tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70309713841631992632024-03-05T18:22:18.652-06:00Vegetable FreakAn Organic & Small Family Farm.Reedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02306436739746808149noreply@blogger.comBlogger764125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-1803721850915440612022-08-05T06:00:00.000-05:002022-08-05T22:37:59.143-05:00Growing RadishesDelicious crunchy radishes are one of the first of the garden plants out of the ground in the spring. They can be planted as soon as the ground thaws. Radishes require ground temperatures of 40 degrees or so to germinate. If planted in close proximity to adequate growing conditions the radishes will come up when conditions are right. They are basically on autopilot and will take care of themselves.<br />
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I've planted radishes in early march and had good results with them growing. If a few get frozen there are typically enough to still have a good crop. Radish seed is also pretty inexpensive in bulk.</div>
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Another trick we use is to plant a light crop of radishes over the top of carrot seed. This is a good marker for where the carrot seed is planted. The carrots germinate slowly and are just coming up when the radishes are ready to harvest. The radishes provide some protection for the tiny carrots and are easily harvested or eliminated if they are not needed.</div>
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Don't forget to plant succession crops every few weeks. Most people assume that radishes don't grow in the heat of the summer. But we have had good luck growing them in compost with adequate water. They need to be harvested before they get too large or they can get hot.</div>
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Radishes are very fun for young children to plant and pick. Even if they are too spicy for young tastes they are still a lot of fun to grow.</div>
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Radish seed has very long germination so you can buy bulk ahead and save. Get enough for 3-5 years and you should be fine.</div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-5367498315571789232021-12-31T11:29:00.000-06:002021-12-31T11:29:28.482-06:00Black Garlic - Join the Dark SideThe process for black garlic originated in Korea. It is the same garlic that we offer as fresh garlic (typically the variety Music) but fermented at elevated temperature and humidity.<br />
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It is very probiotic and has 2x the health benefits of fresh garlic.<br />
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It has a wonderful mild garlic flavor with overtones of molasses.<br />
<br />
I am making commercial quantities of black garlic this year.<br />
<br />
Let's look at how this works.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>The key to black garlic is time, temperature and humidity control.<br />
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The temperature needs to be 130-140 F and the garlic heads need to be in a container so they don't dry out. 100% humidity is the goal.<br />
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So how do you do this. Lots of ways I suppose.<br />
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I think the Korean's originally put in a pottery vessel and buried it in their compost pile. The temps would be about right.<br />
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If you look on the internet some people are using rice cookers on the "keep warm" setting.<br />
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I have been using 1/2 gallon glass canning jars filled with garlic bulbs then sealed with canning lids. These are then put in a dehydrator with good temperature control. It takes 4-6 weeks.<br />
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The results are amazing. I've made about 10 pounds so far and hope to make much more.<br />
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It is something relatively new to our market, so I have been offering some small heads in a 1/2 pint box to let people try it. Feedback has been good so far.<br />
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You don't need to add anything to the garlic. The bulbs have all the enzymes and nutrients for the process to proceed without interruption. Just temperature and humidity.<br />
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-39804840657361822552020-01-12T19:41:00.000-06:002022-12-26T18:06:32.754-06:00You Gotta Ask The Right QuestionsIn a didactic (teaching) environment I often think long and hard before asking a question. I assume the teacher is a subject matter expert and knows what they are talking about.<br />
<br />
But I have run into a few exceptions.<br />
<br />
Let's explore this topic.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><b>The Organic Growers Conference</b><br />
<b></b><br />
I was at an organic growers conference a few years ago. They have vendor booths for people to offer products for organic growers. One of the regional universities had a booth and a graduate student was doing a survey to get data for her research.<br />
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One of the questions was, "What conservation practices do you use to slow soil loss." Generally a legitimate question, especially if you are growing crops with conventional practices. We do want to keep the soil we have. But a much better question for her organic audience would have been. "What conservation practices do you use to build organic matter and build soils." Not slow the loss of soil but to increase the quality and volume of the soil you have.<br />
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I got the "deer in the headlights" look, I think she had never thought of it like that. Well if you want to be an opinion leader in organic agriculture and some day have a PhD in this field. "You gotta ask the right questions."<br />
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<b>The Survival Scenario</b><br />
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I was at a class on team building a few years ago where we did a survival exercise where you picked the 5 most valuable things to have in your possession if you were alone in the wilderness and needed to survive for a month. This was to show how the consensus of the team was typically better than any one of the members. This was typically true unless you had a real subject matter expert. From my farm background I knew a lot about extreme conditions and I could outperform the team every time. That is why you have a hyper experienced leader leading teams of technical experts in a technology company. The expert can anticipate issues and can steer the team toward the best possible outcome. This is often called a project manager. This is a skill learned from an experience over many projects and several years. You can jump start this process by mentoring from a very experienced senior individual.<br />
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<b>Buying Decisions</b><br />
<b></b><br />
When making buying decisions I have found it helpful to reverse the scenario to get a clear view of your options. For example when deciding to sell a property, you might ask yourself if you didn't have the property already, would you buy it. If the answer is no, then sell it.<br />
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I was on a church committee once where we were considering paying off the church mortgage making a push for extra giving and to make that more attractive, they were going to do an extensive renovation of some facilities for the children's ministry (about 3 million dollars for the mortgage and about a million for the renovation). I asked the question, if you were going to pay off the mortgage for your house, would you first build an addition to your house to increase the mortgage by 30%. No typically you would not. That put the decision in perspective.<br />
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The Bell Curve<br />
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There does not have to be a bell curve in life, everyone can get an A if they ask the right questions.<br />
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-1274477559072907182018-05-14T06:00:00.000-05:002019-12-29T18:00:05.674-06:00My TEDx Talk V<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Continuing the transcript of my TED talk on "Farmers Market as a Business Incubator".</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"> </span><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Examples
from our family farm.</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>100
Ways to Marketing Basil</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">My
daughter Jenna loves to grow, use and sell herbs and one of her
favorites is Basil. Several years ago she was experimenting with
growing basil and started about 30 flats of plants (about 1500
plants). She was selling in the traditional 2 inch and 4 inch square
pots She thought she'd try out some different marketing approaches. </span>
</div>
<ol>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Basil
baskets with a variety of different basils,</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Herb
baskets combining basil with other complementary herbs. </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Six
inch pots and one gallon pots. </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">She
tried 2 for $5 (a slightly lower price.)</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">She
grew different varieities – lemon, cinnemon, opal, Holy</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">She
bundled them with tomato plants</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">She
cut the basil fresh while the customer watched</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">You
get the idea</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Every
week I thought everyone in the whole world had enough basil and she
would sell 3-5 more flats. The farmers market allowed her to try
different marketing approaches, rapidly, week to week with little
addtional expense. Basil is started from seed so the cost to start
more plants is low, these were very profitable experiments. This was
very educational for her and very helpful for our business. We still
use some of the ideas we learned from her experiments that summer.
