SustainableWork

2013 Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championship winners! With ingredient lists... Yum!

2013-05-05T22:08:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful day in Iowa County Wisconsin for the 2013 Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championships.

Great turnout. About 2,000 people. I had a lovely chat with a group from London England. They had read about the event in the Chicago Tribune while visiting there and drove up for the day. How cool.

Who says economic development can't be focused on food and fun! I'm very proud that our Iowa County (WI) Area Economic Development Corp. hosted this amazing event.

This was another great opportunity to prove how valuable food and agriculture can be to economic development.

Many thanks to my friend and former Board Chair of the Iowa County EDC, Dr. Lorin Toepper who created and organized this great event. We are also grateful for the support from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board and many other sponsors.

Here is a list of winners in each category, including ingredients:

Professional Best of Show (top photo)
Mason Grode, Neenah, WI
Category: Classic Plus Extras
Ingredients:
Saxon's Greenfield
Red Barn 1-year Cheddar
Pleasant Ridge Reserve
Expresso Bellavitano
Micro Kale
Cured Olives
Gooseberry Jelly
Hickory Nuts
on Hop sourdough

Amateur Best of Show
Bryn Bowden, Platteville, WI
Category: Classic Dessert Grilled Cheese
Ingredients:
Maple Syrup
Classic Italian Bread
Apple Jack Cheese
Chocolate Cheese

Professional Classic
Katherine Rehfeldt-Tonn
Gouda Girls, Milwaukee, WI
Ingredients:
Chipolte Ole-Beechwood
Moody Blue-Smoked Blue - Roth
Buffalo Jack-Star Dairy-Zito
Tuscan Bread
Butter

Amateur Classic
Mark Landgraf, Madison, WI
Ingredients:
Tomato Basil Cheese
Sour Dough Bread
Butter
Basil

Professional Classic Plus One
Evan Talbert
Best Western Inn Towner, Madison, WI
Ingredients:
Country Bread
Babcock Dairy Brick
Bacon
Jalapeno Jam

Amateur Classic Plus One
Lance Orr, Milwaukee, WI
Ingredients:
Cheddar Bacon
North Star Weyauwega Bacon - Haen Meat Market

Professional Classic Plus Extras
Mason Grode, Neenah, WI
Ingredients: (above)

Amateur Classic Plus Extras
Katherine Cahill, Dodgeville, WI
Ingredients:
Maple Goat Cheese
Prosciutto
Organic egg Yolks
Seeded Bread "Breakfast"
Parmesan Lace Garnish

Professional Classic Dessert
Caitlin Way

Amateur Classic Dessert
Bryn Bowden , Platteville, WI
Ingredients: (above)

Young Chef
Evie Lynch, Madison, WI
Ingredients:
Brioche
Nutella
Marscapone
Butter
Salt
Raspberry Sauce

Congratulations to all the winners! Thanks to all competitors, volunteers and Lorin Toepper who made this all happen. Many thanks to everyone who visited our Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championship in beautiful Iowa County, Wisconsin.

Food and fun. My kind of economic development!

Official web site of the Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championship

Iowa County Area Economic Development

Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championship this Sat. 4/27/2013 - Iowa County, WI

2013-04-26T18:03:00.000-05:00

Looking for a great time this weekend?

Our second annual Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championship is being held Saturday April 27 in Mineral Point Wisconsin.

Last year over 1,200 people from at least 7 states attended. This year will be even bigger and better than that!

It's going to be a great day in Wisconsin on Saturday. Take the beautiful drive to Iowa County and enjoy the excitement of this unique and fun event. Entry is free and fun is guaranteed.

This year not one, but two, grilled cheese themed food trucks will be on hand to supply all your grilled cheese desires.

Hours are 10 AM to 3 PM. Join us!

What could be better than grilled cheese, and a great Spring day in beautiful Iowa County Wisconsin?

Learn all the fun details about the Second annual Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championship!

Iowa County Area Economic Development. Links to lodging and travel information

Next presentation - Healthy Local Food Systems: Driving Business & Community Economic Development

2013-04-20T06:50:00.000-05:00

I'm honored to be leading a panel discussion later this month that will focus on creating business and community economic development by building healthy local food systems.

