Category: innovation

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The Plan, So Far

Our plan with the trees and bushes we planted this fall and spring has 4 elements

  • co-plant with comfrey
  • use metal tag with a plant number, type and variety
  • protect the tender trunk with a plastic cage or tube
  • placing wood chips around the trees and bushes

Metal tags everywhere

We have used the metal tag system from the beginning of our farm. This has been a great way to track trees and bushes on the farm. We also have maps where the individual plant locations are noted.

Spreadsheet where we track planted trees and bushes

One of the tasks for today was installing metal tags on trees that were planted last fall and this spring. The plastic tag that came with the tree is removed and a metal tag is put in place. This gives us a permanent way to identify a plant and know its history.

Using lots of wood chips

We are still in the process of putting woodchips around all the new trees and bushes. The woodchips helps regulate the moisture of the soil, while keep summer temperatures down at the root ball. They also amend the soil with nutrients and organic matter as the wood chips break down. All of these items help to build healthy soil, which greatly improves the conditions for the tree as it grows. The goal is to put at least woods in a circular pattern around the tree to depth of 8-12 inches.

Metal tag with a number, tree type and variety plus a plastic guard against critters
Tree with tree protector, tag and comfrey
Metal tag with unique identifier and tree type and variety
Comfrey at the base of young tree, growing through the mulch

Here are some pictures from today on the farm

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Designing a Gift Basket

Simply Us Farm is a local farm that my wife and I run. One of the projects for this year is to develop gift boxes for Christmas. I wanted to share some of the thinking behind the process of designing the gift boxes. Usually my blog entries focus on the design sides of new product develpment, but this is a journey into product management.

Background

Local businesses often struggle to market and sell products. This is driven by several issues including

  • not having a fully developed sales channel – wholesale, retail and online
  • smaller number of items in their catalog
  • catalog items are often very hyper focused on what the small business is passionate about

This is especially true for small farms. Simply Us Farms is young farm in NC adding new production every year. The farm specializes in uncommon fruits and berries with high nutritional value and high anti-oxident content.

The challenge for this holiday season is to develop a gift basket. Simply Us Farms produces honey from the farm and from Troublesome Gap. One option is to team up with other local producers to create a specialty gift basket filled with local goods and the honey from the Simply Us Farm.

Sources of Inspiration

Dan the Sausage Man is a company that produces a well thought out line of gift baskets. They also have a great origin story that they effectively share. Here is the story from their website.

They provide a variety of gift baskets that vary with the seaon and a different price points.

The internet also provides lots of examples of gift baskets that feature or include honey.

Goal

Provide a great gift that will be appreciated by the person receiving it. We want to create an special experience for the person who puts the contents of the gift basket to use.

Basket Themes

We want to help the basket user create a special culinary experience. This could be categorized several different ways. One way is to associate the experience with snack or meal. Here are some options

  • pre-breakfast (such as morning coffee)
  • breakfast
  • brunch
  • lunch
  • dinner
  • snack

Other opportunities is to associate the gift with an event include

  • picnic
  • thank you (professional or personal)
  • family or personal tradition
  • specific holiday (religious, cultural or social – examples: Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween)
  • birthday or other personal milestone (maybe a 50th anniversary, college graduation, or baby shower)
  • wedding present
  • corporate / organizational gift, thank you or award

Packaging

Because these are limited runs, the packaging needs to be something that is easy to decorate and off the shelf. We can print labels to designate the package as a Simply Us Farm gift box. Decoration can also show which version of the gift box is in packaging after it is closed up. The filler material and the box should be easily recyclable. Possibly a crinkle paper. It would be nice to have a single box that held the 3 smallest configurations, just to keep down on the number of boxes to purchase.

