Athens’ Own: Athens’ Farmers Market

 Katie's Internship Log  No Responses »
Apr 262013
 

The Athens Farmers Market on Saturday is the social event of the week. The smell of food cooking and the joyful sounds of music compliment the local farmers, producers, and distributors that gather together twice a week on East State Street. The bell opens the market at 10:00 for three hours. The excitement is inspired from the abundance of local organic food, plants, soap, candles, and art for sale. It is enchanting to see a mindful community unite with smiles on their faces as they exchange money, goods, compassion and information. As their baskets and cloth bags become full the support for the local economy grows and the potential for expanding the quality of life in the community continues. The local political and non-profit groups allow for education, generosity, and the relevant news to flow, facilitating democracy through engagement.

Another form of democracy is actively supporting your community by buying locally.  The Athens Farmers Market is located at the mall on East State Street, named The Market on State. It is in the parking lot and is easily accessed by the highway or the bike path. Constantine Faller, owner of Athens’ Own and Faller Foods, can always be found near the far entrance of the market cooking something and smiling at everyone. In the two weeks that I have been working at Athens’ Own Constantine and his intern Miles have always cooked local beef hamburgers that have been hung to age, giving it the old fashion taste. Their menu is always changing, but so far I have had their eggs, grilled cheese, raisin oatmeal, and vegetable bean soup with rice.  Athens’ Own also sells Dawn Chorus Coffee by the bag or ceramic cup, sweet beef bologna/salami, spicy cashews, pancake/waffle mix and spicy peppers in a jar at the Athens Farmers Market. It takes an hour to prepare the food and pack the truck at the Appalachian Economic Community Network, between five to ten minutes to drive to the market, and another forty-five minutes to set up the Athens’ Own Emergency Response Mobile Field Kitchen along with the other items for sale. It is a lot of work to have a business but from what I understand is worth every minute.

Unfortunately, there is one problem that cannot be ignored at the Athens Farmers Market. The landlords of The Market on State have only given the farmers, distributors, and producers a month to month lease. A month to month lease is only acceptable to gypsies and although the vendors have canopies, they should be respected as the foundation of success and sustainability in the town. On April 6th the owners Brent Hayes and Tom Parfitt decided that they do not want politics at the market. Tom Parfitt was quoted by David DeWitt from Athens News saying, “We’re giving them space down there to sell products. We’re happy to do that. They’re welcome to do whatever they do to help farmers out. But we don’t want any political things down there, no matter what it is.” The problem became apparent when the Bill of Rights Committee was going to collect signatures for a petition to ban hydraulic fracturing from the city of Athens to twenty miles up the Hocking River at the market. Bill Hayes is partnered with two Athens County deep-shale wells and hopes to lease hundreds of acres to expand the hydraulic fracturing operations by the gas and oil companies. Therefore the Bill of Rights Committee was banned from the Athens Farmers Market as well as “ANY POLITICAL THINGS” along with them. It is laughable politics is everywhere and is in the statement itself.

What I have always found interesting about this topic is that farmers are given the choice of leasing their land to compensate for the lack of revenues that their hard work and dedication provides. One in every seven jobs in the state of Ohio is created by Agriculture, yet the struggle for food security continues. Rather than our representatives seeing the hardship, they look at the leasing of farm land as a sign of approval! No farmer wants to jeopardize their business, yet all farmers that have hydraulic fracturing or injection wells on their land or near it are risking their livelihood, inheritance, retirement, air, water and food supply.  Gas and Oil companies are not regulated under federal environmental law: The Clean Air and Water Act, The Safe Drinking Water Act, or The Superfund Act. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is not only tasked with approving gas and oil permits but they are also dependent upon the permits to fund their department. The Environmental Protection Agency is not well funded for the increasing demands. They need to be funded to staff all of their sites and conduct research, which it currently cannot do. Until real oversight is created there will be citizens petitioning, protesting, and writing to the paper. The Farmers Market is the appropriate place to be engaging the community.

