Tag: Burundi coffee

  • A walk around town and a washing station update.

    We took a walk around the town of Bukaye, the closest town to our coffee washing station site, (which is now less of a site and more of an ACTUAL station) a few days ago and let the kids roam the streets and find interesting treasures. You can view the full post with a slideshow here.

    We are excited that the washing station is almost finished and ready for the harvest that is coming in as I write. I can’t wait to show you harvest time and how the station has progressed. For now… here’s a sneak peak of the washing station being built.

    Happy Weekend!

  • Day 1: Building A Burundi Coffee Washing Station

    long miles coffee projectWe are too tired to move or write much after today, but WOW what progress in our first day building this coffee washing station here in rural Burundi. Thanks for all the well wishes friends, we FEEL them. Thank you!

    If  you would like to support this project by drinking coffee, please buy Dogwood Burundi coffee online or in store. They are giving $4.00 PER BAG back to building this washing station. Thank you Dogwood Coffee!

  • We Own The Land + Dukomezi Bikogwa

    Dukomezi Bikogwa Means “Keep Working Hard” in Kirundi. Writing has been such hard work for me in the last few weeks, as anyone following this blog may have noticed. We have been consumed with the details of making the coffee washing station here in rural Burundi a reality. Mix that with motherhood,writing for the always lovely Babble, and launching (with our friends at Dogwood coffee) a Burundi roasted coffee that gives back to this washing station project… and you have one wordless momma. I’m sorry, because there is so much I want to say. Uff da, well… it’s not too late, right?

    Yesterday (and today… because in Burundi of course it takes much longer than just one day) we purchased the land for the washing station. A little piece of Africa. Getting to this point has been a cultural lesson and a journey of total chaos. When we shared the vision for this community owned washing station with the leaders of the area, they’ve began having weekly meetings on every surrounding hill about delivering their coffee to our (not yet born) coffee washing station. They are the ones who paved the way within the community so that the land purchase could happen. The land we have purchased has a deep history. Before the war(s) the land WAS a washing station. Now it’s covered in eucalyptus trees for firewood and long flowing grass. I love the idea that we are returning this beautiful piece of land to what it once was. Since the war in 1992, the farmers in this area have been getting HALF of what they should be for their coffee, mostly because of the distance from them to the nearest station.

    Hope, in my mind, is change for the better in this community WITHOUT giving short-lived free aid. This project is about long term, generational improvement for the coffee farmers of Burundi…. THAT is worth so much.

    Please buy Burundi coffee from Dogwood to support this project. They are giving an amazing $4.00 a lb. back to the construction and operation of this washing station. You can buy online here, and yes, they ship countrywide if you in the USA.

  • Land for Burundi Coffee

    Following @kristyjcarlson on Twitter and Instagram gets me excited about being part of this family of four that has their hearts set on helping a community in rural Burundi produce amazing coffee. I’m so happy to be a part of it.

    Building a coffee washing station in Burundi has meant taking on an obscenely huge amount of challenges and obstacles on the way to realizing the dream.  Let’s just say accomplishing something like this in Burundi has few more challenges in it than building that lemonade stand in Wisconsin when I was six.

    For months now we have set our sites on building this coffee washing station.  Finding the perfect location was key to making it a success.  After 3 years of sourcing and cupping Burundi coffee, I knew where we needed to be.  The place we were looking for was sitting in the middle of a triangle of the best coffee washing stations producing the best coffee in all of Burundi.  Besides the best coffee, it was a place where farmers are too far to carry their coffee to the nearest station forcing them to sell to local buyers at ridiculously low prices.  It has one river, bringing plenty of fresh clean water to run the de-pulper.  Sitting at the perfect altitude with a micro-climate that is unique and ideal for producing the kind of coffee that makes you (ok, maybe just me) go weak in the knees.

    Three years to make certain of this specific spot.  Months to get all the paperwork done and meet all the farmers to explain the vision.  Weeks to get all the signatures of the owners of the land willing to sell and the neighboring farmers as witnesses. Then, on the last day before signing, we find out that two of the five farmers don’t feel like selling anymore.

