Author: jensfriedel

"Many a thing you know you'd like to tell her. Many a thing she ought to understand. But how do you make her stay and listen to all you say?" Oh, Maria! We all know a Maria. Maybe there's a Maria at work, home, church, little league, your high school yearbook... Maybe you're surrounded by… Continue reading How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?

The cold winter days are upon us which leaves many of us in Virginia pining for warmer weather. The same is true for Virginia's forests. Trees don't grow much in the winter when the ground is frozen but come warmer soil, it's off to the races. The VALOR Fellows had a hay day with Jason… Continue reading Virginia Pining

Y'all, we got crabby. I mean full-on, fish guts out, pinchers up, blue-complexioned crabby. And it was awesome! We were privileged to spend just over 24-hours with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Our adventure began, conveniently after lunch, by ripping Menhaden fish in half, guts and all, for crab bait. We were down and dirty right off… Continue reading Getting Crabby

Jason Von Kundra shows off the Harvest Table farm's onions and sunflowers.             Photo credit: Lindsay Smith Recently, the Class III Fellows visited southwest Virginia and thankfully for us, the Harvest Table Restaurant is conveniently located in this part of the world that I like to call "God's country." The… Continue reading Harvesting Goodness

  The Melon Problem (Please, feel free to insert any produce/flower/harvestable commodity of your choice in place of melon throughout this blog. The lesson is the same. I just happen to like melons, and I thought this to be a catchier title than "When your beans are strung.") You planted a lot of melons because, well, people like… Continue reading When Your Melons Are Against the Wall

A wise man once said, sometime in your life you'll need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman and a preacher, but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer. (Paraphrasing Brenda Schoepp.) And all the people said, "Amen!" There are many ways that we can now get our food from the farm to the… Continue reading The Grocer

Above: VALOR Class III Fellows with the First Lady of Virginia, Mrs. Dorothy McAuliffe; Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, Honorable Basil Gooden; and Virginia Assistant Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, Dr. Megan Seibel Dear Virginia, There's a lot of emotion buzzing across the country this week as President Obama turns the reigns over to new… Continue reading Virginia Works