I'll be be joined by my friend Peter Robertson, CEO of RP's Pasta, Carrie Edgar, Dane County UW Extension Department Head and Mark Woulf, Food Policy Coordinator for the City of Madison (WI).

This event will be April 30, 2013 at the Deming Way campus of Edgewood College in Madison, WI.

To me, the way to create economic and community development through food systems is to continuously build and strengthen robust business environments for entrepreneurs. We need to create better platforms that allow more small food businesses to launch, grow, succeed and even fail. There is great opportunity in this space. However, we need better focus on the business side of small food businesses.

Thanks to Edgewood College School of Business and the Smith and Gesteland Executive Speaker Series for the invitation.

Download Edgewoood College presentation information

Eight years of entrepreneurship writing. Happy anniversary Sustainable Work!

2013-04-12T18:30:00.000-05:00

I love writing about innovation and entrepreneurship almost as much as I love doing it. Today is Sustainable Work's 8th anniversary.

I've done startups in manufacturing/engineering, commercial graphics, software, education, economic development, and food. I've mentored and supported startups across the U.S. and I lend to startups worldwide.

I wrote the masthead for this blog the night I wrote the first post, in a hotel room in Dubuque, 8 years ago. It followed a long day of installing one of our recycling systems at their John Deere plant.

I haven't changed a word of the masthead - or the work of this writing - since.

Entrepreneurship and innovation. You can do it. Welcome.

Happy 8th anniversary Sustainable Work!

2012 - 7th anniversary. 40 Years of Life Lessons in Entrepreneurship

2005 - First post. What I'm Trying to do

Photo taken through the plant kaleidoscope at our wonderful Olbrich Gardens

Great entrepreneurship meeting in Waukesha County, Wisconsin

2013-04-10T21:12:00.000-05:00

One of the best micro entrepreneurship programs in the U.S. is based in Waukesha County, Wisconsin.

I'm honored to be on the Advisory Board for the Small Business Center at Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC).

Russ Roberts runs an amazing Small Business Center there.

If you want to start or grow a business and you can get yourself to beautiful Waukesha County Wisconsin, this is a hot ticket.

I got to catch up with many friends today including fellow entrepreneur Paul Decker, County Board Chair at Waukesha County.

Waukesha County and WCTC represent a remarkable opportunity to start and grow small businesses.

Thanks Russ Roberts and the Small Business Center at WCTC for all you do. Forward!

WCTC Small Business Center

Photo is from US Patent and Trademark office showing off a geodesic dome, the work of my innovation muse Dr. Buckminster Fuller.

Clean Food - a trend that's changing the world

2013-04-04T20:01:00.000-05:00

I am a member of the Willy Street Co-op in Madison, WI. Our family values and enjoys the benefits of membership in this great organization.

A recent piece in the Willy Street Reader, Five Trends Coming to a Co-op Near You, jumped out at me. It was written by Marti Ryan, Board President.

In her piece, Ms. Ryan highlights the concept of 'clean food' as an emerging social trend.

I find it pretty cool that in a recent article Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen customer Kevin Lucey talks about customers describing his Happy Valley Farm Tomato Juice as having a 'clean taste'.

I used a quote from Ms. Ryan's piece at our farm business seminar this week at the Food Enterprise Center in Viroqua.

"More recently, I’ve come to understand clean food as natural, organic, local, sustainable, fresh, safe, ethical, and healthy. And more Americans are interested in clean food: parents, folks who’ve developed food allergies, even kids."

I love this concept and this language. While not all clean foods may meet all these goals, working toward them is a trend that is here to stay.

The Innovation Kitchen business model works to develop these specific goals. Thanks to Ms. Ryan for her valuable insights.

Five Trends Coming to a Co-op Near You. Willy Street Co-op. I support and admire this great organization.

Innovation Kitchen creating great foods and great business opportunities

2013-03-29T06:36:00.000-05:00

Our Innovation Kitchen model creates great business opportunities for food entrepreneurs and farms.

I love that the first recipe suggestion in this article is a delicious bloody Mary mix made with local tomato juice!

"Happy Valley Farm’s tomato juice is prepared at the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen in Mineral Point using just the farm’s organic tomatoes, lemon juice and salt."

The Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen continues to pioneer great new models for small-batch, professional food processing that supports food entrepreneurs and farms.

Got a great idea for a small food business? Join us!