    What do we do?  Tomorrow we go back to the land to talk to the farmers.  The area co-op president and commune elder have talked through our vision and are coming with us to make sure that the farmers know the kind of impact this station will have on the lives of all 2,500 families in the four surrounding hills.  If they still decide they don’t want to sell are we back to square one?  No, the commune elder said that we can have the two hectors next to the spot we want that are owned by the commune.  The rivers the same, the slope is great, and the view is stunning.  He gets the vision.  He has caught hope.  He tells us that they will do whatever it takes to see us partner with them.

    We have found our spot and started to put down our roots.  This challenge is just one of many in our way, but if it was easy we wouldn’t need to do it, it would already be done. Am I Worried? No, but we are weeks away from starting to build on land that we still don’t own with money we still have not raised… It will all happen though, it will all happen.

     

    Coffee Guy

     

  • Focus: Building a Coffee Washing Station in Burundi

    long miles coffee project

    There is a reason why this coffee washing station matters. There is a community here in Burundi whose lives are on the brink of truth and hope and all things good in this world. Not that this coffee washing station is their way to the ultimate Hope, but it has been dreamed up and steeped in Hope… and we envision it oozing into every corner of these coffee farmer’s lives. We have already faced our challenges in bringing this washing station to these people. No one said it would be easy. The fundraising, the believing, the hoping that it will all coming together.

    We have found our way forward in just stepping. Stepping into what we believe will happen. Stepping on the land, stepping into building plans, stepping into the community. We have found freedom in stepping forward, especially when it seems that all the world would have us do is stop.

    So, here we find ourselves. Resolute to step forward. This coffee washing station will help an entire community of 2,500 coffee farmers who, last year, made $130 FOR THE YEAR on their crops. We want to change that number, and drastically, by offering coffee farmers premiums for growing great micro-lot relationship coffee. Clean water, better education and better farming practices are just a few thing we will be hoping to provide to the community in addition to the coffee washing station.

    We’re stepping… and despite the fear that moving forward brings, it feels great to just be moving. THANK YOU for all the donations and email love, by the way. It has been SO GREAT to see $14,000 of our $40,000 goal come in. Let’s keep moving…

    There is One who knows and sees all plans. The Creator of all things good. The bringer of Hope.

  • Burundi Coffee Farmer Story | Rosato Rugoke

    Burundi Coffee Farmer Story | Rosato Rugoke

    This is Rosato and he’s a Burundi coffee farmer…When he looked into my camera lens, I felt like I saw his entire soul just hanging out in the open. Like many Burundians, Rosato is not sure how old he is. He thinks that he might be 85. Rosato is one of the founding members of the Mpemba Coffee Cooperative. His father wasn’t alive when coffee was being produced in Burundi, which makes him a first generation coffee farmer. Rosato learned about coffee during the monarchy, possibly around 1932. He began with just a few trees and now he has around 400 coffee trees. It has been a long road, keeping his trees healthy throughout the war.Rosato is not alone in this life, he shares it with a wife and 4 children. He hopes his children will continue to follow in his steps, as coffee farmers.

    Hasselblad 501 C with proxers, Fuji400 desaturated

    Behind the scenes, Neo helps photograph Rosato. Mamiya 645 Pro TL , Fuji400 desaturated

  • Let’s Build A Coffee Washing Station!

    Let’s Build A Coffee Washing Station!

    long miles coffee project

    long miles coffee project

    We are beginning something that makes our family pretty close to giddy. 

    Giddy is really not my thing.

    I’m the Midwestern American stoic type…

    (with a strange leaning towards living room dance parties).

    But this….

    This project makes me want to stand up on a couch somewhere and shout “Yes!”

    long miles coffee project

    What is it?

    We are opening a coffee washing station. Let me explain just why this is SO EXCITING! Coffee farmers in Burundi grow coffee in small personal plots. Each plot ranges in size, but most are about half the size (or smaller) than the typical American backyard. On this small plot families grow EVERYTHING that they need to survive for the year. They might have coffee, banana trees, corn, beans, and manioc all on the same plot. My hubs, the Coffee Guy, explains a bit about what a washing station does:

    The washing station’s main purpose is to remove the coffee seed from the skin and fruit and dry out the seed to prepare it for hulling and export.  For great tasting coffee the washing station has to do much more.  Without a well run washing station within a few hours walk farmers can expect a barely livable wage with little to no chance of premiums.  Too long a distance or poorly operated and marketed stations destroy any hope of long-term relationships with buyers.   Direct trade relationships with roasters and western importers are the key to help create a stable and sustainable source of income for the 2,000+ smallholder farmers surrounding each station.

    long miles coffee project

    How will it help people?

