Life's an (Urban) Beach

The High Line

NY, NY- I was inspired to start this blog because of my love for urban farms and gardens-  but what about urban beaches. I’m not talking about Miami Beach or San Diego. I took a trip to Manhattan recently  to see the High Line, a public park which opened in 2009 on the old elevated freight rails on the West Side and it got me thinking about urban beaches.

Urban beach, as defined by Wikipedia (so it must be true): urban beach, or urbeach, a space that includes an intellectually, artistically, or culturally sophisticated water feature that is also an aquatic play area, and is located within a culturally or artistically significant area of a city



Diller-Von Furstenberg Water Area

At the High Line, there’s a section of the park with built-in wooden chaise lounges and benches called the Diller-Von Furstenberg Water Feature, that looks out to the Hudson River. For the summer, water seems to come out of the rocky earth itself and visitors can remove their shoes and take a barefoot stroll for several yards. As the park can be a sensory overload, it takes a while to pick up on all of the well-planned features that exist along this stretch of urban heaven.

View from the High Line looking up

For all of the people and things happening at the High Line, I was almost shocked at how relaxed the native New Yorkers and tourists seemed to stroll through the park. It was a true delight, and while not my first time there- I was just as impressed. This makes a great day trip to the city dweller or the suburban warrior. Bonne chance!



It's Vernalicious, a food truck with a Philly 'tude

By: Sarah Punderson

Philadelphia, Pa.- Ah the summer. Hot days and cool nights. Ice of the creamed variety and juices from fresh fruit dribbling down sunburned chins. Flip flops, sand between toes. Fryer oil? Diesel fill-ups, propane for the generators and seven-day work weeks? Enter the new life of Verna Swerdlow and her boyfriend David Jurkofsky- co-owners of Vernalicious Food Truck, located in Philadelphia, Pa. If you ever dreamed of packing up your office and saying sianara to your colleagues in pursuit of a better life, where you can do whatever you want, whenever you want- Swerdlow will give it to you straight:

Vernalicious Food Truck

“It’s a hard life- we work a lot,” Swerdlow said while chatting at Love Park in Philadelphia one afternoon while Jurkofsky and employee Becca handled what remained of the lunch rush.

Summertime has changed for Verna.

“Some days we go out for 24 hour shifts. I’m usually up between four and five o’clock in the morning to begin prepping,” said Swerdlow. “We start with a day-time service, schlepping everything into the truck and then we clean, lock and load for a late-night service at Frankford and Girard- to get home at four or five in the morning.

Frankford and Girard is a busy intersection of bars in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia, and Vernalicious parks itself right between several popular spots including Frankford Hall, Johnny Brendas and Barcade.

“The late night thing goes against my body clock, but we love it,” said Swerdlow. “We love the people, we love the energy. It’s not just a bar crowd- we get a lot of neighborhood people out for a late-night snack.

Before she was driving a food truck with a charicature of herself on it, Verna was an optician for 20 years. She owned a high-end fashion forward practice in Bryn Mawr for 10 years and previous to that was a glass artist (which she went to school for at Rochester Institute of Technology).

“I wanted out of optical, and I wanted to be in food, but food sales-like DiBruno Brothers, I wanted to sell for a quality food distributor,” Swerdlow said. “I couldn’t get a nibble, I offered my services for free- I couldn’t make anything happen.”

So on to Plan B, opening a food truck. The life of a food trucker has similarities to restaurateurs, but one of the biggest differences is the schlepping, according to Swerdlow.

“It’s hard to make this a sustainable business, because there’s so much schlepping,” Swerdlow said. “It’s like carrying in a restaurant everyday, and then taking it off, cleaning it and packing it all up again.”

Not that she’s complaining now- Swerdlow cooks whatever she wants every day of the week. When I stopped by to interview her, I bit into a crispy on the outside, cheesy on the inside grilled cheese for lunch.

“Everyday I cook my wish list, because I’m not making anything in particular,” Swerdlow said. “I make whatever I feel like.”

This summer, seafood is on the brain at Vernalicious. Swerdlow has already done a shrimp roll and plans to cook up lobster rolls in the next few weeks. With a fried oyster po’boy also in the works, she’s keeping things straight up and simple. 

“I’m not fancy. I prefer to eat that way out but not on the truck,” Swerdlow said.

Hailing from the Main Line, Swerdlow lives in Wynnewood, a suburb of Philadelphia and currently and can be spotted shopping at the neighborhood Whole Foods. The Vernalicious truck was at the Bryn Mawr Farmer’s Market last year and plans to return this fall (2012). Most of the time white and green truck can be found at Frankford & Girard and private events.

When she’s not noshing on her own truck fare, Swerdlow likes to chomp down at The Smoke Truck, Delicias, Pitruco Pizza and Nomad Pizza.

“We’ve got a really strong food truck scene for a small city,” Swerdlow said. “I’m really looking forward to see what comes out next- Mac Mart, Sum Pig and Sunflower Truck Stop are some of the newer trucks to look for.”

With four stars on Yelp and robust Facebook and Twitter followings, Swerdlow finds herself updating these sites late night or first thing in the morning to keep her fans, both old and new, in the know.

“With the truck, you never know how busy each day will be,” Swerdlow said. “I’ve had some of the best days in the pouring rain. Using the social media sites makes it easy for people to find us.”

Asked if she’s working on any other projects right now, Swerdlow’s mouth curled into a bemused smile.

“If it weren’t for Dave, I’d be stark naked right now,” Swerdlow dead-panned. “He does the laundry and he’ll stop me if my clothes are inside out before I leave the house…other projects- you’ve got to be kidding me.”

As for how she uses local and seasonal ingredients on Vernalicious, Swerdlow says she uses produce that’s close to home. The tomatoes and lettuce on the truck the day I interviewed her- from her neighbor's garden harvested that morning. Blueberries for a blueberry buckle she’s planning on making- from Jurkofsky’s mom’s house in New Jersey.

“I’m more local than organic- for me it’s about quality, as long as it’s good I’ll use it,” Swerdlow said.

Keeping it local is more than food for Swerdlow, who hasn’t ventured far from home and stays true to what her parents taught her. She values a strong work ethic, and thinks that honesty and integrity are among the most important traits anyone can have.

Vernalicious co-owners (l-r) Verna Swerdlow, David Jurkofsky and employee Becca.

