It's been a dry fall season here in south Minneapolis - but as I consider the extremes of flooding in southern coastal areas, things feel a bit out of balance. We struggled to keep our boulevard gardens growing this year.  The challenging roadside environment is pretty tough, even on our native plantings.  This fall, our perennials look a bit ragged and in need of a good winter rest.  It's my hope to give them some soil enrichment and good watering before the ground freezes, with hopes they'll come back stronger in the spring.   But I also am pretty aware that I might be re-planting and re-seeding in the spring as investments for future growing seasons.

The shop felt a bit ragged during September as well.  We closed for Saturdays, several staff adjusted their schedules for the school year, we added a new cook onto the crew and began the process of resetting our team and I took some needed personal time.  The coming winter often becomes our dormant time also as the slow-down during cold, dark, days reduces our traffic quite a bit.  Perhaps we can get some rest from what was a fairly busy and tiring summer. But, until then, we're also trying to re-store and invest in the shop for a brighter spring out ahead of us.

Investing in our neighborhood over these 10 years at Nicollet and 37th has happened in many ways. We're excited to see housing development following the business growth along the corridor.  We're excited to finally get back into the re-development conversations that will open Nicollet Avenue (I was a part of early city meetings back in 2015!) and see new birth at this landmark corner at Lake Street.  We're excited for the energy building along 38th Street to invest this corridor and honor the spirit of George Floyd, seeking equity for what once was a thriving black community and can be again.

Replanting is also finally happening on our boulevard as well.  With the support of a three-neighborhood project, a pollinator pathway is forming along the Nicollet Avenue corridor. Master Gardeners, volunteers, businesses, community organizations and residents are all pitching in to plant hundreds of native flowers to create an improved habitat for the rusty patch bumble bee and all of its pollinator cousins!  Planning and plant ordering are underway and we're collecting volunteers for soil work and spring planting.  Want to get your hands in the soil? Join us at 37th and Nicollet to invest in this habitat effort.

And little seeds keep appearing these days.  Whether it's a church's fundraising silent auction request, a return to in-person events, a theater's intermission new standing order, a musician's request to perform live, or just a full-house of chattering on a Tuesday morning, it does seem like new growth is happening.  After what has felt like a three-year dry season, the opportunity for nurturing more community growth here inside the cafe helps me feel more hopeful about our business future.

But that dryness.  The sense of unpredictability.  The worry.  It's still there.

And so, I look to ways to find additional sustenance, additional watering of the "soil."  That has included partnering with our neighborhood association, connecting with other business owners to organize for small business support, and in connecting with another business to share my space and utilize some quiet hours on Saturday evenings starting in November.  It has meant also trying to be that life-giving sustenance for others - mentoring and consulting, sharing what we have and paying forward what you share with us. 

I've been imagining rain-barrels as a good metaphor these days.  Water, life-giving, free and graciously provided, and especially here in Minnesota, abundant.  But, water is also fragile, at-risk of many pollutants and of overuse.  And, at times, when we feel we need it the most, it's not as available as we'd like.  Indeed, it is a shared resource - my water is your water also.  Finding ways to hold onto clean water for sharing and using it when it is truly needed may become even more of a challenge in the years ahead. So, a simple rain-barrel can be a part of making that happen by catching what would otherwise slip away and directing it to use when the time is right.   

I'm trying to picture my business as a rain-barrel - capturing your good energy during the bursts of abundance, storing it for those dry-times, not letting it slip away, and putting it to good use when needed.  Thank you for letting us store up a bit of energy in September so that we can be back with you now with a bit more ready for these fall months. 

A pause along the path, to rest, to observe, to just be, helps me to keep walking. I look forward to this colorful fall along the green path with you.