A New Kind of Banking with Old Roots
Episode 23: I took notes so you didn’t have to….Today we are talking all about a new kind of banking with old roots with the incredible, Charley Cummings CEO of Walden Mutual.
I am so grateful that my, now, good friend and podcast guest extraordinaire is back on today! You may remember Charley from episode 11 which if you haven’t listened to yet, please check it out! Today’s episode is really about an old concept in banking that has a wonderful new twist on it. I know what you’re thinking, “What does banking have to do with food?” Well, Walden Mutal is a beautiful intersection of this, “Digital banking for everyone who eats, makes, grows, cooks, or just loves New England’s local food.” Walden Mutual is such a cool concept in banking. Banks are companies who are into making money. Honestly I didn’t really think of a bank as a business which is probably pretty naive on my end. But a bank is a business and money is the commodity. When you are putting your money into a bank the bank is going to turn around and invest it into things like stocks, bonds, mutual funds to make money for you and the bank. For me I have always wondered where my money goes when I invest it into my bank, my fidelity account, etc. But honestly it’s hard/exhausting to figure it out where my money is REALLY going. I have strong core values and I want to make sure that the companies I choose to invest in represent those values and to be honest, and truthful, I don’t fully know if they do. But with a bank like Walden Mutual, and their beautiful transparency you know exactly where your money is going.
As they state so beautifully on their site, “We fund local food and agriculture. We’re supporting innovators who are pursuing a healthier and more sustainable New England community in a world long dominated by industrial agriculture. Our focus is on lending to organic, sustainable, and regenerative food and agriculture enterprises. We offer competitive rate loans to organizations across the value chain, from farms to processors, retailers, and brands—to support land, building, or equipment acquisition or refinancing, organic transitions, working capital lines and other needs.”
To me, this is important and really aligns with my own ethos. And if you are thinking, well how to does really affect me? Great question! Walden Mutual says, “We invest in our community. We’re creating bank accounts that directly support local food and agriculture businesses. We’ve chosen the mutual governance model because we intend to build a 100-year institution focused not on the next quarter but on the next century. Currently we’re pursuing a banking charter to open for depositors in early 2022.”
Honestly I want to feel good about my investments and that they are doing something positive in the world. Charley puts it so beautifully, “Banking in synch with nature means understanding the internalities and externalities that don’t appear on a balance sheet, and valuing second and third order effects of our actions. Put differently, we don’t support businesses that socialize their costs but privatize their profits. We do support the sustainable growing, harvesting, processing and selling of local food in sync with nature, and we focus on the long term.”
If you are a company, farm or an agricultural organization who would like to be involved with this business or an individual with additional questions for the company, Walden Mutual can be reached directly, info@waldenmutual.com. And if you live aboard or outside of New England, maybe this will inspire you to take a moment and see what might be available to you in your local area.
If you want to watch the documentary we touched on, “The Biggest Little Farm”. I had to fact check myself on the name of that documentary so I apologize for that! But it’s a great film and talk about “synching” with nature and having a total symbiotic relationship with everything in your world.
We also talked about the incredible Tunisian Orange Almond Cake. Below are three recipes that I have tried and really like! Each are slightly different and all delish!!!
https://www.wsj.com/articles/tunisian-orange-almond-cake-11615381314
https://juliascuisine.com/tunisian-orange-cake/
https://www.crumbsmag.com/recipes/tunisian-orange-and-almond-cake/
And if you are looking for some Sourdough Inspiration, look no further than Vindi from My Love of Baking! And take a listen to our interview from episode 9!
Now go forth and cook some amazing food!!
Beth Fuller is a Boston based Food, Product and Lifestyle Photographer. One of the best ways to support the podcast and Beth is to write a review wherever you listen, like the podcast on your favorite platform and please keep Beth in mind for any photography projects as a gal has got to pay her bills!
If you have a question and want it to be featured on the podcast please email either the question or a voice memo to letsgoonafoodadventure@gmail.com. Are you on instagram? Tag me in your food adventures, @letsgoonafoodadventure. Do you want to work together with food and product photography, drop me a line here!
xoxo
Beth
