Me and Rachel's future entrepreneurship

Rachel and I have always had a desire to own and run a cafe/coffee shop/lounge what have you, for many reasons. For one, coffee shops were central to the beginning of US ( :) ). Two, they are central to several things that we value very highly such as conversation, common ground, comfort, familiarity, a rich shot of espresso, an aromatic cup of dark roast, a sense of community etc.. We have several ideas of ways we want to use it in a way that brings 

a little more of the Kingdom of God to the community where we have it such as the kinds of people we hire and train and services we provide to the community as well as what kind of coffee we buy, from who, and how they are treated(yes you can assume I mean fair trade). Every opportunity we get we try to find new coffee shops or cafe's to check out to give us inspiration and re-ignite our desire to open one some day, so with that I stumbled on this amazing cafe in Seattle called Q Cafe.  Here is a little description that they give of the Cafe that immediately sparked enthusiasm and gave me even more to shoot for when we open ours:        

Q Cafe is non-profit neighborhood cafe in Seattle featuring direct trade espresso and tea, live music, art, and community events.  We proudly serve Stumptown Coffee; support local artists and musicians through our art gallery and live music venue; host many groups through the rental of our space; host community events; help collect resources for the homeless community; and give back 10% of all cafe sales to local and global non-profit causes.

In addition to great coffee and tea, Q Cafe also features free WiFi for laptop users, 2 desktop kiosks for internet [30 minutes/purchase], a new kids’ room for parents and children, countertop tables and benches for laptop user with easy access to outlets, a piano, and plenty of comfy chairs and sofas.

As I said early we don't know when this venture will take place but hopefully it brings together all of the elements that I mentioned here and more.

the green thumb and much much more

Rachel and I don't have much yard to work with but we try to make the most of it. Here is our first attempt at bringing a little creation to our home. As you can see it is very basic, consisting of only plants, but it is a beginning nonetheless(and yes this is pretty much the extent of our yard). Eventually we desire to have a small garden with vegetables and fruits as well as many more beautiful plants. Im starting out with this because it is a small part of a bigger idea that I am looking into under the umbrella of sustainable living. I recently bought this book called "ToolBox for Sustainable City Living" 

      

I have a good friend in Baton Rouge who is wanting to start a community garden to give back to the Baton Rouge community as well as provide basic skills to underprivileged areas of BR. He is also trying to get crew from the Rhizome Collective  to come to BR and put on a work shop. Essentially it would be a workshop on permaculture which is a multi-disciplinary practice used to design long lasting human communities. Its essential goal is to create intensively cultivated spaces capable of providing for as many human needs as possible in as small of an area as possible. By doing so, humans can be self-reliant and lessen their impact on their surrounding environments in a way that doesn't rely on outsourced energy and resources (xvi).  It seems like something that you could apply in your life in whatever kind of community you live in, learning how to use and recycle different materials to be able to perform everyday uses. They also make a great statement about the state of capitalism and its consequences and that is that "it requires infinite expansion and consumption of material resources. In a world that is fragile and finite, such a system is inherently unsustainable." (p.xii,xiii). Just something that has been going through my mind, I will keep updates on the progress of both this project and our venture in it.