The Briarpatch

Dave Smith is a local business owner and strong advocate of the localization movement. He is one of the founders of Smith and Hawkins. Now he owns and runs Mulligans Book Store, here in Ukiah. I came across his blog a few months ago and really liked his ideas and priorities. I totally agree with his beliefs about keeping business as localized and community controlled as possible. It is my belief that the only way future generations are going to have a healthy planet to thrive on is if we localize our impact on the Earth. Our production of food, energy, and material products must be kept as localized as possible and by keeping our cash flow local we are less dependent on foreign resources.

Dave’s latest blog entry is a letter he wrote to local newspapers discussing the development of the masonite plant. I encourage people to frequent his great book store. According to his blog the briarpatch is:

The Briarpatch Network is a voluntary community of self-reliance and mutual aid with the shared values of:

~Right livelihood and meaningful work.
~Giving, sharing, and exchange of skills and services in business and community.
~Humanistic management methods and unusual organization solutions.
~Better practices and traditions for those who have tools and work to do.