The year was 1992. In January of that year I had just liquidated my interest in a family farm partnership with my dad, operating a dairy farm for 16 years. A breakdown in my health had motivated my exit from dairy farming and now I was facing the decision of how I was going to occupy myself for the rest of my life and what I was going to do with a 41 acre tract of land I had purchased several years earlier. I had decided to build a house on that land and to pursue some sort of organically oriented market garden or truck farming enterprise. I don't remember how I had acquired contact information about Andy Hankins (maybe through our local Virginia Cooperative Extension office) but I found myself writing a letter to Andy, explaining my situation and asking him for ideas about how I could get started setting up my new farming venture. Within a few days there arrived in my mailbox a rather thick manilla envelope packed with information sheets and printouts of a variety of potential alternative agriculture enterprises I might explore--asparagus, elephant garlic, Shitake mushrooms, oriental greens, season extension techniques using high and low tunnels, pastured poultry, heirloom vegetables, small fruit (strawberries, blueberries, bramble berries) etc. I sent Andy a letter expressing my gratitude and began poring through this information packet and some seed and plant catalogs I had ordered. That summer as my new house began to take shape, I planted bigger than usual patches of tomatoes and peppers, asparagus crowns, and several patches of raspberries. As the summer crops reached maturity I began sitting a stand at our local farmers' market and walking into the kitchens of restaurants looking for someone to buy my bounty. The adventure of launching Glen Eco Farm had begun. My wife and I soon joined VABF and began attending their conferences. We both would continue working with Andy as we served on the VABF board and on conference planning committees. We can certainly echo the same sentiment that many in the sustainable agriculture community have expressed that we have been enriched and blessed by our contact with Andy Hankins, our mentor and friend. Marlin Burkholder Glen Eco Farm