We just bought our first order of seed, from Johnny's Selected Seed. I know they can be more expensive, but they gave such great service that it helped make this first order easier. This is only the first of cool season vegetables, but it's a start.
Also, bought some soil block makers. I'm so excited!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Great Plains Vegetable Growers Conference Day 3
Today I went to a class on Organic Potato Production. My potatoes this year got some kind of fungus and all died leaving me nothing but little baby potatoes. I went next to a class on Organic IPM. It was fine, wish there had been more resources that we could look up on our own. They only gave this lady 1/2 hour, not nearly enough time. It was packed.
Next, I went to Record Keeping. It too was something I needed to better improve myself. The Emergency Planning I wanted to go to next was canceled. I then went to a classes on Solar Powered Irrigation Systems, Energy Saving Practices on the Farm, and No-till Using Organic Production. These were interesting, but the last two for me were kind of a let down. Maybe I was expecting too much? I did still learn so much today. I hope I can remember it all and implement it all as well.
I took a wrong turn on the freeway there in KC and boy what an adventure, as we had to go to KS before we could get turned around. I hate driving in KC! I can't say that enough. I hate driving in KC! Anyway, we finally made it back to Bradford around 7:30 p.m. What a day! What a trip! I look forward to going again.
Next, I went to Record Keeping. It too was something I needed to better improve myself. The Emergency Planning I wanted to go to next was canceled. I then went to a classes on Solar Powered Irrigation Systems, Energy Saving Practices on the Farm, and No-till Using Organic Production. These were interesting, but the last two for me were kind of a let down. Maybe I was expecting too much? I did still learn so much today. I hope I can remember it all and implement it all as well.
I took a wrong turn on the freeway there in KC and boy what an adventure, as we had to go to KS before we could get turned around. I hate driving in KC! I can't say that enough. I hate driving in KC! Anyway, we finally made it back to Bradford around 7:30 p.m. What a day! What a trip! I look forward to going again.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Great Plains Vegetable Growers Conference Day 2
Today I attended classes on specific vegetables such as tomatoes varieties, controlling disease in cucurbits, and how to 'squash' insect/pest problems. I also attended a class on Weed the Soil not the Crop, it gave a lot of food for thought. Last I went to a class about Sustainable Greenhouse Practices, this guy didn't seem to know what he was talking about and used some terms pretty loosely for some of us in the audience. I picked up a lot of catalogs and literature, look forward to reading and browsing. We had a meeting tonight called the Grower Innovation Meeting or something like that. It was great! Lots of great ideas, a good MC helped keeping going and the skit at the end by two Mennonite guys really stole the show.
More tomorrow.
More tomorrow.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Great Plains Vegetable Growers Conference Day 1
CSA Mini-school
Well I came with Tim Reinbott to the Great Plains Vegetable Growers Conference in St. Joseph and I attended the CSA mini-school on today. Tim went to the High Tunnel workshop. I learned quite a bit today. I came with the attitude that if I learned at least one good thing that helped me I had made the right choice. Two pages, front a back, later I say I got my money's worth of helpful information.
I have always considered doing a CSA where the shares are preboxed. In New England they have moved away from that and now do it where people get choices at the place of pick up. This yields higher customer satisfaction and retention.
I learned a lot more but this is all I will write tonight. I am so excited and grateful to be here!
Well I came with Tim Reinbott to the Great Plains Vegetable Growers Conference in St. Joseph and I attended the CSA mini-school on today. Tim went to the High Tunnel workshop. I learned quite a bit today. I came with the attitude that if I learned at least one good thing that helped me I had made the right choice. Two pages, front a back, later I say I got my money's worth of helpful information.
I have always considered doing a CSA where the shares are preboxed. In New England they have moved away from that and now do it where people get choices at the place of pick up. This yields higher customer satisfaction and retention.
I learned a lot more but this is all I will write tonight. I am so excited and grateful to be here!
Monday, January 5, 2009
CAFNR website update!
Well the CAFNR website was just updated with our story. I have got to go on a diet. To all you lurkers, who don't post, do you have any questions I could answer?
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Odds & Year ends
Well first off I was invited to a Christmas party of people interested and involved in sustainable agriculture. It was great, my wife and I enjoyed ourselves. Next, I received a Johnny's Selected Seeds catalog in the mail and decided to call them. They have been very helpful so far. I hope this relationship blossoms. I think they can help out quite a bit. This week I am going to the Great Plains Vegetable Growers Conference in St. Joseph MO. I look forward to what I can learn and hopefully apply in this venture. I will post after I get back.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
From Class Project to Business Venture
Here is the copy of the press release that MU CAFNR has done. We are hoping to do more guerilla marketing with this. What do you think?
