"FARMS (Focus on Agriculture in Rural Maine Schools) is currently running a Kickstarter for the FARMS Community Kitchen to be located on the second floor of Rising Tide. Please visit our Kickstarter page, support our project and spread the word. See:…"
Barkwheats Dog Biscuits's Blog (81)
Janssen
So I'd been holding out until things were finalized about my new acquisition, and now that they are...I'll unveil the pictures! This is my new biscuit moulder, a Janssen K250.
This piece of equipment I had customized for me with a new mould roller with my design on it. What I can do in a full day's worth of work, this machine can do in about 3 minutes. It brings my capacity up to a point where I can finally take on a distributor to… Continue
This piece of equipment I had customized for me with a new mould roller with my design on it. What I can do in a full day's worth of work, this machine can do in about 3 minutes. It brings my capacity up to a point where I can finally take on a distributor to… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on July 24, 2008 at 2:37pm — No Comments
Giving Money Pt 2
I wanted to update my previous post real quick regarding finding a farmer. I haven't...yet...but got a really nice call from a woman who works for the Washington/Hancock Community Agency and is very interested in helping to connect me with a farmer, possibly herself too, to grow me buckwheat and chamomile. As I had mentioned, this is a very tough thing for me to accomplish as organic grains are in such high demand and the farmers have a hard enough time… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on July 16, 2008 at 5:31am — No Comments
Hard to give away money
I've been finding the most difficult thing about my business is the one thing that I really thought would be easy. Supporting Maine farmers. I have been trying left and right to find a certified organic grain farmer to produce buckwheat for me, and also one to produce chamomile for me. I've been getting turned down left, and also right. One thing I'm not sure of, is why is it so difficult to contract with someone to grow grains? I'm willing to pre-pay for it and our business is taking off by… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on July 14, 2008 at 4:24pm — No Comments
On the Television!
Here is Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on the air this… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on July 5, 2008 at 6:48pm — No Comments
Another Entrepreneur
Here's one of my friend, Andy Tyne, who operates Broadway Rickshaw in Bucksport. What a cool thing he's got going on… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on July 4, 2008 at 5:52am — No Comments
Barkwheats on TV
WLBZ was here last Thursday taping footage for a weekend 207 Report that will air July 5th, this Saturday, at 7:30pm. We talked about the reasons for creating biscuits for dogs from locally produced ingredients, followed along as I prepared biscuits for baking and then to the packaging. It was a fun filled couple of hours that they were here, and I'm really looking forward to the show!
Aside from that, we're in the midst of preparing for the Full Circle Fair in a few weeks and then… Continue
Aside from that, we're in the midst of preparing for the Full Circle Fair in a few weeks and then… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on July 1, 2008 at 1:22pm — No Comments
Business
I started out wanting to write about how busy I've been lately. I wrote the subject to read like "busy-ness" and when I wrote business, I realized what it also said. Owning your own business certainly isn't easy, but it is rewarding. I've been involved with radio shows and talking with a local TV station lately about doing a story on Barkwheats and all the while having to make more and more biscuits to satisfy the growing number of pups that are falling in love with the biscuits I… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on June 19, 2008 at 1:53pm — No Comments
New Stores
A few fine folks have taken the opportunity to offer their customers Barkwheats Dog Biscuits! THANKS!!
"Unleashed Pet Products" in Richmond, VT
"Hammertown" in Pine Plains, NY
"Unleashed Pet Products" in Richmond, VT
"Hammertown" in Pine Plains, NY
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on June 17, 2008 at 12:00pm — No Comments
When it All Works
Isn't life just great when things work as they're supposed to? I finally got the racks for my Blodgett oven that I got for "free" (had to buy a load of parts for it) and tonight got to give it the first whirl with the biscuits. What normally would take me nearly 5 hours to do in the small kitchen size oven I had been using, took me just 45 minutes in this oven. What a difference! The whole house smells like biscuits tonight :) The oven also raised the temperature inside the house by 10… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on June 13, 2008 at 5:09am — No Comments
Word of Mouth
Word of mouth is such a powerful thing. Just this week I officially added one more wholesale client (Wyman's General Store here in Stockton Springs...SUPER cute store and awesome breakfast sandwiches) and have 2 more in the works out of state from people that love what we're doing here at Barkwheats.
