Tag: long miles coffee project

10 great uses for used coffee grounds

We have a lot of used coffee grounds around our house. The grounds from all Ben’s coffee cupping, the espresso “pucks” (yes, they are actually called that) from all our espresso drinking, and the French press grounds leftover from those times when espressos just won’t do. That adds up to A LOT of coffee.

Here are some of the best ways we’ve heard of that put those grounds to good use.

10.Coffee Exfoliator. I think one of the most interesting uses for used coffee grounds is as a facial and body exfoliator. The caffeine in the coffee is a stimulant it helps skin cells and promotes healthier, tighter skin. According to some, the caffeine in coffee shrinks blood vessels. This helps improve the appearance of varicose veins. You can add mineral oil, vitamin E oil, jojoba oil or olive oil to coffee grounds and then apply directly to your skin.

Wanna get fancy? Try this Coffee and Lavender Sugar Body Scrub recipe from Joy the Baker… Since I don’t have vegetable glycerine, I’m going to make my scrub with olive oil instead!

9. Plant food. We place used coffee grounds beneath our plants in the soil. It does seem to work, as both a fertilizer and a pest repellent.

8. Insect Repellant. Place coffee grounds anywhere outside that you would rather not see ants. They don’t like it and will go running for the hills if it’s placed near your doorstep or by windows.

7. Deodorizer. Dry grounds on a cookie sheet or flat surface and then put them in a bowl in your refrigerator or freezer. Add a touch of vanilla or even essential oils to the grounds to add a nice smell. You can also rub grounds on your hands to get rid of food prep smells…. like onions and garlic.

6. Hair and clothing dye. I’ve heard people say that brunettes can rinse their hair in coffee grounds for a darker sheen, but I have yet to try this one myself. To try it on your hair: Steep used coffee grounds in 2 cups hot water for 15 minutes or so and then rinse through hair for a darker, more vibrant shine. For clothing: Re-steep the grounds in hot water and the submerge clothing. I’ve also heard people have success with running a cup of coffee (not including grounds) through their brown clothing in the wash to temporarily rejuvenate the brown color.

5. Cleaning scrub. Tough places to clean that need an abrasive cleaner? Give the ol’ coffee grounds a try.

4. Flea Reducer. After you give your dog a bath, rub dried coffee grounds through the coat of your pet, and then brush out later if needed. Coffee grounds are said to repel fleas.

3. Hide Those Scratches. Did grandma’s heirloom table get a scratch? Re-steep some used coffee grounds and reduce the appearance of the scratch by coating it with the steeped brew

2. Cat repellant. Don’t want the cat to step all over your garden lettuce? Place coffee grounds where-ever you want to keep kitty away.

1. Develop film in coffee. As a film lover, this fun fact blew me away! Re-brewed coffee as a film developer? Yes, mam! You definitely can develop black and white film in re-steeped coffee grounds. Don’t believe me? For a full tutorial head over to Photojojo and check out some examples in the Caffenol pool on Flickr!

Don’t feel like trying any of the above? Then just chuck the grounds into your compost pile for a rich composting agent.

August 1, 2012
To my little champion of French,

You just spent a year in a French speaking school… and your home language is English. Do you understand how amazing that is? I swore that I would never be THAT MOM that uses her kid as a walking Google Translate, but I am. Because, well… you know more French than me now and you sound so much better speaking it. Also, I make any excuse I can to hear you speak… it gives life to my soul every time. I am proud of you. We have been here exactly one year… and you know what? The thing I most admire about our journey as a family is YOU.

There have been many moments when I didn’t think we could do it, or I second guessed our decision… usually moments when you were screaming at me or stomping off in the opposite direction madder than a hornet. There was a fine line between the guilt I felt at “dumping you” off into another language and culture and the total resolution I had that we were GIVING YOU A GIFT. The language gift. Now, I can finally see the gift beginning to emerge. You speak almost as easily in one language as the other… I wish that were true of myself. We gave you no choice but to learn, while giving ourselves a much easier road. While we are taking classes (and I find them gob-smackingly hard) YOU have had an emersion of the kind no one in this family has known. Your absolute bravery throughout it astounds me. The headmaster of your school mentioned it, too. As she handed you your diploma, she paused and said (my rough translation)…

You are like a knight. A champion. At the beginning of the year you couldn’t speak a word of French, but now you can defend yourself like a champion.

To your average American parent that might sound like we have raised one big bully, but I tell you what… I was GUSHING with pride that day. And my boy, we still are.

Love,

mom

Hasselblad 501 C, Canon EOS-3, Portra 400, Fuji 400.

July 4, 2012
Sometimes I want to fly away.