“Dave and I put in long days and we have a great team- Becca, Jaryd and Andrew, and we all work hard and have fun,” Swerdlow said.

And what about working in a space of about six feet with her business partner and boyfriend, with no escape on busy days.

“Not only are Dave and I partners, we’re lovers and we’re together 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Swerdlow said. “We had the advantage of being together for five years before Vernalicious and have worked together in the past. We work really well together and we get results.”

One final question Verna, any good stories from all of the people watching you’ve been doing while on the truck?

“People just never cease to amaze me,” Swerdlow said, shaking her head.

Some things you just have to see for yourself.

Lift your pinkies ladies, it's tea time

Philadelphia, Pa- I've been drowning in a sea of vegetables this summer. My CSA (community supported agriculture) pickup every Tuesday leaves me conducting a full-scale veggie Olympics each Tuesday evening, trying to make use of everything in my share. This week from Henry Got Crops! Farm, I picked up scallions, kohl rabi, rainbow carrots, rainbow chard, lettuce mix, cherry tomatoes, mint and I'm sure I'm forgetting something else.

What I've been doing is making a huge salad every week and keeping it in the fridge to eat portions of each day. I also sliced up some beets from last week's share, along with summer squash and scallions,  whipped up some eggs with pepper to create a kind of veggie casserole, topping it off with  homeemade bread crumbs. I baked it for an hour with foil at 350 and it came out just right.

I also have all this left over tea from the winter, so for the first time in my life (although my mom's been doing this forever), I made my own iced tea. Boiled about two gallons of water in a big pot and then steeped some mint tea for about eight minutes in it. Let cool, sliced up some cucumbers from the farm and have two growlers of it sitting in my window sill. Mmmmmm.

Oh I hear it someone's birthday this week- Happy 30-something Restaino :-)

Tom McCusker’s just a guy following his meaty taco dream

By: Sarah Punderson

It all began for Tom McCusker on a motorcycle trip to Austin, Texas with two friends. There were food trucks, there were breakfast tacos-and they were damn good.

McCusker, owner of Honest Tom’s Taco Shop at 261 S. 44th Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the western part of the city, was just 26. After graduating from Drexel University in 2004 he worked a string of underwhelming jobs including delivering beer, cooking in restaurants and grinding it out for his family’s Cider Mill Services demolition company.  The newly minted hotel restaurant management major was ready to follow his dream of opening a taco shop, something he had been planning since college. When he got back to Philly, he quickly found a food truck for sale and got to work.

Tom McCusker, owner of Honest Tom's Taco Shop.

Figuring out a way to finance his dream, McCusker remembered he had something in his wallet that might be of use.

“When I was 20, I filled out a credit card application on campus and said my annual income was $700, 000,” McCusker said, smiling. “The company sent me a card with a $20,000 limit. I had the card for years; I’d use it occasionally and pay it off right away. When I decided to start up the taco truck, I took the whole thing out in cash.” At the Clark Park Farmer’s Market in West Philly, McCusker’s truck, a specimen looking like it just arrived via travel by map from the summer of love (although it was the summer of ’09), would park to sell his tacos and burritos, sourcing the food close to home.

“I’d walk over to the farmers and use their produce as I went and then I’d take some for the week too,” McCusker said.

McCusker currently gets his eggs weekly at Clark Park year-round and as the growing season progresses, he expands his locally-sourced produce accordingly.  The truck was out at the park a few times this spring, but McCusker decided to shift his focus. He wanted to trade in his wheels for a brick and mortar shop.

On December 19^th, 2011, Honest Tom’s Taco Shop opened. McCusker’s vision wasn’t just limited to a food truck anymore, he now had a storefront. Making the transition to a storefront was something McCusker hoped would be more consistent year-round.

“Holidays, rainy days, cold days, hot days, just a lot of days I couldn’t go out on the truck,” said McCusker. “It was so frustrating.”

Frustrating indeed- and McCusker’s got specks of gray hair to prove it. 

 “I was a wreck for about a year and a half,” McCusker said. “I went from not having anything to worry about to being overwhelmed by taking on so much.”

 “It was just too much, doing both, I’m just doing the shop for now,” McCusker said.

 As for starting the business, McCusker just jumped in. His parents thought he might just do it for a bit and then get back to real life.

 “People would see my truck, with long lines, and assume I was making a ton of money,” McCusker said. “But over the winter, I wasn’t making any money. “I’d work 15 hour days all spring, summer and fall and I was still losing money.”

Did he ever consider giving up?

“I used to think about it,” said McCusker. “The second winter I had the truck, I stopped and worked some odd jobs, and by the third winter I just did the truck on Saturdays at Clark Park. But I’d think about what I’d do if I closed it, and I couldn’t think of anything else so I kept working.”

Frugal by nature, McCusker’s fashion sense in West Philly has been flannel shirts by necessity. He wears multiple layers of the stuff and says he hasn’t worn a jacket in about 12 years.

“At the beginning of every winter I buy four or five flannels at Forman Mills where they’re about three bucks,” McCusker said.

Financial issues have been some of the toughest that the small business owners who spoke with Farm Office have encountered. For McCusker, he went for three straight years without making any money. Any paper he did make went right back into the business. As soon as McCusker became profitable, he opened the storefront, which put him right back in the red.

“There have been many missed parties, weddings and family events,” McCusker said of working in business for himself. “But it’s exhausting in a good way. I’m constantly stimulated and the business feels like its growing.”

However, McCusker does have some words of caution for wanna-be food truckers:

“Everyone thinks lunch trucks are killing it right now,” said McCusker. “It’s a great business, but some people have unrealistic expectations of it. A lot of the people getting into the food truck business don’t know the deal. Even with long lines, at the end of the day, it’s a lot of work.”

McCusker remembers a conversation he had with a customer in the first few weeks his truck was open. A gentleman was telling McCusker about his brother who owned a pizza shop. The pizza shop had been open for five years and was just starting to make money.

“In my head, I was like, what’s wrong with that guy, it took him five years to get it together,” said McCusker. “I started out so busy, so I thought it would only get better. But I had no idea the amount of work that went into operating the business.”

Working for yourself can be great, as McCusker can attest to, but going it alone was a struggle.

“I quickly learned I couldn’t blame anything on anyone but myself,” McCusker said. “When you’re working for someone else you can walk around and kick cans, saying ‘my boss sucks’ but that doesn’t do much when you’re working for yourself.”

