Browsing category Notable

  

WileyDesign is Celebrating 15 Years in Business.

Header animation by TessaWiley.com
Video production by MotionAtlas.com

Together we can do amazing things!

October 2020: Celebrating a lifelong career in Graphic Design and a benchmark of 15 YEARS as an independent business owner. WileyDesign provides the tools, the experience, the talent, to give your business a strategic advantage.

Identity Design Print Design Book Cover Design Copy Writing

Logo Design Illustration Marketing Website Design

Branding Content Creation Video Production Event Displays

All in the family.

Announcing new collaborative talent as we move into the next decade!

Meet Evan Wiley. Premier video producer and editor.
MotionAtlas.com

 Meet Tessa Wiley. Designer, illustrator, and traditional artist.
TessaWiley.com

 

Thank you.

With huge gratitude to Dick Bruso, Heard Above the Noise, a Branding Extraordinaire, who helps companies discover "who they are" — a critical step to take prior to creating a visual identity.

And to Kathy Sullivan, Six Degrees Studio, a creative partner; someone I can kick around ideas with, someone that makes a project not just work well, but shine! Websites, content writing, blogging, newsletters...

 

The WileyDesign logo: In 2005 a visual of a solo bird in flight made sense. Going it alone... leaving the corporate world... vulnerable, yet in charge. The logo design evolved over time, just as the business has.

The business: Graphic Design turned into Identity Design, Identity Design turned into Communications and Marketing Consultation. In 15 years WileyDesign has created well over 100 logo designs, won numerous awards, and oversees marketing for a Colorado Savings & Loan banking institution with 10 branches.

The clients: The best way to look at any business is from the standpoint of the clients. I have worked with people who have incredibly interesting stories and accomplishments. Some of these stories I have shared in my blog. I have learned a lot. Some of my clients have been with me nearly all of my 15 years in business. I am grateful for their loyalty.

WileyDesign survived the 2008 recession, and so far, the 2020 pandemic. Onward!

 

 

Part 2 of 2

[caption id="attachment_1106" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Sheep grazing among the fruit trees, contained by portable electric fencing[/caption]

Apricot Lane Farms

After I watched the movie The Biggest Little Farm at the Boulder Film Festival, I felt joy and hope, because I saw a wonderful message (and a heartwarming documentary) that farming can be productive and lucrative the old fashioned way. It’s real, and I set out to see it first hand.

Apricot Lane Farms is located 40 miles north of Los Angeles. I scheduled a tour that would coincide with my annual trip west. Setting out early from San Diego to beat the LA traffic, my daughter (who had recently studied Permaculture) and I arrived at the farm to join a group of about 40 people for the 1:00 pm tour.

The best way to explain Apricot Lane Farms is to watch the movie. In short, a young couple (and their dog) purchased a nearly dead, dusty orchard. With the help of several investors and the expertise of a biodynamic farmer named Alan York, they were able to transform the 200 acres into a lush, productive oasis.

Biodynamic farming is the precursor to organic and
sustainable farming. It was developed in Germany in the
early 1920s by philosopher Dr. Rudolf Steiner. Dr. Steiner believed
that the soil, plants, animals and everything in the
solar system is interconnected.

Diversity

The El Toledo Coffee plantation (part 1 of my blog) sees ongoing benefits from their diverse plantings. Furthering that theme, Apricot Lane Farms’ repertoire includes farm animals. They have pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, guinea hens, horses, highland cattle, and a Swiss dairy cow. The land consists of biodynamic certified avocado and lemon orchards, a vegetable garden, pastures, and over 75 varieties of stone fruit (fruit with a pit).

The Vision

The vision, in part: Plant fruit trees in artful, curved rows, etched into the hills to avoid water runoff. Allow a lush undergrowth of native grasses... no bare dirt to be found! Make soil quality the most important goal. Build a very very large worm shed to transform decaying organic substances into rich soil enhancers.

[gallery columns="2" size="large" ids="1101,1105,1103,1104"]

The Process

Sheep are moved from crop area to crop area using portable electric fencing. Chicken houses have wheels so they can be easily moved. The rotation of the larger animals aerates the soil with their hooves. All of the farm animals enjoy free range pasture, while fertilizing the land. The mini ecosystem starts to emerge, attracting insect-eating and predator birds, and other beneficial wildlife.

