Fair Grounds - Peace Coffee

Making the Most of Summer
A New Buzz...Chain Saw Art
The Valley of the Giant Green Man by Andy Lambert, Peace Coffee Events and Demo Guy
The Annual Milk Carton Boat Race by Melanee Meegan, Peace Coffee Marketing Manager
Test Your Coffee Knowledge!
Quote of the Month
Past Issues of Fair Grounds

The Peace Coffee crew has been crazy busy this summer...Melanee's been in a boat race, Andy's been serving up our delicious brew in Duluth (among other places), Brad's been mountain biking, and TJ's been toiling over a hot roaster to bring you more of the Peace Coffee you love! Speaking of TJ, he shares his secrets for a great French Roast in our new Roaster's Corner column, debuting this month. Also in this month's Fair Grounds, Mel describes her experiences at Minneapolis' Annual Milk Carton Boat Race, Andy muses about the happenings at the Green Man Festival, and we introduce you to a chain saw artist (really!). All this plus a yummy recipe for lemon bars add up to a pretty decent issue. Read on and enjoy...

(Back to Headlines)

A customer stopped by our office one day with a great big wood carving of the Peace Coffee turtle. We had seen pictures of this same art hanging in his café near Taylor’s Falls, but this one was for us to keep in our office. It weighs over 60 pounds and has a beautiful dark finish. We immediately declared it the Peace Coffee shrine. We considered adorning it with coffee beans and encouraging walk-in customers to leave rocks, pennies and other offerings near it. We never went that far but we do have it prominently displayed in the front of our office. Most people want to know who made it, where the wood came from and how much it weighs.

I had never heard of chain saw art until I met Jason Soderlund, the artist behind the turtle carving. Jason told us that there are lots of wood collecting facilities across the state that get stumps and branches from trees that have been cut down because of old age, sickness or have fallen during storms. He regularly visits these places to collect wood for his art. Using a chain saw, he carves the wood, torches it and finally sands it, transforming a simple stump into a detailed figure. He told us that he doesn’t normally do logos for companies but he is passionate about our coffee and a regular at the Menagerie Concept Hair Salon and Café which exclusively sells Peace Coffee.

If you are interested in finding out more about chain saw art or ordering your own turtle or any other creation contact Jason Soderlund at chainsawart@mail.com.

(Back to Headlines)

by Andy Lambert, Peace Coffee Events and Demo Guy

On July 14th, the Peace Crew loaded up the biodiesel van, grabbed some sun block and our favorite mix CDs and hit 35E north en route to Spirit Mountain on Lake Superior in Duluth, MN. As usual, our van got excellent mileage on the highway -- I would guess between 35 and 40 miles to the gallon!

Our mission for the weekend: to sufficiently caffeinate the masses at the 4th annual Green Man Festival during the weekend of July 15-17. This year was the first year that Peace Coffee co-sponsored the event. Green Man Festival is truly a unique collaboration of local and national music acts, local artisans, local and sustainable businesses, and non-profit organizations who work to promote environmental and social responsibility. Green Man not just a music festival, it is a collage of delicious food, live demonstrations by local artisans, mountain bike races, and much more. As a waste prevention measure, the organizers of the event require all food vendors to use compostable serving materials. All of the compostable waste accumulated at the event will be delivered to a local garden in Duluth.

Our booth was an eye catcher, especially the “bike blender” that we rented from the Hub Bike Co-op. We took turns staffing the booth so that everyone could hear their favorite bands. My personal opinion is that the Violent Femmes took the cake for “best get-up-and-dance” performance. Mason Jennings provided a sublimely chill atmosphere for his Sunday afternoon performance. He wins the “perfect groove at the perfect time” award. Speaking of awards, Brad the Intrepid Bike Delivery Dude won 2nd place in his age group in the 12-mile mountain bike race!

The crowd was an interesting blend of giddy high school kids, college-age music festival veterans, thirty-somethings with babies strapped to their chests and the occasional baby boomer from Duluth who was making a day trip to see what the buzz was all about. The overall atmosphere of the event was relaxed, fun, clean and safe -- definitely a family friendly environment.

