Coffee growers that we work with

Our first stop was at Barichu Farmers Cooperative Society Ltd is situated in Karatina town, apprx.150 kms from the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi. It has 5,017 total active members.
All of them are small-scale coffee farmers with an average of 150 coffee bushes per farm.
These farmers really on coffee production for their livelihood. 
Alongside coffee, they practise subsistence farming of maize and beans.

We met the Chairman Mr.Wachira Mwago, a few days after we arrived in Kenya. We took our Kenyan team from Kedovo organisation as they are the youth group that facilitates the Program of sustainable coffee farming for my community. They had been doing a splendid job for over a year, and we was ready to hear and see the impact of their work among the communities. We also needed to ship a full container load from Barichu Cooperative.
We do not purchase the coffee from the Auction, we deal direct with the Cooperatives through the Direct Trade method as gazetted by the minister for Agriculture n 2006. That way we can pay our farmers a much higher price for their work....we work together towards sustainability for these communities.

We had a long discussion with Wachira on Organic coffe growing solutions etc.

The Chania Coffee farmers

16 hours later after my departure from Hamburg, Germany i arrived home.

I came home to pick coffee....

 I came home back to my people so we could mill and ship the coffee that was ready to Hamburg. The Safmarine vessel was docking in Mombasa within a week. Our coffee container had to be on that vessel.... The future looked bright! there was hope after all.......

We didnt come to experience a one time opportunity of being able to ' pick coffee and follow its journey from tree to cup' oh no.. we came because we know how much work is put behind each and every cup of morning coffee that we all take for granted.

We wasnt coming home for that, no it wasnt about picking coffee...we was coming to strengthen our partnership and relationship with our farmers..

pick coffee and follow its journey from tree to your cup - See more at: http://blog.greenmountaincoffee.com/blog/contributor/my-journey-to-source-nicaragua#sthash.wUSwL87L.dpuf

pick coffee and follow its journey from tree to your cup - See more at: http://blog.greenmountaincoffee.com/blog/contributor/my-journey-to-source-nicaragua#sthash.wUSwL87L.dpuf

We came home to our farmers to continue discussing and implementing the concept of sustainable coffee farming-i needed them to know that the concept didnt have an end; it was going to be there for years to come- we had taken the first baby steps, what we needed is to know where we were set to go, things could only get better...

pick coffee and follow its journey from tree to your cup - See more at: http://blog.greenmountaincoffee.com/blog/contributor/my-journey-to-source-nicaragua#sthash.wUSwL87L.dpuf

pick coffee and follow its journey from tree to your cup - See more at: http://blog.greenmountaincoffee.com/blog/contributor/my-journey-to-source-nicaragua#sthash.wUSwL87L.dpuf

We are in Dubai!!

All that Gold!! my God, i will put a dent on my Credit Card :( :( I love Gold......well i just have to sell more coffee!!

This xmas tree at the Airport in Dubai was just too pretty....

You see in my county when i was growing up, we didnt have those 'plastic' China import christmas trees...we used to just go to the shamba and cut a twig of Cider tree- that is if we were lucky to celebrate xmas at all!
We would then decorate the christmas tree with baloons of all colours, and use cotton wool 'to represent snow' lol! we had no Santa to leave gifts for us underneath the xmas-tree...we just hoped my mother would have saved some money for her to make Chapatis and meat stew for christmas.

6 more hours and i will be home Moma....

We are going to pick coffee!!!

So this week we decided to pack our bags and head to Kenya. The next couple of weeks will be spent with the amazing farmers who produce our coffee.

I will take part of my crew with me. 

The main coffee harvesting season in Kenya is ongoing. Kenya coffee production has 2 seasons :
May-July is what we call fly or early crop.
Sept-Dec is the main / late crop.
This is the time that the 'work force' is required. Its taken me a lot of effort and trainings to my community that 'my' children have to be in school. I know we have school holiday but that doesnt give any justification for those childrn to be picking coffee in the fields, i rather have them playing football or spending the day at the river; for this project to work, we must all stay united against child labour.