The real question is where can the Farmers Market be located other than at the East Side Market? It needs to be a large area, have easy access for cars, trailers, and bicycles, the parking needs to be free, and respectful engagement with the democratic process must be allowed. It is time that the nationally recognized Athens Farmers Market be honored with a  location of their own. Until then those working at the market talk and share information so no matter what and no matter where you are, there is business as usual.

 

 

April 17 and 18

 Miles' Internship Log  No Responses »
Apr 182013
 

Wednesday, we primarily tried the Wednesday farmers market again. We had been doing the market awhile ago and so we thought we might try it again. It was nice, consisting of some different shoppers than the regular market on Saturdays. We also have a choice: Constantine would like to either, make the Wednesday market a full setup like Saturdays with cooking and everything or, get to the point where we (Alyse, me and Katie) shall be able to do it without Constantine coming into town at all. I think both are good, but, we can’t really do both. They both have their pluses and minuses, Wednesday being cooking. Alyse thinks that more people will come from work at noon in order to get lunch on Wednesdays, which is probably true. On the other hand, being able to do the market without Constantine would be quite resilient, which is pretty much the whole point of Athens’ Own. Resilient in that while we do the market, he would be free to do whatever he needs to do, whether at home or at ACEnet, therefore a better use of that time. The three of us would also learn how to run the stand the whole time without his help.

On Thursday, we first made and packaged cashews, which was Katie’s first time. After that while waiting for Constantine to get there, we worked on a video presentation for the worker readiness certification with prezi. We still need to work on it obviously because we don’t really know our way around the system yet. I am also sort of tasked with learning it and finding out everything about it I can, mainly because Alyse doesn’t really have the time to, but it should still be fun. Constantine and I also made some bean soup with a pressure cooker, which I hadn’t ever used before so that was cool.

Integration

 Katie's Internship Log  No Responses »
Apr 172013
 

The land West of the Appalachian Mountains North of the Ohio River was opened to pioneers and veterans with the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Ohio became a state in 1803 and Ohio University located in Athens, Ohio was founded in 1804. Athens has historically been a town that is supported by agriculture, coal mining, millers, lumbermen, brick makers, salt boilers, iron makers and craftsmen and women producing much of its own goods and services. The University has grown to become a large contributor of knowledge, employment, and economic stimulation with the growing student population. It has always been a government of friends and neighbors.

I came here as a student four years ago, in the winter of 2009, with the goal of learning history and the environment. My first year in Athens, I worked with a local attorney and was paid to interact with the municipal and county court house every day. I studied at Ohio University and among the businesses and environmental organizations during my years as a student.  I helped to create two U.S. Congressional campaigns and a winning Supreme Court of Ohio campaign as well. During this time I learned that politics represents the Republic while the process and engagement of democracy and the freedom of choice and security is actualized within communities. The goal of all of these campaigns was to elect people without the need of raising money from corporations and organizations. It is essential that the Republic can represent the people and not industries that prioritize profits over health, the environment and future generations. I decided to move back to Athens, Ohio after traveling the state for the 2012 election to integrate further into the community. My goal is to learn more about what sustains this small resilient town and how I may break free from the influences that hurt the progress of my evolution, enlightenment and economic success.

I am a guest that wants to be of service and honor this community. I moved into a rental home four miles outside of town with two lovely ladies that I call my sisters. Both have been raised in industrial towns where coal mining is prevalent, one has always lived in Athens, Ohio. Our rental home also known as a lodge has a private lake that we have named with the joy of laughter The Victorious Vagina Lake due to the V shape. The lake was created by coal mining that was done in the 1950s-60s and the home is located at the center of the two portions. Soil was taken from a farm down the road, which has been cultivated by a family for over a hundred years, to restore the ecology of the area. We are there to appreciate, observe and expand the healing.

