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Aug 07
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Weathered Ground Brewery breaks ground in Cool Ridge
By Jordan Nelson – Register-Herald Reporter – Aug 6, 2017
A good omen for groundbreaking day.
Weathered Ground Brewery, located on a high-country 30-acre farm in Cool Ridge, has been a brewery-in-planning for two years. Saturday, it officially opened its doors, offering that distinct craft beer taste to anticipating locals. A joint effort between husband and wife, Sam and Aryn Fonda decided they wanted to move back near Aryn’s childhood home of Daniels, and search for the craft beer business opportunity. “We had been living in Charlotte, N.C., for the past six years,” Aryn Fonda said. “We wanted to move back to where I grew up, and after having our daughter, Willa, we finally did so.”
Aryn said she and her husband found a farm in Cool Ridge, and decided not only to open up a brewery, but to live on the property as well. “Growing up here, I have a special connection with this place, and we wanted to bring something to southern West Virginia that we thought many people would love.” Aryn’s husband Sam worked at two breweries in Charlotte in the past, so they were able to transfer their knowledge of the subject into their own business. “We wanted to do our own thing, and this is something we have always been interested in,” she said. “We have wanted to grow organically for a number of years and use those items for our brews.”
With Winterplace Ski Resort just up the road from the brewery, both Sam and Aryn hope during the winter season Weathered Ground will be an attraction to tourists. “There are so many outdoor opportunities out within this area,” she said. “We are hoping to expand that even more with our brewery to not only locals, but to the people that come and visit the state.”
(Brad Davis/The Register-Herald) Patrons hang out in the main pub area during the grand opening celebration for the Weathered Ground Brewery Saturday afternoon in Cool Ridge.
Carter Lewis, of Charlotte, N.C., drove to Cool Ridge for the brewery opening. He said he did not want to miss out on the event. “I’ve heard that the brew master, one of the owners, is actually from Charlotte as well, so it’s really something to learn that he’s bringing his knowledge here,” Lewis said. “I think this will do something great for this small community,” he said, while sipping one of the many brews available at the facility. “So far, every one of the beers taste really good.”
Sam Fonda said the brewery plans to hire only local employees. “We want to provide opportunities for people around here, and we don’t want to stray away from that.” Sam said the idea for the name Weathered Ground came to him and Aryn once they learned of the history of the land. “A lot of animals were raised out here, and a couple of generations of families lived out here as well,” he said. “We believe the property is weathered by people and nature, and it was a name that stuck and had meaning.” Sam explained his nervousness about opening something new in the area, and said sometimes the anxiety sets in. “We have a few panic attacks every now and again,” he said with a laugh. “But we are confident in the beer we make, and we are confident in the type of people we are. All we really want to do is bring something cool to the area, and we really hope it works out.”
Within a barn-like building, the dining area of Weathered Ground houses spacious seating, high ceilings and a full-size bar on the back wall, offering several brews, coffee and other non-alcoholic beverages. During the grand opening Saturday, local musical favorite The Kind Thieves, along with Vessel, a band based out of Louisville, Ky., performed to customers outdoors at the back fields of the brewery, where picnic tables are placed all around. Customers were able to enjoy a cold brew indoors, or take their brew outdoors to enjoy music and company.
Aryn said she and her husband found a farm in Cool Ridge, and decided not only to open up a brewery, but to live on the property as well.
Christina Wright, of Oak Hill, said she had heard some buzzing about the new brewery and wanted to come check it out for herself. “I’m highly impressed,” Wright said. “There’s breweries in the Fayetteville and Lewisburg area, but they’re all usually closed off to the public, nothing like this.” Wright said she thinks Weathered Grounds will be a big plus to not just the Cool Ridge area, but throughout the state as a whole. “I really enjoy these types of venues, and I will definitely continue to come back.”
Aryn said since they have just opened, their food menu will be based on simple, more snack-related items. “We have some really good snacks people will want to try out, though,” she said. “We’re going to have chicken salad sliders, pepperoni rolls, just a lot of finger foods.” She said if the brewery progresses and expands as she and Sam hope, they will expand their menu with more lunch and dinner items.
For now, hours for Weathered Ground are Thursday from 4 to 9 p.m., Friday from 4 to 10 p.m., Saturday from noon to 10 p.m., and Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. Aryn said those hours might expand as more staff becomes available. “We’re just really excited to finally be open, and we hope it’s a big hit.”