She could make a weekly salary on just the basil alone. She was a
sophomore in high school at the time and did this independently with
very little input from her parents.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Being
Weird - Identifying Market Trends</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>The
Arugula Puzzle</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">About
10 years ago we were experimenting with Arugula as a healthy and
tasty salad green. We had been growing it for several years at the
request of several up scale chefs and most people were using it as a
fresh cut herb in their cooking. A few different arugula varieties
had shown up at the seed suppliers. Sales were modest. In 2008 sales
all of a sudden went through the roof and we couldn't grow enough of
it. I asked several customers why they were interested in Arugula and
turns out it had been featured in the NY Times food section and a
number of cooking magazines followed suite. We increase production
and soon were selling more Arugula than lettuce. You can now get many
varieties of Arugla and we are experimenting with Wild Arugula,
Wasabi Arugula and other more standard varieties.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>The
Kale Conundrum</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">In
2010, I was looking for a baby version of Kale that could be used
early in the season and in our mixed salad greens. Kale seed had been
very expensive and was targeted at growing full sized plants. I
finally found some bulk seed for a dwarf kale at a reasonable price
and proceeded to experiment. Again we had limited sales when all of a
sudden sales took off. The food magazines had declared 2012 the year
of kale and kale was promoted as the next super food (which it is).
We adjusted production to meet demand and sold alot of kale that
year.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">You
would never know this was going on if you were not marketing to
consumers week by week at the farmers market. You can put your finger
on the pulse of the market at the farmers market. In both cases we
had some greens growing and knew the cultural requirements of these
vegetables before the demand showed up. But we would not have seen
these trends coming if we had not been plugged into the market.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>The
Zucchini Paradox</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">I
gotta tell you about baby zuchini. About ten years ago we were
experimenting with pickling cucumbers. You need to pick them several
times a week to get the right size and they are alot of hand labor. I
was having a nice meal at the Broadstreet Cafe where the side dish
was baby zucchini. I thought, I could grow those and started looking
for a baby zucchini variety. Well turns out there isn't a variety
like that. Baby zucchini are really full sized zucchini picked very
very small. To get a good quantity you have to plant a lot of plants.
We plant 5 rows, 300 feet long. Nearly a 1/3 of a mile long row of
zuchini to get 60-80 pounds of baby zucchini a week. We see the value in this crop that others
only view from a traditional standpoint.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Perhaps
you can take a mature product or a standard approach and bring a
fresh perspective to the market. Appy new technologies, value add the
product, or approach it in a whole different way. This is true out of
the box thinking.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Weirdness
Factor</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">I
have a strong affinity for trying new things each year and it is
interesting how many times these experimental hunches have been in
advance of a major market trend. Sometimes this is encouraged by our
customers, including high end chefs. You have to be willing to be
weird and try some different things every year. We have tried things
like making black garlic, making sustainable charcoal from wood on
our farm, making black walnut products, growing red okra, specialty
pumpkins, specialty arugula, chipotle poblano and habernaro peppers,
heirloom varities, and baby vegetables (lots of baby vegetables). </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Fostering
Entreprenuership</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">I
define entreprenuership as the willingness to be different and take
risks in starting and managing your business. That often means
stepping out of the current traditional norms. You have to be
different or differntiate your business. When everyone else is
getting big, become small, or at least think like a small business.
When everyone else is sending their manufacturing to Asia, find ways
to keep yours here. When everyone else is cutting quality to cut
costs, find ways to increase your quality – maybe it is a
different design or materials, that also allow you to have
competitive costs. Maybe you can offer something different that can't
be offered elsewhere. Like heirloom tomatoes or baby vegetables.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Entreprenuership
can be modeled and mentored for future generations. One of the
legacies we will leave is adult children that are very entreprenerial
because of their experience at the farmers market. Each of our
children started their own businesses in high school or college.
Andrea started and entreprenuerial business teaching music theory
camps during the summers of her college experience. Reed buys, fixes
and resells computers, iphones and ipods. He has been doing this
since middle school. Jenna has her own photography business and
applies great style and creativity to taking portraits.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Become
a Giver</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Invest
in your employees. Some of the biggest leverage we have as small
business is to educate our employess in the why of what we are doing.
If they know the why, the how will follow. Invest in your customers.
