10% Campaign

I have the good fortune to work with a variety of dedicated local farmers and their supporters. This group is working diligently to develop a sustainable regional local food community. When they are successful, it will create opportunities for new jobs, income our farmers, fresher and more healthy food, as well as the conservation of our land and natural resources.

To that end, I wanted to make you aware today of a statewide program could provide significant income to our local farmers as indicated from this quote: "Organizers say the program should be a huge benefit to more than just local growers. They add North Carolinians spend $35 billion on food each year. If just 10 percent went to local growers, the 10 Percent Campaign calculates that more than $3.5 billion would be available in the state’s economy.
“In these challenging times, buying local food will benefit our farmers and fishermen and help grow our economy,” says Dan Gerlach, Golden LEAF Foundation President

Please take a moment and visit this site and make a commitment to helping our local farmers, our environment and your health: http://www.nc10percent.com/ It gives you all the information you need to get started.

Who wants to do business with a man in a grass skirt

This was a question posted in response to a photo of me taken at our 2nd Annual Business Extravaganza last evening. Now I will admit that you don't see a lot of men, especially 50 year old economic developers wearing grass skirts and trying to help build local economies, but maybe you should.

Stokes County is a very rural county located in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina, just north of Winston Salem. It faces the challenges that most rural areas in the state and the US do, loss of our manufacturing base, loss of many of our young people to more urban areas, tight budgets and more. Most days I show up for work with my coat and tie, tackle the challenges before me and do my job.

But the job in front of us as Americans and for my friends in Stokes County is not business as usual. We need to try different methods, we need to develop our local assets and play to our strengths. If it takes me wearing a grass skirt and a cheap lei to get peoples attention, I will do it. I guarantee you that the 200+ people that turned out for our event last evening will remember it longer than most of the boring rubber chicken dinners that these events normally turn in to. I also believe they heard my message loud and clear and will remember it as well.

Stokes County is moving. We have several exciting programs being developed. We have new businesses in the works and we have some of the best people I have ever had the pleasure to work with. We will continue to push the envelope, look for new innovative ideas and work to build a cohesive economy. If you missed last evenings event, you missed a good time. You missed business getting done and you missed being with friends and potential friends. Start planning now for next years event, tentatively scheduled for Jan 19, 2012. I started planning it when I woke up this morning and you never know what next year might bring.

Oh and by the way, I have the legs to pull off the look!

Follow-up from a beautiful event

If you live within driving distance of Stokes County and King and did not attend the Poinsettia display at Mitchell's Greenhouse and Nursery, you missed a beautiful affair. It is too late for this year but do not dispair, they are scheduled to have the show again in December of 2011. Please see information below provided by Judy Mitchell. If you want to see photos of this years event, visit the Stokes County Travel/Tourism and Development page on facebook. Many thanks to the Mitchells for their efforts.

Mitchell’s Nursery & Greenhouse Inc.

1088 W. Dalton Rd.

King, NC 27021

(336)983-4107

www.mitchellsnurseryandgreenhouse.com



Dec. 29, 2010



A survey of 65 varieties of poinsettias was taken at our Open House on Sunday Dec. 5, 2010. We grew over 9,000 poinsettias. Approximately 213 people attended from 12:30 – 4:30. Attendance was down because of cold weather. It snowed all Saturday afternoon and snow was still on the ground until noon. Three plants of each variety were labeled for judging. Judging continued until Dec. 11th by those who wanted to participate. The form for judging contained 5 lists – novelty, red, white, marble, and pink. The top five favorites in each category were voted for. This year we also had a fill in section for people to write in their 3 favorite over all. Ads were run in the Winston-Salem Journal, Weekly Independent, Stokes News, Mount Airy News, The Pilot, Foothill Times, and Yadkin Valley Living Magazine. We were featured on the cover of The Foothill Times with an ad inside about poinsettias. It was on the calendar of events for King Chamber of Commerce, North Carolina Commercial Flower Growers Assoc., North Carolina Agritourism Networking Assoc., Carolina Gardener Magazine, Winston-Salem Journal garden page, and Winston-Salem Journal Relish. Fox 8 News WGHP did two live stories on the morning show and on the 10:00 news and ran pictures on their website. WFMY TV – Digtriad .com news from Greensboro also did a segment at our greenhouse on the evening news “Made in the Triad” and listed us on their website. The Winston Salem Journal had a color picture and mentioned it on their garden page. We sent out over 1600 picture postcards to our customers. We list it on our website www.mitchellsnurseryandgreenhouse.com, on our facebook page, and on our blog.

