Almost winter-time to go South

-left- the first veggie garden which we planted in between the coffee plants on the fertile slope of loma Esperanza in 2002 with brother Asiclo and family.. I have an immense amount of respect for one the the most humble and trusted individuals I have ever met.

Well, the family business had a good summer and we are finishing some fall cleanup work for another 3 weeks.. we have always tried to stick to a no-debt household and only grow the business with retained earnings, period and not buy too many toys. Thanks to God and alot of hard work I was able to finish the house with very little debt, so I can continue the important work in Oaxaca. Which I am excited to do, the organic coffee farmers cooperative has took some major trials the last 8 years, but the continue to pursue and want to continue the cooperative structure, but to increase diversity, accountability, and increased transparency in a way in which anyone looking at the books will have confidence in a well run cooperative, completely by indigenous farmers and a couple of trustworthy professionals to serve on a board of directors.

I am very proud with there perserverance in learning new leadership skills and hopefully being fully self-sustaining without the needs of outsiders to help that much, just in advisory roles and helping the them find micro-credit.. I'm exploring the idea of a 2 week hiking/backcountry snowboarding trip somewhere in the west. weather depending.

Well, Hopefully I can get down there soon..

Here is the list of things I will try and do this winter in Oaxaca.

Assist in leadership training with a democratic governing structure.

Increase diversity of crops-cash crops and consumption crops.

Feasability study of Coffee by-product for use as bio-fuels.

Health, education, and nutrition training to better their health and future opportunities.

Improvement of quality of coffee--which is the most sustainable thing.

MN farm pictures

Out for a little puddle jumper plane ride with my friend Chad as we pass over my farm and the lakes near by. A beautiful sunset on a sweet night. The lakes around our area our spectacular from above. Being flat land, you don't see the natural beauty except from above.

ON FAR LEFT--me and my little bro were chasing angus on bike...

coffee farm.

This is the before picture, I do not have the after picture yet.
This is one of the adobe huts on my coffee farm we have been refurbishing, I have sent money to rebuild it this summer, I am anxious to see what it looks like now. Over the years I have been staying with awesome families and also get fed by them as we travel from town to town without food or anything else. So we are now going to invest more money in making some more hospitable living conditions for groups etc.

New house

Finally I have finished my new house, smacked on a peninsula in between 2 lakes. Its been a crazy busy summer so for some odd reason I have been living at my parents more than my house,where our shop and my office is.. Well, All I gotta do is put in some hardwood floors and then I should be able to officially move in full time. A beautiful fall day in Minnesota.. I got an outdoor shower and a sauna, which are the 2 most important things in the house and the maple trees are nice too in the fall. Well, its about winter, so I'll be shutting 'er down and hopefully heading south before the snow flies.