Word of mouth is powerful, there's an entire association dedicated to the ethical practices of word of mouth marketing.… Continue
Word of mouth is powerful, there's an entire association dedicated to the ethical practices of word of mouth marketing.… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on June 11, 2008 at 5:00am — No Comments
1st Strawberries!
It's amazing what you can find in your yard when you don't mow the lawn...tons of strawberries and raspberries and lupines that usually got mowed until we moved in.
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on June 8, 2008 at 8:02am — No Comments
On The Radio
On Sunday afternoon on 103.9, you'll be able to hear "yours truly" talking about Barkwheats, pet food, and green business practices all in one Back To Business show! I had the taping of it yesterday along with Don Hanson from Green Acres Kennel Shop and Laurah Brown from Kennebec River Company , dubbed the Catnip Queen. We had lots to talk about so be sure to check it… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on June 5, 2008 at 6:24am — No Comments
Co-operative Business
I attended a meeting today at WHCA about co-operative business models and time sharing. It was really enlightening! Thanks to the folks at WHCA for putting that event on. While it was small (7 or so people) it gave a lot of time for interaction between the WHCA folks, myself as a business owner, and CDI, the Cooperative Development Institute. There were many things talked about, and one that most piqued my interest was time sharing and time banks. I got to speak with the Executive Director of… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on May 29, 2008 at 5:58pm — No Comments
Easy Decisions
This morning I ventured down to the bakery to start crafting my biscuits, and while I was rolling out the dough and cutting the rounds, I started thinking about the whole sustainability aspect of how I run my business and how other businesses are run.
What I'm trying to follow is called the Natural Step Framework. Within this framework of thought are 4 simple questions to ask yourself about every decision that is made for the business. Whether it's buying paperclips or buying that… Continue
What I'm trying to follow is called the Natural Step Framework. Within this framework of thought are 4 simple questions to ask yourself about every decision that is made for the business. Whether it's buying paperclips or buying that… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on May 27, 2008 at 4:04pm — No Comments
Waldo County Craft Co-op
I'm headed over to the Waldo County Craft Co-op to drop off some biscuits. They were absolutely thrilled to have found Barkwheats and approached me to have my biscuits on sale over there. It's a great sounding place that's been around since the mid-60's. Needless to say, I'm very excited to be a part of their success.
Business is going...fast. My head is constantly filled with new ideas; creative ways to fix current issues or recipe concoctions for our upcoming seasonal biscuit… Continue
Business is going...fast. My head is constantly filled with new ideas; creative ways to fix current issues or recipe concoctions for our upcoming seasonal biscuit… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on May 21, 2008 at 2:48pm — No Comments
Electricity...fun!
Well, not so much for me. While I'm all about doing the small home improvement project, I had to call in the big guns for this one. Renee's dad helped me run 6/3 Romex from our breaker panel down to the bakery so that I can install the "new" oven. I ended up buying enough wire to have just 8 inches left over at the end!! PHEW! So now the bakery is all wired up for 220v and I can start buying parts for the oven and get this show on the road! This is exciting...very exciting...
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on May 12, 2008 at 4:44am — No Comments
Busy Busy Busy
Wow, this week has been absolutely crazy busy in the bakery! Now that I've got 2 markets and other wholesale accounts, I seem to be spending more and more time baking biscuits. I absolutely love it! I got a new dough sheeter to replace the cookie depositor that I had been using. It makes the biscuit making much easier than it was, and they look a million times better now...just like they used to.
