News from the Front Line
January 3, 2008
The coffee harvest started yesterday (Jan. 2) right on schedule and right in the middle of a terrible wind storm. The electricity in most of the country went off in the afternoon. In Guatemala City the darkness lasted for three hours and in many areas of the country there still is no light. The coffee farm is no exception.
Coffee must be processed within 24 hours of picking or it begins to ferment. Since Moyuta is one of the places where the electricity has not been restored, we are watching the clock with bated breath. We have not been able to start processing and figure that we can only wait until noon today until extreme measures must be taken not to ruin yesterdays picked coffee.
What can be done? Our only alternative would be to resack up all the cherries that are now awaiting processing in large vats and haul them by pickup to a processor who either has electricity in another town, or to a processor that has its own generator. Not good news, but doable.
