Something Good Is Still Stirring

A Thanksgiving reflection on the land, the lives, and the legacies we build together.

By Mark Watson, Co-Founder & President

Before the first plate is passed, there is usually a story.

Someone remembers who made the dressing. Someone insists the greens need a little more time. A child watches an elder cook without measuring, learning that some things are passed down by paying attention.

At Thanksgiving, inheritance has a way of showing up at the table.

It is in the recipes we remember, the people we miss, and the traditions we make room for another generation to carry. It is also in the land that grew the food, and in the hands, knowledge, and livelihoods that made the meal possible.

This year, that is where my gratitude begins.

At Potlikker Capital, we have the privilege of working alongside farmers, producers, and entrepreneurs whose ambitions carry responsibilities far beyond themselves. They are building businesses while caring for families, stewarding land, feeding neighbors, and protecting something they hope their children will have the opportunity to inherit.

I am grateful they have invited us into that work.

Our name comes from a familiar expression of resourcefulness in Southern kitchens: the rich broth that remains after greens have simmered. Potlikker holds the nourishment and flavor of everything that has gone into the pot. Generations understood its worth and made sure that goodness went further.

There is a lesson in that for how we invest.

Every producer brings something essential: knowledge of the soil, a relationship with a community, an idea for a business, the determination to keep going. Our responsibility is to recognize that value and help bring together the capital, expertise, relationships, and opportunities that allow it to grow.

That is what we mean by ecosystem investing.

A loan can help a producer take an important step. The ability to make that step count may also depend on finding a buyer, strengthening a business plan, connecting with an experienced adviser, or having someone willing to work through an unfamiliar challenge alongside them.

We work to bring those pieces together because a business grows within a web of relationships. So does resilience.

The producers whose stories we have been sharing make that visible. At Mosley Farms, the connection between generations reminds us that a family’s agricultural legacy lives in everyday decisions: what to grow, whom to feed, what to teach, and how to prepare the next generation to carry the work forward.

Our exploration of yaupon brings another dimension into view: the relationship among cultural knowledge, responsible stewardship, and new economic opportunity. It asks us to consider how a growing market might help support small producers and family landowners while honoring the Indigenous peoples who first understood the plant’s value.

Across these stories, a question stays with me:

What would it take for the next generation to inherit both the land and a viable future on it?

Keeping land in a family requires resources. It requires income, planning, access to opportunity, and room to adapt. The love of a place runs deep. Giving that love a durable economic foundation takes sustained, practical work.

That is work I am proud Potlikker contributes to.

When a farm has a stronger foundation, the possibilities reach beyond its boundaries. A family can plan with greater confidence. A producer can pursue a new market. Knowledge has somewhere to be practiced and passed on. A community has a better chance of keeping the businesses, relationships, and agricultural traditions that help sustain it.

Those are the possibilities behind our financing decisions, our introductions, and the time we spend helping people work through what comes next.

They also shape how I think about resilience.

The farmers and entrepreneurs we serve have already demonstrated extraordinary persistence. Our task is to help build conditions in which that persistence can bear fruit: reliable support, useful connections, fair access to resources, and opportunities that reward their skill and effort.

This Thanksgiving, I am grateful for the producers who trust us with their aspirations and speak honestly about their challenges. For the partners who bring their knowledge and open their networks. For the investors and supporters who understand the value of patient, relational work. And for our team, whose care is expressed in the details of showing up and following through.

Together, we are contributing to something worth carrying forward.

As families gather and the greens finish simmering, I hope we take a moment to think about the lives connected to what is on our plates. The people tending the ground. The elders holding the knowledge. The next generation looking for a place in the story.

There is good reason to be grateful, and meaningful work ahead.

May we keep making room for one another, investing in what can endure, and helping more families pass on both a place to gather and a future to build.

Something good is still stirring. I am grateful we get to help it grow.