The Final Post of Prosperity's Summer Intern, Rachel Bayless

Working at Prosperity has been a wonderful 13-week internship. I’ve had a lot of fun keeping this blog updated. And I’ve learned a lot about the business and gotten great work experience. This is my final post, as I will be heading back to Purdue in a couple of days.

This week I’ve taken Sarah’s books to Mooresville Feed & Seed to sell. There are now a few copies displayed at the cash register. I also went to a country store not too far from Prosperity where they expressed an interest in the books. They have a lot of hobby-farming customers who would be interested in learning how to make their operations profitable. And due to the convenient location, there may be some book signings in the future!

Yesterday I got to work at the Indiana State Fair. I sat in the Normandy Barn and got to talk to scores of fair-goers and hand out recipes for the Family of Farmers’ recipe trail. The Striped Bass with Pumpkin Sauce may not have been the biggest hit of the trail. But quite a few people said they planned on trying it, and it would probably go well with the dirt pudding recipe from the next stop on the recipe trail. Also, upstairs at the Normandy Barn, paintings of Indiana artist, Douglas David were featured, as well as the photographs of the ISDA photo contest winners. Sarah’s “Hereford Haze” is the first picture you see as you walk up the stairs. It’s really a very nice display of pictures and paintings. If you’re at the fair, it’s also a good break to the indoors for air conditioning.

On Monday I will begin my job as an advertising representative at The Exponent, Purdue’s student newspaper. Last semester I was a sales assistant, but now that I’ll have a territory and my own clients as an ad rep, I’m glad I’ve gotten some experience at Prosperity dealing with clients! I also write for a blog at Purdue. I am an admissions blogger, and maintain a blog for prospective students to read about life at Purdue. Once school starts I will be updating my “Boilermaker Life” blog again. You can keep track of what I’m up to at school on that blog. I am heading into my junior year, studying Sales and Marketing in the College of Agriculture. I’m looking forward to my new classes this semester, and hopefully I will have another fantastic semester at Purdue!

Winding Down, Week 11

On Monday, Prosperity held its quarterly advisory board conference call. I had the opportunity to sit in and listen to the board discuss current happenings in the agriculture world from different vantage points. Indiana Farm Bureau president Don Villwock called in as a guest speaker, and I am glad I got the opportunity to sit in on the meeting.

Also, as a follow up to my previous posts regarding Sarah’s photo, Hereford Haze – an entry is the ISDA’s annual photo contest, the winners have been selected! Hereford Haze took first place in the “On the Farm” category. It goes very nicely with the other 11 photographs selected, which will be a part of a 2012 calendar put out by the Indiana Farm Bureau and Hoosier Ag Today. And throughout the fair you will be able to see the pictures displayed upstairs in the Normandy Barn. I hope you get a chance to visit the fair this year and see all the wonderful events going on, especially this “Year of the Soybean”.

Following the meeting on Monday, I got to meet the newest resident on the Aubrey property. I had never seen such a young calf before, and she’s about the cutest thing I’ve seen. Her name is A cappella. She’s precious.

Photo by Rachel Bayless

From the Desk of Prosperity’s Summer Intern, Rachel Bayless:

This week has been very productive in preparing the marketing of The Profitable Hobby Farm. I’ve gathered book excerpts, a press release, and related items that are going to go towards making my very first media kit. The Sarah Beth Aubrey Facebook page (www.facebook.com/sarahbethaubrey) is being used as a book page for The Profitable Hobby Farm and Starting and Running Your Own Small Farm Business. 

After about another week, I will be getting started on contacting businesses and hopefully selling some books. The publishers are not easy to get in touch with. But I’m hoping to pull through and make this a successful project! I don’t want to be a flop at my major, sales and marketing.

Coming up in just a few weeks, the Indiana State Fair begins! I’m looking forward to going this year, after having a taste of the agriculture world. Our soybean friends at the Indiana Soybean Alliance are celebrating their “Year of the Soybean”. Check out this post by one of the ISA interns; take a shot at winning four tickets to this year’s fair. And once you’re at the fair, participate in the ISA’s soybean search, BEANGO (like Bingo, clever isn’t it!), to get some free fair food. And be sure to attend the Celebration of Agriculture event (August 17^th) put on by the Indiana State Department of Agriculture. They are announcing winners of their annual photo contest, and Sarah entered her picture “Hereford Haze” in the “On the Farm” category. 

"Hereford Haze" by Sarah Aubrey