Tag: africa

  • Our little elves

    For the last two weeks we have had the hardest workers you can imagine living in our house and pushing us to get ready for this move! Grandpa came all the way from the US of A to South Africa to help us MOVE IT! My baby brother, who is now known around this house as Uncle Scott, came along for the ride and the two of them transformed our house! They emptied every cupboard, looked us in the eyes and said, “Do you really need this?” They played with the kids, packed boxes, sorted through ten years of our life with us, and went home very tired.

    They have left for the States and there is a big hole in my heart. It seems very lonely here. It is hard and sad to live so far from my family, but the joys of it are this: when we are together, we appreciate it to the nth degree.

    With Ben about to leave to make the drive from South Africa to Burundi in just a few days, I am trying hard to cling to our last moments as a family in this home. This is it folks, just two weeks until we are going to be living in a new land. Today it scares me. There are so many unknowns…. and so many great people we are leaving behind.

    Love,

    Kristy

     

  • These Old Coffee Trees

    I just wrote a seven page report on the intricacies of this season’s Burundi coffee harvest.  I’m not going to let you get it!  If you love coffee, it’s like a good novel that you won’t be able to put down and it might just destroy any hope of productivity you have until you can lay your hands on a freshly brewed mug of this citrus sweet coffee.  That, or you’d be bored out of your mind. Or, you might read two lines and wonder how, despite the continuing social turmoil and simmering political unrest, I can coax tired old Burundi coffee trees and their skittish fearful farmers into producing the worlds best coffee.

    I knew if I was going to pull off finding 48 containers of the champagne of Arabica coffees I couldn’t do it standing still.  So, I was back in the hills of Burundi last week to survey the start of the harvest season and check on my chances for success. I was struck with the raw enthusiasm of the farmers as they poured their baskets of coffee cherries into the large fermentation tanks.  Blood red cherries sinking into tanks of mountain water, drowning, and then resurrected to face the pulping discs and fermentation tanks.  The raw enthusiasm for the start of the harvest was palpable. I was taking part in the start of of something great. The love affair of following coffee from these old trees to your cup.

    It was another week in the heart of Central Africa.  I got another taste of what I’m diving into.  I wonder, will these old trees be able to do it? They are generations too old and the soil is way too thin after one war too many.  Burundi needs new trees… or my dream of a better life for these farmers will not happen.

    Coffee Guy

  • early morning brewing

     

    I miss early morning’s that look like this. Ben making coffee while teaching the four year old proper brewing methods, you know… normal stuff. As Ben is away and the house hunt in Burundi continues, it is beginning to sink in that this is our last breath before the plunge. Our life in South Africa is rapidly coming to a close. It’s weeks now instead of months.

    We have spent a third of our lives here and the community that surrounds us is voluminous. There are people here that it breaks our hearts to leave. Ten years ago, when we left our families and moved to this new place with just four suitcases to our names, we put down roots.  We reached out and built relationships with abandon, and we found a new family. They in no way replace our family in the States, instead they are a whole different family… but no easier to leave behind.

    Luv,

    Kristy

     

  • Heidi’s Brown Butter Spice Bread

    When I saw the list of ingredients in this cake I knew I had to make it. Browned butter? Roasted winter squash? Garam Masala? Yes, please! We have plenty of Garam Masala lying around from all our attempts at making a good curry. It’s a beautiful blend of peppery cinnamonny cardamummy goodness. Since I’ve been doing a whole lotta “stress baking” to avoid packing, now seemed like the perfect time to bake this up!

    One of the things that I love about living in Durban is the really large and totally unique Indian community. *warning, incoming “did you know” fact* Did you know that Durban has the largest Indian population of any city, outside of India? It shows, we have curry coming out of our ears and I love it! You have not lived until you have tasted a Durban Bunny Chow, but that’s another story.

    The name here says bread, but this really is a cake. Heidi who created the remarkable 101 cookbooks mentions you can skip the browning of the butter. You could, it’s true, but I don’t think I ever would. The browned butter gives this cake an amazingly dark and nutty favor. Plus I just love browning butter, and being around butter, and eating butter… you get the picture. This cake is soooo good paired with a doppio of espresso on a Sunday afternoon.

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    double click or drag above recipe to print

     

    Love,

    Kristy

    all images Kristy J Carlson recipe via Heidi at  101 cookbooks

     

     

  • House Hunting In Burundi

    Here’s a clip of Ben’s house hunting efforts last week in Burundi. He didn’t find a house that worked for us, but we are crossing fingers and praying like mad that the right place will come along soon.

    House Hunting in Burundi from longmilescoffee on Vimeo.

