Slow Money Feeds A Spring Kiln Opening!

Planning the menu for our Kiln Openings is always fun - ordering homemade cookies from Joan and Betsy, goat cheese from Fleming, and cinnamon buns from Arlo. Each time it varies based on what is in season, and what I’m in the mood to make.  Scones?  Muffins? Brownies? 

"Abi" of Abilicious Bakery

This time I tried something different.  At the opening night of our Spring Kiln Opening, on Friday from 4-8pm,  along with enjoying about 1500 beautiful new pots, we will be dining on food from the farms, bakeries, restaurants and a cheese shop that are recipients of our local Slow Money NC loans.

Similar to Slow Food, the Slow Money movement is sweeping the country, giving folks that care about building resilience in their local food economy a way to have an impact.  By making low interest loans to sustainable farmers, and food enterprises that support them, we bring our money “back to earth” rather than send it off to faraway investments. It’s easy, deeply rewarding, and the results taste great. The returns are much more than just financial.

Right here in the Triangle area, in less than a year, we have helped launch three new bakeries, a cheese shop, expand a restaurant that features local food, and increase production at two small-scale sustainable farms, all for about 25K.  And on Friday night we’ll be tasting the results!

Angelina!

There will be platters of local veggies and London Broil sandwiches coming from Angelina’s Kitchen, a cheese platter from The Reliable Cheese Company, sweet treats from Abilicious Bakery, deviled eggs and chicken salad from YNot Farm, and much more.

I recently spoke with a young man who had been at a Slow Money gathering several months ago. He said he had taken away one small but clear message from that conversation: “We vote with every dollar we spend.”  That comment had stuck with him. In particular, as it related to his food dollars. As a restaurant chef he has since started sourcing as much as he can from local farmers instead of getting everything from “the truck”, the mega-food distributor of faraway foods and supplies.  “That one idea has changed everything,” he said. 

I was raised in a rural corner of New England with farms on every road. There were more cows than people in some of the neighboring towns.  Feeding ourselves with food from our local farms just makes sense to me.  Certainly here in the Piedmont of NC where we can grow food year-round, we could at least try.


Slow Money NC has that as a goal.  We will create more local, sustainable farms and the businesses they need to get their production to their eaters. And build a resilient food economy less dependent on shipments of food from across the globe. We get to eat fresh, delicious, healthy food and build a strong, caring community in the process.

So on Friday night, we will celebrate this recent kiln load of lovely pottery and enjoy some fine gypsy jazz.  And we will dine on delicious local food thanks to the wonderful folks in our Slow Money NC community.

I think my love of Slow Money might mirror my love of pottery.  I like things that take time.  Things that travel at a pace I can understand.   And things that are valuable in more ways than one.