Lucky for sure, McCusker had a strong following from day one. Word of mouth and social media are McCusker’s marketing tools. He updates his own Facebook and Twitter pages, and he’s gotten more used to the idea of it. In the beginning, pre-laptop or smart phone, he struggled to keep up with customer queries.

“I’d post where we’d be for a few weeks in a row and then assume people knew where we were so I wouldn’t have to do any of the social media,” McCusker said. “Then I wouldn’t put it online and nobody would show up- then I’d post again and a huge crowd would be there. Unless people see it, they’re not going to think about it,” he cautioned.

As the el jefe at Honest Tom’s, McCusker has seen his role change as he’s expanded. Just 30 years old, McCusker has eight full-time employees including himself, with a handful of part-timers rounding out his crew de once. That’s eleven for you non-Spanish speaking math majors.

“My role’s been weird lately, since I’ve got my original crew from the truck, the new hires that only know our business as the restaurant, and my girlfriend now works in the shop. I’m learning everyday about being a boss,” McCusker said.

With a chef that McCusker raves about in Aric Danz, business at the shop has been constant. Honest Tom’s is open seven days a week and will even bring a burrito to your casa-within a reasonable distance of course.

As for his team, McCusker has relied on a few key people for business support. Brian Higgins from Powelton Pizza was his first go-to guy when he started the food truck in 2009. Since then, he’s added lawyers and accountants for formal support, as well as his parents who know all about running a business.

With his team behind him, McCusker has some future plans for Honest Tom’s Taco Shop.

“I turn down a lot of business right now for catering private events, but I think I’m going to rent out the second floor of the store and make it a separate catering floor,” McCusker said. “Two squads making food on either floor, I think that’s pretty awesome.”

As for a second location?

“Maybe one day- in center city or Northern Liberties, or maybe in a different city,” McCusker said.

He’s not too worried about that quite yet.

And an update on McCusker’s flannel formal, with an honest twist:

“Lately I’ve been into crewneck sweatshirts,” McCusker said. “But that could all change since I have some money now, maybe I’ll get real fresh- suits, fedoras- really do it up,” he said with a smirk.

Before McCusker got up to leave, he had some final thoughts for potential start-ups.

“Commit to it if you’re going to do it,” McCusker said. “The goal of starting a small business should be to earn a paycheck, not to become a millionaire. There’s a very good chance it’s never going to make you a millionaire, so be content doing what you’re doing,” he said.

Summer Barn Sale

I didn't forget about you! Farm Office has been busy lining up some swoony interviews for you. So try not to get your demin cut-offs in a twist as you wait...patiently. In the meantime, this looks like it's worth checking out:

Three Potato Four is opening a storefront in Manayunk and hosting an opening party Friday night (6/8) from 6-9 p.m. Then they're hosting a barn sale Saturday and Sunday. It looks like a few food trucks will be on hand for opening weekend festivities including Pitruco Pizza, Say Cheese and Zsa's Ice Cream.

Zea May's, a Native American inspired food truck that you need to try

By: Sarah Punderson

It’s been a riveting week for Zea May’s Kitchen food truck owner Sue Wasserkrug, as she stepped into the limelight for the first time in her new career. Less than a month into operation, Zea May's landed a bit of free publicity many other food trucks would be salivating over. Wasserkrug’s brand new job and shiny set of wheels intersected with the British Food Network recently as she was filmed for a segment of Andy Bates’ American Street Feast. 

Zea May's Kitchen. Photographer: Ellie Seif.

 

I had mentioned Wasserkrug on Farm Office a few week’s ago, and as promised here is the complete interview, taken from the past several weeks I’ve worked with her. 

 

And so it began, a former lawyer (Wasserkrug) and a former collegiate athletics
administrator (me), embarking on a new journey-no legal pads or box scores needed. Wasserkrug bought her truck in the fall. The name is a play on the scientific name for corn (maize) - Zea Mays. The truck had its unofficial opening on May 5^th at Mt. Airy Day in Philadelphia, where Wasserkrug resides with her husband David. A friendly, tree-lined neighborhood, Mt. Airy is also home to Weaver’s Way Co-op, a food cooperative on which Wasserkrug sits on the board of directors. It seems only fitting that she would get her wheels spinning in such an independent, free-thinking neighborhood.

Wasserkrug’s vision began with an idea for a restaurant, along with an educational non-profit component about Native American culture. Her interest in Native American culture and food began as an undergraduate student at Oberlin College in Ohio, where she spent an academic term at the University of Arizona studying the topic. Wasserkrug graduated from Oberlin with a B.A. in cultural anthropology, and went on to earn two M.A. degrees from the University of Arizona- in journalism and medical anthropology, respectively.

Her studies, however, were far from over. Wasserkrug began law school at the University of Iowa. While there, she spent a summer on a Sioux Indian reservation, working in the legal department. With the Sioux, she had a life-changing moment, while riding in the back of a pickup truck what could only be called a bison safari, with a local guide.

“Seeing the bison up close on the reservation, it was just beautiful and I remember that moment vividly,” Wasserkrug said.

Back in Iowa, the burgeoning law student wrote a column in the alternative weekly newspaper in which she had a series called ‘The Zen of Food’. For that series, her penname was Zoya Cilantro. Cilantro penned about different culinary experiences like the joy of picking blueberries and making a cobbler or the trying out the local beets.

The freedom to write about her passion for food and her experience preparing local ingredients was just a hobby for Wasserkrug, but that would all change several years later.

In 1999, Wasserkrug moved with her husband to Philadelphia. She practiced law in the non-profit sector for 12 years, keeping her passion for cooking Native American cuisine for after-work hours. It was time for a change.

“Some people can’t stand change, but I can’t stand not changing,” said Wasserkrug.

She considered opening a restaurant, but a food truck seemed like a safer bet.

Wasserkrug lined up a few food trucks to look at, and fell in love with the first one she saw. 

“My husband said: you can’t buy the first one you see!” Wasserkrug lamented. “So I looked at a few more and then went back and bought that first one,” she said.   

The truck she bought used to be Far from Home Café, which Philadelphians will fondly remember sold empanadas and burgers.  At Love Park recently, while serving the lunch crowd, a gentleman reminisced about the longest line he ever saw for a food truck- Far from Home. 

“The line was around the park,” he said. “People didn’t care if they had to wait 45 minutes for empanadas, it was worth it.”