From our customer's standpoint, we want to be their source of
information for all things vegetables. We started a website where I
write articles weekly about what we grow, how we grow it and most
importantly, why we do what we do. We include recipes and a weekly
“market menu” for what will be at our stand every week. No
guessing if we will have tomatoes this week or not.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Evey
single family farm would have similar stories to tell about how the
farmers maket was a catalyst to help them incubate their business.</span></div>
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-59199160913832199842018-04-16T06:00:00.000-05:002019-12-29T17:59:51.648-06:00My TEDx Talk IV<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b> </b>Continuing the transcript of my TED talk on "Farmers Market as a Business Incubator".</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"> </span><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Customer
Value</b></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more1"></a><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
think of customer value as the ability to delight our customers with
everything we do. <br /><br />The value proposition for great </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">products</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">
goes far beyond price. <br /><br />Value </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">is
very multi-dimmensional and in the case of vegetables, </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">
embraces nutrition, flavor, convenience, purity and how our
customers feel about their market experience. </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Notice
price did not make my list, price is important only in a relative
sense. I think </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">most of</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">
our customers expect a premium price for a premium product.</span><b><br /><br />Let's
explore some of the attributes of value...</b></span></div>
<ol>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Nutrition
is the core value for why we eat. Fresh local vegetables grown
in vibrant healthy soils will provide the building blocks to keep
our bodies healthy</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Flavor and
fresh go hand in hand. We have had a number of customers do
informal blind taste tests with their families. They often pick our
sweet corn, broccoli, onions and tomatoes as the best (can
you tell which veggies they tested). They are sometimes puzzled that
this happens once, but when we come out on top every time, they want
to know what variety it is that tastes so good. One lady had been
sampling broccoli for the whole season and said we consistently had
the best tasting. She asked about the variety and it turns out we
had used four different varieties during the time she had run her
test. Variety is important, but I conclude it was the way we grow
the vegetables, not just the variety. I can't prove it
scientifically, yet, but I think it is the minerals that we are
rebuilding in our soils. Our bodies crave minerals for health
and use them as raw material to fix damage and rebuild, and if
we listen to them our taste buds tell us when we have found
what our bodies need. High quality products are in high demand in
the market place.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Convenience is
the watch word for the modern household. Yes, I like and cook "slow
food" as much as the next "Vegetable Freak". But
let's face it, if vegetables can also be convenient, people will buy
more. The baby greens phenomena is a case in point. Open the bag,
rinse it off and you are good to go. I think that is one of the
reasons that baby vegetables are so popular, we don't have to do
much preparation to eat them (and yes they are cute too). We sell a
salsa kit during the later summer season, which contains everything
to make a fresh salsa. Is very convenient and cost effective, you
don't have to hunt all over the market to find everything and you
might just try a tomatillo or cilantro in your salsa for
the first time at no additional charge.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Purity has
multiple dimensions to a farmer's market customer. To some it may
mean no-GMOs. To most it means no chemicals, ever! To all it
means vegetables that are clean (we leave the soil at home in the
field). You must know the values of your customers and respond. We
had one quaint old gentle man that was animate that squash should
not be washed because it will keep better. He was absolutely right,
but how many sales were lost because you couldn't hardly see the
squash for the dirt and it certainly didn't taste any better
because it was dirty. He sacrificed all of the customers values for
his sincerely held belief in long storage life. As long as it was
good the day they bought it, the customer would not care if it would
store for three more months, they were just going to take it home
and eat it, typically within a week.</span></div>
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">How we feel about our food buying
decisions is a big part or how we value our food. There is a growing
renaissance between the people Michael Pollan call "eaters"
and the farmer who grows their food. We want to be your
quintessential source for all things vegetables. Your fresh
vegetable "coach" if you will, We want you to know that we
have thought carefully and deeply about how we are growing your
food. We want you to know as much about the process of growing your
food as you can possibly want to know, the curious customer is
a fulfilled customer at our farm. If we don't know the answer
to your question we WILL find out. You can ask my teenagers almost
any question about how something was grown, how to select it, how to
store it, how to prepare it fresh and how to preserve it well. You
will get a rich spectrum of information learned from experience and
research from 20 years of farm vegetable heritage. Try that at your
favorite big box produce department and you will mostly get a blank
stare. </span>
<br />
</li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">In the end we value our customers and they in
return perceive value in our produce.</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Employment</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Each
farm enterprise can employ from 3 to 20 or more workers. Most farms
employ some supplemental labor. Even a small farm may have some
summer help or have a helper on market days. If we used the lower
number above the 100 farms at the farmers market might employ 300
workers and in reality it might be closer to 500. We have a modest
size farm and employ 6-7 workers seasonally.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"> </span><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">In our next article we will look at the following attributes of the Farmer's Market at a small business incubator:</span><br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Personal examples from our farm. </span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-19451987160413816272018-03-12T06:00:00.000-05:002019-12-30T01:08:32.058-06:00My TEDx Talk III <div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Continuing the transcript of my TED talk on "Farmers Market as a Business Incubator".</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Passion</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a>
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Our passion is farming and we love to grow great
vegetables for our customers. You cannot be a leader in your field
without a passion for that activity, its technologies, and
the result. Passion causes us to move towards our goals and it
creates leverage or a force multiplier to our efforts. It keep us
going when the days are long. The market and face time with our
customers is a catalyst for this passion.<br /><br />For example:</span></div>
<ol>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">We want our
varieties to be the best we can get for our climate and location.
Best might mean different things depending on the context. It may
mean best tasting. It might mean flavor combined with great disease
resistance and productivity (as in the cucumbers we grow). </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">We use growing
methods that are compatible with our philosophy of soil building,
carbon sequestration and stewardship of the land. But it just so
happens that these methods also allow the vegetable plants to
express their maximum flavor, quality, shelf life and yields. So
these methods can also be the most profitable both in the short term
and long term. We are constantly looking for better methods, new
ideas and deeper understand of biological processes that make our
plants thrive. New ideas typically are only new to us, there is
great wisdom in relearning methods lost to modern agriculture. </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Our customers are part of our passion.
Some of our best ideas come from our customers. We serve them,
listen to them, and learn from them. We want to meet their needs
and be their source of best practices for their gardens,
preservation techniques, preeparation methods and education on usage
of vegetables and herbs. </span>
<br />
</li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Farming, like other small businesses, is a
laboratory for life. It embraces the complete spectrum of learning
from planting to marketing. It has been a great teaching tool for our
children. The market is the capstone of this experience.</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>The
Ambivert Advantage</b></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Have you ever been to a car dealership and had to
deal with a very agressive sales personality. This is an extrovert.
