Author: candiceva

If you know me, I am a big hot tea drinker. When we were at our hotel in New Iberia, LA, one of the hotel teas had a saying on it, it said “Every neighbor can be your teacher”. What a great sentiment.  If we open our minds, we can learn something. Each person has… Continue reading Every Neighbor Can Be Your Teacher

Hot crab dip! Our first stop this session was to West Point, Virginia and I got to experience my hometown as a tourist. The town has changed so much for example, we met at 3 Rivers Seafood, growing up this was the spot of Massey Oil and the neighboring lot was a riverfront restaurant.  I… Continue reading Welcome to West Point!🦀

Our first stop on the Southwest Tour was Duchess Dairy in Rural Retreat, VA. It was my first time seeing milk bottling, and it was so exciting! When we arrived, they were bottling chocolate milk, and it was so fascinating watching their team and equipment in the process from filling, sealing, labeling, and packing the… Continue reading Nutritious and Delicious

You would not think of a city having food inequalities and access issues, but in DC, the nation's capital, surrounded by immense wealth, you have just that. Life expectancy has a twenty-year difference! We heard from a great panel of Lindsay Smith, Tariq Sherriff, and Kate Lee on our recent seminar to Northern VA &… Continue reading Food Security & Access

I notice at each stop how passionate everyone is about their work. The hosts cannot wait to tell us what they do and give us a glimpse inside their world. I would say that same passion Class V shares about their role in AG, and everyone in the previous classes shares as well. Our shared… Continue reading Passion

Communication is at the heart of everything we do, how we speak to ourselves, how we talk to others, how we get ideas across. The discussions of this seminar had many topics that were all intertwined, and a few phrases stuck out to me. One was "listening to respond vs. listening to understand." Wow. As… Continue reading Critical Communication

Ag Is Everywhere When you look at VALOR V, we are diverse, and I am always amazed by how our different backgrounds are all part of Agriculture.  I have already learned so much from each of your experiences and love our in-depth group conversations. Here are a few highlights from our November 2020 session. Session… Continue reading

I didn't grow up on a farm. Only three of my four grandparents grew up on a farm. I have cherished the time they spent retelling the stories of life on the farm. It was always mindboggling that my granny's family grew wheat, and to get flour, they would have to travel to get their… Continue reading How It Started VS How It’s Going