It's summer... time to tend to the garden and get back onto the bike paths and trails. And that's exactly what the Peace Coffee crew has been up to lately. In this edition of Fair Grounds, we offer some composting tips from former Green Institute staffer Corrie Zoll. We also highlight some summertime Peace Gear (perfect for biking and hiking), wish Nate a fond farewell, and present more photos from Josh's bike delivery travels. All that plus two Peace Pride winners, an intriguing chicken recipe and an introduction to our seasonal Dominican Republic roast add up to a pretty full issue. Settle back with an icy mug of Peace Coffee and read on...

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Every week at Peace Coffee we brew and taste a lot of coffee. This means we produce a bucket or two full of rich and dark spent coffee grounds. We had fallen out of the habit of composting the grounds during the winter and were looking forward to contributing to the bins around our green building, we just needed someone to remind us how to do it.

This is where, Corrie Zoll, formerly of the Green Institute comes in! He whipped us into composting shape with an hour-long tutorial on how to keep the compost. He helped us pick out the necessary tools to turn the compost and gave us tips on keeping the compost in balance by using coffee chaffe (good dry material) and spent coffee grounds (good wet material). The last thing we did was head up to the roof top of our building to get down and dirty. We unearthed an “archeological coffee compost” from the prior year and gave it a new life by adding water and turning it over into new soil.

Here are some useful tips we learned for you to try in your spent coffee grounds:

1. Sprinkle used grounds around plants before rain or watering, for a slow-release nitrogen.

2. Add to compost piles to increase nitrogen balance. Coffee filters and tea bags break down rapidly during composting.

3. Dilute with water for a gentle, fast-acting liquid fertilizer. Use about a half-pound can of wet grounds in a five-gallon bucket of water; let sit outdoors to achieve ambient temperature.

4. Mix into soil for houseplants or new vegetable beds.

5. Encircle the base of the plant with a coffee and eggshell barrier to repel pests.

6. If you are into vermi-posting, feed a little bit to your worms.

For more, check out Gardening Grounds by Nathan Steigman from our May 2006 Fair Grounds newsletter.

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Nate Stevens, Peace Coffee’s Customer Service Representative, is leaving after two and half years as the "voice of Peace Coffee." Nate's energy and soulful personality will be hard to match. Thankfully he will not be straying too far from the coffee world. He is planning on purchasing a mobile coffee unit and traveling the country from festival to festival serving cups of Peace Coffee and educating folks about Fair Trade. Until he secures financing and creates a formal business plan for his exciting coffee venture, he plans on getting back to his "renaissance" lifestyle. This includes making jewelry, performing music, sewing clothes and spending quality time with his sweetheart and life partner, Celestial.

Peace Coffee looks forward to working with him in the future but we will surely miss his friendly smile and incredible singing everyday at work. Nate says he will miss the free coffee, but most of all he will miss both his coworkers and our customers. He said he loves hearing updates from our accounts about their businesses and especially enjoys turning new customers into passionate Peace Coffee drinkers.

Look for Nate’s journal excerpts about his travels to our cooperative partners in Chiapas, Mexico, in the next newsletter.

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1) Peace Coffee Black Summer Socks

These look similar to the gray wool Peace Coffee Socks, except they are solid black and are made for summer riding. They are an ultra lightweight sock originally designed for the intense conditions of European road racing. The single layer ribbed cuff provides exceptional support while reducing weight and increasing breathability. The tall cuff sock makes you look nerdy and cool at the same time. Perfect for hot and humid days in the summer. Made by the Sock Guy!

It’s been a while since we’ve had water bottles available. The bike team as well as regular commuters and the crew here couldn’t wait any longer. Finally we have two new water bottles that hold more volume than our last ones. They are still a wide mouth bottle which makes it ideal to put ice cubes into it and the plastic used to produce the bottle is the least toxic available. Our hope is that you use the bottle over and over and over again so there is no need for you to buy bottled water or sports drinks again. It is perfect to put your ice coffee in and enjoy on your morning commute to work!

3) Yeti Cold Press Blend

After much coffee blending and experimentation, the Peace Coffee Roasting Team, has produced a magical blend for folks to brew up specifically for cold coffee. This blend is best used in a Toddy Maker although it can also be brewed and chilled with a regular coffee maker for a refreshing well rounded cup of coffee. This new addition to our coffee line up is called the Yeti Cold Press Blend.

Why a Yeti? Well... Yeti’s are cute and cuddly cold loving creatures... shouldn’t your coffee be too?

According to Wikipedia a Yeti or an Abominable Snowman is an apelike cryptid said to inhabit the Himalaya region of Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology. Most mainstream scientists, explorers and writers consider current evidence of the Yeti's existence to be weak and better explained as hoax, legend or misidentification of known species. Even today, the Yeti remains one of the most famous creatures of cryptozoology. As such, the Yeti can be considered a Himalayan version of the Sasquatch.

We encourage you to send us pictures and drawings of any Yeti sightings. We are hoping that someday we will come face to face with this furry friend and give it a big hug!

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Russ Merritt used to be a barista at Joe’s Addiction in Oklahoma City which serves Peace Coffee. He just got back from a trip all over the southwest states. While he was in Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah drinking out of his Nalgene with a Peace Coffee sticker on it, he thought it would be fun to get a picture to send us. He also sent us a photo that he submitted for a photo competition that Oxfam America organized asking Starbucks to back off copyrighting names of Ethiopian coffee growing regions. Thanks Russ for showing your support of the Ethiopian coffee farmers and for making us jealous of your travels!

Also this month, we offer this poem from Kathy Minor of Milwaukee, OR, which was just too good to go unrewarded:

They offer me coffee
My most treasured food.
I wish not to be thought of
As snobbish or rude.
But I peek at the label
And hope no one sees
Then I have to refuse it
Because it’s not Peace.

Congratulations, Russ and Kathy! You both win a pound of your favorite Peace Coffee.

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: July 13th

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"Anything that has a real and lasting value is always a gift from within."

~ Franz Kafka

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