We learned of the history of this place as we walked down Pleasant Hill Road meeting our neighbors during the first heat wave of spring. Our neighbors train sheep dogs and horses, cultivate corn and hay, sell beef, sheep, along with compost. We are the stewards of the land that observe the robins, blue jays, blue birds, cardinals, chickadees, crows, nuthatches, finches, woodpeckers, vultures, hawks, bats, geese, doves, mockingbirds, an owl, a blue heron, etc. We understand the peepers embody the health of an ecosystem. I have counted 38 fish after a short meditation on a ledge of shale rock and have seen a turtle poking above the water as it swam by. Before the blossoms of spring we can appreciate the oak, maple, ash, buckeye, alder, pine, peach, apple and cherry trees that grace us with their generosity. The bees buzz around pollinating to our delight.

The lodge has two levels and the bottom level is rented by a Saudi-Arabian man that sings the Koran and love songs late into the evening. The home was rented by all of us fully furnished and there is a room locked with extra storage for more things along with a two car garage that holds more stuff that the owners will not use nor give away. There are five bedrooms, three and half bathrooms and six porches. The people that rent this house to us have another home along the eastern coast where they live in their retirement throughout the year. This is a place that symbolizes the consumer nation that we have become during the baby boomers’ generation. We use energy that we has been extracted and transformed without thinking of the chaos, confusion, and waste that is created due to our material desires. Its artful use of space and historic objects is appealing but it is the abundance of beauty found in the forest and lake that is inspiring. It is a place that is meant to be shared with others who wonder about what we truly need to enjoy life while contributing to our communities.

I found this lodge advertised on craigslist.org, a non-profit community organizing webpage. The home is owned by a couple who are psychologists. The man created the Tri-County Mental Health services in 1973 in southeast Ohio. The study of psychology has always interested me. The Athens Lunatic Asylum was created and opened its doors on January 1, 1874. It was the first institution for the mentally ill in the state of Ohio. This was before the science of psychology was introduced by Sigmund Freud and was expanded by Carl Jung in the twentieth century. The Asylum would eventually be called The Ridges due to the location in the Appalachian foothills in Athens. The institution had its own water source, gardens to feed the staff and patients, health care, funding and cemetery. I have always enjoyed the aspect of Athens that supports mental health and holistic healing.

I was attracted to working with Athens’ Own because of the holistic management that is taught by Constantine. Constantine, owner and manager of Athens’ Own, reminds me of the vulture. He lives at the Broadwell Hill Learning Center, www.broadwellhill.org, which is a home that has actualized symbiosis between nature and humans. He is the balance to the consumer lifestyles that have been taught by the baby boomer generation. The vultures that soar above Athens, glide on heat waves in the atmosphere and do not expend more energy than is necessary to fly. They clean the earth of disease by only taking what is offered. They are aligned with the cycles of the seasons and recycling nature of life and death. We humans help expand the population of vultures thus they can always be seen along the roadways. After meeting Constantine I could look at this home that I was living in with a different perspective. This home was built with passive solar, it has the ability to be sustainable due to having its own water source and land for gardening which is now being used as a field. It has a wood burning stove in the forest and only a forty gallon water heater for the house. Constantine teaches people to be reflecting on all aspects of their lives so that they may see the solutions rather than concentrating on the deficiency.

 

 

 

April 15 and 16

 Miles' Internship Log  No Responses »
Apr 172013
 

On Monday, we first bagged even more coffee, and I am therefore more seeing how much of this coffee is distributed into this community.  Not just at the farmers market, but also Seaman’s, and other places. Multiple places also get the coffee in bulk form to serve like Jackie O’s. I knew AO did all that, but I didn’t really see how how many places and people partake of and enjoy this coffee and by that I somewhat mean I didn’t really see how much coffee AO “moved”. I would not be surprised at all if we needed to package more before the market on Saturday in order to have enough. Once we packaged the coffee, we talked more about the worker readiness certification. Once done with that, we split up, Alyse and Katie going to Jackie O’s and Constantine and I went to inventory and stock Seaman’s, and while doing that, I worked on my handwriting. At some point in that day, we opened up the coffee maker at ACEnet and switched the hot water spout seal because it had been leaking some, something else I hadn’t done before.