To get points I gave each 1st place vote 5 points, 2nd place 4 points, 3rd place 3 points, 4th place 2 points, and 5th place 1 point. Attached is a copy of a blank ballot. If you have any suggestions on how to improve it, please email them to me.

The results of our open house are on another attachment.



Sincerely,

Judy Mitchell

2011 Business Extravaganza

STOKES COUNTY
Economic Development Commission

MEDIA RELEASE

For Release: Immediately

Contact: Alan Wood, Director, Stokes County EDC, 335-593-2496

January 3, 2011
*****

RE: Stokes County Business Extravaganza II

The second annual Stokes County Business Extravaganza is scheduled to take place January 20, 2011 at YMCA Camp Hanes, 1225 Camp Hanes Rd. King NC. The “Extravaganza” is designed as a showcase for local businesses and is open to all business owners in Stokes County. Over 35 booths have been reserved by local businesses and more than 650 invitations have been mailed for the event, which promises to be even bigger than last year. The event is being hosted by the Stokes County Economic Development Commission and is made possible by corporate event sponsor NewBridge Bank.
Last years event, which was attended by over 200, was a light-hearted affair, with lots of laughs, good food, plenty of door prizes, networking and more. This year’s event is expected to be even larger and its “Tropical” theme is being developed to help remove some of the chill from a cold January evening.
The “Extravaganza” is an informal event centered abound the businesses that are participating at the affair. It is scheduled to begin at 5:30 and last until 8:00 PM. Music for the event will be provided by Josh Shelton and the food is being prepared by Stephen Doran and the Camp Hanes Staff. Door prizes will be announced all through the evening and the grand prize will be awarded just before the event ends at 8:00 PM. All guests are invited to come early and stay as long as they would like.
Bruce Younts, Chairman of the Stokes County EDC believes this event is extremely important to Stokes County and its continuing efforts to build an identity within its business community. “We have several challenges in the county, including a mountain
PO Box 20 Danbury, NC 27016 336-593-2496 adwood@co.stokes.nc.us



range that divides us geographically. It is important for our business leaders and county officials to have an opportunity to meet face to face in a relaxed atmosphere, where they can share ideas and plan for the future. This event provides such an opportunity.”
Alan Wood, CEcD, Director of the Stokes County EDC, believes that the economic development efforts in the county must take a “holistic” approach, paying particular attention to existing businesses, nurturing start-ups and developing infrastructure for new and expanding ventures. “The “Business Extravaganza” is a centerpiece of the ongoing efforts of the Stokes County Economic Development Commission to reach out to the business community. The EDC has worked directly with over 70 businesses in the last year. This includes assistance with web building, marketing, searching for grant funding, assistance with business plan development and many other activities. The only way we can continue to help our businesses grow is by having open lines of communication. That is what this event designed to do. I also want to send out a special thanks to NewBridge Bank for sponsoring this event. They are a great partner and we anticipate their continuing support as we move ahead.
Mr. Wood asks that anyone who would like to attend RSVP by Monday, January 10—either by email to: adwood@co.stokes.nc.us or by phone at 336- 593-2496. Although the goal is a serious one, the atmosphere of the Extravaganza will be casual. Hors d’oeuvres, free of charge, will be served the entire time, and a significant number of door prizes will be given away, perhaps as often as every 15 minutes. Winners must attend but do not have to be present to claim their prize.

* * * * *

It's all about the Education ...

