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.

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.