Links: Website, Facebook, Instagram, Video
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Jul 24
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Fonda fish farm happy under Italian owner
Business, 24 Jul 2017 / By Sta
Lucija – The Fonda fish farm has managed to expand as well as preserve its strategy and jobs since being joined by an Italian strategic owner a year ago. The family-run business, which specialises in breeding top-quality sea bass, partnered with Vale Ca’ Zuliani from Ravena a year ago in order to keep the business running. “The mood is very positive. We’ve kept all the jobs, our company’s strategy,” the director Irena Fonda has told the STA, also praising good two-way cooperation in transfer of know-how.
The fish farm employs 18 people plus seasonal workers. The Italian partner has let them preserve their quality-based direction and approach in the supply of customers. “We have broader shoulders than we used to have,” says Fonda, adding that they have managed to expand the farm capacity after initially failing to get the support from a creditor bank. Despite the red figures at the moment owing to the fact that the fish is not big enough to be sold yet, the cash flow is encouraging, she said.
The farm focuses on quality rather than quantity, aiming to sell most of the bass locally. The fish quality increases the further north you go in the Adriatic, and “we are the northern-most fish farm in the Adriatic”. At first they sold virtually all of their fish abroad, while 13 years since launching the business and ten years under the Fonda brand, most of the fish is sold in Slovenia, and increasingly many to Austria. An important factor has been education of customers through guided tours of the fish farm. “People come here, have a good time for an hour, while they also learn quite a lot.”
The director has noted a change in people’s mentality. As the start of their business, Slovenians ate 5.3 kilos of fish pert capita a year, a number that has doubled to ten kilos since. Still, the figures remain low when compared to more than 25 kilos in Italy and more than 44 kilos of fish per capita consumed in Spain. One of the farm’s plans is to place Slovenian fish on the menus at Slovenian schools and kindergartens. “Kids like good fish,” says Fonda, adding that one problem is public procurement rules.
Natural ethos nets success for Slovenian fish farmers
By Kester Eddy, Financial Times, June 11, 2013
Irena Fonda leans over the side of her boat and throws a handful of food pellets into the waters of the northern Adriatic. After a pause, the water is suddenly alive with fish, thrashing just below the surface. “They are not right today; they are normally waiting for the boat. It’s probably because of the storm,” Ms Fonda shouts above the wind. The boat is just inside the Slovenian waters of the Bay of Piran, in the northern Adriatic: ahead is an array of circular fish cages, up to 12m in diameter, holding around 1m sea bass that Ms Fonda and her brother raise from the age of seven months to five years. A few metres behind us is the maritime border with Croatia.
There are scores of aquaculture – fish farm – operations in the Mediterranean, but none quite like the Fonda Piran Sea Bass farm, which is small, currently yielding a mere 50 tonnes of fish annually. The industry benchmark for profitability is five times that, and farms in Greece and Turkey are typically 500-1,000 tonnes or more.
Fishing for profit: Ugo Fonda applied his expertise in marine biology to fish farming. After his death, the company has continued to be run by his daughter Irena and her brother Lean, both biologists
The Fondas, Irena and brother Lean, are biologists, who – with their now deceased father – in 2001 took the profits from their underwater engineering business and turned their scientific minds to producing a better-quality, healthier sea bass than those of the large commercial farms.
To prove the point, Ms Fonda points to the depths. “You see, the nets are overgrown with algae. Most farms use antifouling agents, but these are bad for nature and I’m sure it’s bad for the fish,” she says.
But eschewing chemical methods means using divers to clean the nets manually, a time-consuming, expensive process. Nonetheless, the Fondas apply this ethos to every aspect of the operation, from identifying the highest-quality fingerlings – juvenile fish – bought from hatcheries in France and Italy, to sourcing the very best fish-food producers.
They also harvest the fish in supercooled brine – effectively putting them to sleep – to cause the least stress. The result is sea bass with a lean, tasty body that has been tested to reveal mercury levels at just 4 per cent of the legal limit. Despite prices of between €16 and €25 per kg at the farm shop – a 100 per cent premium over sea bass from large commercial farms – demand is outstripping supply. For good reason, says Curt-Daniel Scheffler, executive chef at the Kempinski Palace Hotel, in the nearby resort of Portoro.
“Irena Fonda presented her fish during the hotel’s pre-opening phase [in 2008]. I could see straight away that this was a very ambitious company, with a high-quality [product], very different from ‘factory fish’, with automatic feeding and chemical net treatment,” he says. Fonda sea bass has been on the Palace menu ever since. But widespread success was initially elusive. Ms Fonda admits that their original assumption – that the public would recognise and pay for high-quality fish – was extremely naive. “People just saw our fish was more expensive, and asked why. It was very disappointing,” she says.