Challenges

The Biggest Little Farm movie depicts an idealistic scene one moment, then shows us the horrors of wildfires and flooding rains the next moment. Coyotes and gophers are constant threats to the farm animals and the crops... but ultimately... with patience, nature provides solutions. Not by interfering, but by allowing, the farmers create an ecosystem—a beautiful design worth sharing!  Check out their website, here.

 

Part 1 of 2

Recently I visited two family farms that are having success with mimicking the biological balance found in our earth’s ecosystem. I love to share stories about how people are experimenting with, and rediscovering nature’s design.

[caption id="attachment_1056" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] The Roaster[/caption]

El Toledo Coffee Plantation - Practicing Permaculture in Costa Rica

If you visit Costa Rica, a trek to Atenas is well worth your time. Not only is Atenas known for it’s nearly perfect weather, it is also a friendly town located centrally in the mountains. Coffee plantations are scattered over many steep hillsides, but the El Toledo plantation looks quite different because it follows the philosophy of Permaculture.

"Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than
against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation
rather than protracted and thoughtless labor;
and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions,
rather than treating any area as a single product system.”
—Bill Mollison

While most coffee plantations in the Atenas area are well-groomed mono-crops, El Toledo has welcomed certain native trees and plants, such as bromeliads and citronella, that have unique properties that repel unwanted pests and insects. This helps El Toledo maintain a chemical-free environment. They also raise ginger, garlic, mangoes, bananas, and other tropical produce. They have found that the shade and root structures from  companion plants increase soil quality and retain moisture.

As farmers know, the weather can make or break a season. When one crop struggles, another may thrive. So a variety of income sources is yet another benefit of the diverse plantings. Mimicking Mother Nature's diversity seems to help beat the odds for healthy food production.

[gallery columns="2" size="large" ids="1064,1069,1066,1067,1087,1055"]

Healthy farming was the only option

When the father of the family farm developed cancer a decade ago, the plantation was in jeopardy of shutting down. So the son set out to learn as much as possible about how to take over the farm—without using chemicals (which they believe was the cause of the father's sickness). The learning never stopped. The educational tours of their Permaculture farm are extremely popular and there is a demand for El Toledo organic coffee at the markets. Now the family is experimenting with sustainable low waste practices: creating wines and teas from the coffee fruit, using less water for removing the fruit from the beans, and composting.

When I toured the farm in January 2019, the father was actively involved with the farm—I watched him roast coffee beans to perfection. (Did you know that the darker the coffee beans are roasted, the less caffeine they contain?) This family redesigned the El Toledo plantation using Mother Nature as a guide, and they are thriving as a result!

 

Everyone who eats food must experience working on a farm, I thought.

Did you ever take something for granted, and when you realized its importance, your world view changed?

How would you feel if your local grocery stores closed down, even for a month? Scary thought?

I had a backyard garden for years and loved to grow flowers and vegetables, but it was always for the joy of a few fresh beans or several weeks of picking the coveted heirloom tomatoes. I never took much time to consider how I might eat abundantly off my own little garden and preserve enough food to nourish me through the winter, until I had the pleasure of working on a community farm this summer. Wow, everyone who eats food must experience working on a farm, I thought.

My work exchange for a share of food was only 1-1/2 hours a week, but I learned a lot on those Thursday mornings. North Field Farm covers about 2 acres, not including the green house... enough to have long multiple rows of a large variety of vegetables, herbs and berries. During summer's intense June heat, my work might entail harvesting greens at 7 am, keeping the pickings in the shade so they wouldn't wilt before they got rinsed and refrigerated. On cold fall mornings my goal was to protect my fingers from frost bite as I snapped off crispy rain drenched kale leaves or lifted beets out of the cold earth. [caption id="attachment_1012" align="alignleft" width="350"] If you find and remove a Tomato Hornworm you are a hero. They are hard to see and very destructive to the plants.[/caption] I love it. I love watching the plants grow... and then eating my share of what I pick. I know local and organic is best, but when you actually work on a small farm, and bring home the vegetables, it makes an indelible mark on the psyche. I'm not saying farming is easy. Hardly. But if it became a shared lifestyle, couldn't it be rewarding, healthy and practical? Can't we all learn how to work the local farm as we engage in a memory from our predecessors? I am hoping the title of CEO of gardening becomes the next hot career choice. What if our neighbors became as devoted to organic gardening, permaculture, orchards, hydroponic or vertical gardening as they are to mowing the lawn? I bet the way they think about their food would change, like mine did.         [ This is part 3 of a 3-part blog on “design and community living” ]