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ABOUT US

The Mother Circle

Together, our board decided to first organize as a 501 c3 organization. Though we are registered through the state, we are not federally recognized. We did, however, acquire a fiscal sponsor so that we could operate as a fully-recognized Non-Profit.

Our focus is on local economic development; specifically, mentoring worker-owned cooperatives. We then launched our first project: BttM Microbrewed Kombucha. Our intentions are to open-source our research, saving like-minded individuals the time and effort it took us to navigate Montana Law. It is time to change how businesses are organized. Together we can raise the bar and empower workers to become owners of the organizations for which they work so hard.

While we collect and share our findings, we also have a few other projects we are working on in hopes of creating a more sustainable future for us all. We have come across some wonderful things, and we're passionate about moving forward with these projects.

Let us be very clear: each one of these projects in the Incubator are at various stages of development. Most of these projects were worked on for years and then fell into dormancy as we set out to launch the Kombucha Project. We are very passionate about building these projects when the time, hands, and resources become available to see it done. If you want to get involved, we are always looking for like-minded, heart-centered folks with whom to share our findings.

 

Sociocracy - It's how we run our meetings!

Sociocracy is a method of governing that produces greater commitment, higher levels of creativity, distributed leadership, deeper harmony, and dramatically increased productivity. This is why we choose to manage our business with sociocratic models of operation. After learning about this type of governing, we adopted it as our main practice in cultivating our values and moving forward on projects. With this tool we make sure everyone's voice is heard and that all concerns are handled with care and focus. We have adopted the method outlined below from an organization called Sociocracy For All. Click here to learn more about what they have to offer. There is also an introductory video of what they teach that can be found below.

Sociocrac for all meeting structure

The Back to the Mother Incubator

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Click the links to learn more

Meet our Board Members of

the Mother Circle

Ben Herak   

Ben is an innovator, musician, and creator, who has helped to create the Ghetto Gypsy; a mobile party bus that resides in Missoula. He has worked in a number of fields such as painting, carpentry, and more. His strengths are in the areas of communication, problem solving, working with groups, and helping to facilitate and innovate. He is interested in the fields of permaculture, alternative building, and critical thinking. Ben would like to one day help build a fully sustainable eco village.

Sherry Lee  

Sherry is a passionate environmentalist. Years of experience in the organic cooperative food movement gives her an awareness of nutrition's relationship to soil health and continued self-sustainability. 

Sherry believes growing food locally and education with hands on workshops are integral in returning people to their roots of conscious food health.

As a Board member of Back To The Mother,  she is excited to be involved in food-health ideas. These ideas directly benefit our local community, providing an authentic connection with our Mother Earth and the gifts She graciously bestows upon us. 

Josh Davis

Josh has been in the field of worker cooperatives for over 5 years. He currently works for an organization called Grassroots Economic Organizing (http://www.geo.coop/). Through this group, he is connected to individuals all over the country working on similar projects such as Back to the Mother. He is most excited about collaborations among individuals helping to empower communities through solutions not fully recognized by the current mainstream economic model. 

Andrew Holman

Drew is an art student turned proactive environmental enthusiast and fermentista. He received his Bachelors of Fine Art focusing in ceramics from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. His interests have expanded greatly to the fermentation of kombucha, the building and operation of geodesic green houses, as well as the ability of living organisms to remove various forms of pollutants from the air, soil, & water. Drew also teaches meditation and offers past life regressions as well as the art of Reiki energy healing to those in need. Visit Drew's artist website HERE!

Our collective spent a weekend team-building and focusing on our values. This is the core of how we want our group to operate both when working together and with others. This is what we came up with!

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