Fair Grounds - Peace Coffee

Heating it Up With Love and Coffee
Savoring Sweet Treats
Roasting Up Romance by Aaron & Mandy Larson, Peace Coffee Lovebirds
Cooking Up Goodness
Lovingly Created Ice Houses
Roaster's Corner: Log Cabin Coffee
The Peace Coffee Crossword Challenge
Quote of the Month
Past Issues of Fair Grounds

Okay, so it's cold outside... bone-chilling cold. But the Peace Coffee crew has the perfect way to deal with the weather – brew up a pot of the steaming hot coffee love! Valentine's Day may be this Thursday, but we're declaring the whole month of February the Season of Love. And we're celebrating with mugs of our favorite brew and feasting on Fair Trade chocolate, the kind featured in our Bundle of Peace Coffee Love. To keep the romance theme going, we've got a coffee-inspired love story from Aaron and Mandy Larson. We report on the smiles the Crew brought to 75 homeless men at Simpson House when we prepared a loving meal for them. And we offer a piece on the Art Shanty Project and some amazing lovingly-created ice shanties. It's the love issue, baby! Kick back, read on and enjoy...

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There is still time to order a Bundle of Peace Coffee Love this Valentine's Day or for any occasion. Peace Coffee has partnered with Divine Chocolate, Theo Chocolate & Kamibushi String Dolls to put together a tasty & fun gift for your sweetheart.

Another gift to surprise someone with during the season of love and coffee is the 1st Commemorative Peace Coffee screen print poster by Twin Cities artist Adam Turman. We have 175 of these posters and only 50 are being sold online... so if you want to start a Peace Coffee Poster collection for your kitchen, act quickly to snag one of these!

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by Aaron & Mandy Larson, Peace Coffee Lovebirds

My wife and I fell in love under the influence of Peace Coffee. When we met, we were both guiding canoe trips for Camp Amnicon on the south shore of Lake Superior. We guided adolescent groups on trips through the Apostle Islands in a big Voyageur canoe, on whitewater trips on the Brule River, flatwater trips on the Namekagon River, and hiking the Superior National Forest. Camp Amnicon serves only Peace Coffee and every week they would send a nice heap of it in the meal pack for the week-long trip. Every morning before we began another day encouraging the kids in the group to support each other, try new things, and express themselves, we would dump a pile of Guatemalan Dark Roast Peace Coffee into an aluminum soup pot, fill the pot with water, boil it over the morning campfire, and enjoy a moment of calm.

Now, nine years later, we've upped our Peace Coffee consumption to about nine cups a day to help us keep up with the twin baby girls we adopted in May. We took them on their first camping trip in July and before we began our day of encouraging them to support each other, try new things, and express themselves, we got out our bag of Peace Coffee.

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Last week, part of the Peace Coffee staff cooked up a delicious meal for 75 homeless men at a local shelter in Minneapolis called Simpson House.The menu included homemade buns, orange glazed chicken, baked beans, steamed carrots, coleslaw & apple crisp. Before cooking we were given a tour of the facility. Our guide explained that the goal of Simpson House is to provide shelter and affordable housing with support services to homeless men, women and children, to assist individuals and families in their effort to improve their life situations and to advocate for their human and civil rights. Each of their shelter locations provides individuals with an address, breakfast, lunch and dinner, basic hygiene products, showers, laundry, clothing, telephone, voice mail, medical care and storage. They also have access to housing, employment, mental health and chemical dependency referrals. Simpson House relies on lots of dedicated volunteers and staff to make things work. Every night of the week different organizations and companies like ours volunteer to pay and prepare meals for the Simpson House guests.

The Peace Crew had a ton of fun cooking and eating with the guests. We made so much apple crisp (30 pounds worth of apples) there was a whole pan left over for folks to eat for breakfast. Washing dishes with eight people made the clean up part of the evening go by quickly. We all left the house with full bellies and a sense of satisfaction that we'd contributed a little piece of goodness in the form of food for those who are working towards finding a permanent home and a kitchen they can call their own.

If you'd like to learn more or volunteer with Simpson House visit their website at: www.simpsonhousing.org/services.htm.

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During the cold winter months, ice houses populate many of the lakes across Minnesota. Most of these have a simple design resembling an outhouse (which we also have a lot of in Minnesota). But for the past few years, local artists have put a unique twist on the traditional ice house form, creating everything from ice houses out of refrigerator doors to moveable trailer size houses running on pedal power. There is even a post office shanty where you send your mail. Many of the ice houses on the lake are heated by generators but others only provide a wind barrier. The ice houses are part of a collaborative artistic endeavor titled the Art Shanty Project that involves over 21 ice houses designed by more than 50 artists. The shanties are open to the public everyday.

Liz Wawrzonek, Peace Coffee's Events and Outreach Coordinator, stopped by last weekend with airpots full of Peace Coffee to warm up shanty goer's. The coffee was much appreciated, especially since recent temps have been below zero. And Megan Tardiff, Peace Coffee's Sales Manager, has been out on the lake staying warm by biking inside the Mobile Home Shanty.

The shanties are open through Feb 23rd. For directions to Medicine Lake, go to http://www.artshantyprojects.org/directions. Have fun visiting them and dress warm!

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Think you know a lot about Peace Coffee and Fair Trade? Then solve this crossword puzzle, devised by our clever roasters... One winning submission will be chosen to win a pound of their favorite Peace Coffee. So what have you got to lose? Sharpen your pencil and get cracking!

Please send your answers to mel@peacecoffee.com.
Contest ends: March 10th

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"I have found men who didn't know how to kiss. I've always found time to teach them."

~ Mae West

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Fair Grounds is produced by:
Peace Coffee

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*:
Stacy Adrianson
Anna Canning
Derek De La Paz
Kyle Feldman
Andy Lambert
Josh Lavelle
Melanee Meegan
Joe Moskowitz
Meagan O'Brien
Natalie Ryno
Ryan Seibold
Brian Steehler
Megan Tardiff
Keith Tomlinson
Lee Wallace
Liz Wawrzonek

*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.

Fair Grounds is designed by:

Starstruck Design
335 West Gill Road
Gill, MA 01354

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

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