Slow Money

Are you familiar with the Slow Money movement?  The movement focuses mainly on the benefits to our economy based on farmers’ markets and similar venues.  Quoting from their website: “Today, people are hungry for real alternatives to faster and faster, bigger and bigger, more and more global. Investing in local food systems is a way to begin fixing our economy and our culture from the ground up.”  “We are building a movement of individuals who … are choosing a constructive, hopeful course of action. Slow Money … is built on the premise that … we need not only new technologies and new policies, but also new sensibilities and new behavior, without which the words sustainable and transparent and accountable and socially responsible and metrics and impact will mean little in the end.”

Principles of Slow Money

1. We must bring money back down to earth.
2. There is such a thing as money that is too fast, companies that are too big, finance that is too complex. Therefore, we must slow our money down — not all of it, of course, but enough to matter.
3. The 20th Century was the era of Buy Low/Sell High and Wealth Now/Philanthropy Later—what one venture capitalist called “the largest legal accumulation of wealth in history.” The 21st Century will be the era of nurture capital, built around principles of carrying capacity, care of the commons, sense of place, diversity and nonviolence.
4. We must learn to invest as if food, farms and fertility mattered. We must connect investors to the places where they live, creating healthy relationships and new sources of capital for small food enterprises.
5. Let us celebrate the new generation of entrepreneurs, consumers and investors who are showing the way from Making a Killing to Making a Living.
6. Paul Newman said, “I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer who puts back into the soil what he takes out.” Recognizing the wisdom of these words, let us begin rebuilding our economy from the ground up, asking:
   • What would the world be like if we invested 50% of our assets within 50 miles of where we live?
   • What if there were a new generation of companies that gave away 50% of their profits?
   • What if there were 50% more organic matter in our soil 50 years from now?

You can find out more information about Slow Money on their website:  www.slowmoney.org

Big business farms are not only questionable in their health practices and environmental practices, but as an economic driver, are not sustainable for everyone and are causing economic problems as a result of their dominance in the food market.  We have to ask ourselves, “Do we really want our food from a handful of food sources?  My answer is a resounding “NO!”  Almost weekly, we read or hear about another food recall from the grocery stores.  Early this summer, one well-known food company that makes toddler food that my youngest grandchildren love had a recall due to listeria outbreak.  That recall brought the scare to another level for me and I immediately contacted my son and daughter-in-law.  The food in question was in the garbage before they went to work that morning, thankfully.    

Back to the main point, where do you want your money to go?  Do we really want our money to go to a family that controls a fortune equal to the wealth of the bottom 42 percent of Americans combined?  This same company built a big marketing campaign claiming it was selling food produced by local farmers.  Yeah, they were offering extremely low, poverty level deals to the local farmers.  Sorry store-who-shall-not-be-named with the massive parking lot, I’m not impressed.  (As an aside, I have still have not forgiven them for cutting down all those trees to pave an unnecessarily large parking lot, but that’s another blog.)  So for me, no, I don’t want my money going to them.

In the publishing business, 95% of all books published are by companies owned by only five corporations.  To reverse that sentence, five corporations own 95% of all book publishing companies.  For an author who is published by one of the 5% that is not owned by the Big 5, it gives me freedom that other authors do not necessarily have.  However, it also makes it harder on me because I have to handle marketing on my own and often times my own selling, which is one of the reasons I can empathize with the local farmers at our Market.  Our food sources are rapidly moving to mirror that trend to massive ownership.  Currently, 10 corporations control most of the world food supply.  All these corporations have profits in the billions annually as they control food sources, labor, costs, and most importantly, they control what and how people eat.  (I’ve outlined another blog about “what and how people eat” and how farmer’s markets make it better.  Later…)

I know I’m sounding real doomsday here and I’m sorry.  But, it brings me to the positive point I want to make.  We are fortunate that we have alternatives.  We can choose to whom our money goes and we can choose what we eat.  When we purchase our food from our neighbors at the local farmers’ market, not only are we getting good quality food that’s a lot healthier than the highly processed food of questionable safety, we are supporting the local economy.  You help pay for the college education for your neighbor’s children, you help pay for uniforms of a local high school band color guard member, you supplement someone’s retirement, and by the way, these aren’t just randomly selected phrases, these are real examples of slow money being spent at Coastal Alabama Farmers and Fishermens Market. 

In addition, our neighbors are controlling the cost of what we pay for our foods.  Most of the time, when I’m told how much my purchase will be, my response is “You’re kidding?  You’re not charging me enough.”   I said that one Saturday to a farmer and he said, “You’re right.  Here. Have another cucumber,” and he threw another vegetable in my bag.  Our choice, build the wealthy empire of people of questionable ethics or support our neighbors who treat us fairly and keep our money locally.  It’s an easy choice.  See you at the Market.

The original premise of Recipe of the Week was to stroll through the Market, pick up a few items, and take them home to create a recipe.  Also, I have a self-imposed rule that I must use at least three items.  Of course, I’ve broken the premise a few times and will do so again this week.  Two items in this week’s recipe come from the CSA box I received this week as well as corn I bought several weeks ago and had in my freezer.  So, the spirit of the premise remains, just slightly bent.

Ingredients

1 sweet potato (CSA)

Kernels of one ear of corn (several vendors)

1 can of black beans (I use Eden’s because of no BPA in its can linings) drained and rinsed

Grape tomatoes (CSA) quartered

Basil (from a plant purchased at the Market)

Olive oil

Cayenne pepper

Sea salt

Directions:

1. Peel and dice the sweet potato, approximately bite sized pieces.  Coat with olive oil.  Sprinkle with sea salt and cayenne pepper.  Cook in a shallow baking dish at 450° for 30 minutes.
2. In a separate baking dish, sprinkle corn kernels with sea salt and cayenne pepper.  Bake at the same time as the sweet potato.
3. Warm the black beans approximately five minutes at 450°.
4. In a bowl, line the bottom with sweet potato chunks.  Add corn and black beans. 
5. Top with tomato quarters.
6. Add torn basil.

I had this for lunch with a big glass of water on my meatless day.

Enjoy and I’ll see you at the Market.

Bob Zeanah

Author of No Anchor (published November 2015)

Available online from Amazon or Barnes and Noble or Books a Million

Author of Work to Do (published July 2014)

Available online from Amazon or Barnes & Noble or Books a Million

14410 Oak Street

Magnolia Springs AL  36555

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bobzeanah@gmail.com

www.bobzeanah.com