Dos and Don’ts of Presenting to Investors Excerpted from The Farmer’s Office by Julia Shanks • Do explain your business concept clearly in one to three sentences. Don’t run on and on. Readers of your business plan want to be able to quickly capture the essence of your business. The more concise your words, the better. • […]

This week marks 6 months that I’ve been making a living full time from our little piece of heaven in the forest. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, it was a long held dream of mine to bring my work home and spend more time with my son. Of course, as is so often the case, dreams have a […]

This is always a busy time on our farm. The garden is at peak production and I try to preserve any produce left over at the end of our market days. On days the stand isn’t open, I’m usually found in our processing kitchen making jams, salsas, pickles, and more. There are also plenty of […]

Naming your business entity is a very important step. You’ll want to choose a name that reflects your mission and brand identity. Avoid names that are long and confusing.  Sit down and give yourself a brainstorming session. Come up with a whole list of names that could easily represent your new business and try them […]

The street where I live is probably familiar to most people: rows of well-kept houses, manicured lawns, and pretty trees. While this may be an attractive picture to some, the only thing these yards produce is work for the homeowner, without much return. From my front yard, my house appears to be, more or less, […]

You’ve already spent time growing your own food and raising animals. You did it in your spare time, perhaps when you got home from a full-time job at the office, but it’s something you enjoy and are good at. Now, you’ve grown enough food to sustain you and your family, and you’re getting to the […]

In the last two blog posts, you hopefully had fun brainstorming product ideas and clarifying your dream direction. Now it’s time to roll up our sleeves and bring your business idea to life. First it’s important to answer these two questions: What types of eco-friendly product(s) do you want to offer? [Example: organic chocolates, natural […]

The Importance of Signage   We just closed down our U-Pick sunflower field for the year. The petals have fallen and the beautiful flowers have gone to seed. I was blown away by the turn out and interest we experienced this first year. With little advertising investment and a low traffic location I expected maybe […]

Proper Storage of Hay and Pricing   Once you’ve collected a quality hay crop the hay must be stored properly. This is the final step in ensuring a good return at auction. Even the best hay, if improperly stored can ruin your efforts.   Storage     Proper storage of hay is extremely important. Wet, […]

In my last post we discussed how-to launch a social enterprise. Now that you have a clear idea of the eco-friendly product(s) you want to sell, it’s important to lead off your social enterprise by clarifying your vision and mission statement. First, please note: Vision Statements and Mission Statements are not the same thing. Vision […]