Episode 1: Muddy Business Beginnings

In this podcast Nate & Kim talk about how they first started down the road of local economy and local food. They talk about businesses that have come and gone and starting a Farmers' Market ten years ago to now running a farm.

SHOW NOTES:

1:00- Podcast start, intro to Nate & Kim Mudd and what they will be talking about on today’s episode.

2:03- The podcast. Kim & Nate talk about why they wanted to do a podcast and what they want to share on the podcast.

3:13- Kim and Nate talk about how they got started in local foods and how they met. They also talk about their first experience with CAFO's, what CAFO's are and how that got them started and local economy.

7:30- Local economy. More on local economy, how they got involved in local economy through meeting Wendell Berry. They talk about how Wendell Berry inspired them to think locally and act locally. They talk about moving to Denver and then starting a farmers market 10 years ago and realizing that local foods was a way for them to help the community and the environment.

14:00- The other companies they have started including an organic T-shirt company, a solar company, a smoothie company, an online platform to purchase local foods and others.

18:43- Their greatest failures. They talk about the failures they have encountered along the way and what advice Kim wishes she hadn’t listen to. They talk about the advice they give now to others from the experiences they have had with creating local companies.

21:52- "The Store". They talk about "The Store" that they started and how that has helped the local economy in Colorado.

24:00- What they are doing now. They talk about the farm, the farmers markets and the misconceptions out there that are involved in creating and running farmers markets.

26:07- The farm. They talk about the historic farm that they run, what they have done to help it become what it is now and the education side of the farm.

32:47- Nate talks about the company he started in high school and how he has always had an entrepreneurial spirit.

34:45- Some more of what they are doing at the farm including the weddings, co-op farming and farm-to-table dinners.

36:50- What they have learned. Kim & Nate talk about what they have learned from all the endeavors they have done and why it is so important to find people to help you accomplish your goals like strategic partners. They talk about strategic partners, what they are and why they have been so important to them and the farm.

40:49- Kim talks about some of the most recent strategic partners she is working with to help them actually farm food on the farm and provide a platform for them. They talk about how strategic partners are a two-way street that allow both partners to succeed.

42:50- The office sharing they are doing at the farm. They talk about how they have created office space that is basically like a Starbucks without the coffee and what they have learned after running the farm for a year. They talk about the process of starting and running businesses, eventually quitting their jobs, hiring employees, dealing with different stuff like insurance.

48:54- The corn maze. Kim and Nate talk about planting their first corn maze and what they learned about planting a corn maze. They talk about after planting the corn maze getting snow and it killing the corn and then the winds that basically demolished the corn maze. Nate talks about how this was one of the toughest things he has ever had to deal with professionally and the experience of having to go around and pick up each stock of corn to make it a corn maze again.

52:10- The farming that is actually being done at the farm. They talk about the different items that are being planted at the farm, the historic tours and tease what they are creating.

55:38- Tools. Nate talks about the different tools he uses on a daily basis that he loves to help him stay organized and make him more efficient.
– The Everlast notebook
– Snake boots
– Meditation
– Headspace app
– Evernote app
– Flipboard app

01:04- Wrapping up. They talk about where they see the local food movement going from here from dealing with food and water shortages, food security and the dying shopping malls.