Coffee: The world’s favorite drink, and the key to bringing reforestation and revenue to the farmlands of Nepal.
Sano Kanchi Rana Magar is a resident of Takure and one of Nepal’s newest coffee farmers. Two years ago, she planted organic coffee saplings from Conscious Impact’s greenhouse, and she hopes that this year she will get her first big harvest! Photo by Jonathan H. Lee
For Conscious Impact and the community of Takure, 2019 is the year of coffee. It has been three years since we planted the first 10,000 coffee seeds in our greenhouse, and this year many of these seeds (now small trees planted throughout the mountains) will finally give their first fruits. Our partner farmers across the region are excitedly anticipating their first harvest, and the income that will come with it. We at Conscious Impact are hoping that the dream will come true: financially profitable reforestation across the hillsides of Nepal!
Orion Haas, CoFounder and Director of Conscious Impact, examines the more than 10,000 baby coffee saplings in the Conscious Impact greenhouse. Already more than 10,000 trees have been distributed, and this year another 6,000+ will be planted by farmers across the region of Sindhupalchok, Nepal. Photo by Jonathan H. Lee
Our team is preparing for 2019’s first harvest by constructing Takure’s first ever coffee processing center. With space for pulping, soaking, drying and storing the coffee, this agricultural center will become the new hub for organic coffee processing and distribution. Plus, with space for an office and meeting area, Takure’s Coffee Cooperative will serve as a central gathering space for passionate locals to meet and plan the future of organic farming in the area. We can’t wait for the space to be operational!
This week, we completed the 6th course of the new earthbag Coffee Cooperative Office and Meeting Hall.. This construction will be completed by April, 2019 and will provide the region’s farmers with a place to process and store their new coffee harvests. It will also host trainings for organic agriculture, tree care and compost management.
We are now two months into the construction of the new Coffee Cooperative in Takure and already the progress is inspiring. The gravel foundation is complete, and now the earthbag walls are going up! Over the past 3 years, earthbag construction has become one of Conscious Impact’s favorite building techniques. Besides being affordable and easy to build, earthbag construction is extremely low impact, environmentally sustainable and very earthquake safe. Plus, the local sandy and silty soil is perfect for filling the earthbags. This is our third earthbag project, and we hope to build many more in Nepal.
Conscious Impact volunteers filling earthbags during the construction of the new Takure Coffee Cooperative.
We are so grateful to all of the volunteers that have given their labor to this project already, and to everyone all over the world that has supported the Coffee Cooperative. We want to give a special shout out to Ali and Fayza for their generous donation to make this project possible. If you are still considering becoming a donor to Conscious Impact, please visit www.consciousimpact.org/donate to support this project and many others in Nepal. We are forever grateful!
And of course, we are always looking for more volunteers to come to Nepal to get their hands dirty with us and learn how to build with earth. Check out our upcoming programs at www.consciousimpact.org/volunteer and see you in Nepal!