As I am cleaning off my desk, working through emails, reading articles that I haven't had time to look over and basically winding down before a few days off, I keep running into a common theme: if we in rural America are to be able to compete on a global level, we must become lifelong learners. This isn't a great epiphany and it doesn't immediately create jobs or put money in our coffers but I believe it is one of the few absolute truths that will stand the test of time for our generation.

During the times of rapid economic expansion that occurred after WWII and for many decades that followed, it was possible to leave school, take a job, have a family, buy a house, have children, buy a car,then retire 35 years later, with a pension provided by your company. You could probably do this without ever reading anything more than the daily news. It was almost an unwritten contract that if you were loyal to your employer, then they would take care of you. My, how times have changed.

Less and less companies offer a pension, even if you stay with them your entire career (that is if they stay in business). Most of us are going to face not only multiple job changes but multiple career changes. The only way to survive in this environment is to be adaptable and be willing an able to learn.

That takes me to the real meat of this post: we have 30+% of our population in Stokes County that have less than a High School diploma. We have less than 50% of the state average number of residents with a college degree. We have a significant portion of students leaving school each year without a diploma and this number is not shrinking. It scares me to think about what life will hold for many of these young people. Most will be faced with a life of low wage jobs and little chance of advancement.

OK, so that is enough of a downer for one post. There is light on the horizon. I am attaching a link to Tech Quarterly, a magazine produced by Forsyth Technical Community College. http://www.forsythtech.edu/uploads/97/49/9749afe331ed3ad8c13aa794dad5589e/FTC-10211-3_TQ_Fall_2010_finalREV_web3.pdf Please go to pages 23-4 and read the article on Paul Kindley, Adult Literacy Coordinator for Stokes County. I have had the pleasure of working with Paul occasionally during the past several months and he is as dedicated a person as I know. With people of this caliber, who are pushing to improve the educational attainment of our citizens, there is hope. If you see Paul or his brethren in the educational field this holiday season, stop to say hello and thank them for the jobs they are doing.

I think they are our best hope for the future!

Local Food as a hope for economic prosperity

For the last month, I have been working on grants that in my opinion can lead to opportunity and even prosperity for rural Stokes County. If successful, these grants will provide funding to create a replicable system that allows four local, regional food systems to create economies of scale and logistic capabilities that will allow them to better compete with a huge, government subsidized food system (.62 of each dollar of food income is derived from government subsidizes.) This is a system that is based on low energy costs (just saw and article that projected gas above $3/gal by Christmas, not exactly cheap)and mass production of food stuffs. To help make my point, here is a link to a very interesting video. This is an eleven year old young man that speaks volumes: http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/09/29-2

If we are successful, food can be produced locally and sold to a large and rapidly growing population across the Piedmont of North Carolina. This can lead to jobs and help keep more of our land in crop production. Food can be harvested and in your home within 24-48 hours. You can actually know the farmers that are growing it, where it is being grown and when it left the field. This is quite different than the 2 weeks+ that we currently see. There are many details to be worked out, we need more farmers, we need more variety, we need processing facilities for overflow, we need to expand our growing season and much more.

The second grant addresses another need. The need to add new farmers and help our youth procure a future. In Stokes County, the average age of our farmers is 58. They show an average net income of $3,000/yr. It isn't hard to understand why our children are leaving to receive an education and not coming home. I gave seerious thought to having a career in farming as I grew up. I just couldn't make the numbers work. We hope to create an educational facility in Stokes County that will allow our youth and displaced workers to learn sustainable, intensive agricultural practices that can mean a reasonable wage for their efforts. It will include profit models and plans for multiple income streams, using every available sq ft of land to produce income. This plan plays to two strengths we already have in our county: a strong farming heritage and available land.

This is not an answer to all our problems but I think it is a start. If we play to our strengths, create small businesses, called farms it becomes one step of many. Our Economic Development Commission's plan of work depends on paying attention to our local businesses, helping create new ones and building an economy that is sustainable for the long term. The local food program has a chance to be an important tool in our arsenal. Wish us luck!

