Growing up in far Southwest Virginia, stories about Pocahontas and John Smith were fairytales and Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Richmond were distant lands of mystery. Traveling to Richmond for the seminar in January was actually my first trip to downtown Richmond and seeing the Capitol. Unfortunately, I had to leave seminar early and did not get… Continue reading Fairytales & Far Away Mystery Lands
"We shouldn't use the word 'test' to describe these assessments," Dr. Crystal Tyler-Mackey said as she was introducing the purpose of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to our class during session three. "The word 'test' makes it seem that there is a right or wrong answer, when, actually, there isn't. These results are just your preference."… Continue reading But does it work in the “real world”?
Back in November our VALOR group had our first “boots on the ground” seminar in Virginia’s Eastern Shore region. It did not disappoint. From peanuts to cotton and pork processing to organic sweet potatoes, we covered a lot of ground. As a Valley guy, I had a lot to learn and soaked in as much… Continue reading Agriculture: A Noble Pursuit (VALOR Blog #2)
I remember three cotton TV commercials with a message of “cotton is the fabric of our lives”. This cotton theme has survived for decades. Visuals from the commercial showed an image of a cotton boll with light breezy clothes blowing gently in the wind hanging on an outdoors clothes line. There were images of people… Continue reading Cotton the Fabric of Our Lives and Cotton is Our Culture
VALOR Adventures Recently the current VALOR class had the rare opportunity to gain an in depth understanding of agriculture in Southeast and Eastern Shore of Virginia with some of the global impact the goods and services produced here offer. The adventure began around peanut, cotton and pork production, the importance of education, recognizing your… Continue reading
As promised in my introductory blog, I have committed to titling every post with a song. While I have a feeling this may become a challenge, this session's song was a no-brainer. Since I'm from Southampton County, Session II in the Tidewater Region took place in my ole stomping grounds. I live in Richmond and… Continue reading Who Says You Can’t Go Home
Just like Gene Kelly, VALOR Class IV was caught in a downpour and still had a wonderful night! As chair of the Tidewater session stop hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Rogers, Jr., it's my responsibility to share that event with our devoted blog followers. (And as promised in my introductory blog it is also my… Continue reading Singing in the Rain
As you have read from our previous blogs, we all gained and learned many different things from out visit to the Eastern Shore for Seminar II. Below is my "Top 10" things gained from Session II: Personally, blogging needs to be done ASAP 2017 was the largest crop of U.S. Peanuts ever There are two… Continue reading “Never Do Anything Until After You Sleep on it.”
The title summarizes my feelings following our tour of Eastern Virginia. I have been immersed in the dairy industry my entire life, so learning about other agricultural commodities is one of my main goals in participating in VALOR. My mind felt like a sponge soaking up so much information about production practices, processing, marketing, trade,… Continue reading This is exactly why I signed up for VALOR!
I had the privilege of learning so much during the VALOR Class IV's first traveling seminar. We visited the Tidewater and Eastern Shore regions of Virginia. This was my first time seeing the Eastern Shore which was very interesting. It is amazing when I consider the extreme differences in many of Virginia's regions from the… Continue reading A Legacy of Peanuts
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