Things I'm learning along the way

It's a gorgeous sunny 75° day in Brooklyn and I'm working at a friends house. She's preparing her PhD dissertation papers for publication, and I'm, well, blogging and reading "Days of War, Nights of Love" by CrimethInc. Have to love hi-brow and low-brow mixing like this. We needed a snack/sun break, and I haven't met any shop owners in her neighborhood so I suggested biking the mile or so to Fort Greene to Urban Spring. We stopped in and chatted with Gordon, introduced him to my friend Rachel, ordered some sandwiches and iced coffee, and then went off to show her the neighborhood and the new Fort Greene Flea Market. It was a longer break than perhaps she wanted, and it involved getting out her bike and not really knowing what the options were going to be when we got there. But aside from the food being great and the iced coffee fresh, it was worth the effort for me to walk in somewhere that I knew the owner and the back story, where I was greeted by name and with an acknowledgment that I had been there before and would be there again.

I guess that's a big part of the answer to "Why am I doing this?" that I get so often. Being aware of where my food and purchases come from allows me to be further involved and engaged in my decision to buy them. I know who I am supporting, and what goals I am helping them to achieve. And it allows me to be part of something bigger than myself and my own little world. I didn't just grab a snack today, I was part of Gordon's plan to create a neighborhood community and promote sustainable living; I was part of Harold's attempt to run a coffee bean business that he loves; and perhaps (I'm not sure if it was Nicaraguan coffee I drank or not) I was part of Mausi's mission to provide positive working and living conditions for her farm workers and innovative solutions for self-sustaining coffee farming.

Before starting this project, it was easy for me to think (or not think at all) that the things I bought sort of came into existence when I bought them, for the sake of me buying them. Knowing the stories and personalities involved in their creation blows that away.

Updating the site

For those who are following by rss feed, I've added a new section relating to the project, The Register, and updated recent blog coverage in the News Roll.

Coming soon: Brownstone Beans brewer Harold Butler, and an early morning shift at the Food Coop to meet the delivery men and farmers.

Thanks for your support of this project!

A Nicaraguan in Brooklyn

I can't believe it's taken me a week to get this up. One of the interesting side-effects of this project is that it actually gets me out more, gets me talking and gets me interested in people - and it make me busy. By the end of it all, it seems like a daunting undertaking to then log onto my computer to report about it. But, I promise to try to be better.

The exciting interaction that I alluded to last week was a spur-of-the-moment meeting with Mausi Kühl, owner of Selva Negra coffee farm in Central Nicaragua. She is a supplier to Harold of Brownstone Beans, whom I've been talking to off and on for a few weeks. Mausi was recently invited to the States by the Specialty Coffees Association of America to accept a Sustainability Award and present her methods to coffee growers and buyers across the country. Taking the opportunity to visit one of her daughters in Jersey City, she contacted Harold, who had gone to visit her and the resort she runs on her property in Nicaragua.

Harold, in turn, invited her to visit Urban Spring, and called up me and a few of his coffee-loving friends to meet her. It was a rare, exciting moment for me, to be talking with the grower (Mausi), producer (Harold), and retailer (Gordon) all in one place.

From the moment we were introduced, Mausi was a complete joy to talk with. A small, lively woman with gray streaked through her long black hair, she animatedly launched into a mini-version of her presentation for the few of us, boasting of how their farm has learned to reuse everything, from the water that cleanses the beans to the cow and human waste as compost. There is so much about coffee growing and processing I had never imagined -- like the fact that it is grown in the mountains under shade trees!

She is clearly proud of her farm, which employs 650-1000 seasonal workers, 300 year-round workers, including several generations of families. Quality of life is seen as good business, where workers receive food as part of their salary; the on-site school is mandatory for their children; visiting doctors regularly volunteer time at the clinic; and trade training (clerical, plumbing, and carpentry, as well as the farm duties) is offered for families of workers who then stay and work other parts of the farm, hotel and restaurant. The property is nearly entirely self-sufficient, and they are currently adding a water turbine which will generate 40% of their electricity.

But Mausi is most proud of her four daughters who live in Atlanta (running a coffee shop), Buffalo, Jersey City, and one with her in Nicaragua. Her 'presentation' included a segment on her granddaughter, a smiling 6 year old who saves orphaned birds and nurses them to health.

Mother's Day on "The Program"

Despite a lack of recent posts, the project does continue and slowly becomes part of the daily routine. Lunches from Body & Soul, shopping at the Coop and the Farmers Markets, and lots of Brooklyn Lager and Makers Mark, of course.

