Hospitatalito Invitation VIA Farmer To Farmer Coffee!

Farmer to Farmer Coffee fans will be happy to celebrate one of the projects supported by Guatemalan coffee sales!

Keep supporting local efforts towards FAIR TRADE and the amazing projects that can be nourished by this premium for small communities throughout the world (even locally!)

http://www.hospitalitoatitlan.org/

The Life & Rebirth of Hospitalito Atitlán from dinoKitten on Vimeo.

2010 Coffee Crops are HERE!!!

Coffee Lovers!

Have you enjoyed the year's new coffee arrival from our two great suppliers? Farmer to Farmer and Just Coffee are buzzing with excitement as various new crops have arrived to Wisconsin bringing that extra GUSTO to your morning, afternoon (or evening?) routine!

New From Just Coffee are The AIPEP light roast from Pumiri, Bolivia and another great light roast from the Oromia Grower Co-Op in Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe Region. 


Each Bag of Farmer to Farmer Guatemalan and Honduran Coffees are now coming from the amazing farmers we were able to visit this past January. All our Guatemalan Coffee is now coming from Huehuetenango's women's Co-Op! Also, all Honduran coffee is coming from small villages in La Montaña de Comayagua where producers continue to develop a web of eco-tourism and sustainable development. 


www.justcoffee.coop
www.farmertofarmer.org

New Video from our visit to the coffee cooperative and farm in Guatemala click here to watch the video of our trip visiting the coffee cooperative and farmers.
To watch a great video about where our Guatemalan coffee is coming from. The Huehuetenango coffee farmers and their cooperative.
Check out an Eau Claire Leader Telegram article on Farmer to Farmer.
Also Dunn County News article about Farmer to Farmer..

Day in the Valley This Saturday!

Saturday, July 24th -Just Local & Jazz88- Day in the Valley! We invite you to join us for a Day in the Valley, a day long tour celebrating four innovative, sustainable and local food/agriculture projects in the beautiful Chippewa Valley of Wisconsin. The tour is Saturday, July 24th and will start at 10:30 a.m. at Piney Hill Farm CSA in Glenwood City and then journey to Dave's Brew Farm in Wilson, Bullfrog Fish Farm in Menomonie and wrap up with Dinner and Jazz at The Creamery Restaurant and Inn in Downsville, WI. There is no cost for the day but attendees will be responsible for their lunch and dinner costs. RSVPs for the tour are requested by e-mailing Zac & Kevin Barnes at zac@justlocalfood.com and KevinB@Jazz88fm.com

for more info on the four stops visit the following link!http://jazz88.mpls.k12.mn.us/restaurantour.html or http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eau-Claire-WI/Just-Local-Food/228354881132?ref=ts#!/event.php?eid=135032266529541&ref=mf

   

TROPICAL STORM AGATHA and Farmer to Farmer coffee

Zacarias from Just Local Food was just in Guatemala and Honduras this past January, Farmer to Farmer Continues to create a bond between our communities through media, coffee, textiles y mucho mas.  As I'm sure you've heard Central America has been hit by Agatha and Guatemala had a volcanic eruption and earthquake too. Info about these disasters can be found on the Farmer to Farmer website (www.farmertofarmer.org).  Also, here is a video that Alexander, the peacecorp worker we traveled with to Huehuetenango last January, put up on youtube.

Peace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WacAI0ZmycQ

This video was filmed a day after TROPICAL STORM AGATHA ravaged the SAN MIGUEL ESCOBAR coffee-growing community located on the base of the "VOLCÁN DE AGUA" (Water Volcano) just outside of ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA. Go to: www.ASGREENASITGETS.org to send DONATIONS. This video was produced, edited, and published by ALEXANDER NIXON, a PEACE CORPS volunteer working with the As Green As it Gets coffee cooperative in this affected community.

reflections on 2010's Farmer to Farmer coffee trip

It has been an honor to share some images and a short video of our trip to Honduras and Guatemala in an effort to better understand the lives of organic growers that grow us such high quality, environmentally conscious, small scale crops in two countries that few of us in the Chippewa Valley have been able to immerse ourselves in. 

