well then pay him for 2 chickens. . .

So today went well. I was able to call at a good time and got the Fical de Bohechio on the phone. He said I wasn't to be involved because I wasn't accused of killing the chickens, Antonio was. I said, "I'm responsible for that land and farm." He said it was simple and not to worry, we are still doing our investigation and looking for proof. To which I said, "yes you need proof: witnesses, lab results from poisoned chickens and 54 dead chickens". I went back to Antonio's defense and started to express my frustration in the situation. As I continued, Antonio's soft humble voice greeted me - the phone was pass from the Fical to Antonio. I said when you are done please call me.

He did.

Turns out they don't have proof. Then they said that the damages must be paid and Antonio should pay for at least 2 chickens. Antonio said, "I'm not paying you one peso". Said Neighbor was apparently pretty irritated. The Local Mayor didn't show so they plan to have another meeting. . .

3 + what = 54

There are many things I'm not good at, math is one of them, but I can solve the above equation.

The chicken saga continues. Last I understood, The Chicken Incident of 2009 was on hold until I could physically defend Antonio and myself in "court". So I told Antonio that he should, per direct instructions to me, go down to Bohechio and put out an order on the remaining chickens. Said Neighbor bought a new rooster and has placed it with his remaining chickens. With a legal order in place, Said Neighbor would have to do something about his chickens (funny, so many survived the poisoning).

Antonio was greeted with a simple but hostile statement from the Regional Mayor, "if you weren't traveling alone you would spend the night here for killing all those chickens". Here is a holding cell in Bohechio. Antonio stood his ground and defended us. There are, to my knowledge, 3 dead chickens as evidence that showed up in the hands of the Said Neighbor, however they insist there are 54.

Tomorrow there is a meeting with Antonio, Said Neighbor, Local Mayor and Regional Mayor. Yes, that is 3 against 1. I will be there in spirit. From my legal council, no laws have been upheld in this process and no real evidence exists. The 3 people against us are all family.

I talked to Antonio tonight. He is sick as a dog with a cold, fever, chills, and congested. He gave his word in the prior meeting and will up hold that. Please note the trip from Los Frios to Bohechio is an exhausting 2 hour trip in the back of a truck that doesn't cover 10 feet of asphalt, but only rutted and rocky trail.

3 + family ties = 54

what friends are for

Abbot Placid the is one of the most virtuous and wonderful men I have ever met. Hence, when he gives me advice I pay close attention. He is a humble, brilliant monk at the Belmont Abbey Monastery. One time during my Peace Corps service he accompanied an alternative spring break trip from Belmont Abbey College. The students funded and built a bank for the savings co-op: COMPASEMUCE in Los Frios.

I expressed my worry about this one Dominican guy who always gave me dirty looks and wouldn't shake my hand or look me in the eye. In Dominican culture, this is beyond passive aggression, this is out right aggressive hateful behavior. He simply said, "Byron, if everyone is your friend what do you stand for? Some people will not like you because of some of the things you do, regardless if they are good things."

As the "Chicken Incident" continues, I have lost "friends"; Antonio has made enemies*. The neighbor who I've been dealing with for the last 2 years has strong family ties with people who have political power. Those people still say hi to me. They don't even greet Antonio any more, and haven't for almost a year, since the last chicken poisoning. I have no intention to slander said neighbor, but only to relate the current events on the farm.

I have a pretty good network in that region of the DR. So I called some one who might know the Fical - Regional Mayor because the Local Mayor is family of the said neighbor and is not upholding the law. Bingo, one phone call later, I have ear with the Fical now. He has put the situation on hold till I go down there. At least they won't touch Antonio, at least they are being reasonable. I still have a lawyer on call, I will still cross my fingers that nothing happens to my farm in retaliation.

As some of my bridges are tested and strengthened, others are marked for destruction. My solace comes from Abbot's words. It is natural to want to be everyone's friend, but it isn't natural to be everyone's friend.

*If I haven't made it clear, Antonio is one of the best friends I could ever have. He is willing to draw lines in the dirt and stand up for us.

who done it?