Article - In season: Tomato juice. Madison.com, 77 Square. Article by Samara Kalk Derby

Short (1:26) video interview with Kevin Lucey of Happy Valley Farms discussing the role of the Innovation Kitchen

Milwaukee first U.S. city to adopt global model for boosting startups

2013-03-28T23:42:00.000-05:00

I love Milwaukee.

It's a city of great opportunities.

A new entrepreneurship initiative is being launched in Milwaukee that I look forward to following and supporting.

"Milwaukee will be the first city in the U.S. to develop an entrepreneurship program using a Boston professor’s model that has helped boost entrepreneurial “ecosystems” in cities in Colombia, Brazil, Denmark and other countries."

"Isenberg said the tipping point for success, roughly, is achieving one successful entrepreneurial venture per 100,000 residents each year in a particular community.

'It doesn’t happen overnight,' Isenberg said."

Milwaukee first U.S. city to adopt global model for boosting startups. The Business Journal serving greater Milwaukee. Written by Jeff Engel.

Photo is the Lake Michigan facing architecture of the wonderful Milwaukee Art Museum

Thanks to Michael Ward of US Bank for this link.

Great Gray Owls and entrepreneurship. Show up. Shut up. Work for luck.

2013-03-23T12:33:00.000-05:00

I was a dinosaur and fossil kid (still am). I lamented the demise of dinosaurs. I dreamed about meeting one.

Sometime during my childhood, scientists realized that birds were dinosaurs.

Birds survived the destruction of their dinosaur kin 60+ million years ago. And they're all around us.

Wow.

When I need to think straight, I go hang out with dinosaurs. They're all cool.

Great Gray Owls are the largest owl in the world (by length) and have the longest wingspan of any owl in the world. They are also very hard to see.

Luck is a beautiful thing. This year, I've been able to see not only my first Great Gray Owl, but a second one six days later.

The first sighting was in a beautiful rural setting in central Wisconsin. The second sighting was in my own city (Middleton, WI) this week. Amazing.

Entrepreneurship can be an ever-increasing wall of noise. Your job is to sort it out in real time.

For me, the only way to do that is to find some quiet love in your life.

Quiet places in your life are critical. You need to show up, shut up, and work for luck. It will make your life better and your entrepreneurship more sustainable.

Wikipedia - Great Gray Owls

Photos taken with standard handheld digital camera.

My Kiva update - 40 loans to entrepreneurs in 33 countries

2013-03-19T20:01:00.000-05:00

I just made my 40th loan through Kiva. I've now made small loans to entrepreneurs in 33 countries.

The loan I made today supports the work of a food entrepreneur in Liberia.

I love Kiva. They are a great lending organization.

Kiva just crossed an amazing milestone- over one million loans worldwide. Congratulations Kiva!

Here is what they say about their work:

"We are a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world."

Here is my current portfolio of 33 countries where I've chosen to support entrepreneurs through my small loans:

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Benin

Bolivia

Cambodia

Chile

Columbia

Costa Rica

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

El Salvador

Georgia

Ghana

Honduras

Iraq

Jordan

Kenya

Kyrgyzstan

Lebanon

Liberia

Mali

Mexico

Mongolia

Nicaragua

Pakistan

Palestine

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Rwanda

Togo

Uganda

Viet Nam

The lifeblood of entrepreneurship and economic development is access to capital and the creation of viable business environments. If you want to make a globally relevant impact with small amounts of money, I recommend Kiva.

Kiva

Kiva Blog: One Million Borrowers! March 18, 2013. Congratulations Kiva! Congratulations Kiva borrowers!

If you let me invite you to Kiva they will give us both $25 for free to lend to entrepreneurs of our choice.

Fast Company - World's 50 Most Innovative Companies

2013-03-13T21:09:00.000-05:00

One of my last startup companies was awarded Fast Company Magazine's Fast 50 Award in 2004.

Their award is now called The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies.

Our small startup band of warriors invented, patented, built, sold and successfully deployed some of the most innovative industrial water treatment systems in the world. We built a globally relevant new business from scratch and developed an important new market. I'm still very grateful for and proud of this recognition from Fast Company Magazine.

The new Fast Company list of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies is out. It's a great collection of stories... people changing the world through innovation and intense customer focus.

