Project Direct - From the Farm, For the Farmer

Today was a long one, but definitely worth it.  Our morning started early with a 6 am wakeup call, wrestling us from our mountain oasis.  Paul and I, bleary eyed but bushy-tailed, had a quick breakfast in Ahuachapán, and then set off to the other side of the country (width wise, so not actually that [...]

Paul and I have had the pleasure of returning to visit the Menendez’s farm in Ahuachapan El Salvador, and we had a jam-packed day today.  This morning we set off from San Salvador up north towards the Apaneca Ilantepeq mountain range, and arrived at the Beneficio La Pita pretty early in the morning.  We were [...]

December 9, 2011 Well, I survived the holiday in Nicaragua, barely.  The last 20 hours of my time in Jinotega were very rudely interrupted by a constant stream of fireworks and the intermittent wailing of fire trucks and ambulances.  Warren and I (non-celebrating members of the town) spent the day at the office and the [...]

December 7, 2011 Today was a GREAT day! This morning I set off for the Aldea Global office to meet up with my contacts Warren and Ivania and make a plan for visiting producers.  Warren and I chatted for a while as we waited for a 7 months pregnant (!) Ivania to arrive, and then [...]

Saludos from Jinotega, Nicaragua! I am back  in Nicaragua to witness the beginning of the 2011-2012 coffee harvest as well as check in on the progress with our Direct Trade producers Roberto Bendaña and the Las Mercedes group of the Aldea Global Co-op. This morning started with an early breakfast with Roberto, who lives in [...]

I am just back from solidifying our Direct Trade relationship in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.  Over the past year I have been communicating with the director of Tudeley Estates, Konrad Legg, and in October I had the opportunity to visit his farm for the second time on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Tudeley Estates has [...]

This month I returned to San Ignacio Peru to cup the 2011 crop and to check in with our Direct Trade producers at the end of their harvest.  The harvest in Peru was huge this year, and each farmer boasted a larger than average harvest of top-quality beans.   I took extra time this trip to [...]

Finca Santa Felisa ·      Size: 60 hectares (in coffee production) ·      Varietals: Tipica, Bourbon, Pacamara, Geisha, Pache, Catuai Amarillo, and “Mystery” that might be called “Erecta” ·      Altitude: 1500-1700 meters above sea level.  Plans to cultivate up to 1850 meters ·      Other Crops: Avocado (for sale in local market), beans, plantain, inga (a nitrogen fixing [...]

Continuing my direct trade producers’ journey, my next stop was to check in with our producers in the region of Huila, Colombia.  Here are my experiences: First, we visited farms in the region of Palermo, where I met the infamous Maria Diva last year.  We visited all of the family farms (everyone in the association [...]

In May I returned to Peru to check in with our direct trade partners in Cajamarca.  In our meetings with the newly elected board of directors, we learned the following new things about CENFROCAFE: -       There are about 2,000 producers in the region who are members of the Cenfrocafe co-op -       Cenfro has created two [...]