  • The Beginning

    Ben began his journey in to help the farmers of Burundi produce better coffee this week. He’s also on the hunt for the best beans Burundi has to offer, so that he can get them into the hands of coffee shops who want to buy directly from farmers.

    Ben’s trip to Burundi this week did not yield a house, but the beginnings of his work with the farmers was a great success.

    What do you think of those roads? Egh? Pretty intense!

    Long Miles Coffee Project from longmilescoffee on Vimeo.

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  • Why Go.

    This little ditty was made because we want you to travel on this adventure with us. We need all the moral support and prayers we can get, we really truly do. And we want you to know why we are making this risk, why we believe it’s worth it.

    Long Miles Coffee Project from Cooked in Africa on Vimeo.

    The guys over at Cooked reworked this little vid for us and we think that’s just great. It was great before, but whew… now it’s a stunner. Shelly of Make My Day Pictures shot all the footage (except the Burundi bits) and became our friend in the process.

  • Expanding.

    Last night we signed papers to sell the house. It is a solid offer, and we”ll know within a few days if the whole thing is going through. I know it will, I can feel it. This is it. In eight weeks we will have the family packed and we will be leaving the place that I have called home for nearly a decade. The home I brought my children home from the hospital to. The home where we’ve had countless parties and numerous family style suppers, to the sound of the African night birds and the sight of twinkling fairy lights. We’ve hosted countless guests from all over the world here. Grandparents. Friends from college. Friends of friends. They have all had a space here. This is our home. Here we have journeyed into the people we have become. We’ve… Become parents here. Laughed here. Cried here. Lost things. Gained things. Failed. Succeeded. Pursued a big dream. Seen it come to life, seen it flourish, seen it move us.

    As I was photographing the most beautiful pregnant woman in the world yesterday, I could not help but think… as this baby comes, we will leave. Two births at one time. I feel tied to this baby I have not met, but already love. We are linked, because this baby is our starting marker. We will look back on life with these friends and say, “Don’t you remember, we left for Burundi when she was born.” As that baby grows multitudes every day inside her adoring mom, I am aware that this is urgent. Time is overpoweringly short, and this little baby girl has become my inspiration. She reminds me every day that I have to grow too. If I can not expand my comfort zone every day and embrace this journey every day I know I will fail to meet this amazing year head-on.

    Despite the sadness at leaving this house and this life, I am awe struck at the perfect timing of it all. Had we sold the house at any other time, we would have had to rent somewhere else before we left and it would have put our family in an uncomfortable limbo. For this perfect timing, I credit God in all his amazing-timing-ness. I am very grateful, and very sad. Now I have to decide what parts of my life will fit into 6 suitcases and one vehicle that will journey with Ben on an 11 day drive from Durban, up through the heart of Africa, hopefully arriving in one piece in Burundi. He will drive a vehicle that we have not bought yet, and that we have no idea how we will afford, on roads that I am trying desperately not to worry about, through countries that make my totally nervous. Here. We. Go. It’s time to trust.

    Luv,

    Kristy

     

     

     

  • Shakin’ in my boots.

     

    A guy with a whole lotsa fame to his name, Justin Bonello, looked me in the eyes this week and asked, “Aren’t you scared?” I had to think about it for a minute, and then I said “no.” It shocked me that I said no, I didn’t want to say no, and suddenly I got a little scared that I wasn’t scared. I wanted to say, “Getting ready to meet you, Mr. Superstar, had me shakin’ in my boots far more than the thought of moving to Burundi.”

    I should be scared, for cryin’ out loud, I’m moving my kids to the middle of nowhere Africa… but I’m not. Maybe I need a slap in the face (please don’t). I don’t think it’s because I am extra brave or anything, but the truth is… I am scared not to go.

    What would happen if we didn’t follow our dreams and just stayed in a place that was comfortable for us? I think that we would die a slow death. Risk is worth it, if it’s in pursuit of a dream that makes you “tick”. We were made for this, meant for this, we belong there. It doesn’t scare me, but the honest truth is… it totally overwhelms me. Right now I find myself unable to face the packing, the decisions, the “what to bring” lists, and the uncertainty of the months ahead. I’m tired and right now, it feels like too much for my heart to handle. I just want all the boxes packed, the goodbyes said, and the move finished…

    …and I want French to somehow inject itself into my brain and stick there, magically!

    Luckily for me I have three men in my life, two of them tiny, that make me follow rule #6 from The Art of Possibility (on my top 10 list for best reads of all time). What’s rule #6 you ask? Well, it’s “Quit taking yourself so damn seriously.” What are the other rules you want to know? There aren’t any.

    This afternoon I am hoping to apply rule #6 and have a little fun in “the now” just like we did on the beach last week…

    undefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefined Luv,

    me

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