SLOW MONEY

Have any of you met my pal Heather?  If you live anywhere around Austin/Wimberley/New Braunfels, you have surely heard of her.  I stumbled across her when I started reading her Green Guru column in the Wimberley News and Views magazine.  Or, maybe you've seen her amazing sculpture exhibit, Lifeboats, as it made its way around the Hill Country.  She's the wife of Dr. Marc Gitterle, mother of nine-year-old Aiden and four-year-old Gable, and, when she was pregnant with young Gabe -- because, you know, she just didn't have enough on her plate at the time -- she helped to create the amazing Bountiful Sprout (perhaps you've heard me mention it once or twice?).

Anyhoo, we've been working together on the TBS board now for about four years, and it's been quite a ride.  Heather is our president, idea person, and schmoozer extaordinaire.  I just do ordinary stuff like taking minutes and keeping track of all the producer permits, but every so often I tag along to help out at various events, and it's always such a treat to see Heather in action!

Friday before last I got to go with her to this awesome event at the beautiful Barr Mansion in Austin.  I know you have surely heard of the Slow Food movement by now, but do you know anything about Slow Money?  Slow Money Austin exists to support and enrich a sustainable regional food system.  They're working to increase capital opportunities for food entrepreneurs, producers, innovators and local organizations that are leading the way toward sustainable, financially beneficial growth in Central Texas -- organizations like TBS.  Events like this one at Barr Mansion help raise awareness, make connections, attract investment and align resources amongst all the people with a stake in sustainability here in our community.  Plus, they're just a whole lotta fun!

The room was surrounded with tables like ours, and before we'd even finished setting up, people were stopping by to chat with us.  They wanted to know what our purpose was, how we got started, how our business "worked", and what our plans for the future were. They all had a bit of trouble believing that we weren't in it for profit -- that we wanted as much money as possible to stay with the farmers and producers themselves.

While we were doing our "thing", local chefs were back in the kitchen preparing an awesome feast, using ingredients contributed by all of the participants.

Our contribution was the beautiful soy candles that went on all the tables, and the liquid hand soap that went in the bathrooms, from two of our vendors.

Before the evening was over, we had acquired new members, had a new producer who wanted to sell his fabulous hummus through us (which had been served here as the appetizer) and had managed to spread the word to a lot of Austinites that we had just opened a new branch there in Austin that very week.  Wow.  It just never ceases to amaze me, what all can be accomplished when you combine an idea person, a few worker bees, and some good old fashioned networking.