Renata Goossen ’21 and her magical ‘Plant Bus’ spark a love for gardening through mobile shop
Renata Goossen ’21 will never get tired of watching people’s eyes light up when they
step into the “Plant Bus” for the very first time.
Goossen created her plant shop on wheels from a renovated school bus, and she uses
it to share her love of gardening across the state of Kansas.
“I definitely live off of the first-time reactions from people entering the bus,”
she said. “The energy is really wonderful that I get from people. Usually everyone
says, ‘Oh, this is the cutest idea.’ The transformation of people's faces as they
enter, it's like going to Disneyland, almost. It fuels me for all of the hardships
of the business. When I see people's reactions with the bus and with the plants on
the bus, it reminds me of why I do what I do. Not to be corny, but it is very magical
for people when they step in, especially if they already love gardening. But it's
always my hope that it makes it cool enough to people that if they're on the edge
of wanting to learn how to garden, or if they've had bad experiences with gardening
in the past, that they're willing to give it a go.”
Growing a passion
Goossen developed a love for plants — and a connection to K-State — early on. She
grew up participating in 4-H, and her parents taught her how to garden at a young
age.
“The kids were expected to help out in the yard, so I was always working with my parents
on picking peppers in the garden and stuff like that,” she recalls. “I kind of eased
into my love of horticulture, I guess you could say. My mom, she would take me to
classes at Botanica when I was a kid in Wichita. So my parents really instilled a
love of nature in me growing up.”
Through 4-H, she joined the county horticulture judging team and remembers traveling
to the state contest at Throckmorton Hall on the K-State campus.
“We had a really small judging team from Butler County, and we would go up every year
and my horticulture agent had a big impact on me, because he would talk me through
what his career development looked like in horticulture,” Goossen said. “And it doesn't
always hit with every kid, you know, at those kinds of events, but it really resonated
with me. And so I kind of got plugged into the K-State program that way.”
In high school, Goossen started a small business called Renata’s Garden as a way to
make a little extra spending money. She would grow vegetables, herbs and ornamentals,
and then take them to school in little Sonic drink carriers to sell.
She said that coming to K-State further honed her skills and opened doors that eventually
allowed her to pursue her passion for plants as a career.
“Having a really great adviser impacted me throughout my time at K-State and learning
that it's OK to make changes in your trajectory, and kind of play it by ear,” she
said. “My adviser really gave me confidence; she instilled that into me so that I
could apply for scholarships and take internships out of state and I even studied
abroad while I was at K-State. She really just encouraged me to take every opportunity
that was available to me.”
Planting an idea
Back in high school, Goossen remembered hearing about an overhauled school bus that
a nonprofit organization in El Dorado, Kansas, used to feed kids over the summer.
“That was the first time I had seen a renovated school bus,” she said. “That kind
of just was tucked back away in my head.”
Another spark of inspiration for the Plant Bus came from her travels to the Netherlands.
“I saw all these street vendors, at every town we were at, and the boat vendors were
really cool,” she said. “It was just horticulture on the street, and I just thought
that was really fascinating. And I kept thinking to myself, ‘How could I do this in
Kansas, where the wind is blowing and it's always an inhibitor of outdoor activities?’”
By the time she reached her senior year of college, she had decided that she wanted
to open her own business.
“I'd always thought there should be a plant truck driving around the area, because
I have a passion for the food desert situation. I mean, it's not like the Plant Bus
is directly fixing food desert issues. I'm encouraging local gardening, but it was
more about servicing rural communities, or hard-to-get-to communities that don't have
the benefit of shopping experiences.”
She started looking for a used food truck or a trailer that she could convert into
a mobile shop. Then on Facebook Marketplace, she spotted listings for school buses.
School bus renovations began trending in the midst of the COVID pandemic, and during
a FaceTime call, Goossen’s mother encouraged her to consider creating a plant bus.
“I'm one of those people — once I get it in my head and it really hooks my brain,
I can't stop thinking about it, and then I've decided already, without actually deciding,
this is going to happen,” Goossen said.
Harvesting success
Goossen truly believes that anyone can be a successful gardener — even those who step
onto the Plant Bus and claim, “I have a black thumb” or “I kill everything just by
looking at it.”
She said her goal is to help people develop a more realistic view of gardening. Sometimes,
people see photos of perfectly manicured gardens on social media or in magazines,
and then they feel discouraged when their projects don’t live up to that ideal.
“It's really important to start with realistic expectations and to not go too big,
too fast, on your expectations,” she said. “So like starting with a small house plant
and seeing how you do with that in the first year, or starting with one tomato or
a patio variety of a vegetable, rather than doing a whole, full-blown in-ground garden
right off the bat. Dipping your toes in the water is really important with gardening
so you don't get overwhelmed and just give up in the middle of the summer.”
She recommends starting with good quality plants from a reliable vendor, and to seek
out your local extension service for advice. She also encourages beginning gardeners
to look at what native plants might flourish in their area.
She is proud of how her story aligns with K-State’s land-grant mission, and she hopes
to pay it forward by encouraging youth to develop a love of gardening.
“It's really a full circle thing for me to experience that,” she said. “I felt really
rewarded by my time at K-State. There was just so much about K-State that I loved
during my time there. I definitely would not be doing what I'm doing without having
gone to K-State.