On a mountain hillside in Guatemala, a small group of Cacualzul families work proudly on the land they now call their own. A major coffee grower originally owned the farm, and the parents of the families now working the land were his hired labor. But when the grower was unable to pay the workers their government-mandated bonus for several years in a row, he paid them with land. Now Hilario Caal Chub and his neighbors grow their crops on a hectare or so of land they each own.
While we visited Hilario's farm, there was a delivery of allspice seedlings that were donated to the growers through a Simply Organic 1% grant. The farmers were working with wild allspice trees on their small farms and welcomed the easier management and better yields of the new trees. The SO1% grant Frontier made last year also funded training in organic management, quality and recordkeeping for the farmers, a technical consultant for the group, and financial assistance with certification costs.
Hilario and his neighbors are enthusiastic about the new trees and improving their growing techniques. In fact, the openness of these growers to new methods and ideas is one of the attributes that influenced their being selected as participants in the organic allspice project. Hilario has six kids -- three boys and three girls -- with the youngest just three and the oldest a schoolteacher. The premium he gets for his organic allspice helps him give his children what he wants most for all of them -- an education.
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Alfalfa from the U.S. Northwest
Hyssop, lavender, lemon verbena, sage, tarragon, thyme & winter savory from Argentina
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