I’ve made a few new friends in the last couple of months and it all started with one of my customers asking if we accepted Bitcoin.  She was purchasing half a cow from us, and in order to avoid paying square a transaction fee, I asked her if she could write a check.  She laughed “...who writes checks!” at which point she asked if we accepted Bitcoin.  Since I've been a Bitcoin fan for over a decade, I immediately replied with my wallet address. Apparently, finding a rancher who accepts Bitcoin was noteworthy. She went on Twitter and posted about it and her post gained a whole lot of attention. 

 

Unbeknownst to me, there is a big online community of bitcoiners looking to shop local, high quality proteins (#beefinitiative).  This movement is powered by a fellow named Texas Slim (@modernTman & @TexasSlimMedia) whose mission is to connect consumers directly with their ranchers to ensure a value-for-value (V4V) exchange.  Consumers benefit from high quality meats and ranchers a better quality of life.

 

Shortly thereafter, Slim came and visited the ranch, and since then Molly and I have been invited to participate in a few events including a panel at the Austin Bitcoin Club and a panel at the Food Intelligence Summit in Georgia.  At both events, I had a chance to meet other people in this space that have resulted in additional requests for me to speak.  Why anybody would want to hear what I have to say is beyond me, but I enjoy a good conversation.

A few weeks back I had the honor of being interviewed on The Meat Mafia Podcast whose focus is health and nutrition. I had a great time talking about self-reliance, farming, selling, and the current state of things.  I don’t think I said anything earth shattering, but if you’d like to take a peek into the philosophical underpinnings that shape our endeavor give it a listen.

 

In November I’m going to participate in a Bitcoin & Beef Meetup in Austin.  This is being put together by engineer & author Tristan Scott who wrote a great book: “Bitcoin and Beef; Criticisms, Similarities & Why Decentralization Matters”.  This book is a well written, highly researched look into food and finance - showing the intersection between the two issues.  If you don’t think there’s a connection, I encourage you to listen to my podcast and read the book. 

And just recently I was approached by Live Free Academy (we hosted farm tours early this spring) to participate in the Food Resiliency Town Hall.  We’re still flushing out the details of this one, but it will occur December 3rd in Bastrop, TX. 

 

If you’d like to get engaged in the conversations, you can join us @amberoaksranch on Twitter.  Hope you enjoy the podcast!