We are thrilled to have Alexander back at CFFI and welcome Emily to the team!

We're very happy to have Alexander Thompson back on the farm! This summer, his work with CFFI will also count toward his nearly completed masters degree in public health. He will work on expanding the compost micro-business he helped create for CFFI. Additionally, he will be gathering data regarding water and soil quality around Victoria. Overall, his goals are: 1) to evaluate whether or not the use of synthetic fertilizer on the island is threatening marine life via increased runoff of nitrates and phosphates into waterways; and 2) to promote the use of natural compost in place of synthetic fertilizers. We are excited to see what he comes up with and enjoy supporting his educational endeavors!

Our new intern, Emily Soffa, joins us after working and teaching in a wide variety of sustainability projects in China, Japan, New Zealand and Spain over the past two years.  Emily brings her diverse background and enthusiastic community organizing skills to design and implement programs partnering our CFFI with local schools, 4H chapters, and local cocoa farmers. She is coordinating environmental cleanup events, CFFI’s first sustainable agriculture summer camp, and a fruit tree-planting project for the local elementary school. She aims to engage the local community, especially the youth, to be environmental stewards through experiential learning programs and events. We are pleased to have her on the team!

After the Victoria River cleanup event with Emily, the 4-H club, and students from the Bonair school 

Mixing concrete to form the base of CFFI's roundhouse!

Cocoa Tree Fundraiser!

It's that time again! We're raising money with our cocoa tree fundraiser campaign. We've made an account on Razoo, to facilitate our crowdsourcing.  Check out our account and donate here.

Your donation will help aid the cocoa farmers of Grenada and attract the next generation of growers by helping to rebuild plantations severely damaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, adding additional value to crops with the greatest economic potential, and maintaining Grenada's biodiversity with sound agricultural practices. And lastly (but most important for chocolate lovers) is to help the farmers produce the best cocoa beans in the world! Cocoa can only grow in small areas around the equator - so lets help keep cocoa healthy and delicious!

CFFI sponsors young farmer for agroecology training in the US

CFFI is proud to sponsor an aspiring young farmer to continue learning about organic agriculture in the United States.

Kelwin at our grafting seminar in February 2014

Kelwin Noel, 22, has been instrumental to CFFI over the past year. As an extension officer with the Grenada Cocoa Association, he leads a program to certify organic cocoa farmers.  Under his guidance our farm is well on its way toward certification.

Kelwin will travel to the U.S. in April for an apprenticeship on Ryder Organic Farm in New York. In addition to his apprenticeship, he will complete coursework to be certified in agroecology through the Multicultural Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA).

Betsey Ryder, owner of Ryder Organic Farm is excited to have Kelwin on board. "We are always happy to have crew members who are particularly interested in agriculture as their future vocation," says Ryder.

Upon completing his training in October, Kelwin hopes to return to Grenada to continue educating farmers in organic methods and the certification process.

Good luck Kelwin!

Record breaking cocoa sales from CFFI!

After three days of all-hands-on-deck cocoa harvesting, we beat our personal goal and doubled our previous record for cocoa sales on our three-acre farm! On Wednesday we sold 1,032 pounds of wet cocoa at the Diamond Cocoa Station.

Thanks to all the workers and volunteers who helped harvest the cocoa

Throughout the day farmers lined up, hauling buckets and bags of wet cocoa loaded onto trucks, carts, wheelchairs, strollers - often borrowed from generous friends and neighbors. Large estates might fill a truck, while small farmers with a handful of trees fill half a bucket.
 

Photo by Marietta Burdick

An unusually rainy January blessed farmers with an especially abundant crop.  Unfortunately, rainy days also slow the process of drying beans, which relies on the sun.  Since they could not move the beans quick enough, the cocoa station closed its doors to new cocoa beans during mid-January.  Though many farmers were frustrated the facilities lack the capacity to accommodate their success, farmers now had three weeks worth of bountiful crop ready to sell.

 The line for weighing runs on a chaotic honor system, and station employees work long hours lifting tons of cocoa into sweat boxes where beans from all over the island mix together for fermentation.  Starting as early as 6am, farmers continued to line up along the street into the evening.