Irena and Lean Fonda amidst fish farm pools
At first, almost the entire production went to Italy, which has a more discerning fish-loving public. But even with the higher prices achieved there, the operation was unsustainable. The team reviewed their strategy, selling via a newly created website, Web Store Fonda, guaranteeing the freshness of each fish with an individual tag, dating the catch. They also offered to deliver fish all over Slovenia in special boxes, packed with ice.
Almost overnight, a public that had shunned sea bass on the slab carrying a 20 per cent premium began changing its mind. Having won a string of domestic entrepreneurial awards for the Fondas’ efforts, the brand is now well established in Slovenia, which accounts for 70 per cent of sales. Yet the business still struggles. Despite official policies to encourage private enterprise, a project to double the size of the farm was delayed for three years by ministerial red tape. And the banks have tightened credit lines – a near-crippling blow to a business that needs four to five years’ investment before any return appears.
But as the Fondas’ fame spread, an increasing number of people asked to see the farm. “At first, we just welcomed visitors, but it began taking too much time. So we started charging, showing tourists the cages, feeding the fish, and then having a little degustation afterwards, with local wines and produce,” Ms Fonda says. Around 1,200 tourists last year brought in €40,000 – a small proportion of total farm revenues of €1m – but it needed no new investment. “We need three lorry loads of feed per month in summer, at about €30,000 a time. That has to be paid,” she says.
The Fondas have invested in new equipment and educational material, expecting to double numbers to about 2,500 visitors this year. But there are limits. “It’s a good way to add value to our brand, but we do not have the structures for mass tourism. We take each guest personally to the farm with the boat; it takes time,” she says.
Lean, Ugo and Irena Fonda
The Fonda family’s battles with bureaucracy, banks and even their own naivety in areas of business outside their expertise is a common enough experience for entrepreneurs in the former communist states of central and eastern Europe, says Andreas Antonopoulos, rector of the University of New York in Prague and professor of entrepreneurship.
Governments and ministries across the region struggle to understand entrepreneurs – that is if they care in the first place, Prof Antonopoulos told the Financial Times. “In my experience, [in the past] they did not really care, and now that the importance of entrepreneurship and what it results in for the local economies is starting to dawn on policy makers, they have limited understanding of how to help out,” he says.
There is much these governments can do to cut bureaucracy and ease excessive or sometimes contradictory regulations, he says. “The most obvious starting point for governments wanting to help is to stay out of the way, and facilitate entrepreneurs to spend all their energy on their ventures, ie cut red tape, taxation, complexity and bureaucracy, indeed, minimise interaction with the state. “They should try to see it from the entrepreneur’s point of view; estimate how much time, effort and money a new venture would need to spend on state-related tasks, and seek to minimise that cost,” Prof Antonopoulos adds.
Entrepreneurs are turned off by the amount of paperwork involved in seeking state subsidies, he says. “Monies are rarely put to genuine good use, although I’ve seen a couple of more promising schemes around.” The situation is slightly better in the western Visegrad Four states (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland), where entrepreneurs generally face fewer hurdles than further east, primarily due to the more politically and economically mature societies. “These countries have more developed domestic markets, somewhat easier access to capital and more advanced legal systems and start-up communities,” Prof Antonopoulos says.
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Jul 14
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Interview with Former YPG Volunteer Mike Fonda
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July 12, 2017 – Mike Fonda describes his experience fighting with the YPG in Syria and the current efforts to raise awareness in the United States to gain support for the fight against ISIS. |
KDP arrests two YPG fighters from the US and puts them in the same prison cell with ISIS gangs
Robert Alleva and Michael Fonda, 2 internationalists from the US who came to Rojava to join the fight against ISIS, were arrested by KDP officials and put in the same prison cell with ISIS gangs.
Sunday, August 2, 2015 – News Desk – ANF
Robert Alleva and Michael Fonda, 2 internationalists from the US who came to Rojava to join the fight against ISIS, were arrested and put in the same prison cell with ISIS gangs by KDP officials. KDP officials arrested Robert Alleva, Michael Fonda, Alexandre de Ponte and Russian YPG fighter Semyonov as they were returning to their home countries.
Photo: Militia fighters Ashley Dyball (front right) and American Mike Fonda (front centre). Gold Coast man Reece Harding (back, second from left) was killed in June. (Supplied: Mike Fonda)
Michael Fonda stated that he is from Centreville, Virginia, and his name in Rojava was Demhat Şirvan. Fonda fought in the US army in Iraq and wanted to join YPG in order to fight against ISIS and liberate Kurdish and Arab towns from ISIS occupation. After being released as a result of the diplomatic efforts of the American Embassy in Erbil, Fonda reported that KDP officials held them in the same prison cell with ISIS gangs for 23 days despite the fact that they had told the officials about their membership in YPG. Fonda ended his statements by criticizing the Turkish government’s collaboration with ISIS, and called upon KDP officials to treat better those who were fighting against ISIS.