Tuesday, we talked about doing the Wednesday farmers market, which we haven’t done in a long while, so it should be fun. We also ordered some things: we got some good stainless steal hinges to fix the coolers and got the 25 pin serial cord to usb adapter cord so we can use a laptop with the printer Constantine has. While we got the cord, we also at the same time found and got a nice Jawbone bluetooth for his phone. I did all those orders so those were my 2nd, 3rd and 4th online orders that I have done and I think I’m getting the hang of it. Also, over the phone, I (with his guidance obviously) ordered both a custom fridge gasket for Souvlakis and then ordered some more Frog ranch pickles. After that, I went with Constantine to Jackie O’s and Alyse stayed behind and bagged for cashews. At Jackie O’s, we took apart their coffee grinder because it was not working at all. Once we took it apart, we could see that why it wasn’t working was because it was so jammed full of ground coffee and some beans that it couldn’t work. We cleaned it and I saw how it all works and everything. We put it back together and it now works fine. This also shows again how I think that AO and Constantine are better than the average business: he’ll come and completely take apart and fix something that he provided rather than just let them do it themselves because he cares, even if it takes half the day.

April 12

 Miles' Internship Log  No Responses »
Apr 142013
 

Friday, the four of us started by talking more about the worker readiness certificate and we worked on a good paragraph to get people interested in the program and this is what we came up with:

From our experience, finding exceptional employees is difficult. It seems that many students are coming out of college, or high school, with a lack of real-world skills. To us, this demonstrates a need for a more complete educational system. One way we can see to address this is to create our own job training for our interns. We are interested in getting community input on this topic. Do you agree or disagree that the educational system can sometimes be lacking? Students, do you feel you are getting shorted in your education? If so, in what ways? Employers, do you find it difficult to find great employees?

I think that this is very true because schools don’t really provide students with those necessary skills. For example, they’ll teach you how to do math, but they won’t teach you how to make change or they”ll teach public speaking but they won’t specifically teach a student how to greet customers. That’s a gap in the education system that really needs to be changed and that’s what this program hopes to do. After that previous paragraph, we also came up with these two that follow it:

People graduate with knowledge, but often that knowledge is not practiced into wisdom. Through the worker readiness certificate, we believe the people will have an opportunity to live the practices they have studied, and to continuously gain new knowledge and skills.

We hope to use the worker readiness certification to help illuminate the diverse Athens’ network of businesses, and connect students to mentors who can teach them deeper understanding of the connected-ness of the community.

Those both too make sense. The first part means that the students must take whatever skills they have and must apply them directly in a job situation. This program will try to take that student with, for example, the public speaking class skill and turn that into skills like being able to interact really well with customers (or anyone for that matter, business or non-business) and will obviously learn new skills, like holistic management, which is what the second part is about. They will learn more about all the various connections that a given business (like Athens’ Own) haves, how to better make good decisions and how to better view their whole life.

 

Life-long learning

 Alyse's Log to Interns, Interns' Blog, Internship Concepts  No Responses »
Apr 142013
 

In June 2012, I sat down with Constantine to discuss a potential job opportunity. He was looking for someone to help tell the story of his company. We talked for hours that day, over several cups of Dawn Chorus Coffee. He asked if I thought in two weeks, I could write the whole story of Athens’ Own. I said of course! Two weeks, that’s plenty of time to write about a business. Why would I have thought that with all my organizational, educational, and personal experiences, it wouldn’t be a breeze?

 

Almost an entire year later, here I am, with still only the beginnings of the story in my head. I am not saying that I slacked off for a year, I am saying that I never imagined the complexity of the Athens’ Own story could be more than a “This is who we are, this is what we do”. It has taken me almost a year to realize that not only did I not know anything then, I only know bits and pieces now.

 

That is not to say that I haven’t learned that much in a year. In fact, the exact opposite is true. I have learned an incredible amount of information. I have learned stories and stories about people, places, foods, visions, dreams, and ideas. I have learned new concepts and new skills. I have learned a bit about how to run a business, and a bit more about how to embrace my community. But if I had to pick the main lesson out from this past year, it would be the lesson of how to learn.

