It’s a bit stunning to me that VALOR III is more than half way through our leadership development program. Although I’ve found the time commitment challenging at times, I’m not looking forward to the day that it ends. I continue to get a great deal from each session: new information on Virginia’s diverse agricultural industry,… Continue reading Merrior
I’m looking for a line. Can you tell me where it is? It’s the one that separates the basic healthcare rights our U.S. government feels responsible to its citizens for and which ones they say, “You’re on your own, buddy.” A lot of countries apparently don’t have a line. If you’re in Sweden, Australia, Great… Continue reading The Healthcare Line
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
We had an outstanding first day in Southwest Virginia! The first two sessions involved "Crucial Conversations" by Mr. Jeremy Johnson and the second was, in short, "Strengths" by Dr. Eric Kaufman, who was instrumental in doing the research to create the VALOR Program. The focus of this writing will be about connecting crucial conversations to… Continue reading Crucial Conversations
Well, it's time for Session 6: Addressing Rural Communities - Opportunities for Leadership. For now, here is a fun fuzzle: Thirty cows, twenty-eight chickens, how many didn't?
Admittedly, I’ve been hesitating to post on the blog lately. How to sum up our VALOR trips to Northern VA, DC, and the Shenandoah Valley?! They were such rich visits! (I did put together an Instagram slide show with images of some of our Northern VA/DC visits if you’re curious.) While I keep working on… Continue reading For Your Consideration: Recent Reading & Building Urban-Rural Connections
The libation of choice of our Virginia colonial ancestors, hard apple cider, had a 200-year run in the commonwealth and the rest of the U.S. before falling out of favor in the early 1900s due to a new penchant for beer. Prohibition delivered the final blow to America’s affection for the fermented apple brew, until… Continue reading Back To The Future—How A Colonial Beverage of Necessity Is Becoming Orchard Owners’ Ticket To The Future
The third cohort of VALOR fellows were fortunate enough to have our fifth seminar in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. I may be biased, but there is no better place than Virginia’s largest agricultural county (in terms of gross receipts) to learn about agricultural leadership. And when you are in Rockingham County, the unofficial turkey capital,… Continue reading Turkey Day!
This seminar we were able to learn about the Mennonite Culture and how it has shaped and influenced the agriculture in the Shenandoah Valley, specifically, Rockingham County. Having grown up the Valley, I thought I was somewhat versed in the Mennonite ways and lifestyle. I guess that is part of growing up, you realize what… Continue reading The View from the Backside of an Oatsmobile
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
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