Menlo Park Briarpatch Co-op Market 50th Anniversary Reunion

08/26/2025

08/17/2025

We honored Morrie Lippman and Dave Smith with their bios at our Memorial Table. These two Briarpatch Co-op Market founders were inspiring with their passion—Morrie for Co-ops, Dave for Right Livelihood. We also posted a list of Briars who have passed on and asked folks to add others they knew of.

Marylyn shared a store memory of Larry Tesler, an early member who left Xerox PARC to work at Apple around 1979. Larry was on a mission to make computers 'user friendly,' a term some attribute to him coining. Whenever you use the copy / cut / paste functions on your computer, you can thank this Briar for making it easy to use!

08/17/2025

We were delighted that Claude Whitmyer and his wife Gail from the Briarpatch Network joined us! We greatly appreciated Claude's contribution of early history of the founding of our co-op, the Portola Institute, an educational foundation founded by Dick Raymond, who originated the name 'Briarpatch,' and other leaders in the Briarpatch Network.

The Briarpatch is a long-standing circle of friends in business who are pursuing right livelihood and simple living. For many years, Claude has been its heart and hub, serving as coordinator and keeping the community connected. He blends down-to-earth know-how with everyday mindfulness, helping people and small businesses simplify their lives, earn a good living, and do work that truly matters. Learn more at Briarpatch.net

08/16/2025

Alice Newton, first co-manager and reunion co-organizer, with Marylyn Genovese, early member and reunion co-organizer. There's more info with individual photos below.

08/16/2025

On August 14th, 2025, 32 old Briarpatch Co-op members gathered in Flood Park, Menlo Park, CA to reconnect and celebrate the founding of our direct-charge cooperative market 50 years ago, and to honor our founders and other Briars who have passed on. It was a heart-warming afternoon, filled with the pleasure of seeing old friends and celebrating the intentional ways we chose to live in the world, "with joy in the cracks of the Establishment."

Dorothy Fadiman, Briarpatch member #110, wrote afterwards: "Thank you for bringing together so many wonderful human beings...to share in celebrating what Briarpatch stood for and in our hearts, still stands for. The energy of the reunion was healing at a time when so much of what we value is being threatened."

08/16/2025

The Briarpatch store opening event, March 1975, with Hal Luft, Ellen Leibenhaut (later Leibenluft), and Bob Luft (later Leibenluft).

08/09/2025

Young Briars, Jackie Caplan-Auerbach and Sarah Caplan circa 1976.