Seeking a quieter lifestyle
and greater opportunities, the Varneys talked about leaving Houston.
Bill had often visited Fredericksburg while growing up, and he believed
while growing up, and he believed that the town had just what he and
Sylvia were looking for. About nine months after they were married,
he found a job with a nursery there, so the Varneys packed up and
headed for the Hill Country.
There was one hitch,
though, that neither of them could have anticipated: For the first
time, Sylvia found herself unemployable. "She was overqualified
for the local job market," Bill says. "She had more education
the bank president."
"I was baffled,"
Sylvia admits. "In Houston, I never had an issue with finding
a job and moving up." As the Varneys contemplated the alternatives,
Sylvia that she had a strong desire to accomplish something on her
own terms. Bill suggested that they start a business.
In 1986, they opened
a small shop on Fredericksburg's Main Street, name it Varney's Chemist
Laden ("chemist laden" is German for apothecary shop),
and began selling herbal beauty and healthcare products. "I
was trying to introduce something unique," Sylvia says. "From
the outset, I wasn't just pushing a product — I really felt
a need to provide a service by including information about the products
so that people weren't just buying a pretty box or hope in a jar
as they too often do at cosmetic counters. Consequently, I did an
extensive amount of self-education, learning about how cosmetics,
food products, home fragrances, and herb gardens could be combined
to make a difference in people's lives."
The shop quickly prospered,
and six months after it opened, Bill quit his job and joined Sylvia
in the business. In a small courtyard behind the shop, they built
a little greenhouse and planted their first herb garden. Using their
harvest, they created a few products of their own, such as potpourris,
lotions, and herbal vinegars, that, to their surprise, sold three
or four to one over the other products they carried.
Encouraged, they expanded
their line, and before long they were wholesaling and had hired
their first employee, Shirley Keyser, who is still with them. In
a couple of years, they'd outgrown the small shop and moved to a
larger location. They also began teaching a few classes about herbs
and their uses, and Sylvia wrote regular columns on herbs for the
local newspaper and submitted articles to the Texas Department of
Agriculture newsletter. Their family grew, too, when their son,
Roy, was born in 1988.
The boom in business,
though, didn't prepare the Varneys for the explosion to come when,
in 1991, their Edible Flowers Vinegar won an outstanding condiment
award at the 37th International Fancy Food and Confection Show in
New York. The orders flooded in — too many orders for the small
size of their operation. At one point, Sylvia told Bill, "I
don't know if we can handle it." In fact, the were able to
fill only about half the orders they received, but the refused to
compromise quality for the sake of quantity. "Either you have
the quality in both product and packaging," Bill insists, "or
you just don't do it."
Realizing that their
business was its own growing garden, they developed a product line
based on edible flowers, including jellies, preserves, and mustards.
At the same time, they thought about expanding the size of their
operation. Inspired by herb farms they'd seen while visiting Sylvia's
folks in New England, they found four acres that seemed ideal, sold
their house, and moved.
by:
Christopher Dow
photos by:
Tommy LaVergne
Originally
Published in Sallyport
The Magazine
of Rice University
Summer 2001
Click on any of
the small photos
to view full size