My parents were in town for a Mother's Day visit and I did my best to keep them in line with the project guidelines (or "the program" as my mother adorably calls it -- does she think I'm twelve-stepping? I guess there are similarities....). Apparently Lucali, the local pizza phenomenon that I started to get to know, has had insane press recently so when we went at 8:30 on Friday night in the pouring rain there was a three hour wait. For the sake of my "no starving, no alienation" provisos, I accepted a "gift" from my parents and went to a restaurant, Crave, across the street. Aside from that blip however, I got them to make breakfast at home, took them on a whirlwind Saturday afternoon excursion to the Park Slope Food Coop to shop for dinner and made a huge stir-fry and salad, and then got my friends together to take mom to Counter for Mother's Day brunch this morning, which everyone loved. With some careful planning, and patience, my mission to know where all my purchases come from is proving possible.

We also checked out BklynDesigns on Saturday morning, an annual furniture and craft fair showcasing local designers. I took some serious notes should I decide I need to upgrade anything this year as there was some beautiful work made right here in my borough.

Coming up this week: I'm meeting with Allen Zimmerman, Produce Buyer for the Park Slope Food Coop, and Harold Butler, founder of Brownstone Beans. Plans for a June roadtrip to Tom's of Maine's factory and Seventh Generation's headquarters in Vermont are also in the works as well.

Urban Spring board

I've mentioned Brownstone Beans here before, and my on-going attempts to check out where they are brewed and get to know the founder better. I also mentioned that I discovered them (him?) when I walked by a coffee and juice bar in Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn called Urban Spring. This morning I was able to spend some time with Urban Spring's owner, Gordon. (I admit that I was slighly distracted by the fact that we were being recorded by a journalist, so forgive me if I have some of the details wrong.)

Gordon and his wife met while in Afghanistan, traveling around the Middle East region consulting for the United Nations. When his wife decided to return to the states to study acupuncture, they moved to Fort Greene with the assumption that his foreign experience would lead to quick employment. Things didn't go as smoothly as planned, and Gordon soon turned his sights to a vacant storefront on DeKalb with the idea of opening a juice bar (a soft-sell to a broader clientele than green building) and make efforts to consult on the side. Around the same time, they heard that Peace Church on Washington Square Park was being torn down - and a bit of being in the right place at the right time offered them the opportunity to salvage some beautiful artifacts from the landmark. Today, their benches are made of the church's floor boards, and shelving and the bar are constructed from wall and balcony moldings. A friendship with Angelica Kitchen taught them the basics of healthy baking using local ingredients, and an introduction to Harold led them to offering the only coffee brewed in Fort Greene, in Fort Greene.

Gordon said he and his wife are still very interested in green building, as well as community building and are working on a number of side projects that might combine the two interests. I'm looking forward to staying touch with him and seeing what they're up to. And excited to be able to sample more than just their coffee (which is french pressed and strong!).

Photo by Fred Froum from urbanspring.net

Waking Up | Barriers, part 3

A third trend I see in the obstacles I've encountered is probably the greatest and widest spread, though it appears to be the simplest to solve. It is simply that of the habits of both supplier and consumer. It is apparent to me how rare an occasion it is when a customer asks in depth questions that the seller is caught off guard and thrown a little bit. Neither side is used to this level of interaction which makes it very easy to slip into typical practices and not follow though.

My most recent example of this, and I freely admit the blame falls on both sides, is when I initiated contact with "Harold the Coffee Man", founder of Brownstone Beans in Brooklyn. I heard of Harold when I walked by Urban Spring on DeKalb Ave in Fort Greene and noticed their chalk-board sign pushing "Locally Brewed Coffee - Roasted Just Down the Street!" Turns out, Harold is a local guy who, indeed, imports beans from Nicaragua and elsewhere and began roasting them right there in his brownstone apartment to distribute to a few coffee houses and businesses. I did some research and called him up, and to his credit, Harold called me back a few days later and enthusiastically chatted to me about his beginnings, his day job as a teacher, and his new facility in Greenpoint. He told me he had a shipment coming in a few days and would let me know so I could come by and check out his operation.

And I haven't heard from him. I left another message for him once, but haven't followed up again. He is clearly in his routine and busy with an end of a school year and his business, and I'm busy with my day job and making inquiries as often as possible to broaden my scope. It's so much easier to just go about our day-to-day, even as a local entrepreneur and someone dedicated to making connections, than to pursue it. If we can't even make the connection happen, then it should be no surprise that most of us don't even bother trying.

Local Flavor | Paying attention to sources

Buying from Greenmarkets is so much more fun than I expected. From greens and vegetables, to fruit spreads and bread, I'm amazed at how much is produced locally. A quick round up of the places my food came from this week:

Phillips Farm, Millford, NY

Oak Grove Plantation, Pittstown, NJ

Bread Alone, Hudson River Valley, NY

Wheelhouse Pickles, Brooklyn, NY

Brownstone Beans, Fort Greene, NY

All close enough for me to stop in and visit soon. I've got a few leads on those last two in particular (pickling okra and brewing Nicaraguan beans in Brooklyn apartments? these guys have got to be crazy, and awesome.)