(Back to Headlines)

by Melanee Meegan, Peace Coffee Marketing Manager

If you live in Minneapolis, the Aquatennial is a well known summer event. It celebrates our great city of lakes and the best 10 days of summer. One of the highlights of the week is the Milk Carton Boat Race. Growing up in the city I remember kids in elementary school spending half the summer in their garage with a parent diligently building their milk carton boats for the race. For example, one year a friend and her dad made a milk carton gondola. They dressed like Venetian paddlers.

The Minneapolis Aquatennial Milk Carton Boat Races began in 1971 when an advertising agency wanted to increase sales for the Milk Foundation of Twin Cities, a local milk distributor. Somebody at the ad agency mentioned that an empty half-gallon was an air chamber, and thus the milk carton boat race was born.

The boat race rules have changed over the years. The first races had a class for 20 cartons or fewer. 1,200 participants showed up the first year. Many had made small kick boards out of cartons and some dog paddled to the finish line. Other classes include a sail boat division, children only, and big boats. In 1996 the “Cow-Themed Category” was added, and has become one of the most popular races. This year my friend and I took a stab (literally) at winning the Cow-Themed Category. After many brainstorming sessions we decided to reenact the shower scene from the movie Psycho but with a cow twist. The S.S. Pyscow was a two-week labor of love. With the help of local cafés and our milk drinking friends, we collected over 300 milk cartons. We wanted to incorporate as many of them as we could into our boat. On the bottom of an old wood door we attached three layers of milk cartons that gave us all we needed to float. Then we used the cartons to build a huge square bath tub. We also painstakingly cut up plastic milk containers to make a clear shower curtain that doubled as a sail. The final touches were done the day of the race. We assembled the boat at the lake, carefully dripped red paint all over it and put on our “cowstumes”.

The race couldn’t have gone better. Not only did we float and make it to the finish line (200 yards away), but we won 1st prize for creativity. If you’re interested in building your own milk carton boat or competing in the race next year, check out www.milkcartonboat.com/gallery.htm. There is a great tutorial and a photo gallery of boats from past years.

(Back to Headlines)

We're giving away coffee!

Think you know a lot about coffee? This month, instead of a trivia question we offer a crossword puzzle. Click here for the puzzle and clues. Entering is easy and it's FUN!

Okay guys – We know it's hot and all, but not one person took a stab at answering last month's trivia jumble! But we're giving you a chance to redeem yourself. The puzzle isn't that hard, even if you aren't the crossword king (or queen) o' the block. So try it – you'll like it! The winner gets a pound of Peace Coffee of their choice.

(Back to Headlines)

"If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner."

-- Nelson Mandela

(Back to Headlines)

Fair Grounds is produced by:
Cooperative Coffees

Contact Information:

Orders and General Information
Phone - 612.870.3440 or 1.888.324.7872
Fax - 612-677-3989
E-Mail - info@peacecoffee.com
Web - http://www.peacecoffee.com

Peace Coffee Crew*:
Anna Canning
Beth Backen
Rachel Hiltsley
Andy Lambert
Melanee Meegan
Jamie Schumacher
TJ Semanchin
Nate Stevens
Scott Patterson

*We work together to get the coffee out to our customers. Although we have specific job titles, we all take turns switching roles and putting in time where it's needed most.

Peace Coffee Bikers*:
Brad Wilson

*Our bikers pack a mean trailer full of coffee. They are speedy as speedy gets. Watch out, when they are on the street, they mean business!

Fair Grounds is designed by:

Starstruck Design
335 West Gill Road
Gill, MA 01376

Contact Information:
Don Kruger
Lynn Nichols
Phone - 413.863.7752
Fax - 413-863-7752
Web - http://www.starstruckdesign.com

You are receiving your Fair Grounds e-newsletter because you told us you wanted to get it, or a good friend of yours suggested to us that you would like to get it. If you like it, let us know. If you want to suggest ways that we can make it better, let us know. Our e-mail is info@peacecoffee.com

If you would like to unsubscribe to the Fair Grounds E-Newsletter because:
- You may have more than one e-mail address on our list.
- Your e-mail address may have changed.
- You're going on a six month visit of Latin American Coffee Cooperatives (Take us with you).
- or any other reason
simply send an e-mail to: newsletter-off@peacecoffee.com and put your e-mail address in the subject line.

Remember, you are always welcome to visit our website at http://www.peacecoffee.com