Zea May’s Kitchen hopes it can hold on to that lucky streak with the food-loving locals. And Wasserkrug doesn’t mind working hard to achieve that goal.

Starting a small business is no joke as any entrepreneur will tell you and going it alone makes things doubly challenging. With no business partner, Wasserkrug enjoys some parts of the job more than others.

“Cooking and being creative, coming up with new recipes, I love that,” Wasserkrug said. “But emptying the fryer oil- just add that to the list of one more thing I can do.”

Finding a commercial kitchen was another challenge for Wasserkrug, as she needed a place to create her Native American culinary feats. She eventually found a kitchen commissary in Mt. Airy that would suit her just fine- a shared space with two other food trucks, Pitruco Pizza and Strada Pasta.

“The guys (in the commissary) have been really helpful and great resources,” said Wasserkrug.

 

I met Wasserkrug in the kitchen one weekday morning to make empanadas. She has three different types right now- a savory mushroom, sweet potato and strawberries and cream and more recipes in the works. We were prepping for the Mt. Airy farmer’s market, where the British Food Network came to film her. Being one of only a handful of food trucks in the United States doing anything Native American related, Zea May’s has already been drawing attention.

“This idea is bigger than the truck, it’s about educating people,” Wasserkrug said.

It was just another day at the office for Wasserkrug when the film crew did show up, and Mt. Airy came out to support Zea May’s, including an Indian chief, much to the delight of Wasserkrug.

Sue Wasserkrug, owner of Zea May's Kitchen (center). Photographer: Ellie Seif.

The timing was right for Wasserkrug to join the food truck fray, as both the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote stories about the business recently. The industry is booming with atypical food trucks in cities like Portland, Austin, New York City and Los Angeles. In L.A., Aunties Fry Bread is one of the few Native American inspired trucks around.

For would-be food truckers, Wasserkrug advises potential start-ups to join the Philadelphia Mobile Food Association (PMFA), an industry association that offers an abundance of resources. She also advises any potential new food truckers not to go it alone, having friends and family as part of the business eases the burden.

Taking it day by day, Wasserkrug is gearing up for her next big event, Night Market Philadelphia. Night Market, run by The Food Trust, celebrates the city’s ethnic restaurants and gourmet food trucks with a half mile of eats, all less than five dollars (according to nightmarketphilly.com). The first one of the year is on Thursday (5/24) in Northern Liberties from 7-11 p.m. It should be a chaotic night of fun for Wasserkrug, as she deliberates how much food to bring. Right now she’s thinking empanadas and salads- and you can even get a free pint of beer from Yards.

For Zea May’s complete schedule, check out the Facebook or Twitter pages. And do yourself a favor this summer and grab a bison hot dog before you’re the last meat-eating hipster to bite into one.

South of the border this week

Hilton Head, S.C.- Checking in from Hilton Head, SC this week. As the youngest in a group of five awesome ladies (my mom included) on this trip, I’ve been designated as the tech guru, which I find entertaining. This means I demonstrate how to delete their email ‘trash’,  show them Obama and Jimmy Fallon and Chiquita Banana YouTube clips and most importantly teach my post-menopausal posse techy phrases like ‘JFGI’ (just  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Google it). Oh and since they’re all from Jersey, I also pump the gas.



Loggerhead sea turtle.



Anyway I’ll keep this short because, well, I’m on vacation.

However, I couldn’t leave you without a few fun facts with a little section I like to call:

DID YOU KNOW??

• The waters around Hilton Head Island are one of the few places on Earth where dolphins routinely use a technique called "strand feeding" whereby schools of fish are herded up onto mud banks, and the dolphins lie on their side while they feed before sliding back down into the water. Thanks Wikipedia.

• You don’t have to travel to the Caribbean to see Loggerhead turtles nesting. Hilton Head has a turtle nesting season that has just begun.
• There are gators in the water here. I’m scared.

Until next time...

Living the food trucker dream, introducing Zea May's Kitchen

So I’m going to veer slightly off course of the usual Farm Office Sunday series to fill you in on an exciting happening.

A board member of Weaver’s Way Co-op, of which I’m a member, Sue Wasserkrug, opened a food truck recently in Philadelphia. The truck is called Zea May’s Kitchen, a play on the scientific name for corn (maize). I worked alongside Wasserkrug this weekend for Zea May’s maiden journey. We rolled to Love Park on Saturday and then hosted a friends and family lunch on Sunday in Mount Airy.

Zea May’s Kitchen serves up Native American minded foods, as the slogan reads “Native foods, native flavors”. Wasserkrug’s interest in the Native American culture was further enriched when she received a M.S. in anthropology from the University of Arizona, specializing in Native American civilizations. She lists the Navajo and Hopi as two of her favorite tribes.

This weekend on Zea May’s, we served up buffalo hot dogs (sourced from a Lancaster, Pa buffalo farm) served on a challah bun from Philadelphia bakery Wild Flour, with a homemade cranberry relish, sweet potato and mushroom empanadas (separately), a vegan-friendly wild rice salad with Jerusalem artichokes, pumpkin seeds and mushrooms dressed with a maple vinaigrette. There was even a yogurt parfait with ‘ancient’ granola (think pumpkin seeds, dried berries, oats) for the early crowd. Sue is the de facto chef of the operation, and I helped her out in the front of the house…er…truck. To drink, we served a flavorful hibiscus cooler. If you’re thinking this doesn’t sound like your run of the mill greasy food truck, you’re right. Wasserkrug is not only sourcing locally whenever possible, she’s making people feel good about eating from her stand.

Down the pipeline, the former lawyer is trying to narrow down all kinds of tasty ideas. In the near future you may see a buffalo chili, buffalo empanada, quinoa salad, chocolate tamales and Navajo iced tea. There was an attempt to convince her to deep fry the buffalo hot dogs, but she wasn’t going for it (I tried to tell her our ancestors ate them like that).

Wasserkrug’s background is fascinating, with three graduate degrees (including a J.D.). She’s moved all around the country with her husband, who’s a doctor for the University of Pennsylvania healthcare system. She practiced law for several years in Philadelphia before deciding to enter the food truck game. A full-on interview and pictures with her is planned for the upcoming weeks, but today’s story is just a sneak peek!

