a succinct mission for the bus and for their business model.

• Retail Sales
• Landscaping
• Education

Obviously, sales and service pay the bills, but they truly love educating which is why they seek school opportunities.  They are also actively seeking to partner with any artist that wishes to use the bus as a gallery for a one-time show here and there, or wherever.  The brothers Snider are flexible and calling on the artist community to talk to them about art showings.

Surely these young men have their favorites; Jason finds the Dawn Redwood a graceful conifer one of the most elegant plants he can think of.  One lives at Dogwood Dell.

It is quite rare and was thought to be extinct at one time.  Jake likes the viburnum family of plants, a subtle landscape plant that he and Jason frequently recommend.  Find out their other recommendations; step up and ask your questions.  They are even having some sales these days and you can find healthy plants for your little space in the world.

See you Wednesday!!  Bring your Mother-In-Law and buy her some wine and a Rosemary Plant!!!

Souther of the James runs on Wednesdays 3 PM – 8 PM at 4910 Forest Hill Ave (23225). Your list of vendors.

Previous Picks of the Crop

Pick of the Crop is written by Trish Morrison.
Originally from Illinois where she was pioneering with Food Co-ops and Farmer’s Markets in the Chicago suburbs, Trish now lives in the neighborhood near Westover Hills Elementary School. A city dweller by week, weekends she travels to Lunenburg County working on an agricultural venture with her son. She enjoys the blend of art, agriculture, music and muse, you can find at a Farmers’ Market and hopes it comes through in her interview style of writing.