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Alex

Friday Fun – one potato, 2 potatoes, 3 potatoes, 4….

posted at 9:13am, 30 Jul 10 by Alex [ 7 comments ]

Last week we took the plunge and started to harvest our potatos – we’ve been speculating on when they would be ready for a while now, but there’s only one way to find out….

Our Potato Tree - the gift that keept giving

Our Potato Tree - the gift that keept giving

We’ve been growing them in coffee sack growbags on our balcony as part of our Sow Your Own campaign since the beginning of April -  you can see their progress  here.

Harvesting them felt like a lucky dip – digging into the bag and coming out with handfuls of potatoes of all shapes and sizes!

So the Friday Fun for you this week is to guess how many potatoes were harvested from these two plants!

little & large

little & large

Here’s a photo of the potatoes in the kitchen, and you can use the flickr photos to help (or hinder) you….

The lucky winner (emphasis on luck rather than skill) will receive a used Cafédirect coffee sack that they can use to make their own growbag with.

guess how many potatoes

guess how many potatoes

The rules are simple. The winner will be the person who guesses closest to the actual total. If we have multiple winners, you’ll get a coffee sack each (no cash alternative). Prize will be sent to UK or Ireland only. 

Post your best guess into the comments box below before 5.30 today. Judges decision final (although we’ve eaten the evidence!).

Alex

WOMAD – our cup of tea!

posted at 1:05pm, 27 Jul 10 by Alex [ 1 comment ]

Hello again to everyone we met at WOMAD over the last few days – we had a fantastic time and are still counting the votes to see which coffee was your favourite!
To all of you who weren’t there, I hope this gives you a taste of our festival. There are more photos too on Flickr and  still the chance to have a coffee at our Container House at Brecon Jazz Festival, Vintage at Goodwood and the Edinburgh Festival over the next few months. For now though, I thought I’d pull out a few highlights;
We were nicely situated in listening distance from The Big Red Tent, so thanks to pretty much everyone who played there. Sets by Don Letts, Kormac’s Big Band and JazZstePpa helped us keep the coffee flowing, and it was fantastic to meet the guys from Dobet Gnahore who came round for a coffee before taking to the stage. It was great to hear such a range of sounds and styles, the set from Gil Scott Heron on Sunday evening was awesome and Work for Peace went down particularly well with the WOMAD crowd.
Of course great coffee is always a winner at festivals and here was no exception – we wanted you to taste two of our gourmet coffees Machu Picchu and Kilimanjaro and vote for your favourite, not too demanding you’d think, but it did create some conflict & even divide families!
These sisters don’t actually have the same taste either!
Although we were not serving our award winning tea, these Mad Hatters didn’t seem to mind!
More photos here (including the Cafédirect blackboard!), and on Facebook – let us know how the festival was for you, or check out the music hHello again to everyone we met at WOMAD over the last few days – we had a fantastic time and are still counting the votes to see which coffee was your favourite!
To all of you who weren’t there, I hope this gives you a taste of our festival. There are more photos too on Flickr and  still the chance to have a coffee at our Container House at Brecon Jazz Festival, Vintage at Goodwood and the Edinburgh Festival over the next few months. For now though, I thought I’d pull out a few highlights;
We were nicely situated in listening distance from The Big Red Tent, so thanks to pretty much everyone who played there. Sets by Don Letts, Kormac’s Big Band and JazZstePpa helped us keep the coffee flowing, and it was fantastic to meet the guys from Dobet Gnahore who came round for a coffee before taking to the stage. It was great to hear such a range of sounds and styles, the set from Gil Scott Heron on Sunday evening was awesome and Work for Peace went down particularly well with the WOMAD crowd.
Of course great coffee is always a winner at festivals and here was no exception – we wanted you to taste two of our gourmet coffees Machu Picchu and Kilimanjaro and vote for your favourite, not too demanding you’d think, but it did create some conflict & even divide families!
These sisters don’t actually have the same taste either!
Although we were not serving our award winning tea, these Mad Hatters didn’t seem to mind!
More photos here (including the Cafédirect blackboard!), and on Facebook – let us know how the festival was for you, or check out the music hereHello again to everyone we met at WOMAD over the last few days – we had a fantastic time and are still counting the votes to see which coffee was your favourite!
To all of you who weren’t there, I hope this gives you a taste of our festival. There are more photos too on Flickr and  still the chance to have a coffee at our Container House at Brecon Jazz Festival, Vintage at Goodwood and the Edinburgh Festival over the next few months. For now though, I thought I’d pull out a few highlights;
We were nicely situated in listening distance from The Big Red Tent, so thanks to pretty much everyone who played there. Sets by Don Letts, Kormac’s Big Band and JazZstePpa helped us keep the coffee flowing, and it was fantastic to meet the guys from Dobet Gnahore who came round for a coffee before taking to the stage. It was great to hear such a range of sounds and styles, the set from Gil Scott Heron on Sunday evening was awesome and Work for Peace went down particularly well with the WOMAD crowd.
Of course great coffee is always a winner at festivals and here was no exception – we wanted you to taste two of our gourmet coffees Machu Picchu and Kilimanjaro and vote for your favourite, not too demanding you’d think, but it did create some conflict & even divide families!
These sisters don’t actually have the same taste either!
Although we were not serving our award winning tea, these Mad Hatters didn’t seem to mind!
More photos here (including the Cafédirect blackboard!), and on Facebook – let us know how the festival was for you, or check out the music here
Hello again to everyone we met at WOMAD over the last few days – we had a fantastic time and are still counting the votes to see which coffee was your favourite!
Welcome to the Container House!

