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Posts Tagged ‘Carol Soule’

NH Agricultural Producers Selected for Business Development Assistance

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

It was great to see that our friends over at Miles Smith Farm are amongst the recipients of a USDA grant for NH agricultural producers. For those of you who don’t remember, Miles Smith Farm was the setting for our “matador” video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67wY7FiuiDE) that hailed the beginning of this very blog. Congrats to Carol and Bruce as well as to Poverty Lane Orchards and The Big Farm.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that USDA has selected recipients in 45 states and Puerto Rico, including three New Hampshire agricultural producers, to receive business development assistance and pursue marketing opportunities for agricultural commodities. Funding is made available through USDA Rural Development assistance under the Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program, which was authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill. 

milessmith_cattle“These grants provide the capital resources necessary for business growth and job creation in rural New Hampshire,” said Molly Lambert, USDA Rural Development State Director. “Through these investments USDA is strengthening the economic foundation of rural New Hampshire.” 

For example, Poverty Lane Orchards, in Lebanon, plans to use their $100,000 grant to expand their craft finished fermented cider into new markets. The cider is fermented from specialized apple varieties grown in the Northeast. Poverty Lane Orchards boasts a large planting of English, European, and New World cider apples, many of which are not edible fresh. Once fermented the cider apples provide a stunning cider blend.  

“We are blown away to be selected as a grant recipient,” said Louise Spencer, one of the proprietors of Poverty Lane Orchards. “This grant will help us to identify market distribution areas throughout New Hampshire, Western Massachusetts, and parts of New York State where we can expand production and distribution and serve as a model for others in this industry.”    

In Madison, The Big Farm, a 21 flock dairy sheep operation owned and operated by Paul Priestman, will use a $15,000 grant for working capital to hire additional labor to produce on-farm sheep’s milk cheese. Priestman, a Beginning Farmer, also plans to use this grant to market and sale in expanded areas, yielding a higher per pound value for their liquid milk to high quality finished cheese product. 

Miles Smith Farm in Loudon, owned by Carol Soule and Bruce Dawson, is receiving a $64,950 grant for economic planning activities—conducting a feasibility study, establishing a business and marketing plan for developing precooked, frozen, packaged meatballs from boneless, underutilized cuts of high quality beef. This small family farm raises ‘free range’ Scottish Highland Cattle, which produce lean and tender beef without hormones or growth stimulants.

No Bull TV Launches – Ole!!

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

At this stage of my professional career, vanity is out the window. It’s all about creating the type of stir that will drive results in a creative, non-traditional fashion.

That’s why on one warm August afternoon, I found myself in the middle of a field at Miles Smith Farm (www.milessmithfarm.com)  in Loudon wearing a matador outfit (complete with Jerry Seinfeld “puffy shirt”) and waving a red cape in front of 1,500 pound Scottish Highlander cattle.

Square Spot Design Creative Director Lisa Williams and "El Matador" Steve Boucher

Square Spot Design Creative Director Lisa Williams and "El Matador" Steve Boucher

The reason I was partaking in this activity was relatively simple – the NH Division of Economic Development needed to kick off its “No Bull TV” YouTube campaign in high energy, full speed ahead fashion. What better way to tell the New Hampshire business community about our desire to provide them with the best possible information (minus the bull) than by driving all of the “bull” out of the state?

Considering the fact that there appear to be few or no live, breathing bulls in the state and the mechanical variety seem to be in short supply, the Scottish Highland Cattle at Miles Smith Farm were a more than suitable substitute. With the tremendous assistance of Farm Co-Owner Carole Soule, we were able to craft a fun YouTube spot with the great setting of a farm that has been in operation since the 1850’s. Miles Smith Farm is a historic jewel in our state with 36 acres and a tremendous view that allows its owners to view the July 4th fireworks from five neighboring towns.

Our message of the YouTube campaign is simple – we’re listening to you. In every interaction with business leaders and private sector partners, we’ve heard the same refrain, Give us something different….present information to us in a way that no one else is so that we can stand up and take notice.

NH Division of Economic Development Communications & Legislative Director Steve Boucher and Miles Smith Farm Co-Owner Carol Soule (sporting the "No Bull Business Blog" baseball cap)

NH Division of Economic Development Communications & Legislative Director Steve Boucher and Miles Smith Farm Co-Owner Carol Soule (sporting the "No Bull Business Blog" baseball cap)

The job of a State Communications Director is to inform, entertain and interpret and somewhere down the line, the whole notion of entertaining and challenging our audience got lost. Let’s face it – there are millions of communications vehicles available to business owners so it is not only our mission but our mandate to reach out to our audience in ways that make them want to come back to us again.

So if our “No Bull TV” spots lead folks to the door, here’s what they’ll find on this blog – information about new grant opportunities, news about training sessions and economic development tools that save businesses time and money and invitations to events that increase the knowledge base of CEOs and line workers alike.

With that in mind, please take a moment to view our two new “No Bull TV” spots on our Youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/nobulltv. Make this channel a regular stop while you surf the Web or really go out on a limb and become a subscriber. In the days and months ahead, we’ll be featuring some “Innovation Rocks!” winners, shining a spotlight on some emerging business leaders and hyping some pretty awesome events.

Much thanks to Carole Soule at Miles Smith Farm for her assistance in bringing a neat idea to fruition, to Jud Bartlett and Lisa Williams at Square Spot Design for their logistical and creative assistance, to Allen Voivod at Epiphanies, Inc. for expertly setting up our YouTube channel and to John Herman whose excellent artistic direction and filming made for a great shoot. And oh, by the way, John is the guy you see in the second spot getting the rough treatment after “speaking in bull.”

Welcome to the debut of “No Bull TV” and please be sure to tell your friends about it!

– Steve Boucher, Communications & Legislative Director