Community is the way

taking pre-orders now

Good morning bread friends.

I can’t overstate how much I value this community. It has been such a tremendous encouragement over the years to know that I’m connected to hundreds of people who are serious about seeking ways to pursue justice & kindness in their lives.

Last week’s Bread & Justice event at Giant Jones was such a delightful boost of energy for the week. Being around so many of you was a seriously heartening reminder of two things:

1. Plenty of people in our community care a lot about where their food comes from. And people want to support foodways that are sustainable for the earth, as well as sustainable for all the hands that are involved in the production of their food.

2. Several small business owners are seeking (and finding) intentional ways to operate such that their business is designed around supporting and fostering community. Doing this might feel severely counter cultural when our society normalizes the idea that the default priority of a business is “profit maximization”. But choosing humans first is the way.

For those that order bread this week, in your bread bags I’ll be including a little flyer titled MEET YOUR MIDWEST GRAINS. It is a brief intro to why regional grains are valuable.

P.S. I’m noticing in myself lately a feeling of overwhelm setting in when I try to engage with the news. I’m also observing many others in my life bringing that up in conversation. This is a friendly reminder that it’s a good idea to prioritize your own mental health. And it is also a good idea to remind yourself that you have agency in your own life. There are plenty of things that feel outside of our control… but do have control over where we put our attention, where we put our energy, and whether/how we foster community in our own lives.

P.P.S. If you have any sort of story (big or small) that you’d like to share about how you’ve taken action lately to apply your attention and energy into your community in a new way (or in a consistent way) in the past month - I’d love to hear about it!

Looking forward to the replies.

Cheers,
Mo