Or have you been to a party and observed the person who is quiet and
comtemplative. This is typically an interovert. Which personality
type makes the most sales? A research program by Adam Grant showed
that both personality types sold about the same. Yep, the introvert
sold about the same as the extrovert. The real break through in
Adam's research showed the Ambivert (those between the interovert and
extrovert) tends to be the best sales person by a significant margin
of 30%. The “ambivert advantage” happens from being assertive and
enthusiastic enough to persuade the prospective buyer and close, but
also listen carefully to customers and avoid the appearance of being
overly confident or excited.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">In the past when farmers lived in a small
community with people he or she grew up with they did not need a
strong emphasis on persuasion. This is not true today. The farmer who
wants to market to his neighbors in the city must sell the value of
his or her products. Persuation is a skill the average farmer can
cultivate and get really good at. The farmer's market can help
today's farmers to step into the light and learn some new skills is a
very supportive, friendly and forgiving environment. For example, if
you blow the presentation there will be another customer along in 2
minutes to practice on. With that amount of practice you can get very
good at it.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Innovation</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Innovative
farmers follow market trends in food and gourmet vegetables. Even if
most of your farm products are sold wholesale, the market is a great
way to keep your pulse on the market and shopping trends. I've made
recommendations to produce managers at stores we have sold to for new
products they didn't know existed. If they were reluctant to embrace
something new I would often consign the product for the first week or
two. I'll describe this more in the examples from our family.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Rapid
Deployment of Ideas</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Many
farmer's market customers are early adopters (in the parlance of
product adoption S-curve). New ideas can be rapidly deployed and
tested. If you have a new variety of arugula or a new type of pickles
you can try it out on a willing audience at the farmers market.
Shoppers typically represent a cross section of the community and
sales would be representative of the community in general. The market
is a ready made focus group.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Marketing
approaches can be trialed. Let's say you have an idea for a new type
of packaging or signage for your bedding plants. You can try it out
at the farmers market first, before making a large scale commitment.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>The
Hockey Stick Effect</b></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">The hockey stick effect was initially a term used
by climatologist Jerry Mahlman to describe the “disputed” rapid
rise in the temperature record of the past 100 years after a period
of relative stability. The period of stability is the handle of the
hockey stick and the rapid rise is the blade of the hockey stick.
This phemomena applies to other areas of life.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">I think it applies to the development of of a
small business, especially farming. I have found that the learning
curve while substantial is uniform for the first few years as skills
are learned, products (varieties) are explored amd markets are
expanded. Then it seems that multiple factors align and the farm
revenue often multiplies rapidly is a short period of years. In my
experience, the knee of the hockey stick curve seems to be around 8
to 10 years. The farmer's market facilitiates this transition and
likely accelerates it due to the factors we have discussed.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Don't
Mark My Paper, Help Me Get and A</b></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Kenneth Blanchard author of the “One Minute
Manager” said when he was a college instructor he would pass out
the final at the beginning of the class so the class would know
exactly what was expected. I think the market as a business incubator
is like this. Many farmers at our market are very cross cultural and
non-traditional in their approach to farming and food. The market
defines the final exam for the products being offered. It is there
from the first week of the season. We have to learn the answers to
the exam. The observant small business entrepernuer and the farmer
are looking for the answers to why things work they way they do and
how do we make those systems work for us.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">The interesting thing is, if we do the right
things in our relationships, finances, care of the land, and care for
our customers, we can all get an “A”. There is no bell curve in
life, if you walk the right path it leads to the right place. If we
get on the right path, we can get an “A” every time.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">In our next article we will look at the following attributes of the Farmer's Market at a small business incubator:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Customer Value</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Employment </b></span></li>
</ol>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-55538258474031530342018-02-12T06:00:00.000-06:002019-12-29T17:57:42.117-06:00My TEDx Talk II<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Continuing the transcript of my TED talk on "Farmers Market as a Business Incubator".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Fuels
Rapid Growth</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">The
Rochester Market has grown from $800K in 2008 to over $2M in 2018.
This is over 20% per year. This rapid growth is a testamoney to the
diversity and inclusiveness of the Rochester market environment. Both
vendors and shoppers are diverse and multi-ethinic. This drives
demand for produce and meats that are also multi-ethnic and diverse.
Growth occurs on many dimensions and can be both organic (increased
sales for existing vendors) and acquisitional (new vendors and new
products are added). </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>The
Revenue Stays in the Community</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Studies
have shown that for every dollar spent at a farmers market, another
$3 is spent in the surrounding community. So if farmers market
revenue is $2M then another $6M is spent in other businesses and
restaurants to power the local Rochester economy.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Buying
local keeps dollars circulating closer to home. For every dollar
spent at a local business over 45 cents is reinvested locally, for
dollars spent at a farmers market it is much higher than that and may
approach 90 cents for every dollar. We do most of our shopping at the
market and with local business. For every dollar spent at the big
box chain store, only 15 cents gets reinvested locally.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Willing
to Be Weird – No Fear Only Wonder</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">A world view of principled non-conformity is
essential to advancing the leading edge of any field. Taking the step
into direct marketing to the consumer at a farmers market is the
leading edge of marketing for many farmers.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Unless you are willing to be weird you will never
leave the boundaries of the tribe. The market as a small business
incubator helps farmers leave the tribe.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Here are my 10 principles for being weird,
whether you are a farmer or not.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<ol>
<li><div style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Take the Road
Less Traveled. If everyone is doing it, you aren't on the path to
being weird. </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Read
everything you can get your hands on and then read some more. Read
broad and deep. Reading can jump start your agricultural endeavors
and marketing by decades. </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Serendipity
with your eyes wide open. There isn't time in one lifetime to learn
everything by trial and error. But when the unexpected happens. Be
ready to take note. </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Always ask
why? Sometimes I take a mental note of something weird that happened
whether it be at the farmers market or in the field, and I don't
find out for years the reason. The information is out there if I am
patient and persistent. </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Look where
everyone else isn't looking. Some of the best ideas for farming are
found outside the traditional farming community. Things like
leadership. Customer service. Value adding products. Manufacturing
to learn about efficiency. Social media. Computer technologies. </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Learn from our
grand parents. We hear technology is moving at a blinding pace and
it is. But in agriculture, we have forgotten more in the last 100
years than we have learned. I am coming to believe that is true in
areas like food preparation and preservation as well. Our teenagers
know more about cooking, canning and cilantro than the average 30
year old husband or wife. These skills are in great demand in the
"farmers market place". </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Learn from the
ancients. Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun. History
can teach us much, but we can even looked beyond written history to
the sound and sustainable practices of the ancients peoples. I'm not
talking about some mystical mumbo jumbo, but looking at how they
built, no literally engineered, soils under difficult circumstances
to build empires using soil biology and naturally selected plant
genetics. We have serious problems with the sustainability of modern
agricultural practices, but there are powerful answers and very
achievable solutions if we know where to look for them. </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Look!!! Look
for trends. Look for the unusual. Look for the difficult. Leave the
path. Really see things around you. (Know that learn, listen and
look are sisters.) </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Find the
hidden value. When agriculture is going left, you go right. When
everyone else is getting big, become small (or at least think
small). </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Try something different every season.
