Dean's Beans Free Trade Coffee & Gifts For Christmas

I haven't written anything for a while and our next gig isn't till New Years Eve First Night Celebration in Hazelton, PA. So I thought I'd take the time to put in a plug for our friends at Dean's Beans in Orange, MA. Remember fresh coffee makes a great gift for Santa and all his helpers. Dean sells organically grown free trade coffee as well as some unique accessories and gift items, including these reusable shopping bags made from recycled coffee bean bags. The bags are hand made by a group of Somali refugees living in Springfield, MA. Dean's ships pretty quickly by UPS, so I'm sure there is still plenty of time to order before Christmas. We just received a box of Marrakesh Express organic free trade coffee beans from Dean's and the UPS driver commented on how he enjoyed the aroma of the freshly roasted beans while doing his route. Maybe a bag of beans will find it's way into his stocking.

Homegrown Yarn Band?

We're really looking forward to our show at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY, next weekend. I'll be writing more about that next week. But I want to share some of the happenings leading up to the big show. While arranging details for the show with Caffe manager Sarah Craig, Georgianne mentioned that Erica had written the cover story for the October issue of Yarn Forward magazine. When Sarah heard that Erica was a rising star in the knitting world, she suggested having a knitting circle before the show. We thought that was a great idea! To give the knitters an extra incentive to come out to the show, Georgianne and Erica came up with the idea of, at sometime during the evening, having a drawing for a knitter's basket. The basket will be filled with goodies, including a brand new, original, Fiddleknits hat pattern along with the Knit Picks yarn, and set of handcrafted pewter buttons, (made by me!) needed to complete the project. We didn't want the non-knitters to feel left out so we thought we should also give away a non-knitting basket. The second basket will include, among other things, some Homegrown String Band merchandise and a sample bag of our favorite organic fair trade coffee. A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about fair trade coffee from Dean's Beans; I can't say enough about the good people who run this great company! When we called to order the coffee, the good folks at Dean's kindly offered to donate a full pound of freshly roasted, shade grown, fair trade, organic coffee beans. We received the coffee today. So the lucky winner will get The Homegrown String Band CD "Ragged but Right" featuring our almost hit song "The Man Who Dressed in Black" and a pound of "Ring of Fire" coffee: "A dark, smokin' blend of high mountain beans from the active volcanic soils of Indonesia, Timor, and Papua-New Guinea. Eye-opening!" So come see us at Caffe Lena on Saturday, January 23rd, and enjoy a great evening of knitting and acoustic roots music at America's longest continuously operating coffeehouse.

P.S. Here's a link to Erica's latest post on her Fiddleknits blog: 

 "Help for Haiti"  

Photo by Rick Jackofsky

String Band - Powered by Dean's Beans

My name is Rick and I'm addicted to coffee. I start every day with a cup of fresh ground organically grown coffee. I'm not talking about four dollar a cup boutique blends. I grind my own with a hand cranked coffee mill, I don't pay ridiculous prices, and the money I pay isn't ending up in the pockets of some huge corporate agricultural conglomerate. The supplier for my habit is Dean's Beans, run by a fellow from Massachusetts by the name of Dean Cyon. This coffee crusader travels the world in support of social justice and ecological responsibility, searching for the perfect cup of certified organic fair trade shade grown coffee all the while teaching third world indigenous farmers how to use organic farming methods and market their product. All the coffees sold by Dean's Beans are the product of sustainable agriculture methods and the growers are fairly paid for their crop. Dean has documented some of his travels in his book "Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee," which won an award from the Independent Publishers Association for best travel book. This is a five star company that provides a quality product at a fair price (mostly $7-$8 a lb.) while doing the right thing.

"We only purchase beans from small farmers and cooperatives, largely made up of indigenous peoples working hard to maintain their culture and lifestyles in a hostile world. We do not buy beans from large estates and farms. We've been there, and have seen the conditions of chronic poverty and malnutrition within which these farms produce those other coffees. Look in your kitchen—do you know where your beans come from?"

Dean has a wonderful selection of light, dark, light/dark blends, espresso, decaf, and flavored coffees, all with inventive names like Ahab's Revenge, Obama Rama, Aztec Two Step, Monkey Knife Fight and Rattle Snake Gutter Brew. Dean's coffee is always freshly roasted and packed with flavor, but if you want an even fresher brew you can  buy unroasted green beans and the equipment to roast them at home one cup at a time!

"Dean's Beans only purchases beans from villages and importers that are committed to Fair Trade and working towards better economic opportunity, improved health and nutrition in the villages. We are proud to be a founding member of Cooperative Coffees, Inc., the first roaster's cooperative created to buy direct, Fair Trade coffee from farmer coops, and make it available to any small roaster who wants to participate in the Fair Trade movement. We are also active members of the Fair Trade Federation, an international organization of dedicated Fair Traders (no poseurs allowed)."

Dean also sells organic fair trade sugar and chocolate. His chocolate covered java drops have kept me awake on many an overnight road trip allowing me to drive through the night so I could get home to my morning cup of Rattle Snake Gutter Brew.

Organic, fair trade, shade grown coffee makes a great holiday gift.

The Homegrown String Band is powered by Dean's Beans
You should be too!