Robert Alleva is another YPG fighter from the US, and stayed in Rojava for three months to fight against ISIS. Alleva stated that after their arrests, KDP officials told them that they would soon be sent home but the 4 foreign YPG fighters were kept in the same cell with ISIS gangs in a prison in Erbil for 23 days. Alleva said that KDP wanted to set up an example with their imprisonment, and called upon KDP to not treat foreign YPG fighters the way they had been treated. Alleva noted that YPG was composed of Kurds, Arabs, and Christians, and thanked the people of Rojava for their hospitality and struggle for humanity in the face of ISIS barbarism.
Other links: ABC Australia, National Post, YouTube, Crowdrise
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Jan 27
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Story of Masonic Apron – Found at the Battle of Gettysburg on Culp’s Hill – Harrisburg Lodge Thirty-Six Years Later Discovers Owner and Returns Apron
Gettysburg Compiler, Wednesday, May 5, 1909
Battle of Little Round Top – the site of an unsuccessful assault by Confederate troops against the Union left flank on July 2, 1863, the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Lost by one Federal soldier in the sudden shifting of an army corps at Chancellorsville, Va.: found two months later by another at Gettysburg, Pa.: presented to Perseverance Lodge of Masons, Harrisburg, and finally after a lapse of almost forty-six years returned to the original owner. That is the history of a Masonic apron belonging to E. L. Fonda, of Averill Park, New York, which has recently come to light.
The history of the apron unfolds a leaf from the past and brings back again stirring memories of the Civil War. The story of the apron, as far as Perseverance Lodge is concerned, opened at Gettysburg, on July 3, 1863. It was found lying among the rocks on Culp’s Hill, at the conclusion of the second day’s struggle oy John Kunkle of Harrisburg. Mr. Kunkle presented it to Perseverance Lodge on October 12, 1863.
For some years the apron was hung on the lodge room walls, but finally it was taken down and stored with many other relics in a drawer in a cabinet. In March, 1908, Dr. John M. J. Raunick, at that time worshipful master of Perseverance Lodge, in rummaging through the cabinet, came across the old apron. He examined it closely and discovered on the back the stenciled name, E. L. Fonda, and also the name of the Massachusetts manufacturer of such emblems.
Hoping to find the original owner, if he yet lived, Dr. Raunick wrote to Boston, asking if a man of that name lived there or whether any record of the sale of the apron had ever been kept. He received a negative answer. This occurred in March of last year. His next move was to write to the adjutant general of the war department. There also nothing could be learned.
Two letters were next written to the secretary of the war department. In answer to the second he received word that a man answering to that name of E. L. Fonda had enlisted on August 11, 1862, in the 14th New York Infantry, which was a part of the Army of the Potomac.
Then Dr. Raunick wrote to the adjutant general of New York and the Grand Lodge of Masons in that State. They could impart no further information. A third letter to the war department brought an answer referring him to the pension department.
It was at this point that the doctor received the most encouragement. From the pension department he learned that E. L. Fonda lived in Waterbleit, New York. Four letters Dr. Raunick dispatched to Waterbleit. Not one was returned and no answer was received. The fifth letter the doctor made very strong and insisted upon a reply.
A short time afterwards, namely, March 17, 1909, a letter was received from Averill Park, N. Y. It was written by Edward L. Fonda himself. He said that he had received a package of several letters, written by Dr. Raunick and was now answering the first. He also stated that he intended looking at once into the cause of delay.
The Craftsman believes that a Masonic Apron is the most essential physical representation of a man’s commitment to the Craft.
“I moved from Waterbleit to Aver hill Park a short time ago,” wrote Mr. Fonda. “I was born in West Troy, now Waterbleit, Albany county, New York, on March 11, 1831. I bought the apron in 1853, after I had joined the Pawtucket Lodge, Lowell, Massachusetts, and remember distinctly wearing it for the first time at Bunker Hill, when the statue was unveiled there to General Joseph Warren.
“I enlisted in the 14th New York Infantry in 1862 and we were assigned to the Army of the Potomac. The apron I had with me, stored in my knapsack. On May 1 our regiment was transferred across the Rappahannock river to join the rest of the army. This was the opening day of battle of Chancellorsville, and in the hurry of forming I lost my knapsack. I did not miss it until in the midst of the fighting, hours later, and I never expected to recover it.
“I took part in the battle of Gettysburg, where you say it was found. Our regiment was stationed at Little Round Top. My full name is Edward Learned Fonda, and I now reside on a farm a few miles from Averill Park.”