Zea May’s Kitchen’s summer schedule is nearly complete, with weekly appearances at Love Park (Monday), two South Philadelphia farmer’s markets (Sunday/Tuesday) and the Weaver’s Way farmer’s market (Thursday). To stay updated, check the Twitter and Facebook pages @zeamayskitchen. Once we get going, Twitter is your best bet for finding the truck at any given moment.

Local and fresh in Cranbury, N.J. is how the Kemper family rolls

Philadelphia, Pa- Jerry Kemper, a retired locksmith and current home gardener in Cranbury, N.J., tried to kill a chicken once. His wife Michele- who became fast friends with my mother in 1968 at Pennsbury High School, and their youngest son Fred-both can attest to ‘The Incident’.

“Fred, don’t go in there, especially not before you’ve had your coffee,” said Michele Kemper, early one morning about the family’s connected two-car garage.

Enter a chicken screeching for its’ life.

“What the hell is Dad doing?” asked Fred.

What Jerry was doing was killing his very own free-range chicken, which he had raised from birth. It was his first time doing such a thing, and it was proving more difficult than expected. After the deed was done, Michele popped the de-feathered bird into a pot of piping hot water-only to have the bird’s legs and wings pop straight up as rigor mortis (which sounded more like rigamortus in her faint but still-there Staten Island accent) set in. She couldn’t fit the bird into the oven properly, and to top everything off the damn thing didn’t even taste that great (free-range chickens have more muscle than fat, which gives them a gamier, tougher taste than a factory raised, hormone induced bird).

The Kemper backyard, with raised beds and a chicken coop.

While his wife was cooking, Kemper, blood-stained from the event, headed off to Home Depot to pick up a few last minute items he had forgotten pre-kill, duct tape and a tarp.

“I couldn’t believe no one stopped him in there (Home Depot), he looked like he had just murdered someone,” Michele recalled.

Meet the Kempers- a loveable baby-boomer duo who raised their two boys in Staten Island, N.Y., and now live on a half-acre of land in Cranbury, N.J., a sleepy historic town surrounded by commercial farms and quaint Victorian residences that neighbors Princeton. As Kemper entered retirement, he decided to use some of his property to start growing a few things. And grow he did. He now has several raised beds for vegetables, several fruit trees, newly planted fruit bushes, grape vines and a chicken coop to boot.

This summer, Kemper will have watermelons, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, lettuce, bok choy, spinach, zucchini, herbs, onions and potatoes all available in his backyard. His fruit tree collection is astounding for a home grower: cherry, pear, peach, apple, plum and figs will all be just an arm length away from his kitchen. I was already dreaming of my next visit to the Kemper homestead when the fruit trees would be ripe-I could imagine the plum juice dribbling down my chin as we chatted into the evening as the chickens pock-pocked in the background.

Kemper whistled to his chickens as we neared their coop, which he built himself, on the day I came to visit. He has nine birds, who he lets forage in the yard when they aren’t in the coop. They are good egg layers and healthy birds, he says.

“Hey baby, what’ve you got there?” Kemper asked as he entered the chicken coop.

He reached under a Rhode Island Red to reveal a warm, freshly laid egg. He placed it in my hand and pulled out two more. I couldn’t believe how warm and wonderful it felt. Kemper’s chickens lay six to seven eggs a day, on average. The older the birds get, the less frequently they lay, but the bigger the eggs are. Kemper is constantly cooing, bickering, loving and shooing his chickens like any parent would. He now uses the birds strictly for eggs, he doesn’t have any desire to eat them after ‘The Incident’.

In the summer, if the Kempers didn’t want to, they wouldn’t have to go to the grocery store at all.

“I only use milk for my creamer, so we could be pretty self sustaining here,” Kemper said.

Using raised beds for most of his produce, Kemper showed me some of the various contraptions he has created for his garden. He has a cold frame, which is a portable, mini green house for his seedlings, which he moves in and out everyday for optimal sunlight and waters individually with a turkey baster each day (he has hundreds and hundreds of seedlings).  He built the chicken coop himself, without any blueprint and made a bendable piping to hold up his tomatoes so they can move with the wind.

With a big, green thumbprint, Kemper claims gardening isn’t even his passion.

“My passion is fishing, this is secondary,” he said.

In the summer, Kemper gets out on his boat every chance he has and uses several fishing rods simultaneously to reel in his catch. He uses fishing nets to capture his own bait, and freezes the excess for the next season. The most ironic part- Jerry and Michele don’t even eat fish, they give it all away. They just started eating fluke (summer flounder) last year. 

So with chickens they don’t kill, fish they won’t eat and an abundance of fruits and vegetables, the Kemper garden seems to truly be a labor of love. What they have created in an ordinary suburban setting proves that there are many more people in our communities who have the resources necessary to become more sustainable citizens. The question is, who will follow the Kempers example?

The not-so-sexy side of farming

By: Sarah Punderson

Nina Berryman, Farm Office's 'Resident Farmer'.

Philadelphia, Pa- There’s a new sheriff…I mean farmer…in town, and her name is Nina Berryman. Well she’s not exactly new, and she’s the opposite of a sheriff (the only firearms she carries are clippers and a hoe), but guess what- she’s going to be the ‘Resident Farmer’ here in the virtual world of Farm Office, so we can ask her all kinds of questions all season long and have answers directly from the source!

I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside Ms. Berryman, farm manager at Henry Got Crops! farm on Ridge Avenue in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia, for the past two years. Henry Got Crops! is affiliated with Weaver’s Way Co-op and is also an educational farm serving W.B. Saul Agricultural High School, the largest agricultural farm school in the United States.

With a bale of hale as our backdrop, I chatted Berryman up about what kind of unglamorous  things she’s been doing at the farm thus far and how to get creative as an urban gardener.

“Every year I tend to forget how rigorous early April is,” said Berryman. “The winter obligations of getting ready for the new season are not quite wrapped up and my staff and I are also full-time, full-speed ahead into spring planting.”

“Some of the things I did over the winter included: ordering seeds, organizing crop rotation and mapping out my planting schedule,” she said. “I spend a lot of time getting the CSA (community supported agriculture) members re-enrolled and signed up for the season.”

Berryman has noticed that if her CSA isn’t full by April, it’s because people often forget to sign up until its warm when they remember-time to join the CSA. She spends her evenings and weekends in the winter and early spring on the computer, poring over membership, farm statistics and spreadsheets- not what you’d necessarily picture a farmer doing.

