Some like it hot....

Monday and Tuesday was spent at the NNBA convention at the beautiful Skamania Lodge.  We featured our new Indoor Edibles line.

The Edibles line includes 3 herb "palates" to choose from.  Bella Cucina is focused on mediterranean cooking - and would be a great assortment to have for a pre-Thanksgiving or Holiday cooking area at a retail store.  Fresh rosemary, oregano, sage and basil would help any chef add a special touch to their meal.  Pad Thai is focused on asian cuisine. It includes a siam/thai basil, garlic chives, cilantro and a hot pepper.  Fresca Y Picante is our hispanic cuisine line.  It has cilantro, oregano, mint and a hot pepper as well.

But the real hit of the show was the "Pick Me Peppers".  This group has a snack bell pepper all the way through "Hot Carrot".  We had a pepper eating contest at the show - and a few folks dived right in.  The order we had was:

• Hot Tomato: this is a mild pepper (not as hot as a jalapeno)
• Hot Banana:  Banana peppers can range from mild when they are green to hot if you let them ripen to red, about the same heat as a jalapeno.
• Hot Salsa: this is about like a jalapeno, but with a nice spicy kick to it.
• Golden Cayenne: this is definitely hot.
• Hot Carrot: while not a Ghost pepper - our contestants were definitely feeling the heat with this one - eyes started to water, throats were burning.

Now I am not a pepper eater - but I could eat the first three, and Golden Cayenne without the seeds.  I thought that was pretty good.  Regina is more daring and she tasted the Hot Carrot. (By the way, the Hot Carrot looks exactly like a little carrot, and same with the Tomato - so keep an eye on the little ones.)

We had lots of comments about care for these plants.  They are meant to be indoors (although you could plant any of them outside come next spring).  They would prefer a bright window.  Regina did test out a pepper in our office - which gets little to no light all weekend.  In over a week, the pepper did not drop any leaves, and a pepper even ripened up.  Trust me, if it can live in our offices it will live for your customers!

Our Association

Here in the Pacific Northwest we have such a lovely climate for growing beautiful plants, for living and recreating, and for raising our children. That being said we all face daily struggles that must be dealt with head on - whether personal or in running our businesses. 

Last night I attended a Farwest Show committee meeting.  www.farwestshow.com The Farwest Show is put on by the Oregon Association of Nurseries.  In essence it is put on by all of us growers, suppliers and retailers that are members of this association.  At our meeting we talked about the many benefits of the show itself - networking opportunities with peers, learning about new products, attending seminars to learn new ideas that will help us be successful in our endeavors. But what struck me is that many of the associations members don't know that the shows success goes far beyond that.

Take a look at the OAN website ( www.oan.org )- at the Legislative issues we follow, at the marketing campaigns for our products and your stores that are happening, at the learning opprotunities that are happening every month.  None of those things are posssible without an income stream into the association.  A healthy robust Farwest show means that our workers can get drivers cards to get to work. A well attended Farwest show means that we can respond to threats to our businesses (lack of water resources, invasive pests and diseases). A fully stocked Farwest show means we can create more opportunities for learning and moving the ball forward for our industry.

Some of the key takeaways from the meeting were how many new people attended the show, and how many people were looking for new vendors.  Are you new to the industry? Are your vendors not meeting all of your needs? Do you have new needs?  Maybe you just want to keep current about what's happening in the industry.  Whatever your reason for going to the show - you benefit from being there. What's more, you benefit beyond the show.

We have been "adopted"!

Say what? Yes we have been adopted - like wayward children lost in the desert to be found by a young and nimble oasis of minds. 

The Agri-Business Council of Oregon is in its second year of the "Adopt a Farmer" program. http://www.aglink.org/programs/adoptafarmer.php  The program matches up 6th grade science classes with farmers to learn about soils, plants, environment and the rural way of life.  We think it is a great way to promote understanding between rural and urban communities, and what kid doesn't like to play in the dirt?  Visit their Facebook page to see lots of posts about other Adopt a Farmer teams. https://www.facebook.com/#!/oregonag

 

This is our first year in the program and we are excited to be adopted by Scott School in Portland.  http://www.pps.k12.or.us/schools/scott/  6th grade science teacher Carlos Laguardia and our team at F & B will be working together to study plant life cycles this year.  We are looking forward to the children coming out to the Nursery in November.  They will get a tour of the nursery and work on planting from seeds, bulbs and cuttings.  As our nursery season progresses we will be posting updates on what is happening around the nursery and how they items they planted are progressing and growing. 

Did I mention we are excited about this program - hopefully you will be too!

Leigh