Our Northern Neck-Middle Peninsula-Bay tour was just as eye opening as the previous regional visits around the state. Each region’s agriculture and aquaculture is unique, but some similar threads run through many of the businesses we have toured. One of those threads is family. The family farm business takes many different forms. One quality that… Continue reading Family Business Leadership Lessons
VALOR class VI started year two visiting the Northern Neck of Virginia. I don’t know what it is, but there is something that always calls me to the water. It seems like the water calms my soul and I often find myself reflecting on where I have been and where I want to go. We… Continue reading Reflections along the Waters of the Northern Neck
Our recent Seminar took us to the Northern Neck of Virginia, marking the halfway point of this two-year fellowship. I feel like I repeat myself with each seminar, talking about how unique the culture is in each part of the state we visit. During this trip, we learned more about the culture of the Chesapeake… Continue reading Whoah! We’re halfway there
September marked our class’s one year anniversary, and brought our group to the Northern Neck, Middle Peninsula, and Chesapeake Bay. One of the catchiest tunes that I can recall from my childhood is a song by Raffi called Down By The Bay. Unlike the character in the song we didn’t see any goats rowing boats,… Continue reading Down By The Bay
The sixth fellowship of the VALOR program surpassed our halfway mark with a visit to the Northern Neck of Virginia in what turned out being some delightful weather for the majority of our four day visit. I enjoy taking some time after each VALOR session to recall each visit and capture a few nuggets from… Continue reading Oysters, Produce and Crab Cakes, O My!
Did you know that there was a practically a whole other state if you go west of Blacksburg in Southwest, Virginia??? I only jokingly say this (slightly), knowing that Virginia had its’ southwest portion of the state from my elementary (middle?) school education. But boy did my geography teacher leave a lot out! I always… Continue reading The one VALOR trip I had to wake up before 6 am to get to on time.
I believe it is the latter, but during our time in southwest Virginia at the end of July I heard it both ways! What is more import is exactly how much this region of our great state holds. I was very surprised to see just how many different agricultural (and otherwise) industries fill this massive… Continue reading AppaLAYcha or AppaLATCHa?
I affectionately referred to the July seminar as my “staycation”. This is because it was time to explore my home region. I am a native of Southwest Virginia and have spent most of my life here. It’s a region that is often misunderstood or even ignored by others across Virginia. This is especially true of… Continue reading Staycation
During our trip to Southwest Virginia, the theme that surfaced for me is the importance of the support structure that overlays the agriculture industry in this region. I will focus on how I saw the outpouring of assistance related to ag infrastructure in Southwest. It was apparent as we traveled at most every stop that… Continue reading The Structure Supporting Success in SWVA Agriculture
We had the opportunity to visit the area of VA that I call home for our July session. Southwest VA is not easy to navigate....mountains and curvy roads, not to mention it typically takes twice as long to get anywhere! We certainly couldn't stay overnight in the same place either since we had so much… Continue reading The Views are a Little Different in SWVA
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