I've experienced lending that facilitated economic activity. I've also experienced lending that was simply a way to extract and control. I grew up in the breadbasket of the US, where many farmers take on perpetual debt to survive, with no foreseeable path to exit. Value flows out of the community and never returns. Slavery reborn. A village where lender and borrower are both integrated into a shared larger system is a very different dynamic. This brings me back to the necessity of building back villages.

I think about this from time to time. If the producers maintain sovereignty, they maintain leverage. Many farmers nowadays have given sovereignty to the nonproducers by taking on debt. I do believe this is changing, though.

🫡

Who will build the roads?

Lots of things can be fuel for folks still in the 4th turning 😉

I enjoy beans from many origins, but find myself coming back to Guatemala most often.

David Whyte's poetry has been quite a comfort over the past few years.

I started roasting in a popcorn popper. Good times. They do roast pretty quickly. For a medium roast, you could aim to stop the roast when you hear first crack (tiny lil audible pops) start to wind down. You can drink whenever, but I do find I enjoy it more after letting it rest a few days. There's no wrong way, though. If you enjoy it, you're doing it right!

Some like it oily, but I prefer to stop before the oil comes out, somewhere between first and second crack. Give it a taste, tho. Fresh roasted bean is hard to beat, even if it's not perfect. Are you roasting in a pan?

This also applies to coffee.

I’m thankful for the Southwest Michigan meetup, where likeminded humans gather in downtown Benton Harbor on the third Thursday of each month for fellowship and meaningful conversation spanning many domains. I leave inspired to continue building the world I want to see. Join us if you’re in the area. https://fountain.fm/episode/PyYiZvwjQw13umitWd3D