Fair Grounds - Peace Coffee

Travels With The Peace Coffee Crew
The Scent of Sumatra by Anna Canning, Peace Coffee Production Manager
On the Road at The USFT Convergence by Andy Lambert, Peace Coffee Outreach and Donations Coordinator
Happy 20th! A Big Year for IATP
Roaster's Corner: Selection of the Month: Espresso Blend by TJ Semanchin, Roaster Extraordinaire
Show Your Peace Coffee Pride and WIN!
Quote of the Month
Past Issues of Fair Grounds

OK, so we're still getting temperatures in the high 20s and low to mid-30s in the Twin Cities area, but spring is coming -- the calendar says so! Soon the last vestiges of snow will melt, the buds will peak through and the Peace Coffee staffers will take to the streets (on their bikes, of course!). Until then, we can dream.

In this issue of Fair Grounds, we're on the road with the Peace Coffee crew. Anna Canning reports on her Sumatra travels and Andy Lambert writes about his trip to Denver for the United Students for Fair Trade (USFT) 2006 Convergence. Also in the issue, we celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, TJ waxes poetic about our Espresso Blend, we offer a recipe that just happens to go perfectly with espresso, and we announce the winner of last month’s Peace Coffee Pride contest (a truly amazing photo and haiku). Read on and enjoy!

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by Anna Canning, Peace Coffee Production Manager

At 8PM the other night, I found myself dipping a spoon in hot water, preparing to cup some Sumatran coffee. But here in Minneapolis, it was already 9AM the following morning. Jamie and I had been chosen to represent Peace Coffee in a visit to the farmers who grow our Sumatran coffee, the co-op PPKGO, a location Peace Coffee hasn't visited since Melanee went there in 2003. In that time, conflict has waxed and waned in Aceh and a terrible tsunami in December of 2004 put the place on the map in the way that only great destruction and suffering teach geography. It was high time for a visit. Look for Jamie's accounts of the reconstruction following the earthquake and tsunami in a subsequent newsletter. For this article, I'm going to focus on PPKGO, the people, the organization, and the coffee--I hope you have a cup of it at hand.

Back to the moment where I began--After a day with 11 hours of driving and 4 different flavours of Kerupuks (deep-fried puffs, including buffalo skin, goat skin, shrimp-flavoured something, cassava), I am in a tiny office, the air temp probably 90 degrees and humid outside. Inside, no AC and the roaster's running.

Read on…

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by Andy Lamber, Peace Coffee Outreach and Donations Coordinator

During the third weekend in February, I had the privilege of attending the 3rd annual United Students for Fair Trade (USFT) International Convergence in Denver, CO. Over 300 youth organizers, students, allies and producers converged on the University of Denver, campus for an amazingly powerful weekend of collaboration, critical thinking, and relationship building. The convergence offered participants inspirational and educational workshops, keynote speakers, and action planning breakouts. The majority of the attendees were college aged young men and women from around the world. There were also many farmers representing their respective coops from places such as Thailand, Mexico, Costa Rica, and various countries in Africa.

Read on…

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Twenty years ago, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) founder Mark Ritchie returned to Minnesota from a full year of traveling across Europe meeting with farm leaders and trade experts. He had a clear mission: establish a U.S. based organization that would work with others globally to explain how international trade institutions would impact farmers and rural communities.

With an international board composed of leaders from farm and consumer movements in Japan, Brazil, France, the Netherlands, Germany and Canada, IATP began to sound the alarm about something called the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and later the World Trade Organization.

Twenty years later, IATP is still challenging global trade institutions and developing cutting edge solutions to many of the problems plaguing rural communities and food systems around the world.

On April 22nd, Earth Day, IATP’s friends will gather in Minneapolis to celebrate 20 years of hard work. Our civil society partners, supporters, friends and current and former staff will also thank IATP President Mark Ritchie for his amazing work at IATP. Mark will be stepping down from IATP at the end of the year.

So, don’t wait -- make sure you have a place at the table on April 22. Long-time family farm supporter and author Jim Hightower will give the keynote speech. IATP will honor Lucia Watson, for her pioneering work as a local chef who has supported local family farmers. And we will honor Dr. Edgard Pisani, noted international agricultural leader, for his more than 60 years of work on behalf of farmer-friendly agriculture and democracy.

More details about the event and how you can participate are available at www.iatp.org/20years. You can also contact Ana Micka at: (612) 879-7587 or email amicka@iatp.org.

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Last month’s contest winners were Matthew Boerson and Danielle Smith of Minneapolis. They sent us this awesome photo (at left) and a haiku:

Visualizing Peace Coffee
Oh Café de Paz
Delight of Pallet and Soul
Good Conscience Agrees

Congratulations, Matthew and Danielle!

If you're passionate about Peace Coffee, show it! Send us:

— a photo showing your "Peace Coffee Pride”
— a short written testimonial about how much you love us
— an original coffee poem or haiku (three lines, 5 syllables in the first, 7 in the second, 5 in the last)

Each month, we’ll choose one entry to appear in the following Fair Grounds newsletter. If we choose yours, you’ll win a pound of your favorite Peace Coffee coffee. Please send your entry to mel@peacecoffee.com.

Contest ends: April 12th.

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"There is enough in the world for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed."

-- Mahatma Gandhi

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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
Ryan Seibold
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*:
Nick Johnson
Keith Tomlinson

*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

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