We crossed one big item off our list at the end of the week this week.
Concluding what was unnecessarily a very long and drawn out process, we successfully filed IRS form 1023 to obtain federal 501(c)3 tax exempt status. We are officially in filed and pending status now with the IRS. This is a big item we have been trying to mark off our list for quite a while now.
I’d like to offer special thanks to Matthew Ehinger at Ice Miller for rallying at the last moment this week to take us in and turn our work around in just a few days after other attempts for legal review had fallen through. He did an excellent job and we can now cross that large task off our list.
The progress on the land side of things continues to be favorable and is moving along well. We still aren’t far enough to leak any news but things are lining up and the information is coming together nicely so far. I have been so impressed with the cooperation we have experienced from all involved in helping to make this happen.
This week was full of really good meetings with people on the mission and goals of Farmished as well. Early in the 
week we met with Mike Row, President and CEO of Alliance for Strategic Growth. Mike is an amazing individual and is doing some really great things at ASG with a different perspective than those before him. We identified several programs that are candidates for us to work together on as we develop our programs and roll them out. He was gracious enough to offer to help us think though things as we work on the programs and with his unique economic development background his partnership will be invaluable. Later in the week we met with Candace Kindt, Soil Health Director at Delaware County Soil and Water Conservation District.
Candace was also very helpful in offering some good suggestions on places where we could collaborate or work together on programs and also on aspects of the land on the teaching farm. She has been extremely innovative with the SWCD programs in serving all aspects of the Ag spectrum both large and small. We are very interested in working together with her in the near future.
We also had the opportunity to test out a new program for sustainable producers this week. The program test consisted of hands on website assistance for local producers seeking to improve their site solution either in cost, simplicity, SEO, administration, or social media interaction. The first test was to be an early pilot and we will see how it might shape up into something more formal. If this kind of assistance sounds good to you and you are a local producer, please let us know. We may be able to use your feedback or add you to the pilot.
The week wrapped up nicely with an Executive Committee meeting where we formalized several decisions around the property planning and other operational aspects of the business.
Stay tuned for more excitement next week! As always, we appreciate your support and you sharing the news with others that might be interested in what we are doing. If you ever have questions or feedback on what we are working on, please feel free to let us know!