A.
From Class Project to Business Venture
Entrepreneurship competition win leads to real-life application
It’s one thing to do well in class and another to win a campus-wide competition. It’s something else to take your class project and turn it into a real-life entrepreneurial effort to help the community.
A three-person team in the Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship class co-taught by Peter Hofherr, assistant director of the McQuinn Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and Ken Schneeberger, professor of agriculture economics at the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, took the grand prize in the Non-Profit Category of the fourth-annual MU College of Business’s New Venture Idea Competition. The competition drew 68 teams from across campus.
Team members Abby Berndt, Whitney Middleton and Andrew Van Engelenhoven shared a cash prize. Sarah Mayo, a freshman studying horticulture, is also part of the team.
The CAFNR team presented a business plan for a subscription-based produce operation to the judges who played the part of venture capitalists looking to fund a new project. The students’ idea, named Tiger Town Community Supported Agriculture, calls for 25-30 subscribers to prepay for vegetables grown by the entrepreneurs. Any food left over would be made available to low-income people who would buy the goods with food stamps. Any produce surplus after this would be donated to a local food bank.
In their presentation, the students provided data to the judges proving the subscription plan is economically viable and that there is a real need for it in the community. The judges asked questions about how the team would market their plan, pay taxes and develop a planting schedule.
The students are not stopping with accolades from the judges, but plan to take their cash award and make their ideas a reality. The team members are working with Dave Trinklein, associate professor of horticulture, and Tim Reinbott, superintendent of the Bradford Research Farms, to use eight hoop-greenhouses to plant produce this spring and see if their business plan can survive in the real world. The first planting will take place in February.
“The significance of this project to me isn't just the idealism, but that eight judges from the business world agreed that we have something of value and that it should be done,” said Van Engelenhoven. “That’s a lot of validation, even for skeptics. It lends credibility to this project, and shows that students can have real world solutions to real world problems.”
The Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship class is co-taught by Peter Hofherr, left, assistant director of the McQuinn Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, and Ken Schneeberger, right, professor of agriculture economics at the University of Missouri. Students in the class are, left to right, Whitney Middleton, Andrew Van Engelenhoven and Abby Berndt.
Members of the Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship class are Abby Berndt, Andrew Van Engelenhoven and Whitney Middleton.
A.
From Class Project to Business Venture
Entrepreneurship competition win leads to real-life application
It’s one thing to do well in class and another to win a campus-wide competition. It’s something else to take your class project and turn it into a real-life entrepreneurial effort to help the community.
A three-person team in the Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship class co-taught by Peter Hofherr, assistant director of the McQuinn Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and Ken Schneeberger, professor of agriculture economics at the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, took the grand prize in the Non-Profit Category of the fourth-annual MU College of Business’s New Venture Idea Competition. The competition drew 68 teams from across campus.
Team members Abby Berndt, Whitney Middleton and Andrew Van Engelenhoven shared a cash prize. Sarah Mayo, a freshman studying horticulture, is also part of the team.
The CAFNR team presented a business plan for a subscription-based produce operation to the judges who played the part of venture capitalists looking to fund a new project. The students’ idea, named Tiger Town Community Supported Agriculture, calls for 25-30 subscribers to prepay for vegetables grown by the entrepreneurs. Any food left over would be made available to low-income people who would buy the goods with food stamps. Any produce surplus after this would be donated to a local food bank.
In their presentation, the students provided data to the judges proving the subscription plan is economically viable and that there is a real need for it in the community. The judges asked questions about how the team would market their plan, pay taxes and develop a planting schedule.
The students are not stopping with accolades from the judges, but plan to take their cash award and make their ideas a reality. The team members are working with Dave Trinklein, associate professor of horticulture, and Tim Reinbott, superintendent of the Bradford Research Farms, to use eight hoop-greenhouses to plant produce this spring and see if their business plan can survive in the real world. The first planting will take place in February.
“The significance of this project to me isn't just the idealism, but that eight judges from the business world agreed that we have something of value and that it should be done,” said Van Engelenhoven. “That’s a lot of validation, even for skeptics. It lends credibility to this project, and shows that students can have real world solutions to real world problems.”
The Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship class is co-taught by Peter Hofherr, left, assistant director of the McQuinn Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, and Ken Schneeberger, right, professor of agriculture economics at the University of Missouri. Students in the class are, left to right, Whitney Middleton, Andrew Van Engelenhoven and Abby Berndt.
Members of the Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship class are Abby Berndt, Andrew Van Engelenhoven and Whitney Middleton.
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