Oh, the life of a WWOOFer. I originally wanted to use this post as a platform to vent about all the chaos and craziness I have experienced this week, BUT I am taking a note from Eric, who manages to keep a smile on his face and laugh instead of getting sucked into the twilight zone. So, I will spare you (for now) and highlight the good parts of the week!
Eric and I attended our first coffee festival: The Kona Coffee Cultural Festival! The festival was a week-long event and we made it to the last two days.
It was incredible to see how important coffee is to the people of Kona and to celebrate our love for the bean with them. As we met and talked with different coffee farmers and their family members, we found ourselves relating to them on many different levels. Now that we have done what that they do every day and every year, we have a complete respect for their work. We also understand the sacrifices and dedication it takes to not only run a farm but to make a living off of it as well.
We also got to sample the farmers coffee offerings. Coffee, coffee honey, coffee jam, coffee peanut brittle, etc.. I will eat ANYTHING with coffee in it. It is clear that each farmer is not only passionate about their coffee but they are also very proud to share it with world. The event ended with a parade full of music, dancing, and coffee-decorated floats. The only thing that could have made it better was if instead of candy, they threw cups of coffee out to the crowd...but I guess that's not very practical.
On a similar note, we are knee deep in coffee on the farm. We have been putting in extra hours this week as round #5 of coffee is picked. Every day, after a full day of work, we wait around for the Marshall Islander pickers to drop off their bags of cherry. The bags get weighed, dumped into a hopper, and we all assume our assigned positions. Pulping 1,000 pounds takes about an hour. It's loud, it's sticky, and if you are not careful you will ram your head directly into a stainless steal pipe...twice.
I smell like a fermentation tank and I cannot for the life of me get the coffee slime out from under my finger nails. Just another day in paradise.
Eric and I attended our first coffee festival: The Kona Coffee Cultural Festival! The festival was a week-long event and we made it to the last two days.
It was incredible to see how important coffee is to the people of Kona and to celebrate our love for the bean with them. As we met and talked with different coffee farmers and their family members, we found ourselves relating to them on many different levels. Now that we have done what that they do every day and every year, we have a complete respect for their work. We also understand the sacrifices and dedication it takes to not only run a farm but to make a living off of it as well.
We also got to sample the farmers coffee offerings. Coffee, coffee honey, coffee jam, coffee peanut brittle, etc.. I will eat ANYTHING with coffee in it. It is clear that each farmer is not only passionate about their coffee but they are also very proud to share it with world. The event ended with a parade full of music, dancing, and coffee-decorated floats. The only thing that could have made it better was if instead of candy, they threw cups of coffee out to the crowd...but I guess that's not very practical.
On a similar note, we are knee deep in coffee on the farm. We have been putting in extra hours this week as round #5 of coffee is picked. Every day, after a full day of work, we wait around for the Marshall Islander pickers to drop off their bags of cherry. The bags get weighed, dumped into a hopper, and we all assume our assigned positions. Pulping 1,000 pounds takes about an hour. It's loud, it's sticky, and if you are not careful you will ram your head directly into a stainless steal pipe...twice.
I smell like a fermentation tank and I cannot for the life of me get the coffee slime out from under my finger nails. Just another day in paradise.
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| "The Many Kona Coffee's" 11/10/2012 |
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| "Coffee Lei's" 11/10/2012 |
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| "End of Parade" 11/10/2012 |
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| "Watching the Kona Coffee Parade" 11/10/2012 |
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