On my last day in Marcala I visited an organic coffee farm owned by Christian Dubon and his beautiful wife, Ana. They own over 12 acres of prime coffee growing land on a hillside a few miles west of Marcala, that is in the southern part of Honduras. They bought the house and farm from his uncle about 8 years ago. The farm has been in the family for over 100 years and the original house has been improved and expanded by Christian and Ana, but all of the original structure is still used.
Christian is rightfully proud of the coffee he grows. I bought 5 pounds of green beans from him last time I was here and it is the best coffee I have ever tasted.
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| Compost pile |
He showed me the process of growing organic coffee, from the compost that he makes by mixing plant cuttings with cow manure, chicken manure, milk whey, and charcoal, to the roasting.
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| Completed Compost |
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| 500 starter plants to replace 40 year-old plants. |
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| Growing organic beans produces about 1/4th as many beans per plant as non-organic, but the difference is taste is considerable. |
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| The weeds are left to mulch and the soil around the bushes is excellent |
The coffee berries are just repining and will the first picking that produces lower quality beans will be sold in the local market. Christian does not weed his farm but cuts the weeds and grass and lets it turn into mulch.
Roasting is by a wood fired custom built roaster that is turned by hand. It takes about 90 minutes to roast 35 pounds of coffee.
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| Stainless steel drum made from a pipe. |
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| Paddles inside drum turn the beans while roasting |
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| Fire wood box |
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| Shy cow, but not unfriendly |
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| Enjoying Ana's enchiladas after touring the farm. |
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| Wood fired oven for baking bread |
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| Happy farm animals. The cows are fed mango, guava, bananas, and corn |
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| Sofiya playing monkey |
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| Ana cooking on her new wood burning stove. |
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| They have two daughters, Sofiya, age 7, and Amber, age 4. I fell in love at first sight. |
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Ana, Amber, Christian and Sofija
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