Women Grow Ohio was “hatched” at a party in 2014 when a small group of women discussed the 2012 USDA census that showed that women in agriculture were doing amazing things for Ohio, yet they seemed virtually invisible. The first Women Grow Ohio (WGO) summer tour was held in 2015 with 14 sites representing a sampling of Ohio women-run farms, gardens, and homesteads. WGO began with two geographic ar
eas and included urban (Central Ohio) backyard sites plus rural traditional farms in the counties of (Athens, Licking, Muskingum, Perry, Lorain). The tour featured urban homesteads yards, forest and community gardens, community gardens, CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture), livestock farms and rural traditional farms. Roughly 150 visitors came out on one of the year’s hottest days to learn from and support the women who are growing Ohio. Organizations and businesses who support women in farming also participated as sponsors including the Ohio Educational Food and Farm Association (OEFFA), Ohio Earth Foods, Blue Rock Station, and City Folk’s Farm Shop. Marketing included the annual OEFFA farm tour series publications, news releases and social media. The WOMEN GROW OHIO page received over 400 “likes” within a few days of going
online, and created conversations centered on women farmers. This page was also used for communicating among tour sites, and event promotion. Each site was provided with assistance on how to organize their site (parking and restroom accommodations), speaking points etc.), and professionally printed directional signs. A wrap up potluck was held at one of the tour site locations and included women site hosts, tour attendees and those interested in future participation in the tour A small thank you gift was given to host farms. A discussion was held to begin planning for future Women Grow Ohio tours. WGO’s goal is to provide women agriculture producers with opportunities that promote their work in an industry that currently is still very much male-oriented. According to the 2012 US agriculture census there are 32,237 USDA (taken from Women Farm http://www.womenfarm.com/ohiocountymap.php) registered women farm producers. This number does not take into account all of the farms that did not participate in this census or aren’t registered with the USDA. Nor does it account for the thousands of urban and rural homesteaders and garden producers that are feeding Ohio today. In 2016 WGO became a project of Rural Action, helped coordinate a workshop on how to become a bison rancher, and garnered funding from The Stinner Summit. That summer there was a series of three farm fairs to showcase the work of women agriculture producers. In 2017 a series on how “How to Make a Living at What I Love to Do” was held in Zanesville and Delaware Ohio. Lunch and learn events were also held. When the season was evaluated it was clear that women were too busy to travel or spend time at face-to-face events. In 2018 WGO participated in the Rural Action Specialty Dairy (SARE grant) project in a variety of ways including coordinating a workshop on the topic, and also created a series of podcasts and webinars addressing marketing, branding and accounting plus how to access resources for starting an agriculture project. Carie Starr and Annie Warmke met with Patty Neiner of the Pennsylvania Women in Agriculture Network (PA-WAgN)to talk about how her organization could be more sustainable in gaining members and funding. Out of that conversation Carie and Annie were invited to speak at the PA-WAgN fall conference on “10 Ways to Make Thrive Your Mantra”. After an annual analysis it was clear that WGO needed a business model that has the potential to create ways within the next two years to earn money or raise funds that would enable Rural Action to have someone working on Women Grow Ohio’s mission. Carie and Annie created a business/non-profit income generating model that includes developing and publishing a confidence building book series called “Buffalo Gals Guide to Thriving” with the goal of old-fashioned story-telling of how women learned to thrive in the field of agriculture, plus creating a series of podcasts and webinars that promote the mission of WGO and crowdfunding
