Making Strides on CFFI Projects!

Here at CFFI we’ve been making huge strides on some of projects!

Organic composting on the farm:

Thanks to the guidance of local organic agriculture expert Troy Augustine, we re-vamped our composting system. We now have a series of accessible bins with compost at 3-5 different stages of decomposition. The compost looks great and has been recording temperatures of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.  The sequential bins are a great visual demonstration of the stages of compost.  

Compost will be turned every three weeks, and a new bin created each time.

Crafts: 

A huge shipment of beautiful, handmade crafts returned to the US with Paula for sale at L.A. Burdick stores. A second shipment is returning in May with Dorise!

New hand-painted placemats and napkins!

Dorise continues to train our official CFFI craft employees, Trisha and Donna.  She is currently working on transforming the cellar of the factory into a creative space for making and displaying crafts.

Dorise is also constantly finding remarkably talented Grenadians and supporting their own craftwork.   We recently attended a Rastafari celebration hosted by I-Free, a Grenadian famous for his work with natural weaving.  

Hand woven, one-of-a-kind bag from I-Free

In addition to I-Free, Dorise works with a number of talented weavers who make cocoa baskets that were traditionally used to harvest and hold cocoa pods on farmers’ heads.

Traditional cocoa harvesting baskets.

Grafting

We have been grafting cocoa trees at Maran Nursery nearly every week.  We are practicing side, top and micrografting and working with Nigel Gibbs from the Ministry of Agriculture to perfect our technique.  Grafting is all about timing and precision!

Our new tool shed:

Our team has been working hard this past week to build a tool shed by the farm.  

We’re recycling bottles from this weekend’s St. Marks Day Festivities and building glass bottle walls.  We’re excited to try this innovative and green method of building.  Stay tuned to see how it looks!

Craft Production with CFFI

CFFI fundraises by employing local women to create beautiful crafts with local and natural materials.  These crafts include bags, scarves, jewelry, napkins, and Dorise is always creating new designs!  Everything uses recycled materials, local fabrics, shells, sea glass or seeds collected in the wild.

For the past few days we've had a crew of women working and designing beautiful new crafts.  These skills generate employment and income, and teach women news skills.

Check L.A. Burdick stores in Walpole, NH and Boston, MA soon for new merchandise that will support CFFI projects with local farmers.

Crafts workers Kimon, Donica, Donna, Trisha and Dorise.

Materials used for jewelry making. 

Donna's son Nedon helps his mother drill seeds to make beads.

Finished jewelry waiting to be delivered to L.A. Burdicks in the US.