Jami Scholl
Website: MyEdibleEden.com
Twitter: @jamischoll
Attended: Lift Off 4 (August 2011)
Where were you in your entrepreneurial journey before Lift Off? Transitioning… moving from onsite edible landscaping/permaculture design and speaking engagements, to a position less dependent upon seasonality of gardening.
What are you up to now? Directing a non-profit project through My Edible Eden, product development and nearly ready to launch online classes. I am focusing on the various ways and means of educating and advising through an integration of onsite and online, as well as the various ways in which collaboration can happen between non-profit and for-profit businesses with the public good as the goal. On December 24th I released “A Gardeners Guide for the Productive Potager: A Collection of Essential Charts,” have set-up the program for Garden the City 2012: Painting with Edibles which now includes a board a social media marketing intern and an apprentice in Food Policy, and I will be opening for registration the class “Permaculture + Potager” on, can it be? March 1st if all goes as planned! Oh, and I was the mastermind to getting urban agriculture broadened in my city at the end of December after a 6 month campaign to change the current city chicken ordinance, which includes butchering if a family so desires to raise chickens for meat. There are only 3 cities in the US which allows butchering within city limits by property owners, Bloomington is now one of the three. Lastly I continue to write a weekly column called A Subversive Plot on Squidoo (thanks to Megan!) where I discuss various topics related to food and politics from the perspective of local advocacy having a global impact.
What was your favorite thing about Lift Off? One, really, just one? I have never been a person to allow for just one… and in permaculture design the best selection (of plants, for example) is determined by multiple uses. I am attempting to whittle this down to one… getting to two… so I will list the people and the clarity I gained in working on the step-by-step implementation plan.
I know that defining and owning proudly my superpower is a foundational element, which could not have happened without Pam’s insight: that beauty is healing. For helping me figure out what to do with this superpower in organization, I credit Charlie. One without the other would be fruitless.
My super team “classmates” were able to help me see things in ways and with details I would never had found on my own. It’s all priceless. Holistically, it is not the “things” (although important), but the synergy between these “things” that is so powerful. Oh, and the food was fabulous!
So to summarize – my favorite thing are not things at all! It is everyone! The knowledge given through the spirit of mutual benefit. In everything I do I think about creating opportunities for others or how can I help at the same time of thinking about COV (Cashflow, Opportunity and Visibility). I am also better at planning. I don’t think much about selling, but about adding value, creating a good relationship. One of the best highlights is the TOP Secret Facebook Page dedicated to helping one another accomplish our goals, provide input and mutual support. The ongoing interaction and development of relationships has been of huge benefit!
