Oaxaca, Mex. Blog#5 Coffee Kids...... Mushroom Farming Micro Credit Program.... It's A Good One!

We entered the village. Today seemed hotter and dustier than the others for some reason. We walked up to the home where all the action was. There were two small fires going with large 25 gallon pails of water boiling. In the water were sacks filled with shredded corn stalks. These corn stalks will end up being the base product for the mushroom seeds to take root in. They bring the shredded stalks up to temperature to kill all the unwanted bacteria, then the sacks are hung up over the pails to drain. Just in front of the boiling pails is a mound of corn stalks and a new electric shredder. These folks would methodically grind each and every stalk into sacks with dust flying everywhere. There were about a dozen women and 3-4 men working on this project. There was one small adobe brick building with wooden tables set up with a new balance scale at the end of one of the tables. Before we were allowed to enter the little mushroom growing building we all had to wash our hands with lots of soap, put on rubber gloves and don a hair cover and a mask to cover our nose and mouth.

Inside the little building was dark. The tables were covered with the boiled corn stalks. The ladies would stuff the shredded stalks into a large plastic bag and layer it with mushroom seeds till the sack was full, then repeat the process. The scale was used for measuring the mushroom seeds and other ingredients. Everything was so precise. All we could see were each others eyes and they were all dancing with excitement. These ladies were helping their families provide a means for a new type of stable income.

This all went on for hours! The large plastic bags would then be set on another table in the dark. Slits would be made in the side of the bags and in a few days mushrooms would be growing out of those slits. In two or three weeks, harvesting and drying takes place.

What a joy to see happy people and know that Longbottom coffee had a small part in it! Yes, people are what really matter!!

More to come,

The CoffeeMariner