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4/24/2017

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Have you ever seen those signs placed around people's homes that say something about friendship being cheaper than therapy, or something like that?

Today I am thankful for the company that accompanied my morning coffee.

Let me explain.

This morning our youngest child tumbled down our steep, 14-step flight of stairs. If we want to point fingers, it was my fault for walking away from her at the top. That was a pretty rough start to our week. After a long weekend and a week prior to that full of deliberating over a humongous life decision that is of course becoming more complex ...which always leaves me feeling unsettled in my everyday, ordinary, present day reality that hasn't actually changed yet, and may not actually change, but still, the theoretical change gets to me.

I started out the day in this state. Then Anna stopped by with her kids, to play and sit down in my kitchen with me. She asked questions, she followed up, she shared her own stories, she offered advice, she encouraged. But most of all, she just listened. You know what happens when someone actually listens. You feel it. I know I did today. I am still in it, but I feel lighter. 

​So, may this be a lesson to us all.
​Let's remember to Listen.
Thanks Anna!
-Becky j

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Tiny Tip #2

3/29/2017

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Everybody ready for another tiny tip to help improve your coffee drinking life? 

Tiny Tip #2 is simple:  Taste your coffee. 

What? you might ask. Yep, I really mean it. 

Pause. In other words, slow down, breathe, pay attention. 

I know that coffee is a substance we often consume prior to our mental and physical faculties operating at full capacity, and I am not expecting you to be mindful of every sip you take, but still, go ahead and give it a shot. It will be worth it. 

Whether it is for a brief moment at the beginning of your morning cup, or it is five whole minutes you have carved out of your afternoon, take time to taste the beverage in your hand. To feel it in your mouth, to notice the flavors as they present, and to think about what you are drinking. Ahh...and don't forget to enjoy.

Tomorrow, repeat. And see what happens from there.
-Becky j
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Seeing What Returns

2/21/2017

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Tiny House Manifesto

The purpose of tiny house living is purpose.
You are giving yourself boundaries 
In a world that currently has none.

Why not simplicity?
Why not "Enough is Enough"?
The wisdom of the ages.

And how hard is it 
to keep up in the life we are given here?

Make it small.
Give it purpose.
Overflow.

To live in Lush Poverty,
to shrink down into a life of scale

Where things come back to you
things that you worked hard for
And they mean more

Living
planting seeds
seeing what returns.
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Tiny Tip #1

2/16/2017

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I am missing you today, my fellow Tiny House Coffee drinkers. I intend to check in now and again to share a simple, and yet helpful, tip. About coffee, coffee brewing, coffee drinking, or anything else in life that seems worthy of sharing through this format.

Here goes Tiny Tip #1. This one has to do with storing your coffee beans. 

Upon receiving your Tiny House Coffee beans in the mail and opening up the familiar flat-rate USPS  box, you pause to breathe in the smell of freshly roasted coffee and then you search for scissors to cut open the bag. At this point you excitedly begin to brew yourself a cup of coffee, or, you may desire to do that, but feel like it is too late in the day for another cup of coffee. You will just have to wait until tomorrow morning to taste these new beans. What do you do with your beans until then?

Sealed storage. Use a mason jar. Or another airtight, sealable container. This maintains the freshness of the beans as long as possible, which leads to a better and more flavorful cup of coffee for you to drink. Why? 

Beans lose freshness because of the movement of moisture. Because of this, you want your beans to be in a stable environment. The best place is on the kitchen counter in an airtight, sealable container. If it is going to be a while before you use your new bag of beans, like more than 2-3 weeks from now, the best place to store coffee is in the freezer, because it prevents the movement of moisture. 

Ultimately, buy fresh beans and in a quantity that you can keep drinking fresh.

That's my Tiny Tip for today. Hope it is helpful.
-Becky j
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Join the movement

2/13/2017

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You don't have to live in a tiny house to be a part of the tiny house movement. Maybe you watched a movie about tiny houses, or met somebody who built a tiny house, or even just sort of heard about someone who is living in a tiny house. That's okay, you can belong.

The tiny house movement is more like a state of mind than an in-group. It's a beautiful and creative response to a predicament that has consistently offered us unattractive choices. We don't want this option and we definitely don't want that option. A tiny house is both/and. It is thinking outside the box. It is continuing the conversation. It is using our imagination. It is adapting to the changing world around us. It is living within our means. It is focusing on what is important. It is an opportunity to live out what we believe. 