I've also been looking into some equipment that could make my life a little easier and… Continue
I've also been looking into some equipment that could make my life a little easier and… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on May 8, 2008 at 3:28pm — No Comments
Successful Markets
What a whirlwind the past few days have been. With this being our first ever season of participating in Farmers Market's, we didn't know quite what to expect, but thanks to the advice of Caitlin at Appleton Creamery who was at both the Belfast and Orono markets, we managed to do quite well. The Orono market,… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on May 4, 2008 at 6:18am — No Comments
Preparing for Markets
This week is going to be spent getting prepped for the Belfast Farmer's Market and the Orono Farmer's Market. I'm really excited to have been accepted into both of them and am excited to find out how many people will attend. I really don't have much of an idea on what to expect attendance wise, so I'm looking forward to both of them. I'm also getting my blodgett oven in tip top shape and am just saving up my pennies to get a few parts before I get to be in full production with that piece. For… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on April 28, 2008 at 5:46pm — No Comments
The Boxes Arrived!
With much anticipation the freight delivery driver showed up at my house on Friday to bring me a ton of boxes (actually, a half ton to be more precise...that's a lot of boxes!). He was a SUPER nice guy who has a couple nice sounding lab mixes of his own.
I've added photos in my photo section, so be sure to check them out! I also just brought some biscuits with the new boxes over to the Belfast Coop and the Blue Hill Coop will be getting the new boxes this week, and Rising Tide will… Continue
I've added photos in my photo section, so be sure to check them out! I also just brought some biscuits with the new boxes over to the Belfast Coop and the Blue Hill Coop will be getting the new boxes this week, and Rising Tide will… Continue
Added by Barkwheats Dog Biscuits on April 27, 2008 at 6:19am — No Comments
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Plantme posted a status"I am in the 2nd season growing groundnuts (Apios Americana). what has experience has been and were you able to breed larger tubers?"
Jessica Roy replied to Jamien Richardson's discussion Maine Harvest Company Seeking Farmers To Grow For Us!"My farm may be able to help with this. We are a small farm but usually have an abundance of beans every year. Could you please send me a little more info on this! Very interested. Thanks"
Jessica Roy posted a status"River Valley Famers Market is open. It will still be on the Island on Exchange Street in Rumford. Hours are Fridays from 12 to 4."
Barbi Ives joined LisaF's group
Greater Portland Food System
This group is to facilitate connections among people and groups working directly in the Greater Portland Food System (farmers, fishermen, activists, food service, agencies, NGO's, businesses/coops, gardeners, processors, distributors/aggregators, retailers, etc.) This online group is meant to compliment the other connecting work already happening in Greater Portland.See More
Mary Ann Hayes joined LisaF's group
Maine Food Hubs
This group if for anyone involved in or considering involvement in a food hub type of project.See More
Jeff Edelstein posted an eventGreater Portland Sustainability Mini-Conference at USM Portland
June 4, 2013 from 3pm to 7pm
Come join the Greater Portland Sustainability Council for a free mini-conference at USM on June 4 from 3 pm - 7 pm. More info by clicking here. You can come for specific topics or the whole event. Do you have a topic to present or discuss? - let us know as there will be time for "open space" discussions. Sessions will be presented on the following (go to the website for the detailed…See More
Sandy Garson replied to Monique Coombs's discussion School garden MENTORS wanted"Ryan,
You do not have to totally re=invent the wheel. Alice Waters has been running a program that spreads from California called Edible Schoolyard. Check this out. I've also been involved teaching children how to cook garden food,…"
Michele Pfannenstiel replied to Monique Coombs's discussion HACCP! Whose got it? Where'd ya get it?"Happy to answer any questions..."
Michele Pfannenstiel replied to Michele Pfannenstiel's discussion Bills from the Legislature"There is great potential that if these bills pass those processors that comply with current regulations may be very compromised. The exemptions from state and federal laws will likely decimate Maine's current inspection system, bring the…"
Michele Pfannenstiel posted a discussionBills from the Legislature
As per Monique's request for dialog on the forum, I am posting links to 3 bills. I'll admit to being unclear as to what some of the reporting language means. OTP means Ought to Pass, ONTP means ought not to pass, AM is amendments, and I am going to venture a guess that Divided Report means it was split down the middle.LD 475…See More
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