b'After a slow money gathering, Jim Baird, who farms 900 acres in eastern Washington, including 300 acres of organic apples, said, simply, It brings tears to my eyes.Over the past few years, this emergent energy has caused a new variety of slow money to sprout. Five local SOIL groups (SOIL for Slow Oppor-tunities for Investing Locally), four in Colorado and one in Virginia, are now making 0% loans, from permanently donated capital, to small organic farms and local food businesses. Although these numbers are still very small304 total member/donors in the five groups, contributing a total of $1.25 million, of which more than $800,000 has been loaned to over 60 loaneesthe willingness of folks to both donate capital and commit to a very new way of thinking and doing, a way that often entails quite a bit of time and energy, may be telling. 39'