| Richard Alan Miller began his career in agriculture in 1972 with the formation of The Beltane Corporation (Seattle). He started as sole proprietor, retailing books and herbs. |  |
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By 1980, he had a staff of 12 employees, with the company wholesaling herbs, spices and teas to the six Western states. The company also imported spices for their milling and herb tea line (Safeway-Oakland District). |
 The Beltane Bookstore |
In
1980 Mr. Miller became a limited partner in a reorganization and expansion
of The Beltane Herb Company, Inc. His function was as Agricultural Scientist
and Buyer for Western Herb Farms (Seattle) and Country Spice Tea (Portland).
He then moved to eastern Washington to establish and develop extensive
farm and forage plans for the mass tea market and export |
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During that same period, two additional corporations were formed: West Coast Dehydrators, Inc. (Carlton) and Methow Valley Herb Growers Association (Twisp). The first corporation designed and built an experimental prototype dehydrator for herb and spice farming (USDA Grant Proposal 8306074 "A Commercial Portable Dehydrator for Alternative Small-Farm Agricultural Crops".). The second corporation was a profit-sharing marketing cooperative. Complete agricultural biography continues.... |