Opportunities for innovation occur in every industry, no matter how big or small your enterprise. Who will be on the list for 2014? Maybe you!

Fast Company Magazine. The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies.

Our 2004 Fast Company Magazine Fast 50 Award

SustainableWork pageviews - 100,000+

2013-03-09T19:27:00.001-06:00

This was a good week for the blog.

SustainableWork will have been published for 8 years next month.

I started writing this while I was running our last business (engineering), largely to talk about what we'd done in our previous business (graphics/printing).

Now I'm working in and writing about new opportunities in food entrepreneurship.

Visitors to SustainableWork have jumped with the writing about food entrepreneurs and economic development.

This week the blog went over a nice pageview milestone.

Thanks to all visitors and friends!

Innovation Kitchen partner featured on Fab.com

2013-03-04T21:09:00.000-06:00

Congratulations to Innovation Kitchen partner Food Your Body Likes!

Their great Cereal Revolution line of foods is now featured on Fab.com

Cereal Revolution will be available for another few days. Then Fab.com will feature their amazing Yumbutter line.

Congratulations Matt and Adrian!

Here is a quote:

"Like you, we believe in the goodness of the human spirit. Our potions embody flavors as bold as world peace that wow your taste buds, rock your mouth, and dish out the energy your body needs to live the dream. Welcome to the Cereal Revolution."

Thank you Food Your Body Likes! We are celebrate your food preparation partnership with our Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen!

Fab.com: Food Your Body Likes. Healthy Cereal Your Body Needs

Matt D’Amour & Adrian Reif, Chief Revolutionaries, Food Your Body Likes

Innovation Kitchens

For farm and food entrepreneurs: How to start a year-round farm business using value-added food processing services

2013-02-18T22:17:00.000-06:00

We're launching a new seminar series aimed at helping grow small farms in our area and innovative food entrepreneurs world wide.

If you know people who may be interested in food entrepreneurship and sustainable ag, please forward this link.

We'll do the first two seminars in the beautiful growing regions of Southern and Western Wisconsin in early March. Join us if you can.

Then we'll move them online.

If you are out of this region, sign up for newsletters and future online seminars below.

The idea is that there are many great small farms looking to grow and diversify their enterprise. There are also many great food entrepreneurs worldwide who need new opportunities.

Farms in our region and food entrepreneurs worldwide can utilize the safe, legal, food processing capabilities of community based food processing kitchens, starting with the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen in Mineral Point, WI and the Food Enterprise Center in Viroqua, WI.

The Innovation Kitchen model represents a valuable response: Safe, certified commercial kitchens offering professional food processing services, community employment, and business development support.

You can sign up for our newsletter and future online seminars using the links below.

The Innovation Kitchen model can help with important parts of this discussion.

How to start a year-round farm business using value-added food processing services

Like the Innovation Kitchen on Facebook to keep in touch.

Innovation Kitchens on Facebook

2013-02-09T18:09:00.001-06:00

For people who follow this site for information about the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen and the emerging world of small batch specialty food processing I have a new resource where you can learn even more.

We've created a new Facebook page as a tool for distributing news that is specific to our Innovation Kitchens work.

Please visit the new link below and 'Like' us. You'll get the full news feed for this great new small business story!

Innovation Kitchens on Facebook. Please visit and 'Like'

Choose Your Own Food Adventure - "It's time to dream"

2013-02-08T09:30:00.000-06:00

Safe, year-round, value-added, regional foods. It's a good idea.

There was a nice article in last weekend's Wall Street Journal about some of the ways authenticity in foods is being celebrated.

I loved the title: Choose Your Own Food Adventure.
I also loved the closing of the quote below, "It's a great time to dream."

If you want to participate in an another kind of authentic food adventure, we're presenting new seminars in March about ways small farms can build their businesses to serve the demand for regional foods.

I intend to put a lot of focus on the new USDA micro loan program and what it can mean for communities and their small farms. If you or your organization would like to support small farms in your area, you should learn more about this program. I am convinced this is a very valuable new tool for communities and their small farms to grow one another. Stay tuned

From the WSJ article:

Choose Your Own Food Adventure:

"Recognizing that authenticity has replaced luxury as a culinary watchword, a new crop of companies has sprung up to indulge this heightened craving for epicurean adventure. They offer direct access to the most influential chefs, food journalists and food artisans, as well as introductions to talented home cooks, bloggers and local foodies in the world's great food cities. In some cases, offerings can be crafted and customized; in others, they are already tailored to desires so specific you might not yet realize you have them... It's a great time to dream."