During the week, she’s out in the field all day- planting, seeding, spreading compost, prepping beds, pruning perennials, getting irrigation hooked up- basically getting dirty.

“This time of year I have broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collards, lettuce, and kohlrabi in the ground,” Berryman said. “Late spring harvests are in the hoop house (greenhouse) like tomatoes and cucumbers. It’s time to start seeding carrots, beets, turnips, radishes. The list goes on- a lot needs to go into the ground right now!”

As for those like me who are urban dwellers, Berryman has some ideas for us.

“It’s fun to grow things that develop quickly and don’t need a lot of soil for their roots- lettuce heads and lettuce mix are quick and are light feeders- meaning they don’t need a ton of nutrients (good for window boxes and pots on a balcony),” she said. “Radishes are quick and you can get many plantings of them in one season. Things that are possible in pots but need space and lots of water (heavy feeders) are tomatoes and cucumbers, peppers and eggplants. Those do take longer, so you’ll have to be patient.”

The bottom line is- grow what you like because it’s always more work than you’ll expect and you need a reward at the end of the day.

“There’s nothing more satisfying than eating something that you love and you grew yourself,” said Berryman. “People ask me all the time, what should I plant? I ask them, what do you eat? If it grows in this climate and you have space for it, then that’s what you should do.”

Most vegetables need heavy sunlight, often a limiting factor in the city. Berryman suggested that cool weather crops can get by in shadier, cooler areas which include: lettuce mix, radishes and turnips-which can be good in partial sun.

Berryman’s staff has expanded to three people this season- a full-time intern (Matt Steuer), a full-time apprentice (Chris O’Brien) and part-time intern Nancy Anderson. Last year at this time she had one apprentice. She’s already advising them on how to treat sore muscles, suggesting they pack a lunch each day and essentially serving as not only farm manager but farm mom.

There’s excitement in the air at Henry Got Crops! in the form of the farm’s first-ever tractor (I used to joke with Berryman that not only was she running an organic farm, but also an Amish one), and a brand spankin’ new red barn.

“It’s shiny and red and everything you could dream of for a barn,” said Berryman.

Weaver’s Way still needs to pay for the new piece of machinery (details, details), so check out their www.kickstarter.com fundraiser that will commence on April 15^th.

Send in your farm/garden/urban jungle questions to Farm Office for our new resident farmer, in the form of either a comment below this article or to my email at spunderson@gmail.com and Berryman will be answering our quandaries all summer long.

Ragin’ Cajun Lesha Meyer shows Philly her brand of CrossFit

Philadelphia, Pa- Dynamite comes in small packages- at least in the case of five foot two Lesha Meyer. She's the co-owner of CrossFit Novem in Philadelphia. CrossFit is a new type of gym, and affiliates are popping up all over the country and Philadelphia alone has nine.

According to the CrossFit website, it’s described as the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.

If you want to know more about CrossFit, read last week’s Farm Office article that gives more background information on the topic.

Lesha Meyer, co-owner of CrossFit Novem in Philadelphia.

When I met with Meyer the morning after St. Patty’s Day, I had a headache the size of a kettle bell and bumping in my head that neatly matched the booming bass coming from the gym’s sound system. However, as soon as I met Meyer, I knew the interview would be worth the headache (quite literally).

Meyer got her start in high octane power lifting at her high school in Alexandria, Louisiana, where the squad had been national champions. In college at Northwestern State University, Meyer was an art student and played intramurals there, while pursuing a degree in graphic design. It was during this time that Meyer decided to transfer to Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia.

“At art college (Moore), there weren’t intramurals or club teams, we tried to do a flag football team and that fell through,” said Meyer. “I needed an outlet.”

She found what she was looking for in 2003 when upon graduating, she stumbled into the sport of rugby. Rugby provided the community Meyer had been craving, although admittedly it came with its’ vices. There were drink-ups- post-game parties with the other team- where showing up showered was frowned upon. Combine copious amounts of adult beverages with rugby rosters that average well over 30 women each and there’s bound to be the usual team drama.

“I realized I wasn’t fit enough for rugby, so I started doing various forms of cross training in 2008 in Mount Airy, which was the first form of CrossFit that I tried,” said Meyer. “I stuck with it and I saw my rugby performance improving.”

Around the same time, Meyer got a job as a graphic designer/production artist. She was feeling good about her job and at the same time as she started working out at CrossFit, Meyer was promoted. With the promotion came additional stress, which affected all facets of her life.

“Rugby wasn’t fun anymore because I was stressed out and by then I was surrounded by high level players who I couldn’t compete with- at that point the truth came out,” said Meyer.  “I was too small and my skill level had reached its limit.”

Things came to a screeching halt in the fall of 2008, when Meyer got crushed on the rugby pitch- she was sent to the hospital with one collapsed lung and a fractured a rib.

“Five minutes into the season, I was out,” Meyer winced. “It was really depressing and I let work take over my life. I was unhappy.”

Months later after an extensive recovery, Meyer decided it was time to hang up her rugby jersey after a six and a half year career. With a void to fill, Meyer joined a CrossFit gym in South Philadelphia, known as Fearless Athletics in 2009.  Missing her rugby buddies, she also found fitness friends at CrossFit.

“I found a new passion there,” Meyer said.

All of a sudden, Meyer established a new level of fitness for herself. Only a few months in, she was assisting the trainers at the gym and got her Level 1 certification in early 2010. The L1 certification gave her a better understanding of how to better use CrossFit methods in her own training and provided an initial education to begin training others.

 “I found inspiration in watching people succeed,” said Meyer.

Fearless Athletics continued to grow, moving into a newer, bigger space to accommodate all the new members. Meyer was coaching five to seven times a week and working out the same amount herself. She was still juggling her full-time graphic design job to boot. She was enthralled with her newfound love for CrossFit.

“My work-life really sucked at that point,” Meyer said. “I realized I had outgrown my place as a coach in South Philly and was ready to move on to do my own thing.”

Wanting to grow her own business, Meyer was approached by Joe Ling, who she had originally trained and then coached with at Fearless. Ling wanted to start up a CrossFit gym and proposed that Meyer be his business partner.

“I said absolutely. Absolutely,” said Meyer, who turns 35 this summer. “How’s this going to work? I have no idea.”

They met over six months, making plans, which included drafting a business agreement with a lawyer. Meyer was still working 60-70 a week during all this, doing the nine-five and then coaching CrossFitters in the evening. Giving credit to Ling, Meyer knows he is as much a part of this as she.