What to Put in the Baskets

Simply Us Farm has two types of honey available (farm honey / Bennett, NC & mountain honey / Troublesome Gap, NC). We can pour that honey into different size jars. Currently we have

  • 1/2 lb
  • 1 lb
  • sample size

It would be great if the gift box / basket could be filled with items from local farms and vendors. Here are possible companion products from a brainstorming session

  • honey dipping utensils
  • coffee (maybe with a coffee stirrer)
  • sauces (maybe bbq or some other sauce for a process that can involve honey)
  • sourkraut or other fermented food
  • teas
  • table cloth or other items to set a scene
  • meat product (cured ham, sausage or sliced)
  • crackers
  • cheese
  • jelly or jam (including fig)
  • honey from another farm with a different taste
  • recipes or cookbook
  • food mix
  • juice (maybe grape, elderberry, or other)
  • mug with a relevant graphic
  • medicinals (locally sourced)
  • balloons for a birthday or other party
  • pumpkin something for fall
  • placemats for the table with a seasonal color scheme
  • locally made pottery or mugs
  • locally made candles (maybe with a seasonal scent)

Themes

We also wanted to think about how we could build gift box around a them. The theme helps build an emotional connection with the gift giver and receiver. Turning it from a box with food items into an experience.

  • Morning coffee and honey
  • Christmas coffee and honey – maybe adding a pine or other seasonal smell
  • Fall grilling season (mild)
  • Fall grilling season (hot)
  • Tailgaiting
  • Snowy Day
  • Fall set – maybeadd something pumpkin or wool placemats with a fall color scheme
  • Health theme (maybe with medicinals or a medicinal tea)

Pricing

After doing a survey on the internet, here are our initial cost targets for pricing.

  • Option 1 – $54.95
  • Option 2 – $59.95
  • Option 3 – $64.95
  • Option 4 – $149.95

Once we put sample baskets together then we can take pictures and test market the combinations on the website and with targeted emails. That will help determine if the gift basket is desirable and if they will sell.

Next Steps

We have started working with local farms to identify items that can go in the baskets. Then we’ll need to create specifc basket configurations. We’ll share the results as we go. The best wasy to follow along are to join the email list and check back on the blog.

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Pumpkins Are Coming, Maybe

We tried something new this year. We planted pumpkins in withour sorghum / sudan grass and buckwheat cover crop. The plan:

  • plant the pumpkins and cover crop in the area where we had just dug potatoes. The row was already covered with straw that we used around the potato plants
  • let the cover crop and pumpkins grow – the buckwheat grew first and was succeeded by the pumpkins and sorghum / sudan grass
  • weed around the pumpkins
  • let the pumpkins grown out into the grassy rows beyond the cover crop area
  • [future] hopefully harvest pumpkins

Doing this allows us to add organic matter to the soil when we terminate the sorghum / sudan grass and it composts over the winter. The sorghum / sudan grass also acts a a mulch for the winter cover crop. Hopefully we get a good harvest of pumpkins. Innovating in small ways means trying new things.

I’m looking foward to pumpkins!

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Designing a Campsite to Inspire Wonder

Click to play

Connie and I both enjoy camping. Getting away from all the trappings of modern life. Constantly being connected via a cell phone. The ease of watching any of 1000s of movies and tv shows with a click.

There is only limited cell phone service on the farm so you are lucky to get a text message or call through. There is a certain ability to relax when you are disconnected. We put the campsite in the back field in the most important part of the field from a visual perspective and an agricultural perspective. We want this campsite to be a focal point of a wonderful story. The campsite has fruit bearing trees in it that replicate the blackberry, figs, pawpaw and elderberry plants that are bountiful on the farm. There is a fire circle and a bench in the camping circle. There is room for a big tent or several small tents. We want this to be a special place that leads to special memories.

Details are important. You have to walk to the spot, short walk, but still a walk. Even the bench is designed to make the trip special. The seat is just a little too far off the ground. So even if you are tall your feet hang down just a little. The seat is just a little too deep so you feel a little small in the bench. Just enough to where you feel just a little small in the middle of the big field, under the big sky. Just so we remember what is important.

