Teacher uses entrepreneur's success story to inspire, challenge students

Issue Date: March 5, 2008

By Christine Souza
Assistant Editor

Amanda Gianolini of Greenfield has considered herself a cowgirl since she was 4 and first met "Sunny Bars," a sorrel quarter horse that she soon began riding around the family ranch.

In response to a Cal Poly instructor's challenge to develop a business or invention, cowgirl Amanda Gianolini pursued an idea about keeping horses more comfortable while traveling.

Now a college junior majoring in ag science and communications, Gianolini knew exactly what she was going to do when asked to develop a business venture for her ag mechanics class.

"I've been rodeoing my whole life and this was an idea I've always had in the back of my mind and this assignment brought it out," said Gianolini, a student at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. "We love to travel and we'd like to make it as comfortable and convenient for the horses as possible."

Her idea? An automatic watering system for horse trailers designed so that the horses can push a button and help themselves to water.

"My target audience here is people who live the equestrian lifestyle and care for their horses," Gianolini said. "I think that plenty of people would buy this product and hopefully make it a success."

Ellie Michel looked to the family farm to develop her idea for a gourmet rice business.

Fellow ag mechanics student Ellie Michel, who grew up on a rice and alfalfa farm in Nicolaus, also took on the class challenge. Her idea--which started as an FFA project--is flavored rice sold by mail order.

"Obviously I want to complete my education--that is my No. 1 goal--but I really do believe in this rice business," Michel said. "I think it is a good idea. It is just a matter of having the time to actually do it."

The inspiration for the out-of-the-box thinking by the students came from a California Country article featuring Erin McGowan, a Cal Poly alumnus-turned-teacher who fulfilled her dream of opening a successful business that features a line of gourmet corn mixes and flours. California Country is the bimonthly magazine of the California Farm Bureau Federation.

Cal Poly ag mechanics lecturer Kerry Langford used a California Country magazine feature on alumnus Erin McGowan to inspire his students to think outside the box.

"I have used Erin McGowan's story in the ag mechanics class I teach at Poly as an example of what the students can do when they think beyond the small world they have known in their short lives," said Kerry Langford, a lecturer at Cal Poly's BioResource and Ag Engineering Department. "The students' assignment was to come up with a product or idea to show how they, like Erin, could break outside the box."

McGowan, a full-time schoolteacher at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish School in Colusa, owns Ridgecut Gristmills Inc., a company she officially started in 2006 but was in the planning stages for several years. Ridgecut Gristmills in Arbuckle specializes in homemade mixes and flours using corn that she is proud to say was grown just a short pickup ride away.

"My corn travels a grand total of eight miles from the field to my shop to be cleaned and milled. I find that if the consumer knows the grower or knows the story behind the products, a relationship will develop. I think consumers have become more educated on the growing process but still have lost sight of where their food physically comes from," McGowan said. "I believe people respond well to my products because I care about the freshness and quality of the ingredients. I think that is a lost characteristic of eating these days."

Eric McGowan not only teaches school, but has launched a company that specializes in homemade mixes and flours using locally grown corn.

McGowan's line of gourmet products is expanding all of the time, but currently includes Jimmy's Cracked Corn (polenta or grits), two cornbread mixes, buckwheat buttermilk pancake mix and a new product--a blini mix. She also mixes various flours for the wholesale market. Her mixes are featured on the shelves at Nugget Market grocery stores, Newcastle Produce in Placer County, farmers markets in Napa and Oakland and on the menus of various Napa restaurants.

"People love my products," McGowan said. "One of the greatest compliments is when they buy the product and at the next farmers market they'll say, 'Had your pancakes. They were awesome.' That is great because you never imagine that people you don't know are going to buy and like your products."

McGowan contracts with local farmer Sam Reynolds of Williams, who provides her with yellow corn, the foundation of her mixes. In recent months she has substantially increased the size of her corn order to meet a growing demand.

"When Sam and I discussed the amount of corn I would need early this year, it was 3 to 5 tons, and that amount has increased to 12 to 15 tons just because my business has grown," she said. "Every time I set up a contract with a grower I tell them what I need is basically the amount of corn that falls off the back of a trailer, but now I almost need my own trailer. It is refreshing."