Bags of cocoa are placed on a scale and recorded in books, with checks written to the landowners at $1.50 Eastern Caribbean Dollars per pound.

We typically harvest 200-400 pounds during cocoa season, with our record high at 586 pounds. In just over a year of rehabilitating the land we have more than doubled our yield.  Our friend and fellow cocoa farmer George says the progress on our farm is "an inspiration to see" as he walks to his land every morning.

George helped us prune our trees in October. Proper tree maintenance is essential for rehabilitating old trees and rejuvenating cocoa growth.  This allows trees to get the right amount of light and air flow and has to be done by a knowledgable farmer or expert who knows how to achieve the ideal shape without sacrificing bearing branches.

In addition to careful pruning, we're adding our natural compost around trees, digging drains for proper irrigation and working with natural controls for pests and diseases like witches broom and beetles.

In other news, our craft store is nearly complete in the cellar of the Jouvay chocolate factory.  Stay tuned for photos of the beautiful artwork, crafts and woodwork!

Christmas Fair with a Difference

Starting tomorrow, CFFI will have a booth at the Christmas Fair with a Difference in Hanover, New Hampshire.  Dorise and Marietta will be selling handmade Grenadian crafts, jewelry, soaps, spices and delicious treats.  All of the proceeds will go toward our programs in Grenada.

To learn more about our crafts programs, read our recent blog updates here, here and here.

Fair Schedule:
Thursday, November 6th: 10am - 6pm
Friday, November 7th: 10am - 6pm
Saturday, November 8th: 10am - 1pm

The fair is a great opportunity to learn about non-profits in your community, support important work and get ahead on unique and meaningful christmas presents.  Click here for directions to the fair, or check out their Facebook page to get a preview of items that will be for sale.

Hope to see you there!

The Guardian's coverage of Empowering Smallholder Farmers

Smallholder farmers are increasingly in the news and international discourse because of the critical role they play in food security and sustainability.  The Guardian recently published a photo-series entitled "Empowering Smallholder Farmers for a Sustainable Future." With the knowledge that over 30 million smallholder farmers produce the majority of the world's cocoa and coffee, the Guardian lists important steps that will empower such farmers.

Cocoa drying at the cocoa station in Diamond, Grenada

Consistent with the efforts of CFFI, the author stresses the importance of increasing farmers' voice and emphasizes training in sustainable agriculture. CFFI is proud to be among other international organizations working toward these goals.  In particular we are working hard to offer more training workshops on the farm and establish a communication network for farmers.

With improved communication, organization and access to organic markets, Grenadian farmers will be in a better position to ensure fair prices and advocate for themselves.

Click here to read the full article.

"Buy a Cocoa Tree" Campaign

Because of last year's success we are promoting the "Buy a Cocoa Tree" campaign again this year - but with a little bonus offer for you! A Grenada Gift Basket from L.A. Burdick's Cocoa Isle Collection will be awarded to the three individuals or companies that donate the most trees. This is a timely campaign as it is the rainy season in Grenada and the ideal time to plant new cocoa trees.  Buying these young cocoa trees will help keep production alive - great chocolate is only as good as the cocoa beans from which it is derived.

This campaign is in partnership with L.A. Burdick Chocolate, who are committed to helping CFFI support the small cocoa farmers and the fragile ecosystem in which they work.

For more information, visit www.cffigrenada.org.  Please click the "Donate" tab to purchase your trees today!  Thank you for your support!

Putting a Donated Sewing Machine to Good Use

Thanks to a sewing machine generously donated by Tanya in New Hampshire, CFFI has expanded our crafts again!  We’re continuing to work with the African textiles Dorise collected from a trip to Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. 

Textiles from Trinidad

Rita Julien, who also makes beautiful recycled plastic bags for CFFI, is working full-time on the sewing machine and is currently making a variety of beautiful shoulder bags.

Rita working on the sewing machine

 

Drilling Eastern Carib coins for buttons

In addition to these bags, we will continue making napkins as well as baby carrier wraps! Thanks Tanya for your generous support as we continue to train local women in crafts.