It’s true. I sometimes wish there was an open window and I could just fly myself “home” to the people who have loved me from birth and the places that I have seen forever. This week has been hard for me. The “toughness” of life in Africa has seeped into my being and I have found myself wishing I could just fly away. Until you have lived it, you might never know what I mean. We all have our own challenges that are unique to us in this life, and I am not saying my life is more of a challenge than yours… but I am saying there is a difference between visiting a place like this and LIVING IN IT. If you are going through something tough this week HERE IS ME saying to you that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. I am journeying too. I’m having a “tough one” too and I appreciate your bravery and the decisions you are making to pull yourself up by your bootstraps.

I sometimes go running on the streets of Bujumbura. I’m a “gym” or “health club” (or whatever you call it in the US of A) girl at heart, but sometimes the road calls and I just have to get on it. Often, as I run, Burundians will shout out, “COURAGE! COURAGE!” I love that in both French and English this word is the same. This week, via Brene Brown’s beautiful book The Gifts of Imperfection, I learned that…

“The root of the word courage is cor– the Latin word for heart. In one of it’s earliest forms, the word courage had a very different definition than it does today. Courage originally meant, “To speak one’s mind by telling one’s heart.”

Now when people shout, “Courage!” at me I can’t help but think, “Thank you. I need it… but not for this run.” I need courage to tell my story even when it hits bumpy parts. Courage to continue on. Courage to stay firmly on the ground for the time being.

Love,

me

images DSLR and Hasselblad 501C

June 8, 2012
Be Inspired: The Kelleys in Haiti

The Kelleys are inspirational to me. Mostly for the way they pushed straight past “Someday we want to move to Haiti” and right into “We ARE moving to Haiti.” That takes guts, that decision to GO to CHANGE to GROW. It especially takes guts when you have a child and a thriving photography business, like Shannon. I admire them so much for taking a big step into the unknown, following their dreams to help Haitians and changing the way they do life.

I asked Shannon all about her experiences in Haiti so far, and since she is a gifted photographer, I asked her to share with us some of the moments she’s documented so far in Haiti.

{a little friend we have that lives at an orphanage}

Where are you guys from and what did you do before you decided to make the move to Haiti?

We lived in Knoxville, TN before our move to Haiti. I ran a wedding photography business and my husband was a drug and alcohol counselor.

{outhouses at an orphanage and Cap Haitian, Haiti}

What was it that drew you to Haiti?

I visited Haiti first time in January 2011. Before that, I LOVED to travel. I was an MK, had 20+ countries under my belt and loved seeing new places. Then I sat on a rooftop in Haiti on that January trip and realized I was home. I am ok if
I never visit another country again. And for me, that is huge. So I think it was God that drew us here.

{at an orphanage, this is one of the 2 beds there with 50+ and a well worn door}

Describe what it was like making the decision to move to Haiti?

Hard. Scary. and lonely. But I will say this, looking back at the decision, now that we are on the other side of it, it seems silly that we ever doubted or were scared. This has been a huge lesson of learning to trust in God’s plan 100%, even when people are telling you that you are crazy!

{my favorite tree ever}

What are you hoping to accomplish in your time there?

My biggest desire, for all we do here, is love Haitians and raise them up. We want to do life with them, to have them know that we love and support them. We don’t want to give a hand out, we want to empower them. We want to do life with them.

{beach time}

What do you hope your daughter will learn from living in Haiti?

Ah.I truly think Lena was born to live in Haiti. She breaks down walls with people that we can’t. I hope that she learns that life is hard and unfair, but that God is good all the time. I hope she learns love…regardless of skin color, wealth, status. I hope she learns compassion, and that living a life for others is worth it, despite the cost. I hope she loves life.

{Lena taking a nap in our bed}

What has been your family’s biggest challenge so far in Haiti?

Truthfully, our living situation. We are currently at a guesthouse that we help run and having people in and out all the time can be taxing. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoy the people we meet so much, but we have to be really cognizant of carving out family time.

{a little one at a clinic getting help for malnourishment and kids eating at their children’s home}

If you left Haiti tomorrow, what would you miss the most?

You know how you think back to vacations when your were little, or your mom cooking in the kitchen growing up? And you don’t necessarily miss the small things like the actual cookie but you miss the feel of that time and place in your life, and what those moments meant to you. And your soul longs for it. That is how I would miss Haiti, my soul would long for it.

{this lady sells nuts to make enough to eat and live on and sorting through coffee beans}

{an amazing lady who recycles for a living}

How can we support what you doing in Haiti?

We blog all our crazy adventures and the reality and hardness that life in Haiti sometimes deals us over at www.shannon-kelley.com/blog. We also rely 100% on donations to live here and would love to chat with you more if you are interested in aligning with us in our work here. Feel free to email me at shann@shannon-kelley.com

You all are such a loving supportive bunch, and you lift me up all the time… I would love it if you did the same for The Kelleys by commenting, “liking” and giving.

