Oaxaca, Mex. Blog#2...Coffee Parcels Are Small Plots Of Land...Maybe 2-6 Acres Each....
After listening to the ladies on how things were going with their micro-credit program, we then had a late lunch of tree ripe mangoes and bananas. They shared with us how they have grown close to one another through working and problem solving together.
While one of the COFFEE KIDS staff was explaining how to manage their money with a large piece of butcher paper taped on one of the inside walls, Carolyn, Juliette, Jose Luis and I followed Christino to his uncle's house. His uncle is very small, I would say 4'10" and maybe 90-100 pounds. He was wearing a pair of well worn sandals, a pair of baggy pants and a shirt filled with finely stitched patches. He was a happy man and was thrilled to show us his coffee parcel. It was just over 4 acres in size. We walked for about a 1/4 mile over dusty roads passing by a mule tethered next to a small home with a satellite dish. The satellite dish was unexpected, but at the same time makes sense when you think about it. Young teenage boys seeing what's on TV and saying to themselves "I want some of that" and they're off, making their way north to head to the land of opportunity. The good old USA! The problem is, it's not at all like what's on TV.
Well, back to the uncle and his 4 acre coffee parcel. As he pointed to the distant mountain range to the south, he said, "Back in 1942 my family and I brought back little coffee trees from those mountains. We loaded up our burros with wonderful little coffee plants and started for home."
Those trees are what make up Christino's uncles coffee parcel. It was like walking through a forest of large shade trees with coffee trees all over the place being protected by the shade tree canopy. Banana trees and pineapple plants were also throughout this forest of coffee. It was so cool watching Chistino and his uncle show us this part of their life. They were so proud! As we talked with coffee seedlings brushing our ankles, I asked how many sacks of roastable coffee their coffee parcel produced. After thinking a bit, the uncle said, "about 15." I thought to myself, 15 sacks. This man cultivates and cares for his precious parcel of coffee and a roaster like ours would have roasted, packaged, dated and delivered that quantity in just a few hours. Like the TV satellite dish and the mule, it's hard to put it all in perspective. Even though I was thinking Longbottom Coffee would have roasted 15 sacks in a matter of a couple of hours, I could never speak it out loud.
Stay tuned for more........
The CoffeeMariner
While one of the COFFEE KIDS staff was explaining how to manage their money with a large piece of butcher paper taped on one of the inside walls, Carolyn, Juliette, Jose Luis and I followed Christino to his uncle's house. His uncle is very small, I would say 4'10" and maybe 90-100 pounds. He was wearing a pair of well worn sandals, a pair of baggy pants and a shirt filled with finely stitched patches. He was a happy man and was thrilled to show us his coffee parcel. It was just over 4 acres in size. We walked for about a 1/4 mile over dusty roads passing by a mule tethered next to a small home with a satellite dish. The satellite dish was unexpected, but at the same time makes sense when you think about it. Young teenage boys seeing what's on TV and saying to themselves "I want some of that" and they're off, making their way north to head to the land of opportunity. The good old USA! The problem is, it's not at all like what's on TV.
Well, back to the uncle and his 4 acre coffee parcel. As he pointed to the distant mountain range to the south, he said, "Back in 1942 my family and I brought back little coffee trees from those mountains. We loaded up our burros with wonderful little coffee plants and started for home."
Those trees are what make up Christino's uncles coffee parcel. It was like walking through a forest of large shade trees with coffee trees all over the place being protected by the shade tree canopy. Banana trees and pineapple plants were also throughout this forest of coffee. It was so cool watching Chistino and his uncle show us this part of their life. They were so proud! As we talked with coffee seedlings brushing our ankles, I asked how many sacks of roastable coffee their coffee parcel produced. After thinking a bit, the uncle said, "about 15." I thought to myself, 15 sacks. This man cultivates and cares for his precious parcel of coffee and a roaster like ours would have roasted, packaged, dated and delivered that quantity in just a few hours. Like the TV satellite dish and the mule, it's hard to put it all in perspective. Even though I was thinking Longbottom Coffee would have roasted 15 sacks in a matter of a couple of hours, I could never speak it out loud.
Stay tuned for more........
The CoffeeMariner
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