 

I still don’t think I was naive in assuming I could write the story of a business in two weeks. I’m sure there are plenty of businesses out there who can easily sum up who they are and what they do in a few fairly simple paragraphs. However, in the case of Athens’ Own, I found that the story is as much about my own journey as it is Constantine’s. Had I arrived at that first day and said there was no way I could ever learn it all in two weeks, I might have reached this conclusion sooner. In fact, looking back, what I should have said was: “I HOPE I can’t learn the story in two weeks. If I could, it can’t be that impressive of a story.”

 

In each day that followed, I have observed, participated, helped, asked questions, heard stories, looked things up, wrote bits and pieces, and learned a bit more. Perhaps the most challenging part of this experience was that for each bit I learned, ten more bits emerged that I didn’t yet understand. For a person like me who likes things quantified, I have been exasperated more than once with the seemingly endlessness of the journey. However, I have continually held onto the driving and motivating hope that one day I can somehow get it all down in a way that someone else can read. Each piece that I construct brings me a sense of satisfaction that one more piece of the puzzle is in place, even if that puzzle keeps getting bigger every day.

 

But the point I would like to make from all this is that the old proverb that “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey” is the truest statement I could ever make about my time at Athens’ Own. Although I originally thought my learning experience would have a definitive end and I would move from the learner to the teacher, I have discovered that there is no clear destination, and that is indeed the entire point. I am here to learn, and to continue learning. Even more importantly, I am here to seek out the knowledge and experience, in order to make this challenging journey last as long as possible, beyond Athens’ Own, beyond a job, and beyond anything I can imagine. I have learned, simply, that I have a lot to learn.

 

 

-Alyse

April 11

 Miles' Internship Log  2 Responses »
Apr 112013
 

Today we (Alyse, Katie and myself) bagged a little coffee, bagged some cashews and packaged some honey. Once done with those things, we  went to the conference room and talked about the worker readiness certification. The main  reason for this program is because Constantine believes (and rightly so) that both high school and college don’t prepare students enough to just go out and start working. They’ll probably be able to get a job, but their education won’t have prepared them enough to be the best workers and employees that they can be. Constantine’s program then works with the student(s) to do just that: make them the best they can be. We then talked about clarifying some of the requirements and changed the wording on a few. But the main topic was to present this worker readiness certification program to the community, which includes Constantine’s family, the businesses involved with Athens’ Own and the Athens’ Own team, both current and past team members. Since none of us have this certification yet, we are looking at it as if it is an entirely new thing. We are trying to determine how the three of us will best go about getting the certification together, as a group/team. We are going to try to do it as if we were the IDEAL candidates for this program and to sort of set a good timeline in which to do it all. I hope then that we will be able to work together and to get the best out of each other for this certification.

Humility: Day Three at Athens’ Own

 Katie's Internship Log  No Responses »
Apr 112013
 

My parents are from the baby boomer generation and it is this generation that I continue to learn how to organize, prioritize, and engage with the progress of evolution and enlightenment. It was this generation that help to expand the civil rights movement, environmental movement, anti-war movement and the women’s movement. At age thirty-one I am aware that I have maybe twenty years left to work, learn, and understand the legacy of this generation in person. Constantine reminds me of the responsibility he feels towards his parents’ generation that left him with an opportunity to serve others and create this business. They taught him to have a work ethic, to sacrifice for the greater good, be a steward of the land, and fix that which is broken. He reminds me of the humility that is learned though pragmatic resourcefulness.

He continues to live his ideals as he becomes an elder. His eyes question my dedication as he speaks his truth, telling me that I must learn the systems that he has been practicing into wisdom for twelve years at Athens’ Own. In order to understand how something works you must know where it comes from, how it is prepared, distributed, fixed when broken, and recycled back to the earth. I stand before him as a confident women determined to understand him and help him, although I know that the arrogant, self-indulgent, negligent aspect of youth is the stereotype that I must prove to be foreign to my professional nature. I reassure him that I am here to listen, to learn how an ethical business succeeds week to week, and readjust my perception so that my humility will balance the success that I have earned and received. My goal is to take the hippy free flowing ideals and translate them into an outline that can be followed, recommended by institutions, and copied as a model.