{all images Shannon Kelley}

May 9, 2012
Underneath the coffee trees

I love it under the coffee trees. Don’t you? We’re off to the coffee hills again tomorrow. I’ll be photographing more of the harvest process and Coffee Guy will be talking with farmers and making sure the coffee cherries are being processed correctly .

I can’t wait. Being among the coffee trees re-connects me with the very reason we made such a dramatic move in the first place. My boys run free in their gum boots in the middle of Africa and my heart swells a bah-zillion times.

Love,

me

April 26, 2012
The Burundi Coffee Harvest

It’s harvest time here in Burundi and we decided to take the entire family into Burundi’s beautiful coffee hills to see it… and the film crew tagged along too. I don’t know if you will remember, but last year we didn’t see the harvest because we couldn’t get ourselves moved over here in time. It is a beautiful thing to see those coffee cherries bright red on the trees. The harvest will last for almost 90 days this season, so I am sure you will be sick and tired of hearing about it by the time we are through!

Meanwhile… the amazing cinematographer Sunel filming the picking process. Me with my sassy pants on, caught by Producer Wesley while drying polaroid negatives between the coffee trees. Coffee Guy explaining the picking process for the cameras, while surrounded by kids (some of them his own, most of them not).

Happy harvest!

Love,

me

March 26, 2012
The Hair Intervention

I love little boys with long hair. If I had it my way, the world would be full of boys whose eyelashes bang up against their long locks. But, for months now, I have had the feeling that friends and strangers alike have been meeting behind my back to plan a hair intervention.

It started with, “Oh, I love his mullet!” and progressed to, “Boy or girl?” and the crescendo was, “I’m sorry, but that kid has some weird hair.” Yet, with unwavering determination I hung onto my Littlest Little’s ringleted locks. I was afraid. Afraid that cutting his hair would mean I was trading in the baby for the boy. I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready UNTIL my Biggest Little came home from school and said, “They all laughed at me because I have my toes painted and hair like a girl.” (Side-note: I know what you are probably thinking… it’s just that they ALWAYS BEG ME to paint their toes when I’m painting mine… my Littlest Little even sticks his chubby little foot out and says “Toes!” It’s really hard to resist that!)

I wanted to say, “Well, my boy, TAKE ME TO THOSE KIDS and I will SET THEM STRAIGHT!” Instead, while verbally boosting my five year old’s ABSOLUTE boyness, I mentally planned a time to finally let go of SOME of the long locks… even my Littlest Little’s.

I avoid cutting hair at all costs not only because I love boys with long hair, but also because haircuts by me are met with this reaction…

THIS is the face I was met with when I tried to get a quick “before” portrait.

I’m pretty sure he thinks he is going to die…

And the faces only get more dramatic from here. I don’t blame him. I am NOT particularly good at cutting hair. In fact, cutting their hair scares the pants off me. All I did was quickly glance at this post on a website whose name makes me shiver just a bit. As my friend Amy says, “I would rather scratch my eyes out with sharp pieces of glass than…” you fill in the blank. In this case, “than cut my kid’s hair.” If we weren’t living in these (ahem) conditions, I would never EVER attempt home hair cuts. But where there are no fancy pants hair salons for white kids, mommas must find a way.

Aaaand the right hand side image is what I got when I offered BROWNIES (!!) for an “after” portrait. I think we’re done here.

And then it was his turn. I had lasted two years, two months and 6 days. It was time. I hated to do it, like the way I hate to exercise but it feels great. By the way, who’s kid looks at the back side of a mirror and smiles? Mine, that’s right!

And then it was over… and ever since I’ve been doing a double take when my boys walk into a room. It’s like they’ve lost all their familiarity… and then they open their mouths and I have no problem remembering exactly who they are.

March 12, 2012
By the way, we’re in Wayfare magazine!

Wayfare magazine recently interviewed us about adventure, parenting, and why we made the move to Burundi. The people over at the brand spankin’ new Wayfare magazine are incredible. When they decided to include us in their first issue, and when I saw it for the first time, I did a full on singing and clapping happy dance. That’s lots of happy dancing, but can you blame me?

Head on over to see it for yourself and please show them some Facebook and Twitter love. Pleeeease. They really are stunning people with amazing hearts. You can read our article HERE beginning on page 39. If you are anything like me, you will HAVE to read the whole magazine. It is beautiful from start to finish.

Happy dancing,

me

February 23, 2012
Family Post

Today I’m taking a step back. Looking at the last few months in pictures. I am blown away with gratitude. I am so grateful. Grateful for the journey we are on. Grateful that we live here even though IT’S TOUGH sometimes. Grateful for the people in our lives (the ones we see every day and the ones we don’t).

Thanks for sticking with us.

February 10, 2012

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