Reynolds, who met McGowan through the Colusa County Farm Bureau's Young Farmers and Ranchers program, said he was not interested in growing corn several years ago when she asked him to provide the crop for her products.

"Years ago I didn't want to grow the corn because the price wasn't there. Well, now the price is there and she wants to buy it local," Reynolds said. "Her product is getting more popular, which means she will require more corn. She is selling what people want--a product that is locally grown."

McGowan got her entrepreneurial drive honestly. The Davis native and Cal Poly graduate grew up in a family of business owners. After several years of researching, seeking advice from other entrepreneurs and spending hours in her home kitchen developing recipes, McGowan decided she was ready to jump feet first into the world of business with her homemade corn mixes.

"To get started in business, you've got to be willing to sacrifice yourself, your credit, your money, everything for three years. You have to understand that these are things you have to be willing to sacrifice," McGowan said. "You can't be skinny on your numbers. If you think it will cost five, it is going to cost 15."

The idea for her line of corn mixes and flours originated from a long-ago conversation she had with her father, Jim McGowan, a certified public accountant who grew up in rural Indiana playing and working in the rolling fields of grain.

"Dad mentioned how the absence of corn growing in the country makes him nervous because it means that the land is not growing one of the nation's staple crops and that people are losing sight of where their food comes from," McGowan said. "So we thought, what can we do to make corn pay so that people continue to grow it?"

The elder McGowan's upbringing taught him to appreciate agriculture, the outdoors and open space, a trait he instilled in his daughter. He admits with a smile that he often finds himself living through her, since over the years she has taken on such challenges as driving oversized tractors and welding farm equipment. It is her tenacity, he said, that has contributed to her success.

"I can remember when she was not even in grade school, going trick-or-treating. She would walk up to a dark house by herself," he said. "She would just walk up and knock on the door without fear. That was her mission--to get that trick-or-treat candy. She's always had this idea that she would do what she wanted to do. She is not going to let people tell her no."

The can-do attitude honed in those early years helps McGowan in business today. Once she developed the corn products and was given the "thumbs up" in the taste department from her ninth-grade students, she applied for and was accepted to sell her products at two farmers markets in Napa.

"Aside from the fact that she has a fabulous product, Erin is one of those great success stories who started really small, and we've just watched her business grow and grow over the past couple of years that she has been with us at the market," said Joan Taramasso, market manager of the Napa Downtown Farmers Market. "All of her products taste great and are easy to use."

McGowan's growing reputation at the Napa market led to her introduction to chef Stephen Barber, owner of BarBersQ, a barbecue restaurant that specializes in a Memphis-meets-Napa-style cuisine. Barber sought out McGowan's products to make cornbread and a shrimp and grits dish for his Napa restaurant.

"Erin's products are great. Her cornmeal and grits that I use have a good grind and a natural kind of sweetness to them. I am very happy with the product," Barber said.

McGowan also delivers her cornmeal to the Rutherford Grill, a well-known restaurant in the Napa Valley that specializes in hearty fare such as cornbread and prime rib sandwiches.

Another big break for McGowan came last year when Nugget Market agreed to carry her products in five of their Northern California grocery stores. At the same time, she opened her kitchen in downtown Arbuckle, where she mixes all of her products by hand.

"I can't tell you how many times I cried over stupid things like, 'I've got to paint the wall and I just can't do this.' And I would have freak-out meltdowns, but then I would pick myself up and it would be OK," McGowan said. "Starting a business is overwhelming, but it is just something you have to do. If this is what you want, there are no other options."

McGowan's story provides hope for students like Michel, the young woman with ambitions of a flavored rice business.

"When you see somebody who has become successful like Erin, I find it inspiring. It gives me motivation to continue to try and not to give up," Michel said. "Her story is a really good example for people who are trying to start a new business and that in time, the process can unfold and really proceed into a great business."

Gianolini said she also derived inspiration from McGowan's California Country story and the class assignment that encouraged bold, creative thinking.

"Erin had this idea and she took it further and developed it into something great," Gianolini said.

For more information about Ridgecut Gristmills or to order McGowan's products, go to www.ridgecut.com.

(Christine Souza is a reporter for Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)

Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this item. Top