Lee Ann Womack sang

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat, but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed …

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance …

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin’ might mean takin’ chances, but they’re worth takin’
Lovin’ might be a mistake, but it’s worth makin’ …

In a lot of ways this song was the inspiration for the campsite. Even as adults we need to play. We need to find adventure. Seek it out. Even if it is a small adventure. We need to wonder.

Simply Us Farm is an adventure. It is us wondering what could be. Trying new things and innovating. Definitely not going the path of least resistance. Check out the song below, maybe it inspires you too. If all our farm ever accomplishes is to help you develop a sense of wonder, a desire to play, and wanting a adventure in front of you, then we have succeeded. Today’s world is just crazy, but the farm is about the simple. Simple is what we need sometimes.

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Farm Tours! – Our Annual Fun Day on the Farm

Thanks to everyone who came. We had 16 attendees from 8 families. What a great day. We shared about permaculture, design thinking, innovation and regenerative farming. Attendes learned about how we go about building good soil so the plants, trees and bushes thrive. We also talked about how we farm without insecticides or pesticides. Attendees also learned how we do function stacking so many plants on the farm have multiple jobs.

We also had a meal for people who have attended our classes. It was nice sharing a meal with familiar faces. Thanks to everyone who attended. Also, thanks to everyone that helps make the farm a success.

One of the new items we showed off on the farm tour is our growing cadre our medicinal plants. We now have

  • comfrey
  • witch hazel
  • white yarrow
  • motherwort
Motherwort is planted and ready to grow

Here are some views from the farm this weekend

My opportunity to share about our farm

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Learning About What Our Farm Can Become and How We Are Innovating

Simply Us Farm has been a giant sketch and prototype from the beginning. I like to think of the farm as a sketch and a prototype where the lines are drawn with a tractor and the trees and bushes are dots on the sketch. We are still learning what our farm can become. Join us as I walk you through the class I just completed on innovation.

First let me share what I learned by taking the IDEO Insights for Innovation class

Join me as we discover together what I learned about the farm from observing potential customers, interviews and pulling those insights together into meaningful statements that can help guide the plan for Simply Us Farm.

First we created a challenge. The challenge guides the project.

How might we create experiences and farm products for potential customers that appeal to their desire for healthy foods from local farms who create nutrient rich goods with sustainable practices?

One really important thought

It is important to note that this class wasn’t about marketing to the customer or confirming a pre-existing solution will sell. Instead we focused on understanding the customer, developing empathy and most important – inspired by the customer.

Here are some of my insights from the project

1) Better food oriented customers want something that can be integrated into their lifestyle, which requires a convenient location for regular and ongoing touch points or purchases. Since the farm is in a remote location, I called this the tyranny of distance“

A remote location is ok for less frequent interactions or purchases where the interaction becomes a day trip, especially with family, a common understanding is the concept of the roadside vegetable stand. How the buying and interaction patterns with the farm and customers are really part of a pattern of life for the customer.

2) Better food oriented customers are looking for more healthy options, but may not be able to articulate or even realize all of the options they want or might want

3) The concept of rent-a-tree / rent-a-bush isn’t something most of the people we interviewed have ever heard of. There were several concerns about risks associated with just having the production of one plant and what happens if someone picks off the wrong plant (intentionally or accidentally).

4) Many people seeking out healthier foods also want a deeper connection with the farm where their food is grown. This connection gives them confidence that there food is raised in a smart way that results in healthier food for them. The desire to have these roots is important to many customers. Something as simple as watching smiling customers interact with farmers at the farmers market highlights that desire for a deeper connection that results in a healthier food and lifestyle choices.

What was surprising, challenging, or easy about the process of crafting insights?

Having a consistent and structured approach that keeps digging in to ask why, reveals a lot about how the customer thinks. The process of asking why, why, why, why, why is quicker at revealing results than I thought it would be. The process of asking 5 whys revealed answers that sometimes surprised the wonderful people that I interacted with during the project.