Welcome to the Container House!

To all of you who weren’t there, I hope this gives you a taste of our festival. There are more photos too on Flickr and  still the chance to have a coffee at our Container House at Brecon Jazz Festival, Vintage at Goodwood and the Edinburgh Festival over the next few months. For now though, I thought I’d pull out a few highlights;

We were nicely situated in listening distance from The Big Red Tent, so thanks to pretty much everyone who played there. Sets by Don Letts, Kormac’s Big Band and JazZstePpa helped us keep the coffee flowing, and it was fantastic to meet the guys from Dobet Gnahore who came round for a coffee before taking to the stage. It was great to hear such a range of sounds and styles, the set from Gil Scott Heron on Sunday evening was awesome and Work for Peace went down particularly well with the WOMAD crowd.

Of course great coffee is always a winner at festivals and here was no exception – we wanted you to taste two of our gourmet coffees Machu Picchu and Kilimanjaro and vote for your favourite, not too demanding you’d think, but it did create some conflict & even divide families!

divided family - apparently they'll be making Machumanjaro tomorrow

divided family - apparently they'll be making Machumanjaro tomorrow

These sisters don’t actually have the same taste either!

score draw 1 all to Kilimanjaro and Machu Picchu

score draw 1 all to Kilimanjaro and Machu Picchu

Although we were not serving our award winning tea, these Mad Hatters didn’t seem to mind!

Only Cafedirect can do this!

Only Cafedirect can do this!

More photos here (including the Cafédirect blackboard!), and on Facebook – let us know how the festival was for you or check out the music here.

Alex

Weekend Of Music, Art, Dance and Coffee?!

posted at 8:30am, 22 Jul 10 by Alex [ 1 comment ]

The Cafédirect Container House is back!

It is currently on the way to Charlton Park for WOMAD festival this weekend where we’ll be giving you the chance to taste the difference and choose your favourite between our award winning Machu Picchu and Kilimanjaro coffees!

Cafedirect Container House next stop WOMAD

Cafedirect Container House next stop WOMAD

I’m heading down there tomorrow equipped with wellies and suncream for the full international experience (tropical storms and intense sunshine by the looks of it!). The lineup looks amazing and hopefully by Friday evening I’ll be able to sneak away and catch  Sierra Maestra, Horace Andy, Ozomatli and round it off with Ska Cubano – followed on Saturday morning by alternate cups of Kilimanjaro and Machu Picchu until I’ve decided my favourite!

Hoping for blue skies at WOMAD

Hoping for blue skies at WOMAD

Come along, say hello, and check it out for yourself – our bright orange Container is near the Big Red Tent, you can’t miss it – and you can also pick up a Cafédirect coffee from the Songlines Magazine team!

Official tickets are still available , and you’ve got until midnight tomorrow to win a pair of tickets here or here. If you can’t make it, we’ll be sharing our experiences on Facebook here.

Alex

Grow it, Eat it!

posted at 1:20pm, 23 Jun 10 by Alex [ 1 comment ]

June has been a great month for our balcony garden – the sunshine and rain have accelerated the growth of our fruit and vegetables – so this month we’ve mainly been eating rocket (when we could pick it before it flowered!), basil, spinach, various types of lettuce, strawberries!), and even some peas which were amazing!

very continental looking lunch n’est pas?

very continental looking lunch n’est ce pas?

I can’t pretend this is all I’ve eaten, but it has been refreshing to step out on to the balcony and while watering the insatiably thirsty plants, pick off some salad and the odd vegetable, and add it to my lunch!

We’re becoming expert growers too learning mroe as we go along. Earlier this month we were lucky enough to be joined by Andrew Ethuru, a producer Director of Cafédirect, and Chairman of Michimikuru’s Fairtrade Premium committee Kenya, who was over for our Board Meeting. Their organisation has been working with Cafédirect in an innovative adaptation to climate change programme. One of the results was for Michimikuru to set up their own ‘multi-story veg gardens’, so he did have some good advice for us.

Andrew tending to the tomatoes loresApparently we had been neglecting our tomato plants and failing to pluck off the ‘suckers’ which are the side shoots between the vertical stem and the main shoot – these are distracting the plant from producing optimum tomatoes, but with Andrew’s help, we’re back on track and will hopefully have very fruitful plants shortly!

Check back next month, I’m hoping for potatoes (how do you know when they’re ready?! – Please post any advice on our Facebook…

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