I hope this is just the beginning.


So, what do you think? You in? 
Join.

-Becky j
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Still doing it

9/16/2016

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Last night we packaged up our September coffee bean orders and sent all of the boxes on their merry way today via gool 'ol USPS. It felt significant, like we had achieved some sort of mile marker in this Tiny House Coffee business endeavor together. Our 13th month of sending out coffee to our friends and family from our new location in Vermont. Our 13th Tiny House Coffee bean's introduction, which also lined up to be the 100th batch of Tiny House beans roasted on Charlotte, the nickname of our roaster purchased almost two years ago. 

This has been fun. We are still doing it. We enjoy the work, almost all of the time. The choosing & ordering, the roasting & profiling, the drinking & tasting, the talking, and of course, the sewing and bagging and taping and stickering. It has been a consistent part of our journey as we have gone through the changes and growth of our family; almost become another member of the family. Moving away from living on a college campus means we have said goodbye to daily check-ins from friendly neighbors and looked elsewhere for the companions to our everyday lives. So, no more midnight next-door neighbors. Hello, Tiny House Coffee.

Thank you, thank you to all of our faithful coffee subscribers, to those of you who open up our small flat-rate boxes in the middle of every month and stop to brew and drink and enjoy the coffee we choose to send you.  And those of you who send us a shout to place the occasional orders, we love hearing from you too. Thanks for helping us stay connected to you and your people in tangible and constructive ways, one deliciously caffeinated cup at a time. We love doing this. 

-Becky j
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Everything Everything All By Itself

9/8/2016

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Tonight is quiet in our house.
The kids are sleeping.
All the busy conversations
and check-ins are done.
The kitchen has been cleaned
and the house has been swept.
I'm thinking about budgets and numbers.
Becky's in the other room changing over the laundry and making tea.

And when I stop and listen
sitting here 
there is so much life out my open window.
So much life.

There are these moments.
Like the wind running  into our home
across my legs
while the moon is setting up the hill 
that snap me back 
and make me realize:
yes
I am here
these things are happening
this endless world is turning.
And I am not the cause or the center.

Everything Everything 
all by itself.
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Release

8/28/2016

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Summer nourishes us, pauses us, and fills us with dreams.

Autumn aims us, actualizes us, and moves us forward.

I am thankful, and still cling - to the heat, and what keeps growing around us.
And yet I prepare to welcome the chill and limited choices of the coming season.

I begin
to
release.



What will you leave behind?
​

-Becky j
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You Will Be Happy

7/13/2016

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Do you want things to grow?
Feed them.


And don’t charge when you feed them.

Just feed them.

Be the honest, smiling hand at the end of the dish
or spoon.


They will come back.

And they will grow.
And you will be happy.

Sow lots of seed.

More than could possibly grow.


Fill the earth with good things

Even if it’s just for a little while.


You will be happy.
You will be happy.


Open the floodgates.

Break the dams.
Set the captives free.

You will be happy.
You will be happy.
You will be happy.


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Work

7/11/2016

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There is no easy way out.
There is no end.

Things have to get done.

And they are hard.

It’s hard work.


And that’s that.


Life is not play.

It’s work.

And work is good.


It makes you strong.

It gives you something to look at.

To focus on.

To try.


Work.

Not wealth.

What would wealth really give anyway?

What good?


The thing about wealth is that it ties you up into this world in ways that are unhealthy.

You end up worrying about things that no one should be worried about.

It turns you into something.

Slowly.

Bit by bit.

It becomes the driving force behind every decision.

HOW CAN I MAKE OUT ON TOP IN THIS EXCHANGE?

God forbid you give more than you receive.


What about taking the dollar you have in your hand

And using it today on something right in front of you.

On something you need.

Something someone else needs.

Something that can be useful.

Something that’s worth having along the way.


How many times have I not spent money on something I regret not having spent

All for a some vague sense of an ideal that equates doing the right thing with frugalness.

What about GENEROSITY?

What about living with an open hand?

That money I didn’t spend ends up getting spent on something pointless later on anyway.

Wealth is not security.

Yes, it’s pretty stable.

But what are you actually securing?

Is the person who has wealth, and is made from wealth, a good person to be?

If I have wealth, will I not have to work anymore?

No.

Of course not.

LIFE IS WORK.

It’s toil.

And that’s the point.


Work hard.

Do good work.

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