So I get a panicked phone call from Antonio a few weeks ago. "Byron, the chickens showed up dead I'm being accused of poisoning them!" Last year about the same time, as the black beans were flowering, Antonio had enough of the a neighbors chickens roaming my farm and eating everything in sight, so he poisoned them after countless warnings. I told the said neighbor a couple times directly, still he did nothing to control his chickens. Last year I paid for the chickens: 5,000DR pesos ($140).

On my last trip I saw the said neighbor in the road as I walked out of town because of rains kept the trucks from running. I told him, control the chickens or I will.

He did. I get mad about once a year. My fuse is really really long, but if it goes clear the room. The lieutenant that had me on the phone didn't think this gringo would be quite so aggressive. It was simple. Mr. Lieutenant says, "the owner of the chickens needs you to pay him they are dead, I have them here". I responded, "The owner has every right to be paid for the chickens from the person that killed them." I ask, "who killed the chickens?" Ummm I have 3 chickens and 1 rooster poisoned here. At this point I'm at 6000 RPM. "Who KILLED the CHICKENS?!" OK, deep breath. "DID YOU GO DOWN TO MY FARM AND SEE THE DEAD CHICKENS WITHIN MY BARBWIRE?" "No, they showed up on said neighbors hand". Approaching 9000 RPM. "OK WHEN YOU FINISH YOUR INVESTIGATION AND CAN ACCUSE ME OF POISONING THOSE CHICKENS, THEN YOU CONTACT ME." He realized he would make no progress and handed the phone back to Antonio.

Now I have a lawyer involved, several community members and it is not over yet. Had I killed the chickens, I would pay con gusto. Antonio and I discussed in mid May that we would use a shot-gun to take care of the chickens if they continued to do damage to the beans, bananas, and lettuce. This is obviously more than a couple dead chickens. This is about my family and about precedent.

1) Don't fuck with my Dominican family
2) I will not pay said neighbor a single peso because that sets the stage for him to take advantage of me later

Now you know one example of what its like to own a farm abroad.

Chapter 2

Friends always ask about the farm. I always tell them it is beautiful and things are good. In true farmer-speak I then often tell them how is doesn't make money and may never make money. Sometimes I tell them my new joke, "What do you call a hole in the ground you throw money into? -a farm."

So please excuse my normal response and allow room for a little more optimism. I realized over dinner with some friends recently that I don't usually volunteer my best stories, unless I'm prompted by someone else to tell said story. So lets pretend that you prompted me to tell you about cooking with firewood, trying to kill chickens, and seeing Lin. If you believe in leading through service, this story might make sense.

I spent 2 of my 3 days on the farm cooking with firewood. There are several crops currently planted on my farm: bananas, plantains, yucca, taro root (all food for work days and intermediate shade for coffee), coffee (rather obvious), lettuce, carrots, eggplant, beets, black beans (Antonio's veggie crops) and taiota (most recent permanent addition). When there are just a few workers and people need food to work then it makes more sense to not bring some one just to cook. The veggie plot (where the garlic failed) needed to be cleared, tilled and planted with lettuce. So I take an overnight lay-over in Miami, a taxi, a bus, and a motorcycle to get to Los Frios the same day I arrived so that I can cook with fire wood. . . leading through service. On my way down the mountain to the farm I did the math: two paid workers + Antonio + me = 3 workers and one cook. I suppose it is up to me to cook today, I said to Antonio, he smiled and said yes. I don't like cooking with firewood. The novelty doesn't exist on small trips like these. When I have 6 weeks in the DR, coffee drying and two crews picking coffee etc, cooking is a low impact filler for a day. When I have just a few days, I want to sweat and grunt my way through my farm days, basically play in the dirt.
I pealed green bananas with my machete, built the fire, washed the dishes, seasoned the food, and fried salami. Then when it was lunch time, I added beans to a big bowl, added more wood to the fire, prepared the seasonings, added the seasonings, added rice more wood then, washed dishes. Day two repeat. I felt like a smoke breathing dragon by day two and had a productive cough. How to women do this every day of their lives? My lower back was sore because there is no sink or counter to work on, my hands stained black with banana sap. Like most things, I did learn from it. It felt good to become better at pealing green bananas, if felt good to serve other people technically below me on the totem pole. I had less patients for it on day two, which means I still have lessons to learn.