Making pockets for shoulder bags

Protecting Grenada's genetic diversity tastes great

This past week we were joined on the farm by leading cocoa experts from the Grenada Cocoa Association.  Together the team grafted 37 cocoa trees with criollo cocoa samples from a genetic preservation nursery near Grenville, Grenada.  We cut small pieces of branches and buds from three different types of criollo trees and transported them to our land to graft onto recently planted young trees.  If the grafts are successful, these trees will start to produce criollo pods from these branches.

Representatives from the Grenada Cocoa Association grafting on our farm

Criollo cocoa is world renowned for having the best flavor. It is very rare because it does not have the pest resistance or high yield of more hearty varieties.  Often compared to the superior Arabica coffee beans, it is well known for having complex caramel, nut, vanilla and tobacco flavor notes.  We didn’t believe our Jouvay chocolate could get any better, but we’re taking on the challenge to care for these rare trees to increase flavor bean production, and protect the genetic diversity of Grenada’s cocoa heritage.  Many farmers who rely on cocoa for their income are simply not able to take the risk with criollo trees and typically use crossbreeds, making criollo beans less than 1% of the world’s cocoa supply.  We are happy to have the opportunity to continue to preserve these beans, and think our chocolate customers will be happy too!

Scions need to be kept moist and clean to prevent drying and bacteria

Based on the size of the small trees, we focused on top grafts.  We also did a few bud and side grafts, as well as experiment with grafting on mature trees that are no longer producing as much.  As mentioned, grafting is a very delicate art, and grafting out in the field adds to the risks. Everything must be properly sanitized and done quickly so as not to introduce any bacteria to the cocoa plants. 

Taping a top graft to ensure key pieces connect and to prevent moisture and bacteria from entering

In two weeks we will remove the plastic bags (which keep moisture out and protect the graft from harsh weather).  In two more weeks, we will remove the tape and continue to monitor our trees to make sure they survive.

Completed top-graft using ICS 32, the purest variety of criollo in Grenada.

Check out our Facebook page to watch cocoa extension officer, Kelwin Noel demonstrate a top-graft:

We're Becoming Worm Farmers

Thanks to our composting intern, Alexander Thompson, we now have two vermiculture bins on the land!  These bins are unique for Grenada and we are excited to promote vermicomposting to local farmers.

Worm composting bins on our cocoa farm

What is vermicompost?

Vermiculture is worm farming!  Vermicompost is a composting system that cultivates a large worm population within the compost.  Worms help break down the materials quicker, aerate the soil and turn the compost into rich organic matter. 

Why use vermiculture?

The water run off (“worm tea”) and final compost (worm castings) generated from the vermicompost bins are one of the most nutritious and beneficial fertilizers available. This compost has significantly higher beneficial microorganisms and bacteria, and is considered a perfect organic fertilizer. Farmers can save a considerable amount of money on fertilizers and avoid putting harmful chemicals into their soil.

Benefits of worm farming:

• Aerates soil
• Increases plant growth and yield
• Reduces waste going to landfills
• Replaces chemical fertilizers
• Improves root growth
• Provides worms for fish bait or chicken feed
• Protects plants from disease 

Our bins:

Our two worm bins were made inexpensively, with materials accessible in our community.  Our goal is to demonstrate vermiculture as a beneficial practice any farmer here could adopt. Once the bins are made, they are easy to maintain. Our staff adds partially broken down compost and moistens the soil every few days, and the worms do the rest of the work! Water that drips down to the bottom bucket – "worm tea" - is diluted and used to water our vegetables. It is extremely nutritious, and helps protect plants against diseases. After a few weeks, the broken down compost can be removed from the bin, and used to fertilizer cocoa trees and vegetables, or boost our regular composting system.  New decomposing material is added to the bin and the hungry worms gravitate to the new material.

Our worms:

Our worms were collected during an expedition to collect seaweed for our extensive composting system.  These worms don’t grow to be as large as traditional earthworms, but are aggressive composters and native to Grenada.

Worms from CFFI vermiculture bins

We're excited about this new addition on our farm and can't wait to try out the fertilizer when its ready!