“I couldn’t have done it without Joe,” Meyer said. “Joe and I built a community here and there’s something really inspirational about that.”

CrossFit Novem officially opened on October 3^rd, 2011 with four members. They now have 70. The maximum goal for their current space is 120 members. The CrossFit Novem name came from nine in Latin, as Ling and Meyer’s facility is the ninth CrossFit in Philly. Clients learn nine fundamental movements in CrossFit as well, so the number seemed to fit on several levels.

Sandwiched between two popular bar/restaurants in Philly (Johnny Brenda’s and Frankford Hall), Meyer has chosen a hot spot for her entrepreneurial debut.  Running, lifting, gymnastics, playing- whatever it is, Meyer and Ling keep their clients sweating with smiles on their faces. They want members strengthening their movements so when they’re old and gray they can still walk up the stairs.

“Adults don’t play enough,” said Meyer. “We try to do that here.”

With plans to quit her office job pending, Meyer is excited to take on CrossFit fulltime. Although her business demands much upfront, Meyer knows that rewards lie ahead.

“By taking my steady salary, health insurance, phone plan and saying I don’t need this from somebody else, that builds my confidence,” said Meyer. “That’s life, being able to push yourself through things you never thought you could.”

Looking ahead, Meyer and Ling may be bringing in a third trainer (part-time) and keeping up the status quo of their budding business. So far, Novem has thrived without any marketing, but that may change come summer when the gym will look to reach their membership goals.  

As for what’s she’s learned through all of this, Meyer is, as usual, quick with positive advice:

“Learn how to listen and communicate effectively- with your business partners, clients, and the community your business resides in.”

That may be just what we needed to hear.

*Sidenote- check out my 'follow by email' feature to the right, if you sign up it should send your email Farm Office updates whenever new content is added!

What's CrossFit, the new buzz word in individual fitness?

Philadelphia, Pa- Many of you city-dwellers have heard about one of the newest fitness fads in recent years- CrossFit. While CrossFit is big in Philadelphia and other cities in the U.S., I haven’t seen it expanding into the suburbs yet (although it only seems a matter of time). Several of my friends are CrossFit members, and I will warn you- they certainly drink the kool aid. However, in a nice preview for CrossFit Novem owner Lesha Meyer’s interview next week, here is some background information on the CrossFit phenomena and why it’s good for all types of athletes (this article focuses specifically on tri-athletes). Happy reading!

How CrossFit Can Benefit Tri-Athletes, by Nathan Helming for Active.com

These days, CrossFit has gained national attention with its explosive growth of affiliate gyms, the members who attend them and the recent exposure of the Crossfit Games on ESPN. With this attention comes both enthusiasts who praise the program and the skeptic who questions its safety and efficacy.

When done correctly, CrossFit can be fun, invigorating and intelligent strength and conditioning program that can  help get athletes over a frustrating plateau of persistent injury and stale performance and onto a new upward athletic trajectory.

Here are five things a good CrossFit program can add to your triathalon training to help make you a strong, faster and healthier athlete.

1.       Crossfit teaches proper body mechanics

Most endurance athletes look for either a decrease in injury or an increase in performance when heading to the gym. CrossFit programs start with an intensive series of sessions that teach you how to do basic movements like the squat, deadlift, press, jump/land and Olympic effectively. These movements are all very technical and, while there is a learning curve, they challenge the athletes’s coordination and motor control. With feedback from the coach, these technical movements teach athletes how to move better and improve shoulder, hip and knee mechanics.

2.       Crossfit identifies athletic weakness and imbalance and provides tools to address them

If you struggle with basic swim, bike  and run mechanics, chances are you also struggle to maintain good posture in CrossFit’s basic movements: the squat, dead lift and pushup. A knowledgeable coach can watch the movements you perform and use them as a screening tool to assess your strength, muscle flexibility and joint mobility.

For example, if your elbows flare out in the push-up or you have difficulty maintaining a strong neutral plank position, the coach knows you lack mid line stability (core strength) and shoulder stability. Without meeting these basic demands, you will struggle to reach your full potential as an athlete.

3.    CrossFit builds greater strength, power, agility and speed

Mobility and flexibility are not the only limiters. Endurance athletes often lack top-end speed, strength and power output. Marathoners and Ironman-distance athletes come to mind here. Too much time spent going long and slow leads to an athlete that can only go one speed: long and slow. At CrossFit, athletes learn to incorporate strength and gymnastic skills into their workouts. They jump, spring and develop power they previously thought impossible. Time and time again, we have seen these new abilities translate to increased athletic performance.

4.       CrossFit develops and builds true functional strengths

Many strength programs promote sport specific and functional strength movements for endurance athletes. While these movements sound great, many of them involve overly complicated exercises that ironically lack true substance. Functional strength does not need to be sport specific. It should focus on building your general physical capacity with multi-joint movements that you already do day-to-day. With an improved ability to pull, push, squat, dead lift, jump and even throw, you will approach your sport with greater levels of strength, power, body awareness and confidence.

5.       CrossFit develops skills that transfer to our specific sports

Too often endurance athletes are disconnected between the brain and the body. You do sit-ups and crunches but stand hunched over and over-extended in the low back. You probably even run and swim with poor posture. At CrossFit, functional exercises can and should contribute to better swimming, biking and running. Your understanding of mechanics will enhance your sport specific output. Find a qualified gym, with a good coach and discover first-hand how CrossFit can intelligently elevate your game as an endurance athlete.

If you want to sell hot dogs, go out and sell some hot dogs, advises Jamie Punderson, CEO of Networks & More!

Austin, TX- Last week you read the first interview in a two-part series about James Punderson, CEO of Networks & More!, an education consulting company based in New Jersey. He took readers through the highs and lows of starting new businesses, with his expertise ranging from fruit baskets to educational technology.

In the second interview, Punderson advises other would-be entrepreneurs to have a goal and go for it.

“Some people think they need to have an office first, stationary first, business cards…its better just to begin,” he said. “If you want to sell hot dogs, the first thing to do is sell some hot dogs. If customers are buying, then get whatever equipment you need to accommodate the business. Do it on a part-time basis and test the market without spending a lot.”

