• Fall's Here - How Cool is That?
• Newsletter Special: New Gift Boxes and Samplers
• CC Supports the Georgia River Network
• Community Caravan
• Quote of the Month
• Past Issues of Fair Grounds

Well, we wish we could say we're going to miss summertime as it gives way to autumn, but after what has been one heck of a long, hot, dry summer, we're nothing short of overjoyed that cooler temperatures and real coffee-drinkin' weather are upon us. As usual, we've got a lot going on here at Café Campesino! From our new line-up of gift boxes and the introduction of nifty sampler packs, to our upcoming Cooperative Coffees annual meeting in Nicaragua, to GreenFest DC just around the corner in October, there's mucho to read about in this edition of Fair Grounds... so brew up a cup or three of your favorite Café Campesino coffee, sit back, relax and read on!

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Great News... we've revamped our gift box offering and added sampler packs (thanks to popular demand!)! Readers of this month's Fair Grounds get 10% off the regular listed retail price when ordering any of our gift boxes and/or sampler packs. You will find our gift boxes and sampler packs in the Gift Ideas section of our website. If ordering online, please enter promotional code gbsampler upon checking out or, if ordering by telephone, please be sure to mention the promo code to the person who takes your order. Please note that the newsletter special applies only to retail customers and cannot be combined with any other discount/promotional codes.

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Café Campesino is a proud supporter of the Georgia River Network (GRN) and its tireless work on behalf of our state's truly beautiful, extraordinary waterways. We recently asked Dana Skelton, GRN's Director of Administration & Outreach, to write a short piece about our collaboration… here is what she had to say:

(GRN) began partnering with Café Campesino in June of 2005 to provide coffee for GRN's annual Paddle Georgia event – an educational, 110+ mile journey, that has involved over 900 people in the adventure of traveling down a different Georgia River each summer. Participants see both the beauty and the degradation of the state's rivers and are educated on a variety of practices and land uses that affect these local waterways - from home and lawn maintenance, development, industries, forestry and agriculture.

Café Campesino's beans are grown using organic farming techniques which allow small farm communities to meet demands for quality coffee while treading lightly on the land and water resources. Companies like Café Campesino make the coffee available to the public while educating consumers about how their choices affect the world around them. The partnership between GRN and Café Campesino lets people connect with local rivers as well as help protect rivers across the globe.

This year, we celebrate our third year of partnership with GRN by offering the GA River Network Special Blend – a robust blend of our Guatemalan, Sumatran, and Nicaragua coffees. Café Campesino will contribute 10% of retail sales of the GA River Network Special Blend to the GRN to help them achieve their most worthy goals, which are:

1. To increase the number of people involved in the protection and management of Georgia's waters.

2. To improve awareness of the issues that threaten the health of our waters. Establish infrastructure for the exchange of resources among parties working to improve the protection of Georgia's waters.

3. To provide necessary means to advocate for the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of our waters.

To learn more about the Georgia River Network, how you can get involved, and, to purchase your beans, visit the GRN website and click "Buy Coffee, Support Rivers" on the home page.

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Bill returned from a whirlwind visit to Colombia where he talked coffee and traveled around the country with our friend and Café Campesino cupper Madelyn Madrid. While in Colombia, Bill visited with the marketing office in Bogotá of one of our potentially new producer partners, visited a number of other coffee coops, and even grabbed a bit of time to rest and take in the sights! Welcome home Bill… we're glad your back!

A big thanks to Geoffrey for servin' up the brew to our BRAG supporters who rode in the inaugural SummerRide in Jasper, Georgia, the weekend of August 25-26.

We also want to congratulate Clifford Terrell and his team at C&H Variety on their recent ribbon cutting at Maxwell Air Force Base on August 29th, which included Montgomery, Alabama, Mayor Bobby Bright and our very own Tripp Pomeroy. C&H Variety serves up Café Campesino at the base's clinic and in its college... Fair Trade style! 

Thank you Clifford and all the folks at Maxwell AFB for your support!

Coming soon...

This weekend, September 8th through the 11th, Tripp and his daughter Sol will be journeying to El Paso, Texas, for a Fair Trade open house hosted by our good friends at Centro Mujeres de la Esperanza. This event promises to be a fun and tasty way to get the word out about Café Campesino and our work as Fair Traders, though perhaps more importantly, it's a great opportunity for Café Campesino to learn first-hand how folks on the front lines of Fair Trade are making it happen... and by the way, Centro de Mujeres is making it happen! Centro Mujeres is a non-profit women's center that seeks to raise awareness of issues that affect women on the US/Mexico border and give local women a place to come together and share their stories. Check out the June 2007 newsletter for more information on Centro Mujeres!

From September 28-30, Geoffrey and crew will be in Newnan, Georgia, serving up those essential early morning cups of BRAG Brew to riders in this year's BikeFest. A Café Campesino tradition, BikeFest is sure to be another hit for bike and coffee enthusiasts alike, especially if the gods of cool weather decide to revisit the state of Georgia by then. Learn about BikeFest 2007 here.

Here's maybe the most exciting of our September Community Caravan news: Bill, Tripp, Maty, and Abby will be traveling to Nicaragua at the end of the month for Cooperative Coffees Annual General Meeting (AGM) from September 23rd through October 1st. For Maty, this will be her first time on a few fronts – first AGM, first visit with producers, and first meeting with her peers. This year's meeting is being hosted by our producer partner in Nicaragua, Cecocafen (to learn more about Cecocafen, click here). Maty and Bill will be arriving in Managua on the 23rd for meetings and visits with producers after which Maty will spend a few days cupping coffee and talking roasting with her colleagues in Coop Coffees. As Maty is flying home on the 27th, Tripp and Abby will be flying down for the core three days of the AGM. Many thanks to Cecocafen for hosting this crazy, caffeinated bunch.

GreenFest DC is the first weekend in October! Café Campesino will be serving up the Fair Trade, organic java at this year's GreenFest in Washington, DC on the weekend of October 6 - 7. Look for Geoffrey, crew, and your coffee fix in the Fair Trade Café on Saturday from 10AM to 8PM and on Sunday from 11AM to 6PM. For more information about this spectacular green event, put together by our friends at Co-op America and Global Exchange, visit the Green Festivals website.

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"The world is not respectable; it is mortal, tormented, confused, deluded forever; but it is shot through with beauty, with love, with glints of courage and laughter; and in these, the spirit blooms timidly, and struggles to the light amid the thorns."

~ George Santayana

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