I look to July with optimism. The 250lbs of black beans we have planted should be harvested, now will the rains be untimely? will the price fall through the floor? will the bugs eat more than their share of the harvest? probably. Will slugs destroy Antonio's (Byron financed) lettuce crop? Probably. Will the $850 I invested into the taiota pay me back? Probably not. At least taiota is only planted once, requires almost no maintenance and can be transported on mule after no processing (sounds like the best crop ever!). The market price isn't wonderful, but at least is doesn't really require many more inputs. I planted about 10 taiota my self and Tongo (Antonio's son) dug the holes for me. This is farmer optimism. Note my new joke up top.

To be honest it seems like I'm on Chapter 2 of my farm story. The farm has enough crops in motion that one might actually pay for itself fully (this would be a first). We are planting pigeon peas as a new type of additional intermediate shade. So come this December, costs should drop and there might even be a few months that don't require me sending money. But don't worry I'm not actually expecting any of this to go according to plan.

Chickens:
I have over 1,000 banana trees. I didn't even eat one single ripe banana from my farm on this trip. While I was cooking, the neighbors chickens (the chickens we eliminated once already;) came by three times looking for food. When I would see them, I would slowly pick up rock about the size of a golf ball and . . . throw it as hard as possible at their little heads. Please let me explain what chickens do to vegetables and other crops, like bananas, beans and lettuce. Chickens that are not feed corn look for food where they find it. A simple bar wire fence means nothing to them. They eat the flowers of the beans, all 250lbs of my beans should be flowering within the next 4-7 days. They eat ripe bananas, their lame wings can get them to the tops of banana trees. They peck at fresh young lettuce. Furthermore, we have warned the owner of said chickens several times to control his flock. On this trip, I told him personally, in my best Clint Eastwood. "When I say no chickens on my land I mean no chickens". If I find them on my land again, I will eliminate them. I have a friend that might lend me a shot gun so I can make pollo guisado next lunch time. . .
Lin:
Lin is my newest hero. He is doing so so well. He has 10 metal rods in this right leg holding shin together. I can't tell you how much he glowed when he saw me. I'm sure he saw my radiance too. This man of 65 has broken more horses and mules than most cowboys in a rodeo. He has lead red-faced community meetings calling out the truth. He has been a community leader for years in Los Frios, plenty talk smack about him but never to his face. Father of 15 kids. A man of his word. He said I am more son to him than his son that lives in New York because of my constant phone calls and wiring money to him post accident. Lin has accepted that he may never walk again. There is no such thing as handicap access in a dirt road community. If the break doesn't heal he will have his right food amputated, until he knows otherwise he will be a one footed fraction of the man he used to be. People have poured out to see him. They have sent money. Spent time. Given what they could to see Lin get better. I wonder what those that talk so much smack about him would receive in the same situation? I wonder what I would receive in that situation? Some day I should tell you blog readers Lin and my first real interaction (I thought he was going to shoot me). I should also tell you about Zuna, his sister and translating during a biopsy of a tumor on her neck when she was willing to endure with barely any anesthetic. And her husband Nilo, one of those uber-wise millionare Dominican farmers. But not tonight.

a smidge more press

Greenville News: Coffee & Crema

a little more press

Coffee Review: May 2009 - Espresso: Tasting Super-Heroes by Byron Holcomb

Coffee Review: May 2009 - American Espresso Blends: Boutique and Bigger by Kenneth Davids; reviews by Kenneth Davids and Byron Holcomb

When I first entered the coffee industry, my homework from my first trainer was to read Ken's book Coffee: A Guide to Buying, Brewing and Enjoying. In short, Ken told me the coffee story for the first time in 2006, which provided the frame work for me to learn about coffee. With each new sector of coffee that I explore, I build on the frame he illustrated. Now I have completed another chapter with Ken. It was an honor to score 32 espressos with him.