While easier said then done, Punderson’s advice is a product of a particular characteristic he exudes- a resolute confidence. This trait is easy to miss, because it’s subtle-something that can often be missing in better-known entrepreneurs (think Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs). Brought up in a DIY (do-it-yourself) family as one in a gaggle of children and adults living under one roof, it’s no wonder Punderson has been instilled with a can-do attitude.

“I just figured how to do it and did it,” said Punderson of how he got started. “I came up with my own ways of doing things.”

As for his family, Punderson has always kept them involved in some way. Sarah English Punderson, Jamie’s wife and former gourmet caterer, often makes lunch for the Networks & More! staff. All three Punderson children have worked in the office at different times- answering phones, working on spreadsheets, stuffing envelopes- whatever needed to be done.

When asked about how integral his wife’s support has been while making it through the hard times before his businesses were profitable, Punderson said:

“I think Sarah’s support was in trusting and relying on my judgment rather than looking for the security of me having a job working for a large corporation or the government. That was extremely helpful.”

If you think Punderson is all computers, all the time, you’d be mostly right. However he did work on a side project with his pal and securities lawyer Charlie O’Rourke in the late 90s. With Punderson’s experience in the brokerage business and O’Rourke’s law background, the tandem teamed up to write ‘How to Sue your Stockbroker without a Lawyer’. The 274 page paperback was published in 1998.

“It was a great deal of fun writing that book,” Punderson chuckled. “We’d get together one weekend a month and had a lot of laughs, wrote a few chapters, went out to dinner. At the time, there were a lot of bad apples in the brokerage business and we wanted to show people how to get their money back. We never had the expectation it would be a best-seller, but it’s still selling on Amazon and it’s in the Library of Congress. We’re self-published authors,” said Punderson.

Learning about yet another industry seems to be what keeps Punderson lively. And as the interview came to a close, he had a one final tidbit to share about starting up a business.

“Most businesses don’t take very much money to start, they take sales,” said Punderson. “It’s a good discipline to start a business without money, you’re less likely to spend money on things you don’t need.”

Coming tomorrow, the second interview with start-up specialist Jamie Punderson

Coming Sunday (3/11), Jamie Punderson's second interview in a two-part series. In it, he discusses his book, his family, and some final advice for would-be entrepreneurs.

Teaching, trading, technology: James Punderson proves there's many paths to success



James Punderson, CEO of Networks & More!



Island Heights, N.J.- I hit the road for this week’s blog article, which begins with the first interview in a two-part series with entrepreneur James Punderson, my father. Punderson is the current CEO of Network & More!, a privately-held educational technology company based in Island Heights, New Jersey. Punderson hasn’t worked for anyone else since 1974. 



The second-oldest of nine children in an Anglo-Irish-German Catholic family, Punderson is the only sibling to have entered the small business world. While attending the University of Notre Dame on his own dime (often hitch-hiking to get home for holidays), Punderson started United Student Services and solicited parents via mail selling fruit baskets during exam time. He made enough to pay a significant portion of his tuition as a senior and laid the groundwork for his professional journey. After leaving South Bend, Punderson went to graduate school at Bowling Green and worked as a teacher for a few years, then decided to take a shot at law school. 

“My second year in law school, I decided I wasn’t interested in being a lawyer,” Punderson said. “I was spending a lot of time handling my own investments, trading junk bonds. Various people asked me to manage their money, and in 1981 when there was a computer program to help do that, I bought my first computer from RadioShack.”

The budding entrepreneur formed an investment advisory company, James Punderson & Co., registered it with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and set up shop. Without a background in trading, Punderson, the quiet kid from New Jersey, had been ditching the Ohio State law library while still in school and had been poring through investment books. His compensation from the business was one percent of the money under management per year. With several million dollars under management, overhead was low and Punderson’s business was profitable.

“We weren’t wildly lucrative, the principal source of income was still my own trading account,” Punderson said.

In 1988, Punderson formed a registered brokerage firm, which meant he could now hire a bond trader and could buy and sell on behalf of investors. This new company, VP Securities Inc., was formed with Punderson and a business partner. When his partner decided to leave in 1990, Punderson sold the business and moved on to his next venture.

During his stint with VP Securities, the business had a very profitable year. His partner bought six cars that year. Punderson invested it. It was that investment money that sustained him (and my family) for three years when he didn’t have any income from business while starting up his current operation, Networks & More!.

“In the final few years of the brokerage and investing advisory business, I learned about computer networking and picked up the skills and experience to set up and maintain networks, which was a growing field,” said Punderson.

There was increasing interest from schools, so Punderson decided to see if there was a business in advising schools on what technology they needed and how to set it up.

“I decided to get into the business of educational technology consulting," said Punderson. "Networks & More! got going sometime around 1994. The first big project was for the Bordentown Regional School District."

“They hired me and my company- which at the time was me, for a big project,” said Punderson. "I ended up hiring a few people to work on it and after that the calls started rolling in.”

My father has been known to softly lull family members to sleep at the dinner table by talking shop, so in order to keep you awake, I won’t get into the technical aspect of his business. However if you’re interested in learning about the nuts and the bolts of this business, just go to www.k12usa.com .

Evolving seems to be a key factor in Punderson’s business survival. 

“In 1999 we had seven people going out and driving all over N.J. providing schools with services,” said Punderson. "It quickly became a numbers game; the only way to make more money was to hire more people or charge more per hour or both. It was much like running an accounting or law firm. It’s a good way to get started in a business, but the growth potential is limited.”

Punderson experimented in writing software for schools, certain his business would need to change to keep up with the evolving needs of the educational world. He came up with the idea to offer software that ran on the internet, rather than software that needed to be installed by his employees at schools. It wasn’t a unique idea, but there was a growing niche in his industry for it.

“We sold access to the software on a subscription based plan,” said Punderson.

In 1999, Networks & More! generated 100% of their revenue by going out to schools. Today all revenue comes completely from internet-based services. Gradually, Punderson shifted the direction of the business to include programmers and tech-support employees. 

“It’s been great going all these years without having to answer to a third party…other than my wife of course,” Punderson said. 

Networks & More! officially reached adulthood with their 18th anniversary in 2012, and what seems so impressive is that Punderson has done it by his bootstraps. With a positive cash-flow and seven full-time staff members, it looks like ‘Pundy’, as his friends called him growing up, is trending in the right direction.  

However, it’s not all fancy monitors and wireless keyboards for Punderson and his staff.

Check back in next Sunday (3/11) for the second interview in this two-part series.