Maybe several things.</span><br />
</li>
</ol>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Foster
Entreprenuership </b></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Farmers
are already strongly independent and entreprenuerial. Farming just
attracts that type of personality. But the average row crop or
livestock farmer also conforms to some cultural norms, which we won't
go into here. But the farmers market vendor is really “out of the
box” compared to the average family farm. They are at the market
because:</span></div>
<ol>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">they
want face time with their customers, </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">they
want to be different, </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">they
want to innovate </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">they
want to make a difference. </span>
</div>
</li>
</ol>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">They
are there for the <b>why</b> (fresh, clean, local, organic) of what
they do as much as the <b>what </b>(growing and selling vegetables or
meats)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">In our next article we will look at the following attributes of the Farmer's Market at a small business incubator:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Passion</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b>Marketing - The Ambivert Advantage</b></span></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Innovation</span></b><br />
<ol>
<li><b><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Rapid Deployment of Ideas</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">The Hocky Stick Effect in Learning.</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-family: "ubuntu";">Don't mark my paper, help me get an A.</span></b></li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b></b></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu";"><b><br /></b></span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-33154835574938927102017-12-29T17:00:00.000-06:002017-12-29T17:00:38.584-06:00Magnesium 101, The Miracle of MagnesiumMagnesium is essential to more than 300 biochemical processes in the human body and over 3,700 magnesium binding sites. The functions the need magnesium include:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Blood pressure regulation</li>
<li>Protein synthesis</li>
<li>Neurological function</li>
<li>Blood sugar control</li>
<li>Energy metabolism</li>
<li>Antioxidant production</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Most of the US population is deficient in magnesium.<br />
<br />
This post is about magnesium rich natural food sources...<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>The best sources of magnesium are green leafy vegetables. This is because of the high levels of chlorophyll, where magnesium is at the center of the chlorophyll molecule.<br />
<br />
Common Magnesium rich vegetables grown in Minnesota:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Spinach</li>
<li>Arugula</li>
<li>Chard</li>
<li>Pumpkin seeds</li>
<li>Black Beans</li>
<li>Cilantro</li>
<li>Kale</li>
<li>Beet greens</li>
<li>Green Peppers</li>
<li>Tomatillos</li>
</ol>
<div>
We feed our soil with magnesium rich compost and cover crops. Making more magnesium available to the vegetable eater.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We foliar feed magnesium to our peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos and potatoes. You should see the plant response, the plants turn dark green (from increased chlorophyll production) and burst into bloom. Not only is this good for yields and the health of the plant. But it is amazing for flavor and the health of our customers.</div>
<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-67579029955566881652016-06-22T06:00:00.000-05:002016-06-22T06:00:03.258-05:00Buckwheat pan cakes with Blue BerriesI've been doing a lower carb diet lately and I wanted to make pancakes for breakfast last Sunday morning.<br />
<br />
Buckwheat is about half the carbs of regular flour.<br />
<br />
I threw in some blue berries for good measure.<br />
<br />
Here is the recipe.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Ingredients:<br />
<ol>
<li>1 cup whole wheat flour</li>
<li>1 cup buckwheat flour</li>
<li>3 eggs</li>
<li>1 cup of milk</li>
<li>1 tablespoon baking powder</li>
<li>1/4 cup oil (olive, sunflower, etc.)</li>
</ol>
Mix dry ingredients, add eggs, add milk and mix.<br />
Drop 1/4 cup onto hot, well oiled cast iron skillet.<br />
Add blue berry to pancake in skillet before turning.<br />
<br />
Serve with pasture butter, maple syrup and cold milk. <br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-20714988882920754422016-06-20T06:00:00.000-05:002016-06-20T06:00:00.167-05:00The MarkerRadishes germinate and mature so quickly that we often use them as a marker for other slower germinating crops.<br />
<br />
Crops like...<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
carrots and okra.<br />
<br />
You can essentially double crop the Radish and the other slower emerging crops getting two crops in the time of one or even three crops.<br />
<br />
To get three crops, garlic is planted in October here in Minnesota. Then in the spring before the garlic emerges you plant carrots between the garlic rows. Then seed over the top with radishes. We just picked our first radishes this way and the carrots will be ready to harvest around the first of July at the same time as the garlic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-12785508223016278642016-06-15T22:13:00.000-05:002016-06-15T22:13:02.052-05:00Carrots I planted our third planting of carrots today. Marked them with over seeding of radishes. I'm trying out a new variety from Amsterdam, along with our standard candy carrots. Planted about 500 feet of row in a double row.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Should be ready in about 60 days. About the end of the July.<br />
<br />
We lay down a strip of compost. No fertilizer.<br />
<br />
The compost keeps the weeds out of the row and makes is easy for the carrots to emerge after germination. Takes about three weeks for the carrots to come up.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-88545285274940401242016-06-13T06:00:00.001-05:002016-06-13T06:00:17.199-05:00Radish - The PublicationWe have a local publication called Radish that often does articles on growing food and farming.<br />
<br />
They featured our farm in the June issue.<br />
<br />
Here are the highlights.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
She talked about our passion for soil building.<br />
<br />
She talked about 2000 tons of compost. <br />
<br />
She talked about VegetableFreak.<br />
<br />
She talked about the Farmer's Market.<br />
<br />
