by Vicki Reich I’m sure the busy season has started in ernest for many of you. As a former natural foods retail, I remember the stress of trying to make sure my customers could find just what they were looking for when they came to my store. I’m guessing being a manufacture at this time of year has its own special stresses. Even if your customers are too busy dealing with making the holidays perfect for their customers to be [Read More]
by Shawn Seebach, Board Secretary Another Provender conference has come and gone and I have to say, what an amazing conference it was! I am still feeling so energized by our amazing members and what you all bring to this community! It was great to see some familiar faces and also all the new ones. Thank you to all who came and made it the best conference yet! As we mentioned at our General Membership Meeting, the Board elections [Read More]
from the desk of Vicki Reich, Executive Director. The 41st Annual Provender Educational Conference was a great success! If you attended, I hope you agree. A quick perusal of the giant stack of workshop evaluations on my desk seem to indicate that attendees really enjoyed the workshops. The food was stellar as always (the only complaint I heard was it was so good that people ate too much). We had two truly inspiring keynote presenters. The snack room was above [Read More]
According to the countdown clock on the website there are 48 days, 18 hours and 20 minutes remaining until the start of the conference. That is pretty darn exciting (and a wee bit scary on my end)! I am so looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting all the wonderful people I’ve been emailing for the past five months. Things are really coming together. I hope you have all had the opportunity to check out the Conference Announcement. We [Read More]
Your Provender board is excited to announce the official hiring of Vicki Reich as our new Executive Director! After several months of job posting, screening and interviewing, the board narrowed the candidate field to 3 qualified and talented individuals. There were over 20 applicants for the position! Vicki has spent many years as a Provender board member and most recently as the Interim ED. Vicki’s skill set is broad and diverse. She has a great history and perspective with the [Read More]
We all, as a people, have been affected by the recent, tragic, disturbing events in Charlottesville, leaving us reflecting on what this all means and how this fits into our ideas of who we are and who we mean to be. During these last few days I have been inspired by the chorus of voices singing in solidarity against hate, fascism, white supremacy, and the unacceptable equivocation of the President. Now that the worst among us seems to be rising [Read More]
-from the desk of Vicki Reich, Interim Executive Director What’s Happening? The Conference is happening! On-line registration (yes, on-line registration!) opens this Wednesday July 19th. It’s a pretty exciting moment in my world and I hope it is in yours. The conference packet will be available in PDF format on the same day (I’d publish it today but I’m still waiting on a couple of last minute descriptions and it looks kind of messy right now). If you are as [Read More]
Article originally published in the GreenMoney eJournal (June 2017). More on GreenMoney at- www.GreenMoney.com A Guide to Sustainable Farmland Investing – Healing People and the Planet by David Miller, Co-founder and CEO, Iroquois Valley Farms We at Iroquois Valley Farms are pleased to announce a new corporate entity as we begin our 11th season of operations. In 2007 when we started the company, our idea was simple – growing healthy foods on organic soils would be good business. We are [Read More]
-from the desk of Vicki Reich, Interim Executive Director You hold in your virtual hands the first issue of the Provender e-Newsletter sent from our new membership software, Wild Apricot. It might not seem that exciting but it’s a big step forward for us. Getting things in place to launch the new software has been a bit of work. It’s not done yet but if I waited for it to be perfect (which is my natural inclination), you might never [Read More]
What’s Happening -from the desk of Vicki Reich, Interim Executive Director It’s amazing how fast a month can go by when you are deeply immersed in projects. So much has happened since the last issue of the Provender e-news. Let me catch you up. The 41st Annual Educational Conference is taking shape. We have both Thursday and Friday Keynote Speakers confirmed. Our Thursday morning keynote is Valerie Segrist who teaches classes on traditional food and medicine for the Northwest Indian [Read More]
Hello Provendarians! Spring is in full bloom and with that welcome seasonal change, we also are embracing our organizational changes. It was once said that “The only constant is change.” as I contemplate this writing, your Provender Board Of Directors will soon be on our way to our spring in person planning retreat on the Oregon coast. I think that I can say that we are all very excited about the opportunities we have ahead, while the path my not [Read More]
What’s Happening -from the desk of the Interim Executive Director This e-newsletter is going to be a bit different from past issues. With the change in the Executive Director position, I felt it was more important to let members know what was going on with their organization rather than what was going on in the Natural Products Industry as a whole. The regular format will return next month. So what is happening with Provender? Most importantly, the Conference is in [Read More]
Greetings Provender Members new and old. With Spring comes change – both growth and renewal. This is the time of the year that the board and ED are excitedly engaged in conference planning and our strategic planning retreat. You may know that, in February, Provender suffered the loss of our long time ED Susan Schechter. The board was faced with the challenge of finding and inserting a new ED. An incredible opportunity presented itself and Vicki Reich was hired as [Read More]
Hello Provender Members, Your Provender Board is excited to announce Vicki Reich as our new Interim Executive Director. Vicki has been actively involved in the organization for many years as a member with Winter Ridge Natural Foods and the Moscow Food Co-op as well as 8 years as a board member. Vicki brings with her years of experience in the inner workings of our organization. She served on the board during the transition to Policy Governance and was active in [Read More]