Selma Cafe

12/04/2019

SELMA CAFE UPDATE:

Selma Cafe Aspiring Grower Impact Grant
Attn: Aspiring Growers, Producers, and Artisans:

I am writing today to share some exciting news from Selma Cafe. Selma Cafe was originally a home-based weekly breakfast party in Ann Arbor, which brought together the community, farmers, and producers, in a way that generated a special sense of community. Through this and other initiatives, we have been able to gather resources that might help us support people with great ideas in the local food area.

If you have a project, are in need of some equipment, have a new idea you’d like to bring to life, or have any other ways you can use some funds to support the success of your farming business, please consider applying for a Selma grant.

Grant funds can be used for farmers, including flower farmers, and for people using local farm ingredients to make artisanal products and other value-added items. This grant is meant to support new, emerging, and aspiring growers who are in need. Note: This grant is not meant for well established growers or businesses who are successfully navigating their farms and businesses.

Criteria: Tell us simply, in a maximum of 500 words:
How you will use the funds to support your success
How much you request. Requests can be made for up to $5000 (how many grants will be offered depends on applicants)
5% of the funds must be used for outreach or education for the community to support the Selma Cafe non-profit status mission. What will you offer to meet this requirement?
A commitment to follow up in writing after your project is complete to update us on the status within a year or receiving the grant.

Timing:
Grants must be received by December 31 2019
Grants will be reviewed by the Selma board through mid-February 2020
Awards will be notified by Feb 15 2010
For awardees, a written follow-up within one year of receiving the grant is required, simply describing how the grant was used and how it was impactful.

How to submit
The request can be emailed to [email protected].

Include your name, address, phone number, email address and the best way you would like us to reach out to you.

If you have any questions feel free to email me, or call me. Info below.

You may also mail your grant request with the subject line “Selma Cafe Grant Application”or postal service to:

Lisa Gottlieb
722 Soule Blvd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
734. 417.1144
[email protected]

With warm regards,

Lisa Gottlieb, Co-founder and President of Selma Cafe, and the Selma Cafe Board of Directors

02/20/2019

What an amazing moment, to look back on the last 10 years and see what has become. I second Lisa in her honoring of all the *we* that emerged from our joint desire to do better, than the mediocre factory food from indifferent corporations we are offered. We have made a difference, and seen what is possible.

For me, Selma Café is intricately linked to my birthday. It was on my 50th that I gave myself permission to do something crazy. It was only that level of “god damn it, it is my birthday, and I am going to start a restaurant in my house if I want to” that had me not go to work, open the front door, invite a few friends and see what might happen. And you all happened. Lisa Gottlieb, John Roos, Scott MacInes, Jeremy Lopatin, Shana Kimball, Aubrey Thomason, Matt Burton, Garin Fons, Suzy Baity Sterns, and so, so many more. You came early. You came often. You gave your energy, your ideas, your mad skills, your hard work. I asked “who wants to play?”, and you raised your hands. Wow. Fun.

These days, we are in a world filled with disruption. I like to think of Selma Café as one of the earliest, most fun and creative, and gentlest disrupters. We started a local-foods one-meal-a-week restaurant, where none existed. We started a bank, lending to sustainable farmers, and a construction company to put up their hoophouse. But disruption can be rough. Lisa and I coming apart was one major outcome of my turning my life upside down, and finding out who I was, in real time, without a manual. That work continues. Love continues.

As Lisa mentions, and the comments continue to illustrate, there is a lot that has come directly and indirectly from Selma Café. Tilian Farm and Nifty Hoops are two more I will add to the list. Direct descendants. And I just came from Concious Café, a regular Wednesday gathering at Sunward Cohousing where I live, that counts Selma among its inspirations. Check it out. And Selma still has a bank account, with tens of thousands of dollars currently circulating or ready to do so through farm loans on the kiva.com lending platform. Check it out.

The picture posted here is the current state of my kitchen and living room. It’s a mess. This project could likely have been completed in time for some kind of Selma Café 10 year reunion, if I didn’t suffer from design-on-the-fly. I do. A theme here. Obviously, there is no going back. I don’t wish to recreate or nostalgize. But when this place is ready, it too will be a community resource ready to deploy. Different, yes. But combined with all the community resources here at Sunward, a very powerful tool, for what can come next. Ready soon.