Fun.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-73142317085212691882016-06-11T06:00:00.000-05:002016-06-12T09:42:56.478-05:00Petersen's Market Menu for June 11Still planting tomatoes, peppers, egg plant and other vegetables. The veggies in the field are coming on strong.<br />
<br />
Here is our list for this week.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
Asparagus<br />
Beets<br />
Potatoes<br />
Parsnips<br />
Garlic Scapes<br />
<br />
Greens<br />
- Arugula, Regular<br />
- Arugula, Wilds<br />
- Spring Mix<br />
- Baby Kale<br />
- Baby Beets Greens<br />
- Spinach<br />
<br />
Fresh Herbs<br />
- Spearmint<br />
- Orangemint<br />
- Chocolate Mint<br />
- Cilantro<br />
- Oregano<br />
- Chives<br />
- Green Onions<br />
- Green Garlic<br />
<br />
Herb Plants - Mint, Basil, Cilantro, Curly Parsley, Italian Flat Leaf Parsley, Rosemary, Tarragon, Horseradish, Chives, Arugula<br />
<br />
Tomato Plants - Early Girl, Roma, Cherry, Slicing<br />
Pepper Plants - Jalapeno, Yellow Bell, Red Bell, Habernaro<br />
Egg Plant, Ground Cherry<br />
Broccoli, Cabbage Green, Cabbage Red, Brussels, Kale,<br />
Cucumbers, Zucchini, Patty Pan, Spaghetti, Buttercup, <br />
<br />
Salsa, Pickles<br />
Charcoal<br />
Smoked Peppers<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-53950683041357002382016-06-10T21:33:00.000-05:002016-06-10T21:33:06.366-05:00Brussels Sprout Slaw, with Maple DressingI know brussels sprouts are a little out of season here in Minnesota, but I had a craving for some slaw and that seemed like a good base.<br />
<br />
It made a good complement to steel head trout.<br />
<br />
Here is the recipe...<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
Ingredients:<br />
<ol>
<li>One pound brussels sprouts. Stems trimmed.</li>
<li>I used a couple of stems off of a head of broccoli to shred.</li>
<li>Dried cherries and shaved almonds.</li>
</ol>
Dressing:<br />
<ol>
<li>1/4 cup olive oil</li>
<li>1/4 cup apple cider vinegar</li>
<li>Deasjon Mustard </li>
<li>2 tablespoons maple syrup</li>
<li>One clove finely diced.</li>
</ol>
Instructions:<br />
<ol>
<li>In food processor finely slice brussels sprouts.</li>
<li>grate broccoli stems</li>
<li>Add cherries.</li>
<li>mix dressing and toss salad while adding dressing.</li>
</ol>
Let set for 1/2 hour. Enjoy. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-17329448735932648522016-06-08T17:34:00.000-05:002016-06-08T17:34:02.879-05:00Bio mimicry Did you know that Velcro was invented when a Swiss engineer thought long and hard about why burrs were so hard to get out of the coat of his dog and his trousers. He analyzed the hook and loop structure over a number of years and came up with Velcro.<br />
<br />
Using approaches from nature in engineering products is called Biomimicry. Here are some more examples...<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Did you know that this approach is also scriptural?<br />
<br />
Job 12:7 says, "But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you."<br />
<br />
Examples are:<br />
<ol>
<li>Bricks that can be grown with biological processes and hardened much like coral, instead of the energy intensive kiln firing.</li>
<li>Grass fed beef.</li>
<li>Pastured poultry.</li>
<li>Cover crops to mimic the prairie.</li>
<li>Coatings on glass that cause the water to bead and run off to stay clean, like some plants have.</li>
</ol>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-59873437231920950142016-06-06T06:00:00.000-05:002016-06-06T06:00:03.990-05:00ScapesGarlic, the word brings out the best of flavor and and aroma. The garlic plant does its best to provide us with usable forms for most of the year. You can store hard neck garlic until March. In late March or April the garlic plant is up out of the ground and you can use green garlic until the aerial appearance of the curl.<br />
<br />
What is the curl you might ask.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<br />The curl is better known as a garlic scape.<br />
<br />
It makes it's first appearance as a curl at the top of the plant and then in 2-3 weeks will straighten up and become woody. We remove them to force the garlic to put all its energy into the bulb.<br />
<br />
During the curl stage the shoots are tender and a nice way to add garlic to dishes from pasta to stir fry.<br />
<br />
We are about a week from the curl stage.<br />
<br />
A passage of spring.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-38081570511885087712016-06-01T06:00:00.000-05:002016-06-01T06:00:36.723-05:00Five Feet SpacingAndrea and I were getting ready to plant one of our crops that requires five feet between plants for maximum yield. The fruit averages 50 pounds each.<br />
<br />
Can you guess what we were planting...<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Jumbo pumpkins. A variety called Cronos from Harris seeds. They average fifty pounds, with gusts to 60 pounds.<br />
<br />
We are planting them in hills formed from compost with a couple of large handfuls of organic fertilizer, under the compost.<br />
<br />
A pickup full of compost later we prepped about 1000 feet of row for about 200 plants. This variety has a relatively compact habit.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-25116826163205760092016-05-30T06:00:00.000-05:002016-05-30T06:31:42.959-05:00GraduationReed our third child and youngest graduated last Friday night. You know how the stereo type of the youngest child is happy go lucky and carefree. Doesn't take anything to seriously.<br />
<br />
Well all our children took their academics very serious including Reed. <br />
<br />
Here is why... <br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Reed loaded up on some college prep and college level classes at the RCC (the local community college).<br />
<br />
He took AP calculus and took the BC calculus test. We don't know how he did yet but probably petty good.<br />
<br />
He took the calculus based classical physics at RCC.<br />
<br />
He was asked to take modern physics this last semester by his professor at RCC. That is the class where they teach you about states of matter, relativity and all the stuff that us non-physics people don't usually have to worry about.<br />
<br />
So with all that under his belt he can skip his first year at North Dakota State University and graduate in 3 years or add a masters degree in a fourth year.<br />
<br />
Pretty cool, right.<br />
<br />
God bless Reed and all his future endeavors.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-50836029628035767022016-05-25T06:00:00.000-05:002016-05-25T06:00:13.551-05:00 The Best CucumbersIt is well worth your money to buy the best cucumbers varieties you can find. I will pay 5 times the price for a standard variety to get excellent yield and disease resistance. You won''t find the best varieties in the local green houses because the make more money if they use cheap seed.<br />
<br />