He wants all of our dialogues to be transparent and online, not just tonight, tomorrow or next week, no he wants them to be online in the moment that the magic is happening so that others can be included in the discussion. I can understand why logs are important, they keep the history of the people that have been involved with Athens’ Own. Their experiences are not lost and they stay connected well after their internship is over. Their experiences represent them and help the business adapt and improve. Constantine is enthusiastic about the Communication Era. He sees democracy happening through an online forum so that dominating groups do not have the power by default. He is not afraid of failures and mistakes rather he believes that they are challenges that inspire work and solutions that lead to efficiency. He has no problem with critiques of the business for he believes that everything that he and his team does at Athens’ Own is owned by the community and that community should know what they are doing.

As we leave for the day I am reminded to be mindful of my words. I have so much to learn. I feel that I have only practiced and studied sustainability. Constantine is teaching it and living it everyday. I am not here to pat myself on the back while living in the progressive town of Athens. I am here to learn how to grow and greet challenges with an open mind like that which is inspired with the rising sun. Granted, when I am up that early I sometimes question with enthusiasm, challenging what I see before me or what I hear, but I know to trust that all will be explained and understood in good time.

April 8 and 9

 Blogs, Miles' Internship Log  2 Responses »
Apr 102013
 

Monday we did the usual bagging of coffee and cashews. We re-packaged some olives in order to get some onions and garlic better distributed. We also bought two new coolers for the sweet beef bologna which was also my first actual online purchase with a credit card.

Tuesday we did a variety of things. We first inventoried then stocked Seaman’s, for my second time. While there, we also inventoried  the AO meat section, which I hadn’t done before and required a slightly different method. After that, we went to Jackie O’s and gave them a new filter for the coffee pots to prevent them from overflowing. We also delivered chips to them as well. Once done with that, we went back to ACEnet and took the coffee maker from there and went to Bagel Street Deli uptown and swapped their maker for the one we brought. We then swapped that one with the one at Jackie O’s brewery, because that one isn’t working right, so as Constantine said, we did “the coffee machine shuffle.” All in all, a good day with new things to experience.

Meeting of the Minds: Day Two at Athens’ Own

 Katie's Internship Log  No Responses »
Apr 092013
 

Alyse and Miles, the intern of two years, greeted me near the storage unit of Athens’ Own at ACEnet. The previous day they had been working together to package the Hot Spiced Cashews and stamp the recycled and compostable packaging of Dawn Chorus Coffee. On this day Miles was packaging olives for Seaman’s Grocery Store in 25% post-consumer recycled plastic containers on the stainless steel table in the community kitchen. We were next to the coffee pot that Athens’ Own provides and keeps supplied with Dawn Chorus Coffee for the community of businesses working in the space. Constantine arrived and it was clear that he was the manager and mastermind of the operation. He was given updates on the progress of the day and immediately started helping Miles with his task as Alyse set up my log and I spoke with him about my enthusiasm for the day.

Alyse then proceeded to give me a tour of the facility, their storage, and the products. We then all met at the community office meeting space for a meeting of the minds. The team at Athens’ Own was preparing for an extremely busy week. It was Mom’s Weekend at Ohio University and there were three farmers markets that Athens’ Own would have a venue. I asked about the dress code, thinking that to sell a product the team should be wearing their logo or be dressed nicely to attract complimentary attention. Constantine informed me that they were still working on the dress code, that wearing belts so that when lifting and bending at the booth nothing was revealed that could be offensive or distracting. Alyse told me that they usually wear t-shirts that advertise their partnership businesses in town such as Jackie O’s Pub and Brewery.

