Happy New Year

What a year. I've never appreciated all of the decorative pillows at Marshall's and Tj Maxx so much as I have this year. "Blessed", "We Got This", "Grateful". I don't know how they new that I needed the affirmation written on a pillow, not to mention the coffee mug aisle. "Best Dad Ever" "# 1 Mom"- I actually drink from my Best Dad Ever cup most mornings and it gives me a little extra boost. I kid you not. What a year. I have been stretched so thin over and over this past year on a personal and professional level that I was pretty sure something was gonna give out somewhere. But it didn't. It made me stronger and reminded me that smooth seas do not make for a skillful sailor. I remember sailing as a kid on these little boats on the coast of Massachusetts and being out on gusty days where the boat was ripping through the chop and keeling over so hard that the sail was slapping the water...just waiting to capsize and not capsizing.

In my hometown of Rockport, Mass a local legend named Phillip Weld designed a boat, a trimaran at age 65 to race the 1980 Observer Single-handed Transatlantic Race (OSTAR). Just Philip on this crazy fast boat sailing solo almost 3,000 miles across the Atlantic and back from Plymouth, England to Newport, Rhode Island. He called that boat the Moxie, and he won the race. His family still lives in Cape Ann, and my first job in high school was working at his son in law's legendary hippie tofu bread zen cafe called The Glass Sailboat.

The idea of Moxie as a colloquial term meaning courage, chutzpah and determination coupled with the image of Philip Weld fighting his way across the Atlantic was imbedded in the seed that started Moxie Bread Co.

This past year gave us the opportunity to use every ounce of our Moxie to sail through these choppy waters. Our crew of dedicated baristas, bakers, chefs, dishwashers, cleaners and managers showed up every day to not only do their job, but do it safely, wearing these cursed masks and talking through crackling microphones. I keep waiting for the "Pivot" pillow to come in the new arrivals section of Marshall's so I can buy every employee one. We pivoted, then we pivoted again, and again. And we will keep pivoting. It's funny to consider how cautious I have always been to changing things. Even silly little things like wether we use white lids for our to-go coffee cups or black lids. I would labor over little decisions like that in the past for weeks it seemed. Now I make decisions like that in a minute over a text with our supplier. In the first months of the pandemic we had to change something really big almost every single day. Our online order system is really not built for doing what we are doing with it, and we've had to wrestle it into submission to do what it is currently doing. And it works. It ain't pretty, but it gets the job done. We are finally getting used to the tempo of this whacky covid dance and are planning on refining some of our dance moves in this new year. I hope to bring some improvements to our online order system in the near future, as well as our order window and pick up window. We are also taking a lead from our friends in Boulder at River and Woods and Black Cat Farm to create a cozy seating area in our tents in the back yard. Why not make it beautiful and cozy? Governor Polis has tuned the Dial down to orange starting Monday so that restaurants and retailers can loosen some of their restrictions. Moxie won't be changing any of our processes, but this is really good news for restaurants giving them a little more seating options.

Our customers have shown up once again to support us like a barn raising. I can feel every hand that holds these walls of Moxie pushing them up and raising us up. I am deeply and profoundly appreciative. We will continue to serve up good food with great customer service for the community through high seas and choppy waters until we glide out from under this storm.

With love and light and gratitude from me, Andy and all of us at Moxie, Happy New Year.

I asked Uncle Jeff if he would share his top 10 of 2020 music picks and here they are!

Uncle Jeff’s Top Ten 2020
1. Eric Osbourne - Eric Osbourne (self /Kindercore)
2. Imaginary Persons - Spacescapes (self LP coming on 2021)
3. Loving - If I Am Only My Thoughts (Last Gang)
4. Dyad - Dormant (self Carpe Novum CD coming in 2021)
5. Gillian Welch - Boots No. 2 The Lost Songs (Acony vol 1,2 &3)
6. Recondite - Dwell (Ghostly International)
7. Elkhorn - Storm Sessions (Beyond Beyond is Beyond)
8. Floating Action - Outsider Art (PIAPTK)
9. Pinegrove - Marigold (Rough Trade)
10. Los Destellos - Sicodelicos (Vampi Soul)

Here's a live show from Bon Iver during a period of time that I really enjoyed from him. Deep and soulful singing and intricate and articulated production and layering of other sounds on his vocals and instruments.
Bon Iver Live From Radio City FULL SHOW in HD