I planted cucumbers tonight. Just starting with one row about 500 feet long. I'll plant another in about a month. We space the plants about 6 inches apart.<br />
<br />
One of the varieties I like for Southern Minnesota is...<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>General Lee. The fruit is about 1.5 inches in diameter and 7 inches long. We pick some about 6 inches long and sell them by the bucket for pickling. It has pretty <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">good disease resistance and you can get 3-4 more harvests than other varieties. That is a big deal.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-31594870201275690692016-05-23T06:00:00.000-05:002016-05-23T06:46:27.575-05:00FreezeIt is not unusual to have a hard frost in May and that is what we got last Sunday night. I have learned to keep the most frost sensitive transplants like peppers, tomatoes, squash, okra, basil and melons in pots by the house until the 4th week in May or the first week in June.<br />
<br />
Several years I got enthusiastic about planting tomato plants early and they got frozen. I had a back-up set of plants to replace them with. But I have learned my lesson. I just don't transplant early to the field.<br />
<br />
If you keep those early transplants in pots they grow just as well and you can cover or protect thousands of plants by bringing them inside or covering them.<br />
<br />
I was talking to some of the growers at the farmers market and they reported.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
That all their melons and cucumbers were frozen. Their is a premium for early produce so taking the risk is highly rewarded if things go well, but about half of the time you will loose that bet. Like many things in life, you'd better have a back up plan.<br />
<br />
Most asparagus for the week was frozen, ours included. It will grow back. I picked the frozen spears and put them in a beet smoothie. You couldn't tell the difference from unfrozen used in this way.<br />
<br />
The top leaves on the potatoes were also frozen. But they have already grown back and you can hardly tell they were damaged a week later.<br />
<br />
Beans, corn, and zucchini were planted but not up yet so were not affected.<br />
<br />
The home gardener can easily cover a few tomato and pepper plants. But they have to be vigilant and watch the weather.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-54516363739469507362016-05-18T06:00:00.000-05:002016-05-18T06:00:41.391-05:00How to Plant ShallotsJennna was planting shallots today. Unlike garlic, where you want to pick the biggest cloves. It is Okay to plant the smaller shallots, so by this time of the year that is what we mostly have left.<br />
<br />
Here is how you plant.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />We put a strip of organic fertilizer on the ground. Then put 4 inches of <br />
compost on top of the fertilizer. We plant a double row of shallot into the compost.<br />
<br />
The shallots will come out of dormancy in a week or so and begin to sprout.<br />
<br />
In about 90 days the tops will die back and you can begin to harvest.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-51439552886309731812016-05-16T06:00:00.000-05:002016-05-17T21:27:09.533-05:00How To Find Morell MushroomsI went for a walk through the woods this evening looking for Morell mushrooms. We have had some warm days and some rain, which are both requirements for a morell harvest.<br />
<br />
How do you find these tasty morsells?<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
You have to look up.<br />
<br />
You look for elm trees that have recently died, so they don't have leaves, but still have bark. You look around the base of the tree out to the drip line of the tree.<br />
<br />
I found two tiny morells. Looking forward to some warm rainy weather next week.<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-68600301938290631422016-04-04T16:54:00.000-05:002016-04-05T07:04:06.672-05:00Creating More Value Than You ConsumeAs a citizen of these United States the goal is to create more value than you consume.<br />
<br />
It is amazing how many people do not view their life from a contribution mind set. They have a consumption mentality. What can I get verses what can I give.<br />
<br />
If you want to thrive in farming or any other occupation you need to produce value.<br />
<br />
This Money Monday we are going to look two examples of value on the production side and on the input side.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
There are many layers of value. On the production side, for example, several tomatoes may be worth a dollar if you sell them wholesale. Two dollars at retail in a store. Three dollars fresh picked at the farmers market. Seven dollars if you can them, direct market, and make salsa.<br />
<br />
You can also multiply value on the input side of farming. I can buy a bag of fertilizer for $25, or I can buy a ton of compost for $25, or I can buy a bag of pea/oat seed for $25 and get ten tons of organic matter to till into the soil, or I can buy a pound of red wiggler worm for $25 and leave them in my compost for a season. The worm castings are worth $3000 and the worms are worth $7000. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">Each of these scenarios cost the same but at each new level of thinking the fertility is an order of magnitude (or ten times) greater. So the final approach is 1000 times more effective than the first.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">This is the type of value thinking you need to apply to your life.</span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-65616505536523502592016-04-01T16:49:00.000-05:002016-04-03T16:51:34.668-05:00Macaroni and Cheese With BaconDid you know Thomas Jefferson invented Mac'n'Cheese. He brought a macaroni making machine from Europe and used Mount Vernon Cheddar. Several centuries Kraft commercialized the dish in that famous blue box.<br />
<br />
Everything is better with bacon. This Mac'n'Cheese is simply amazing.<br />
<br />
I used a cast Iron skillet.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Ingredients:<br />
<br />
- One pound (4 cups) of sharp cheddar (other cheeses work too)<br />
- One pound elbow macaroni or spirals<br />
- 1/4 pound of bacon<br />
- 3 cups milk<br />
- 1/4 cup four<br />
- 2 Tablespoons Butter<br />
- 1 tsp Thyme<br />
- 1 tsp nutmeg, fresh grated is you can <br />
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper<br />
- small onion<br />
- large clove of garlic <br />
- sour cream<br />
- bread crumbs. 4oz<br />
- fried onion rings (the kind you put on green beans) <br />
<br />
Directions:<br />
<br />
- cook bacon in cast iron pan, until crunchy. Reserve bacon.<br />
- carmelize onion and garlic in bacon grease <br />
- under low heat stir 1/4 cup of flour and butter into bacon grease, until it starts to brown and thicken.<br />