###

Access to professional value-added food processing services can be a vital driver for regional economic development. Local foods create regional vibrancy.

Choose Your Own Food Adventure: Wall Street Journal article by Katy McLaughlin Feb. 2-3, 2013

Free seminar: Value Added Food Processing - How to develop a year-round food business and your own brand. March 2 and March 4

A great program this Friday - CommUnity Wealth Creation Pembroke

2013-01-31T06:30:00.000-06:00

My friends Dr. Jifunza Wright Carter M.D., M.P.H. and Fred Carter founded and manage the Black Oaks Center for Sustainable Renewable Living.

Their organization assists communities in reducing their carbon footprint and fossil fuel use.

Their good work also focuses on the many great opportunities available to create sustainable economic development through food and agriculture.

The Black Oaks Center works in both Chicago and the Pembroke Township area, an historically African American farming community southeast of Chicago.

I plan on joining Dr. Jifunza and Fred this Friday at an event called CommUnity Wealth Creation Pembroke.

This will highlight many good programs the USDA is supporting.

The program begins at 12:30 PM Friday Feb. 1, 2013 at the Lorenzo R. Smith School in Hopkins Park, IL.

Among the highlights of the program:

   - Honor our Black Farmers
   - Learn about USDA Programs
   - Learn about job and business opportunities in agriculture
   - Learn about Rotating Apprenticeship Farmer Training Pembroke (RAFT-P)

I look forward to learning more. Join us!

Download the CommUnity Wealth Creation Pembroke event information. PDF

Black Oaks Center for Sustainable Renewable Living.

Lorenzo R. Smith School. 4120 S Wheeler Rd, Hopkins Park, IL 6094. (815) 944-5219

Next presentation. The Farmland Investment Fair, presented by The Chicago Farmers. This Saturday Feb. 2. Join us!

2013-01-30T06:03:00.000-06:00

My next presentation is this Saturday at the Farmland Investment Fair presented by The Chicago Farmers in Joliet, IL.

I'll be speaking about the profitable opportunities to grow agriculture sales in the emerging local and regional food markets.

The experiments we've run in Iowa County, Wisconsin and at the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen show that new markets for safely and minimally processed foods can play a major role in both rural and urban economic development.

Farms can generate significant new income, diversify their sales channels and build brand awareness for their food and farm.

Food entrepreneurs in urban areas can partner with rural processing facilities for year-round access to safe, nutritious, local foods of all kinds.

The Chicago Farmers is an organization that provides a forum for education and the exchange of information between its members and others allied to agribusiness.

Their Farmland Investment Fair is this Saturday at the Weitendorg Agricultural Center in Joliet, IL. There is a registration link on The Chicago Farmers site below.

Join us!

Farms - like all smart businesses and all well managed portfolios - need to diversify. Our Innovation Kitchen model gives smart farmers the chance to affordably plan, experiment, and grow with these new opportunities.

The Chicago Farmers Farmland Investment Fair Saturday Feb. 2, 2013. Join us!

Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championship - Save the date - Sat. April 27, 2013 - Iowa County, Wisconsin

2013-01-26T19:02:00.000-06:00

Spatulas Up! Save the date. April 27.

The Wisconsin Grilled cheese Championship returns!

Iowa County is again hosting the Second Annual Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championship. It will be held Saturday, April 27, 2013 in beautiful Mineral Point, Wisconsin.

Our inaugural event last year drew grilled cheese lovers from 7 states.

You should visit. You should compete!

Don't miss the fun, the drama, the sheer Wisconsin melted cheese wonderfulness at the world's most interesting grilled cheese championship.

Only in Wisconsin. Iowa County welcomes you to the second annual Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championship!

Sat. April 27, 2013. Be there or be unaware - of grilled cheese at it's greatest!

The Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championship

Free general admission tickets. That's right. It's free but you need to register!

Visiting Iowa County

Thanks to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board for continued sponsorship of the Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championships.

Cleveland Crops! - Cleveland rocks!

2013-01-13T14:01:00.000-06:00

I love Cleveland.

