Heather Gorringe - Around the World in 80 Megabytes.

Have YOUR say in PRINT

This is your chance to have your say! ~And for me to experiment with all the things I learnt in the US of A with regard to Social Media and Podchef and Pigs!

As you may well of noticed that old Wiggly company is pretty keen on Social Media, and Blogging, and Podcasting, and Twittering, and wotnotiness.

Well, - me dears this ol farm in rural Herefordshire now wants to be the first to put together a conventional paper catalogue using Social Media!

What does that all mean? We want YOU to get involved, write articles, send in photos and drawings, design product if you are in the mood, and we will use these articles and items in our catalogue and on our website.

Whats in it for me? I hear you cry.

Well, one thing is for sure, you must write whatever you like and I certainly wont want to sway that by any attempt at the old bribery...(!) On the other hand I most definitely will not let any contribution used go by without a good old thank you, and a plug for your cause or your blog or whatever it is you want to promote to our 160k readers. I think this is quite an exciting project and so will be wheeling in the full force of the Wiggly media promotion campaign to enthuse about your contributions from all over the world to help to change the way we garden!

If that sounds fair enough to you here is what I am looking for:

1: Perhaps you have experience of a product that Wiggly Wigglers is selling or could sell (our next catalogue aims at The Farmer in You so extends our growing and harvesting range). Can you review that product? Have you got a piccy of you using it?

2: Maybe you would like to write a "How To" For example we would love a "How to Make your own bird seed fat feed" or similar. What about a "How to make a Christmas wreath using native hedging"?

3: Spread this news. Could you blog this idea, or share this with your facebook friends to see if other folk are enthusiastic about making the first ever collaberative Wiggly catalogue, and have some relevant musing to share to encourage folk to find "The Farmer in THEM!!

If you would like anymore guidance - think the idea is a corker, or a rubbish one, let me know what you think. I'll put this up on the facebook discussion section, or you can message me, or email me [email protected].

uk. I dont suppose we'll be able to use every single contribution but we will be doing our best.

Wiggle ON dear groupy

Heather

PS AH HA
The catch:
The deadline for this project is Friday 30th November (sharp intake of breath is audible). Think about it - if I gave you a deadline of next July you'd start the last week in June....you would...you know you would....

Cherie and the Cheriecast

One of the highlights of my life, let alone my Nuffield Scholarship was staying with Cherie in Michigan.
Cherie started her own podcast after her husband was killed last year, the podcast takes a frank look at how life changes after losing a spouse, working when one should be retired, dealing with aging parents and a host of other subjects people face on a daily basis. Its aim is to reach out for people and help people cope and share the experiences. The Cherie life story is pretty traumatic on times but her strength of character is a complete inspiration, along with her sense of humour, and her faith.

After Bob was killed when his truck was hit by a train, Cherie had to continue running the grocery delivery business. However, this is no ordinary veggie box scheme, or mobile grocer. Cherie and Bob built probably the most niche market you can think of in produce.

Cherie supplies produce to the Amish community in Northern Indiana. This business supplies the Amish community exclusively rather than the non Amish. Here is a profile of her niche customer base.

• The Amish appreciate good food and fresh produce rather than the processed food in the supermarket
• The average order value of a drop to an Amish family is probably quadruple what you would expect to deliver on a veggie van here in the UK because they have the skills and enthusiasm (and time) to "can" product - to us in the UK they preserve peaches and make sauces and jams in jars. This saves them a lot of money, in fact we had to source frozen fruit and it was 12 times more expensive than the fresh when it was in season!
• The climate means that the growing season is limited and so extra produce has to be bought in from somewhere and as The Amish rely on horses and a horse practically can only travel a two way 30 mile round trip in a day it makes sense to rely on a delivery van.

Cherie has built her business on personal relationships with folks in a naturally private community. Her enthusiasm is contagious, and the customers have ended up being completely supportive to her on a personal level since Bob died and been patient and adaptable.

Cherie's marketing meets her customers' needs. She provides a simple list and will source product specially. She is welcoming and friendly, efficient and offers advice on what fruit to use for what use. I loved being on the van and the Amish folk were so welcoming.

More about the Amish shortly but in the meantime listen to Cherie telling the World on her podcast how she cleaned the house ready for me to stay !!!! By the way it was immaculate Cherie, I thank you!

Defining farming

I'm home.

And reflecting on a very diverse trip (with many more details to come). I've been thinking about the decline in the number of farmers and our attitude to farming and farmers.

According to Wikipedia this is the definition of Agriculture.


Agriculture (from Agri Latin for ager ("a field"), and culture, from the Latin cultura "cultivation" in the strict sense of "tillage of the soil". A literal reading of the English word yields "tillage of the soil of a field".) is the production of food, feed, fiber and other goods by the systematic raising of domesticated plants and animals.

Note no mention of how large the farm has to be, or indeed the profitability. It turns out with the right attitude to our farms, our gardens, our yards or our window boxes we can all be farmers.

Now we're farming!