Alyse then described all the products that we would be selling. The Athens Farmers Market does not allow anyone to sell a product that they did not create or raise. This means that the Wisconsin Aged Cheese and the Aged Beef could not be sold at the Athens Farmers Market. However the Ohio University Farmers Market was more relaxed in their standards therefore Athens’ Own would be allowed to sell all of their products. The Ohio University Farmers Market is not a weekly market but a monthly market at the corner of Union and College Street across the street from the College Green. I wrote down the prices for the products so that I could have a better understanding for my first day at the market. Alyse told me that the prices do change with the businesses in town that sell their products due to their personal arrangements. While I was learning about the products at our meeting Constantine was teaching Miles the accounting from the last Athens Farmers Market. Constantine was teaching by observing, questioning the logic behind the method, answering questions and demonstrating the correct procedures.

We watched a movie that is available online at athensown.biz called “One Square Foot” which was created by Kaitlyn Bernauer. Part of the documentary is filmed at Broadwell Hill Learning Center and Sustainable Tree Farm. I was then given a book on loan that is required reading for the Worker Readiness Certification titled, At Home with Holistic Management: Creating a Life of Meaning, by Ann Adams. The meeting lasted an hour and a half whereby we separated in groups of two to distribute the products in town to various local businesses. We also picked up food scraps for the Food Scraps and Organics Recovery Initiative while completing other errands.

We met back up at ACEnet and continued preparing Athens’ Own products. Miles and Alyse filled the cart with the necessary tools for cutting cheese while Constantine and I got the Aged Wisconsin Cheese from the cooler and brought it to the community kitchen. We all had our hair tied back and some kind of hat or bandana on our heads while Constantine also had on gloves. Constantine wore plastic gloves while he sharpened the knife and cut the cheese. He spoke of his precautions and techniques while cutting the cheese. He explained that he is creating a team that is dedicated to this community, Resiliency Warriors. I told him that my goal is to work for the SEERs, those that see the need for a Sustainable Energy and Ecological Revolution. Historically there has been the Agriculture Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the Green Revolution which created fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, pesticides and genetically modified foods. Therefore we need a Sustainable Energy and Ecological Revolution to deal with the overwhelming problems created by pollution and global warming. He was pleased with this and looked up with his eyebrows raised and said that the SEERs would not say they were SEERs. He related the SEERs to teachers because it is up to the student to acknowledge someone as a teacher. He believes that the leaders on the cutting edge of the sustainable movement must live the ideal. People may not understand everything that he is doing, such as not serving disposable cups so that people may taste Dawn Chorus Coffee because it is the cutting edge. He brings ceramic cups and sells containers because he does not want to generate waste and people should have containers on them where ever they go so that we can illuminate the plastic and paper waste that is needlessly accumulating in our landfills.

I then learned how the scale worked, the pricing per pound and we were given the challenge of naming the cheese that had been aged for six months. Constantine and Miles worked together flawlessly throughout our conversations on Holistic Management. Holistic Management starts with a vision then that vision is worked into action and those actions are networked to accomplish the goal. Constantine put a triangle slice of cheese on the scale; Miles filled in the label with the weight and price as Constantine wrapped the cheese and then added the label. Miles is going to be taking his senior graduation test soon and has been an intern for two years with periodical breaks. He is home schooled as many people are in Athens, Ohio. Constantine explained that his internship program is being created to prepare people to work with a holistic approach. He enjoys working with Miles because he is a youth in Athens, Ohio so the program immediately benefits the community. It was beginning to become obvious that having an internship with Athens’ Own is a great opportunity for people to learn: responsibility, punctuality, accounting, packaging, distribution, sales and being impeccable with their word. It also allows them to learn from many of the local businesses in town and meet the community that supplies the stable economy in Athens, Ohio. The opportunity is also ideal for college students that want to enhance their understanding of sustainability, business, marketing, and communication. Constantine told us that he would like to have Alyse and I clarify the procedures for obtaining the Workers Readiness Certification Program for he is still not satisfied with the clarity of the program. We then finished the day by preparing the supplies for the Farmers Market that Alyse, Miles and I would be attending the next day.