By Monica Ponce, Love Is Love Farm
For years now, I have been getting my hands dirty on the farm. It’s been a long exploration of different landscapes, soils, plants, and organic practices. Along the way, I have had the chance to connect with farmers near and far, and I continue to be wowed by the stories I hear and the things I learn from fellow farmers.
I was recently invited by Café Campesino, a Georgia-based organic coffee roaster and wholesaler, to interview Miriam Perez of Finca Clave de Sol via email. Finca Clave de Sol is a co-op of 69 small-scale coffee farmers in Marcala, Honduras and a member of Café Orgánico Marcala (COMSA). COMSA is a group that has been a partner of Café Campesino– through their importing co-op, Cooperative Coffees– since 2014. As a member of Love is Love Cooperative Farm, a worker-owned cooperative on 70 acres in Mansfield, Georgia, I was thrilled to have the chance to connect with another cooperative grower to learn more about her work!
It’s awe-inspiring to see the care put into the plants and the alignment of her organic growing practices with the lunar calendar and larger ecology of the farm. I hope our conversation inspires you to savor your sip.
If you want to support COSMA, you can pick up a couple of bags of Café Campesino’s Honduras coffee. You can also purchase Café Campesino’s Georgia Organics Special Blend Coffee and aportion of sales will be donated to Georgia Organics. It’s a great way to support regenerative and organic farmers in Georgia, too!
Monica: What certifications or third-party labeling do you have and has that helped increase your markets?
Miriam: Organic and Fair Trade certifications.
Monica Ponce: What is it like to cultivate coffee?
Miriam Beté Perez: Cultivating coffee is a passion for me!
I started at the age of 6 on my grandfather’s farms. For me and my cousins, going to the coffee farms meant hiking along trails, running, playing, and having a free life. We would arrive at the farm to harvest coffee beans and be in contact with Mother Earth.
The cultivation involves several processes which we call cultivation tasks. We start by harvesting and selecting the seeds of the plants that have had the best development in the farm, after being cultivated for more than 3 years. Next, we create a coffee nursery, where the babies grow for 2 to 3 months. Then we continue with the selection and transplant the strongest and best-developed plants to the soil prepared with organic ingredients. These plants grow there in the nursery and/or shed for 3 to 4 months. Then they are transferred to the definitive field and the small trees are planted in a previously elaborated and prepared hole, where organic fertilizer was also added the previous year.
Monica: How long does it take for the crop to be ready for harvesting?
Miriam: The coffee crop is ready for harvesting in the third year.
Monica: In what season of the year is the coffee harvest?
Miriam: The harvest season in the Marcala region begins in November and ends in April.
Monica: What is the harvesting process like?
Miriam: When the collection begins, two containers are used, they can be bags or baskets. These are attached to the body of the person who is going to carry out the coffee cherry collection task. These containers are used to deposit the green, dry, and over-fermented beans on one side and the red cherries in the other container.
At 3 pm, the coffee is received by the harvesters, weighing the coffee cherries and keeping a record of the daily deliveries for each person who harvests them.
The red coffee cherries are placed in a sieve to continue with the selection of green, dry, and fermented beans that are mixed at the time of harvest. Then the depulping process is carried out to obtain a honey-processed coffee and/or it is taken to the sun drying patio to obtain a natural dry cherry coffee.
Monica: What types of soils do you have and what are some of your practices to enrich/maintain the quality?
Miriam: A large part of our soils is sandy loam soils. The good agricultural practices we use to nourish the plants and soil are:
-Preparation and application of organic fertilizers based on organic matter, mountain microorganisms, minerals, and living molecules.
-Application of bio-preparations.
-Sowing of crystals.
-Pranic meditations over the plants.
-Sowing of trees.
-Planting of coffee varieties resistant to pests and diseases.
Cultivation tasks using the lunar calendar (Cleaning, pruning, de-leafing, sowing and re-sowing of coffee plants, application of solid and liquid organic fertilizers)
Monica: What are the ideal conditions for cultivating coffee?
Miriam: Under a microclimate where there are trees, bushes, fruit trees, birds, animals, and diversity of living beings in balance.
Monica: Has the weather become more unpredictable for you and how have you adapted/managed?
Monitoring the temperature, relative humidity according to each season of the year, the movements of the moon and the stars in the cosmos are indicators that allow us to manage the diversity and times in the coffee farm.
Monica: How many people work on the farm and do the farmers live on or near the farm?
Miriam: Temporarily, 6 people work on the farm, and up to 20 people work temporarily, especially during coffee harvesting and processing. Two families live on the farm, and the other families are neighbors, while others live away.
Monica: How did you find this cooperative as farmers?
Miriam: We didn’t find it, we started it, thanks to the importance of benefits received from being in a farmer organization.
To learn more about COMSA visit comsa.hn or follow on socials at facebook.com/comsamarcala or instagram.com/comsamarcalaoficial.
To learn more about Café Campesino visit cafecampesino.com or follow on socials at facebook.com/CafeCampesino or at instagram.com/cafecampesino.
To learn more about Love is Love Cooperative Farm visit loveislovefarm.com or follow on socials at facebook.com/loveislovefarm or instagram.com/loveislovefarm/.
To learn more about Georgia Organics visit georgiaorganics.org or follow on socials at instagram.com/georgiaorganics/ and at facebook.com/georgiaorganics.
Image: Miriam Perez and Finca Clave de Sol courtesy of COMSA
Image: Monica Ponce courtesy of Love is Love Cooperative Farm