My last business had great friends and customers all over the Cleveland region. I always loved visiting and working there.

This week, we hosted a really fun visit by new group of friends from the Cleveland area at the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen.

A coalition of folks visited from the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities, the Cleveland Mayor's office, and some really cool community groups.

We all enjoyed the visit. I especially was grateful to learn more about a great program in Cleveland called Cleveland Crops, an agricultural training and employment of the Cuyahoga Board of Developmental Disabilities, in partnership with their nonprofit organization, SAW, Inc.

In addition to managing and operating greenhouses and a processing center for year-round production, Cleveland Crops will employ 100 people with disabilities and farm properties of one acre or more throughout Cuyahoga County.

My pal Zina Murray (far left in photo, next to Annette Pierce Mistress of the Universe) also came up from Chicago to join our discussions.

Thanks for a great visit. Cleveland Crops! Cleveland rocks!

Cleveland Crops / Standard Farm Facebook page

Acala Farms takes center stage with flavor-infused cottonseed oils

2013-01-12T19:02:00.000-06:00

My friend Sarah Botham just posted a great update about their Acala Farms Flavor-infused Cottonseed Oils.

Our Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen is proud to work with Acala Farms and Sarah to grow their wonderful new brand.

I'll link to original articles below.

From Acala Farms: "Acala Farms Flavor-infused Cottonseed Oils took center stage before the media and the cotton community at the annual Beltwide Cotton Conference, held recently in San Antonio, TX, and came away a crowd favorite. We're so proud. Read all about it."

From Farm Futures: "Re-introducing cotton seed oil as a cooking choice and showing the way to provide the salt and spice flavor with no added salt or pepper, Botham Brands of Wisconsin is launching Alcala Farms cooking oils, with the help of Cotton Incorporated.

From AgWired: "Cotton Incorporated held one of the best press conferences I've ever attended... featuring a cooking demonstration with flavor-infused cottonseed oils."

Congratulations Acala Farms!

Farm Futures: Flavored Cottonseed Oil for Gourmet Cooking. Botham Brands launches Acala Farms cottonseed oils in various Southwestern flavors." By Dan Crummett . Published: Jan 11, 2013

AgWired: Cooking with Cottonseed Oil. Posted January 11, 2013.

Acala Farms.

Innovation Kitchen

Future food trends - Wisconsin

2013-01-04T20:01:00.000-06:00

My friend Greg Lawless with the University of Wisconsin Extension just posted a cool new series of interviews on future food trends.

My contribution is the role our Innovation Kitchens can play in this food renaissance. Innovation and entrepreneurship are needed in food and ag.

From Greg's eMail:

"I’ve had the good fortune in my career to rub elbows with many fascinating people in Wisconsin’s food industry. In October, I asked the following nine individuals to share what they see as future food trends:"

--Brandon Scholz, President of the Wisconsin Grocers Association, Madison

--Jeff Mauer, grocery owner, Fresh Madison Market, Madison

--Will Allen, Founder and CEO of Growing Power, Milwaukee

--Bartlett Durand, meat processor, Black Earth Meats, Black Earth

--Peter Robertson, pasta maker, RPs Pasta, Madison

--Pete Tsiritidis, grocery owner, Pete’s Fruit Market, Milwaukee

--Mark Olson, pesto maker, Renaissance Farms, Spring Green

--Andrea Yoder, organic vegetable grower, Harmony Valley Farms, Viroqua

--Rick Terrien, Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen, Mineral Point

Thanks to Greg and UW Extension. This work promotes innovation and entrepreneurship in food and agriculture. Forward.

Visit the YouTube index for these interviews. 2-3 minutes each

Thank you Thomas Edison. Happy 2013!

2013-01-01T20:01:00.000-06:00

I was fortunate to be able to spend my late Dad's birthday at Thomas Edison's Botanic Research Laboratory in Florida.

Mr Edison invented to idea of a dedicated research lab - "set up with the specific purpose of producing constant technological innovation and improvement." He is credited with 1,093 US patents as well as many foreign ones.

One of my favorite quotes about how innovation works is from Mr. Edison: "Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration."

I took this photo at the Edison and Ford Estates, in the Edison Family library. I think it represents Mr. Edison's vision and execution.

