This post was written by Tara in February 2011
I’m about to complete a month here, and things are going really well. The coffee harvest is over, so I’m getting settled into the job I’ll be working for the rest of my time here. I’m really excited about it. The guys I work with are great, so smart and so open and so passionate about great coffee.
I’m sort of apprenticing in the coffee office, which includes a lot of things, including: helping care for the baby coffee plants that the parish distributes to farmers every spring, helping prepare coffee samples for marketing purposes, and caring for the worm compost that provides nutrients for the coffee plants. Eventually I think I’m also going to help out with: planting coffee, helping to sort and redistribute coffee plants, and making wine from coffee beans. I'm pretty excited. In the meantime, friends and loved ones, prepare yourselves: I’m definitely bringing back coffee wine.
My favorite days are Tuesdays and Sundays, mostly because the market is open, with people from all of the surrounding communities shopping for vegetables and toothpaste and brightly colored fabrics. We also have eggs for breakfast on Tuesdays and Sundays, and I really like eggs. On Tuesday afternoons I do laundry by hand, which is a slow and very clean process that gives me time to let thoughts swirl around in my brain.