In an effort to keep my first blogs to the point, I'd like to offer a few areas where I can focus future writing based on what questions you may have about the agricultural and environmental, political, social or artistic happenings of the regions that we visited. please comment to this blog with any further questions you would like me to elaborate on...

To summarize some of these things Honduras and Guatemala share a history of pre-columbian ancestry but now differ in their intact cultures as Spanish and Mayan influence has taken different paths in both countries, leaving a different reality for indigenous rights, farming practices, environmental impact and areas of focus for farmer to farmer type projects.

Honduras, the first half of our trip, simmered with political tension (but a general feeling of rest... or perhaps a population holding it's breath) and boiled as coffee was a-buzz as market prices ran high (but supply continued to run low) and farmer to farmer (organic and oober fair trade) prices substantially higher.  Politically, our new hosts deliberated the effects of president Zelaya's overthrow (via coup d'etat in June 2009), leaving the country divided and lead by two leaders or presidents which neither could claim an overwhelming degree of support. Guatemala, the second half of our three weeks in Central America, continues to be a concentrated area for work in indigenous rights and greater human rights as severe poverty and short of infrastructure leaves many in the indigenous dominated country unrecognized by the government, creating calamity with the repeating reality of devastating natural disasters and basic medical coverage lacking accessibility (the sister of our Tzotzil (Mayan) interpreter passed away two days ago due to lack of funds for insulin).

www.farmertofarmer.orgFarmer to Farmer's trip focused our energies on connecting with different cooperatives that continued to develop ties to western Wisconsin through the sale of organic coffee, heirloom textiles (natural dies, traditional weaving methods, multiple types of cotton), scholarships for area children, and much much more.  Each visit to a cooperative meeting or family visit included sharing the story of Just Local Food and the people of my community, games and culture (from gifting and practicing Frisbee to explaining winter and the related culture of ways to embrace the Wisconsin cold).  We were introduced to the ups and downs of cooperative business and sustainable development in small communities, explained and deliberated a transparent market to farmers that never could learn of the complicated systems that moved their cafe from farm to cup, toured farms that have naturally practiced organic farming for as far back as memory can wander (the alternative of synthetic fertilizers, chemical herbicides and pesticides is/was either too expensive, inaccessible, unnecessary, and now more and more harmful to the hopes and dreams of a safe place for eco-tourism and fair trade), took time to record their stories, dreams, messages for their customers, etc.

To wrap up today's blog, it's been an incredible education to see how solidarity groups like farmer to farmer make a growing impact on communities like those we visited in Honduras and Guatemala.   please keep an eye on just local food's blog for upcoming coffee 101 talks and feel free to email me (zac@justlocalfood.com) if you'd be interested in having a talk at your local school, congregation, community group, etc.

paz

Coffee Farming in Guate!

enjoy this fantastic youtube video (and more photos!) about our Guatemalan coffee farmers. Alexander Nixon is a PeaceCorps volunteer working with these farmers, let us know if you have any questions about the process or for these amazing folks!

We're in Guatemala!

our first photos from HONDURAS!

communicación desde Comayagua, Honduras

We're back in WI! click here for some last photos and some journals to come...

We've crossed into Guatemala! Click here for photos!

here are our first photos from HONDURAS!


View farmer to farmer trip in a larger map

I´m over joyed to be writing a first post from Comayagua, Honduras... we have an amazing opportunity to get to know so much about the people that are growing such amazing organic and much more than fair trade coffee. Tomorrow we will be up and out on the mountain well before the sun, checking in with many of our honduran family run coops or small coffee growers, making sure that their needs are being fairly met and that they are receiving the hard earned premium for organic growing practices.  These beans are the seeeds and monetary foundation for community projects and infrastructure for continued growth and cooperation. for more info on farmer to farmer please visit their website, become a member and receive quarterly updates on different projects. Look for notices through just local food for future trips where you can also get involved and enjoy the beauty and compassion for our shared future. 

keep an eye out for updates on honduras and then also learn about growers in Guatemala, ask us to show you what coffee we´re sampling and have a cup to warm up or take home a bag of honduran or guatemalan (farmer to farmer or just coffee!) café to share with family and friends.

here are our first photos from HONDURAS!

We've crossed into Guatemala! Click here for photos!

We're back in WI! click here for some last photos and some journals to come...