Support your local area stores during the Holidays

Feeling a little rushed, tired of all the ads from the big box stores: buy more, buy now, buy bigger. Maybe it is time to step back and think about staying closer to home and help support your local shops! Below is a list of ideas picked up from the King Chamber of Commerce Monday Minute. These are just a few of the local area shops that can provide you with unique ideas for your family, friends, children and anyone else on your shopping list. Lets make it fun, after looking at this short list, try to think of three more local shops that can provide fun, and diversity for a gift to someone you love!
2010 Christmas Shopping Guide

IT’S“BOW TIME”

That’s right-it’s time to grab the tape and paper, wrap up those special gifts and attach the fluffy bows! But if you are caught in the “what to buy” frenzy, we have timely suggestions aplenty.

Those animal lovers still on your list will find Polar Bear Poinsettias hard to resist. Mitchell’s Nursery and Greenhouse has these lovely white blooms in special packaging and a portion of every purchase will be donated to Polar Bears International, an organization dedicated to the worldwide conservation of the polar bear.
Mitchell’s Nursery & Greenhouse, Inc. - 1088 West Dalton Road, King, NC 336-983-4107

For that hard-to-please guy, we suggest this special option: A Schrade Collector Knife, “Tobacco Edition”. Gentry’s Store now has these knives and other great gift ideas in stock.
Gentry’s Store -117 South Main Street, King, NC 336-983-3440

Hand made pewter and blown glass ornaments, along with lovely art and framing, too; the folks at Hampton House Art and Framing can certainly help you. Hampton House also has the popular soap rocks which make very unique stocking stuffers.
Hampton House Art and Framing, Inc.- 613-A East King Street, King, NC 336-983-6688

Something that’s useful and practical may be just the ticket; LTD Farm & Garden has clothes to protect you in the woodiest thicket. For hunting, for working and general warm outdoor wear, LTD’s new line of affordable Key Clothing is the perfect idea for many. Check out the new arrivals and the variety of unique gifts available at LTD.
LTD Farm & Garden- 931 Meadowbrook Drive, King, NC 336-983-4331

Want to pamper someone and give them something for comfort and ease? A holiday package gift certificate from Serene Massage Therapy is sure to please. The special includes warm paraffin dip for hands and feet, warm therapy for the spine and a 30, 60 or 90 minute massage.
Serene Massage Therapy -223 Ingram Drive, King, NC 336-391-0760

Another practical idea and one that could save trouble: Budget Termite and Pest Control, Inc. is offering special rates with a money-saving double! Winter rates: real estate termite inspection-$49.00, radon test-$95.00 or $124.00 for both.
Budget Termite and Pest Control, Inc. 336-985-0808

Does Christmas fill you with nostalgia and bring memories flooding in? TNT Supplies suggests a special decoration that is reminiscent of the way things could have been. TNT Supplies has tobacco stick barn stars in two sizes complete with berry garland and lights.
TNT Supplies-Colony Centre Shopping Centre, King, NC 336-283-0308

Don’t forget about the gift basket that can be custom made for you. Venie Rose Florist will design it with lots of items or just a few. They are offering 10% off a special basket order from now until December 23 if you tell them you saw it in Monday Minute.
Venie Rose Florist-225 East King Street, King, NC 336-983-0045

Paintings of our agricultural past and the Dairi-O, too: both are waiting at Tim Bruce Art Gallery for you. Prints are still available on most of the “ghost series” as well as on several renditions of Pilot Mountain and two new releases.
Tim Bruce Art Gallery-401 East King Street, King, NC 336-985-610
Perhaps you are filled with joy and happiness this holiday season and feel as those you could dance the night away - Then you may be interested in having the younger ones learn the perfect steps! Snowflake classes are being offered January 15 – February 26 for 3, 4 and 5 years olds – the classes last for six weeks. (Creative Movement – Acrobatics – Ballet) – The cost for each class is $43.00. Gift Certificates are available.
Miss Joyce Dance Studio – 121 E. Dalton Street, King, NC 336-983-9458