Dave Ficks

Boise, ID (USA)
Role(s):
Founder/Owner/Principal

The Book Farm

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Location: Boise
Industry: Education
Year Founded: 1979
Number Employees: 1-10 people
Description: The Book Farm started out in 1975 as a home-based used bookstore on a beautiful piece of property in Northwest Boise but is evolving to become a for-profit green community center of sorts, offering community classes, weddings, events and meeting space. We donated most of what remained of our book collection to the Idaho Youth Ranch and have created a classroom where we have taught community classes (and would like to become an Authorized Apple Training Center) - that's the "learn" component; We have a residential facility that we are converting into space for business meetings, retreats and seminars - that's the "meet" component; And we have a huge landscaped property with large lawns for weddings/events, receptions and parking (that's the "celebrate" component). We are planning to plant a small vineyard (non-commercial) on the terraces of the foothills behind the main facility. We are also very focused on environmental sustainability, and would like to invest in low-impact parking (interlocking concrete footers with gaps for run-off preventing drainage, a geothermal exchange heat system using a second water-well we have on the property, and restorative remodeling that makes the least negative environmental impact possible. There is so much to do, and we have so little to spend. We were recently forced to outlay a sizable amount to replace a failing septic tank with a sewer line and remove several bore-damaged trees. We cannot get a conditional use permit for weddings and events without creating hard-surface parking ( a Boise City requirement), which we are unable to afford. We know that our space could provide the perfect model for a revenue generating, unique, earth-friendly small business. We had to close down our community classes because of the tree/ sewer issue, so now we are creating a small amount of revenue as an (URL removed) affiliate. In order to really fulfill the dream of creating a profitable, environmentally responsible community center, we need some investment. See (URL removed) and our blog, (URL removed)