- gradually add 3 cups of milk and cheese. Add thyme, nutmeg and cayenne. Stir until rich and smooth.<br />
- boil 8 quarts of water for the macaroni. When boiling add pasta. Follow directions for how long. It varies a little base on the size of the pasta. Drain well.<br />
- Add macaroni to the cheese mixture and coat throughly. Put into the skillet and sprinkle bacon, bread crumbs and fried onions on top.<br />
- Put skillet into the oven for 30 minutes at 425. You are not really cooking anything, you just want to brown the topping. <br />
-Remove from oven and let stand 10-15 minutes.<br />
<br />
The sour cream is optional. But adds a nice touch to the finished.<br />
<br />
Serve warm, enjoy.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030971384163199263.post-67614407504679036562016-03-28T06:00:00.000-05:002016-03-28T06:00:13.466-05:00How to Have More Gold for Your Golden Years<style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 10); line-height: 120%; text-align: left; }p.western { font-family: "Liberation Serif",serif; font-size: 12pt; }p.cjk { font-family: "Droid Sans Fallback"; font-size: 12pt; }p.ctl { font-family: "FreeSans"; font-size: 12pt; }</style>In this weeks Money Monday, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); font-family: 'ubuntu light', serif; line-height: 16px;">I will show you how every young person can be
millionaires by age 70. With time and a small amount of savings over
40 years, it is pretty simple, but not always easy.</span><br />
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">The
Biblical priciple of saving for our golden years comes with a
caveate: we must avoid accumulating wealth just so we can increase
our lifestyle. </span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">We
build wealth for the following reasons:</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<ol>
<li><div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">Providing for our families –
food, modest homes, transporation, and education. Scripture says if
we don't take care of our families we are worse than an unbliever.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">Maintenance in old age when we can
no longer do the same work as when we were young.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">Giving –
the poor, missions, and our church</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;"><b>Why
People Don't Have Adequate Savings</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">What
is the biggest reason that people don't have adequate retirement
savings? Common wisdom in the finanical press says that people don't
have good investments, didn't get a good rate of return, or fees are
are too high. However, the real reason most people don't have
retirement savings is they didn't save any money in the first place.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">In
Financial Peace University we use an example of two brothers, Ben and
Arthur. Starting at age 19, Ben saved $2000 per year until age 27,
then he stops saving. Arthur starts saving $2000 at age 27 and never
catches up to Ben even though Ben never contributes another dollar.
At the long term stock market average Ben accumulates $2.3 million
dollars by age 65 but Arthur only accumulates $1.5 million. This is
an amazing example of the power of compound interest and starting an
investment program early in life. </span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">Both
Ben and Arthur were relatively successful at saving for retirement,
because they actually saved and invested for retirement. Ben did
better because he started earlier, but both were way ahead of most of
the American public.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;"><b>Let's
Dream A Little</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">Imagine
a 30 year old couple making $48,000 per year (Olmsted County Average
income is $60,000 per year) and they save 15% per month ($600 per
month) in a 401K at 12%. At 70 years old they will have $7,058,863. </span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">The
point of these numbers is not a certain interest rate or investment
but to illustrate that a relatively modest income can generate truely
remarkable numbers. </span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">These
numbers assume you are debt free and have a fully funded emergency
fund in place. If you don't have these in place, then debt and minor
emergencies are likely to derail your long term wealth building plan,
and you will live paycheck to paycheck for your whole life.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">You
can find a financial planner that can help with what investments to
use and principles like diversification. Make sure you find a
financial planner who has the heart of a teacher, and never invest in
anything you don't understand.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;"><b>Leaving
a Legacy</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">I
said at the beginning of the article that we should build wealth to
care for our families, care for our needs in old age, and fund the
work of God's Kingdom. There is actually another important goal for
wealth building: leaving a legacy for future generations.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">It
is very difficult to leave a financial legacy if you are in debt your
whole life, don't save, and don't train your children how to manage
money and give.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">One
of our responsibilitiesy as parents is to teach our children to
manage money and use wealth for God's Kingdom. If you don't know how
to do this Financial Peace University can help. </span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">You
can affect your family tree in some very exciting ways as you build
wealth. Things like Christian education, paid up college, paid off
homes, funding missions, helping the poor, hilarious giving are all
much more achievable if the previous generation was following a
Biblical pattern of money management. If we had a multi-generation
focus on following Biblical principles, then each generation would
not have to “start from scratch” and would have a foundation for
contributing more to the work of the kingdom.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">In
review, the key to having more gold for your Golden years is pretty
simple: get out of debt, save money over a long time, retire rich,
build a legacy, and fund the work of God's kingdom.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">___________________________</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "ubuntu light" , serif;">Brian
and Lisa Petersen lead the Financial Peace University course at
Autumn Ridge Church. Brian and Lisa welcome your questions on
“Having More Gold for Your Golden Years”. They can be reached at
brian@vegetablefreak.com.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0