In our latest Podcast – “Just Say Cheese" - Ruth Glendinning and Kent Dahlgren have a special guest: Sandy Burky of Helvetia West Virginia. 

This small community is located in the verdant mountains of West Virginia, where it was established by Sandy’s ancestors in 1869. In the midst of the huge extractive coal and timber industries, Helvetia has kept its cultural identity alive through the Helvetia Thriving organization and Mountain Roots Markets, developed to provide local markets offering local produce, foods, arts, and crafts.

Sandy’s mission is to re-establish Helvetia as the home for Helvetia cheese for present and future generations. The know-how and local original recipes are still available. The existing, emerging and returning generations want to locate in Helvetia, but need an economic pathway as to how to make that happen. There is already a consumer market desiring local Helvetia cheese and distribution channels ready to receive. This is where 214 Alpha and Future Story Lab enter the picture as we work with Sandy to put a new container around the expansive potential that’s been activated by Sandy and her neighbors.

In our last podcast we discussed 5 keystone capitals: 

• Attention


• Relationships


• Time


• Trust


• Wisdom

All of these are in play in the Helvetia story and in this conversation among friends. Ruth has been developing the story supporting Sandy's vision since 2018, and we love that the 'E-Cow-Nomy' is emerging. For us this is a great way to demonstrate S.L.O.W. Tech, in which technology is used to activate & amplify the human scale story. In this case, 214 Alpha is the tech and will be used to create a local marketplace bringing forward both monetary & non-monetary capital to root & grow the Helvetia community, improving fiscal & physical health. It's what we call the Anti-Fragile Wealth Production model & Helvetia will be a prominent example in the Anti-Fragile Playbook we're developing.