Through this letter and several sub sequent ones Dr. Raunick had no trouble in identifying the owner and finally the matter was placed before Perseverance Lodge. It voted unanimously to present the apron to the original owner. The apron was sent to Mr. Fonda on April 15, 1909, and two days later a letter of fervent thanks was received from the happy veteran.
“The apron,” he wrote, “is nearly as good as new and I must thank Perseverance Lodge for taking such excel lent care of it. My wife had pressed it and fixed the frayed ends and we have it hanging in the parlor.
In his letter Mr. Fonda enclosed a photograph of himself and this was hung with a photograph of the apron in Perseverance Lodge room, nicely framed.
It is the hope of Dr. Raunick that even after the lapse of years he can find somebody who can bridge the gap between May 1, 1863 and July 3, 1863. Was it a Confederate or a Federal soldier who dropped the apron at Gettysburg? Will the answer ever be given?
The apron is of white satin with an area of about 24 inches by 18 inches. It is embroidered with blue and upon it is painted a square and compass, the symbol of Masonry.
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Sep 21
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Master’s student building libraries, bringing resources to Uganda
An MBA candidate created an organization to increase literacy in Uganda.
by Kimberly Burton, 20 September 2016
St. Mugaga Secondary School library is one of the nine libraries the Literate Earth Project has opened throughout rural districts of Uganda since 2013, with two more openings slated for this year.
During a service trip Jeff Fonda took to Uganda, he worked in a school with no textbooks. Instead, every student was given a hand-written version of a textbook for their classes. “It’s a crazy process, they actually hand copied each book over and over again,” Fonda said. “It was great they had the text, but they had no formalized pictures or graphs.”
Fonda, a first-year master’s of business administration student, was inspired by his experiences in Uganda to found the nonprofit called The Literate Earth Project, an organization that helps Ugandan children get access to books and increase literacy. Other than the hand-copied textbooks, students had no books to read for pleasure. Fonda soon discovered the school’s headmaster had approximately 15 books in his office and decided to show them to the students. “With these books and atlas, they were seeing pictures of new people, trees, buildings, things they had never seen before,” Fonda said.
Information about sports in particular were of interest to them, Fonda added. “They were asking things like, ‘What is this sport?’ They had never seen tennis before. ‘What is this racket for?’” he said. This is when his revelation occurred, he said. “You could see the wheels were going in their heads,” Fonda said. “That experience of seeing the real need for knowledge and how it spurred these other thoughts and conversations was amazing.”
Ugandan Vice President Edward Ssekandi and LEP Founder Jeff Fonda
The Literate Earth Project was officially formed in 2011. In 2013, Fonda and his organization opened their first library in Uganda. In that same year, they also received a LEAP grant from BetterWorldBooks. LEAP grants are given to organizations with “game-changing” ideas to “help advance a compelling literacy project,” according to its website. “We watched [the first library] for a year and half to see it’s successes and failures,” he said.
After Fonda and other individuals from the organization saw the library was working, they began to open more libraries throughout the country in 2014. In the past two and a half years, The Literate Earth Project has opened nine libraries in areas like the Rakai, Masaka and Wakiso districts of Uganda. The organization will also open two more this year. “As long as we are able to keep up funding, we’re actually on pace to open four to six libraries per year and we would like to continue at that pace,” said Alex Moore, project’s chief operating officer.
The need for books in Uganda is evident through the requests for the organization’s libraries. The Literate Earth Project has a list of about 50 schools that have been okayed to receive libraries, but hundreds have made requests. To ensure success, the organization has a vetting process where staff visit the school to assess its needs. They make sure the teachers and community are going to get involved, and that the books will actually be used by the students.
In the past, to raise awareness for the program, Fonda has met with Uganda’s Vice President, H. E. Edward Ssekandi. Ssekandi has implemented policy to aid in increasing literacy in Uganda. Fonda said he hopes to expand the program to the many schools on their waitlist, but the organization doesn’t have money for the books themselves. By applying for grants, starting college clubs and hosting events like the Let’s Get Literate 5K Run, they have started to raise more money for their efforts. “We’re constantly looking for new partnerships so that we can kind of work together with other organizations that might provide solar energy or computers to schools,” Moore said.
Fonda, who is interested in eventually starting a club on Main Campus connected to his nonprofit, hopes to continue focusing on Uganda due to the serious demand for libraries. “I’d like to say we can change the whole world, but right now our goal is to change Uganda,” Fonda said. “The demand is insatiable [there].”
Kimberly Burton can be reached at kimberly.burton@temple.edu.
Also see: Literate Earth Project, Books for Africa