News From The Front... Oaxaca

I am sitting in the newest coffee house in Oaxaca City, Mexico. It is called the Black Coffee Gallery. You can check it out here. After a week of hard work, a few hours of "down time" checking my e-mail and sipping some great Oaxacan coffee gives me time to relax and think. The last few days have been spent with a couple of friends from Oregon working to bring water, food and hope to some of the poorest people living in Mexico. A few years ago we had this crazy idea that if we could serve up a glass of water, alongside a plate of farming ideas from the US and some great Mexican know how for dessert, we might be able, in the words of the late J.D. Salinger, to save a few. Yesterday I watched as Santiago [pictured here] planted corn in an irrigated field for the first time in his life. I listened as his wife Julia shared that she never could have imagined seeing running water on the fields of their family farm. While there is still much to be done, we are getting closer to our goal. We need to dig our well a little deeper and we have a small demonstration green house to finish and plant in February. But we are moving ahead. Our first harvest, if all goes well, will be at the end of May. Until then, I'll keep you posted on how this city boy is doing as a farmer. Mientras, here are a few pictures of our work so far. [our first day. dry, hard, packed soil.] [our plow team, used to make our corn rows.] [here I am cutting the irrigation tape.] [our team. santiago, me, mark doverspike, and tom davis.]