Dear Dad,

Thank you so much for helping me start this journey into making and serving chocolate.  This blog is great!!

I’m going to jump in by sharing where I am right now in terms of reaching my goal for making the best, most “conscious” chocolates I can:

Integral to my task in this endeavor is to get to a place where the chocolates I make are organic and fair trade.  Their packaging should be recycled, and the waste I create should be minimal.

Now, I know for some small businesses this may be an easy task, as they have start-up funds to assist them.  I do not have this luxury, nor do I want to go into debt to make this work.  Buying organic and fair trade simply costs more. Nonetheless, this is my goal, and I want to be in a place where I owe people nothing and am therefore able to freely give what I have to offer – The anthropologist in me calls this activity “reflexive fair-trade.” – equally fair trade for those I buy my ingredients from, as well as for myself. Avoiding small business loans, debt, and costly overhead is one way I am attempting to achieve this.  I’m in this for the long haul, and will have to see where the road takes me.

One thing that has become glaringly apparent is that in today’s world, “small business” refers to some sort of enterprise that operates on less than $500,000 a year!! YIKES!!!  If that is “small” business, I guess I will fall into the category of “Quark” business!!! This is fine with me.  I shall endure.

Any practical tips that can be offered are greatly appreciated.  I’m open to everything that brings me one step closer to sharing truly “conscious” chocolates.