    We have identified a potential washing station spot surrounded by 2,500 coffee farming families. In order to deliver their coffee cherries they currently need to walk 9 miles over slippery mountain slopes with the coffee cherries on their backs. Because the nearest washing station is so far, often their coffee is fermented and useless when they finally deliver it.

    We are asking God to change their story into one of hope. The start of this change will be the building a coffee washing station close to the homes of these 2,500 coffee farming families.

    We believe this project will be a launching pad for initiating positive change in this community. Our big dream is to see the transformation of this community from one that is barely living week to week into one that is safe and thriving and fully fed. Employment, clean water, better education, farmer education, technical skill building, women’s sewing projects, orphan care, food security projects and most importantly the transforming power that having HOPE in the future and in a real and caring God can bring.

     

    long miles coffee project

     

    Will you help us build it?

    We are looking for donations to make this project possible. To give, click the donate button on the top right of this blog.

    Amount Needed: $40,000

    Amount Raised: $14,420

     

    long miles coffee project

     

    If you would like to give towards this project, we are offering the following gifts as a thank you for your involvement. 

    Donors over $100 will receive:

    A set of postcards depicting the washing station and its farmers.

    Donors over $500 will receive:

    2 lbs of Burundi coffee

    Three 12×12 prints of the following: the coffee, the farmers or the station itself.

    Donors over $1,000 will receive:

    5 lbs of Burundi coffee

    A 12×12 gallery wrapped canvas wall hanging of one of the following: the coffee, the farmers or the station itself

    A set of postcards depicting the washing station, the coffee and its farmers

    Donors over $5,000 will receive:

    8 lbs of Burundi coffee

    A set of two especially chosen (12×12) gallery wrapped canvases or one 16×20 gallery wrapped canvas. Canvases will depict one of the following: the coffee, the farmers or the station itself

    A DVD box set of Season 1 of the Long Miles Coffee Project TV show (airing soon)

    Good things come to those who wait! Please keep in mind that your DONOR GIFTS WILL ONLY BE SHIPPED IN 2014. We are asking for your patience as we focus all of our energies on launching this project. 

    Donations can be made by clicking the PayPal button at the top of this site. Interested in donating but still have questions? We will be answering any questions in the comments section below or email me at kristy@longmilescoffee.com.

     

     

  • An Open Letter

    An Open Letter

    Dear One in the sky and in my heart,

    What is your plan?

    I would really like to know.

    The thing is, it’s hard work trusting you right now.

    Why that is, I’m not sure.

    Probably because I am a tiny speck and I never really understand what’s going on.

    It’s not like you’ve EVER failed us.

     Faith.

    It’s a funny thing believing in what you don’t see,

    and yet seeing it all around AT THE SAME TIME.

    You know about our curve ball,

    the one that has us LEANING IN for comfort.

    It’s not a Major League curve ball, more like Little League…

    but it changes some things.

    I hate change and YET

    when I look back, my FULLEST moments

    have been TRUSTING YOU

    through CHANGE.

    The births of them, the births of dreams… all the births and firsts that come from saying “YES.”

    Saying YES.

    It’s so hard sometimes.

    I’m going to cry the whole way through this YES, even though it feels so true.

    So right.

    So YOU.

    For the record,

    I stand here in AWE of what YOU’VE done for us.

    Tiny people. Blessed people.

    When I look back on life,

    my only regret so far is not saying YES more OFTEN.

    And BTW,

    “Thank You” is just not ever going to be enough.

    Love,

    Me

    p.s. Sorry for all the whining I do along the way.

     

  • Burundi Cup of Excellence Predictions. How did I do?

    Well, the Burundi Cup of Excellence has come and gone and now the burning question on everyone’s mind is “how did Ben’s predictions turn out?” That and maybe “who were the top 10?”  Those two questions will be answered in the video!  Enjoy.

    Coffee Guy

    Burundi Cup of Excellence. Was I right? from Ben Carlson on Vimeo.

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