While Mr. Edison did not invent the electric light bulb, he was the first to create a commercially viable electric light bulb. It is a wondrous story of dedication, perspiration and the ability to build a smarter future.

I was also reading a great new book at the time about Mr. Edison called "Midnight Lunch, 4 Phases of Team Collaboration Success", by Sarah Miller Caldicott, the Great grandniece of Thomas Edison. It's a great read with many insights into Mr. Edison's work and how it can be applied to organizations today.

We are using many of these ideas to create and support innovative opportunities in small food processing through our Innovation Kitchen model. We want to run as many experiments as we can in the most efficient ways to create smart, new economic opportunities for food entrepreneurs worldwide.

This year is your time to make a contribution, to experiment with new ideas and new enterprises of all kinds. Are you waiting for inspiration? Remember Mr. Edison: "Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration."

Start now. Happy 2013!

Thomas Alva Edison at Wikipedia. Quotes above from this entry.

Innovation Kitchens

Midnight Lunch: The 4 Phases of Team Collaboration Success from Thomas Edison's Lab, at publisher Wiley & Sons

Edison Botanic Research Labratory

Year end blog notes - get out there and play in traffic

2012-12-30T19:09:00.000-06:00

In April of 2013 this Sustainable Work blog will be 8 years old.

I've wanted to do many kinds of jobs since I was a kid. Throughout it all I've wanted to write and work as an entrepreneur.

My first small business gig was through the Elmhurst (IL) Press Agency. I think I did this from about 6th to 8th grade A group of us would come tearing into this newspaper office on our (un-lit, un-helmeted, look-no-handlebars) bicycles at about 4:00 AM in dead darkness during summer breaks.

We bought papers (Chicago Tribune and Sun Times) from the agency for $0.08 each for the right to sell them for $0.10 each. Plus tips. That's where you made your money.

The agency would shuttle us out to the busiest corners in the region in a rickety old van. My spot was the corner of (IL) Route 83 and North Avenue.

My job was to run as fast as I could between long lines of cars that would stack up at the red lights. Customers would stick their arms out of their drivers window and you'd run to sell them their paper. Then I'd look up for an arm waving in the exhaust fumes further down the queue and I'd take off running to get to them before the light changed.

By hindsight this was nutty, considering the moving traffic, early 1960's engine emissions, and a million other small, grave dangers.

I think good entrepreneurs and writers love the same stuff, They look for opportunities to run through dangerous traffic.

I really like practicing the writing part here. My blog numbers have risen steadily since 2005, but this last year has seen a real bump in visitors.

Lately this blog has registered more than 9,000 page views per month, and more that 86,000 total page views since it's beginning. These are not crazy viral numbers, but they certainly make me want to keep running and writing.

Thanks to everyone who visits this site. It's time to start or grow your own new enterprise. Get out there and play in the traffic. I wish you a wonderful 2013!

Photo: Snowy Egret I spent some quality time with at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, December 2012.

"What's Farmland Worth? What's a Trademark Worth?"

2012-12-19T23:01:00.000-06:00

My pal Rich Schell writes a great blog about food entrepreneurship, Schellacres.com

Rich currently has a really good post up:

"What's Farmland Worth? What's A Trademark Worth?/ The Answer Is The Same--Tell Me What You're Gonna Do With It, And I'll Tell You What I Think It Could Be Worth?"

"... So, if you're going to do something like what Mr. Green did with a trademark then, it's worth a lot, just like if you're going to use farmland to produce a branded retail food product that sells for a premium, in a business with healthy margins that has formidable barriers to competition and an exquisite local presence, then I would say that farmland's worth a lot too"

"So, what are you going to do with your farmland?"

Thanks to Rich for a great post.

This speaks directly to the high value of small, safe, professionally staffed food processing centers like the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen. We are bringing new, branded food products to the market that capture and celebrate the opportunities for small food businesses and farms. The time is right. The opportunity is here.

"What's Farmland Worth? What's A Trademark Worth?/ The Answer Is The Same--Tell Me What You're Gonna Do With It, And I'll Tell You What I Think It Could Be Worth?" (Rich Schell)

Innovation Kitchens

The 2013 Chicago Farmers 2013 Farmland Investment Fair, Feb. 2, 2013. Joliet, IL. Rich helps organize the Farmland Investment Fair. I'll be speaking again this year. Join us!