Now it is my 60th. God damn it.

Here’s to 10.213 year anniversaries! Who wants to play?

04/27/2017

Featured farmer of the week. Anne in Belfast, ME. Anne grows a bunch of organic hoophouse spinach and is borrowing $10,000 to upgrade some farm transportation needs. Selma Cafe lent $100 to the effort. Please join us in making another farmer able to grow effectively and efficiently.

Selma Cafe has lent $1400 so far to 10 farmers through our new $10k pilot program. All farmers have fully funded and 1 has begun to make payments. We will report out fully on all loans quarterly.

Happy Spring!

A loan of $10,000 helps replace our snow plowing and delivery truck, so we can protect our high tunnels through the snow season and make bulk deliveries to our customers.

04/19/2017

Mitzi could use your help getting over the top with her Kiva.org loan. And with a 2 fold match in place from Reid Hoffman, your dollars go twice as far. Remember, these are loans, not gifts. You get to withdraw your funds after repayment, or lend to another farmer.

Mitzi is 58% funded with 4 days remaining. Please lend what you can. Thanks!

A loan of $10,000 helps build a hoophouse to extend our growing season and ability to offer healthy local food to our community.

04/14/2017

Please consider joining Selma Cafe in lending to Delight Flower Farm. Organic certified flower farmers tantalizing the Champagne, IL community with glorious blooms. Kiva.org loans make it happen for farmers across the country and around the world. Every little bit helps. It just takes $25 to make the difference. Thanks!

A loan of $10,000 helps our farm expand production and build a greenhouse to extend our growing season.

04/10/2017

Our 7th Kiva.org loan goes out to help Nicole expand her certified organic farming in Mendocino. Please share with friends, and let all Michigan farmers know that Selma Cafe would like to help with their farm finance needs.

A loan of $3,000 helps nature's Tune Farm purchase human powered equipment and tools to produce a larger quantity and variety of vegetables for Mendocino County on 2.5 acres.

03/25/2017

Selma Cafe launches pilot lending program to support small-scale, sustainable farmers close to home and around the country in partnership with Kiva.org

Kiva allows farmers (and all small entrepreneurial businesses) to borrow up to $10,000 at zero percent interest and at no cost. In the first week of our pilot program, Selma has already made loans to Brigham, Edward and our local Mitzi Koors at her new farm Full Flower Farm in Grass Lake, MI (photo).

Know someone who could really use a farm loan? Send them our way. In addition to lending, Selma Cafe will be playing an active role in helping originate new loans and promoting loans that are in the funding period. Contact [email protected]

The new Selma Cafe lending program is directed specifically to small-scale sustainable farms, and gives priority to beginning farmers (farming less than 10 years), minority farmers and women farmers.
Please read the linked blog post for all the details and to join us in lending to our local farmers.

On March 19, 2017 the Selma Cafe board approved a pilot lending program to support local, sustainable farmers close to home and around the country. All lending will occur through Kiva.org We hope you will consider joining us to support farmers not just with our purchasing power, but by making affo...

10/24/2014

Help Selma Cafe co-founder Jeff McCabe, owner of Nifty Hoops help the farmers grow the food that we want to eat!

Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes, Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes and eyes and ears and mouth and nose. But more importantly - hands! lots of hands!! Nifty Hoops needs more hands. Saturday!

Our workload has outrun our ability to generate enough help from within the ranks of the 100+ folks who have put their names down in our "opt in employment model" (basically you get to come to work when it works for you, and are treated as a real-deal W2/work comp employee when you do). It will certainly help when Neal Valley comes on full time in another week or so. And others are also stepping up into more regular part-time positions.

But we evidently still need you! oh, and you over there also. Starting tomorrow in Hillsdale (1.25 hr SW of A2 - carpooling an ever-present possibility with Nifty Hoops) 21,000 sf of lovely poly film wants to be pulled across a couple of big hoophouses and fastened in place. And with 10 mph winds rising to 15 later in the day, we need a few more hands on the ground at 8am to make sure it stays fun! email Jeff to get all the info and links you need to join the hoophouse circus. Thanks!!

09/11/2014

we're excited to share that our very own Selma Cafe granola is now available at the wonderful Argus Farm Stop on W Liberty and 2nd. Be sure to stop by this really great new local foods market!