Shade-Grown Coffee- Do you buy it?

Anyone participating in ProjectFeederWatch can attest to the fact that they send you a lot of stuff in the mail. Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a lot of other projects going on that they want you to know about. I got an entire newsletter (Birdscope) devoted to neotropical birds, and of course it promoted buying shade-grown coffee. My favorite part of the newsletter was Dave Barry's quote, which appeared in the From the Editor section:

Several years ago, in an interview with humor writer Dave Barry, I mentioned “Neotropical migrants.” He was unfamiliar with the term, and said, “What?! Not any old tropics are good enough for them—those birds have to have Neotropics?”

I loved reading his syndicated column in the Sunday paper, and I think it's very cool that Dave Barry is an avid birder. I see him pop up now and again in birding news sources/blogs.

If you don't get Birdscope you can read the full article here: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/Publications/Birdscope/from_editor_winter2009.html

Anyway, back to shade-grown coffee. So this issue of Birdscope succeeded at educating me to buy shade-grown coffee, but I wasn't fully convinced to buy it yet. There was a lot of information in there but I was most concerned about the logistics of it- where could I buy it and how much did it cost? Ok- honestly, price was the biggest concern I had.

I forgot about it for a week or so until I randomly did my week's shopping at Trader Joe's. I used to shop there a lot when I lived in Brighton and Watertown, but now that I'm in Bridgewater, BJ's and Market Basket are where I end up. I don't even know where the closest Trader Joe's is down here...Anyway, since I still work in Watertown it's easy enough for me to hit up the West Newton one on the way home.

I was flying through the store, grabbing only what I could fit into my basket (that's my strategy to not buy too much but it usually ends up with me walking lop-sided, weight down by my 50 lb basket...), when I came to the coffee shelf. I usually buy the French Roast but then I started comparing prices and seeing what else would be smart to buy. THEN I noticed the shade-grown coffee all the way at the bottom of the shelf with the other premium coffees. I picked up the container and decided to refresh my memory on why buying shade-grown coffee is important:

Over the last twenty years many large coffee producers have switched from shaded plantations to coffee grown under full sun. In so doing they have eliminated trees that serve as a critical habitat for many species of migratory birds and other rainforest wildlife. The growing of certified shade grown coffee beans does not contribute to the depletion of the mature rainforest canopy of Central and South America.

We now offer Trader Joe's Shade Grown coffee made from 100% organic beans grown without using herbicides or pesticides. It is French roasted dark for a deliciously rich full-bodied flavor.

Then I looked at the price- $7.99 for 13 oz. Hmm...this was going to be a tough decision. I want to help the neotropical birds, but at the same time I need to be budget-conscious. Finally I decided what the heck- if it tastes good I'll keep buying it.

Did it pass the taste test? Absolutely! I've loved coffee since I was 13-14 or so , drinking just regular Folgers and Maxwell House, and when I studied abroad in France I expanded my coffee-drinking to espresso and very strong coffee. My host family would make a regular-sized pot of coffee that was almost as strong as espresso itself--my love of strong coffee began! The Trader Joe's Shade-Grown coffee is a French roast, as described above, and it is full-bodied and smooth without tasting bitter. Best of all, since it tastes delicious and lives up to its premium coffee pricing--it is worth every single penny!

Difference Between Grackles and Starlings

I saw a sad sight today during my lunchtime jog—a dead grackle. Or was it a starling? I'll get to that in a minute. I was making my way down to the trail along the Charles River when I saw what I thought was an injured bird in the middle of the road. It was just sitting there and I figured it was just stunned or maybe had an injured wing. The bird probably didn't have much of a chance, but the least I could move it out of the road. As I got closer to the bird I saw it had its mouth open and then I realized the gruesome truth—it was dead and was frozen in that position. I just got shivers thinking about it. The poor thing. Anyway, so it got me to thinking 'What is the difference between grackles and starlings?' I use the two interchangeably and haven't really made an effort to sort it out. Until now. I like to use All About Birds from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as an online resource. The site is comprehensive and easy to use. (I also really like the 'Cool ...

Using Birds to Control Tomato Hornworms

Here's a lovely macro shot of a tomato hornworm caterpillar taking a little break from gorging himself on my tomatoes. Ever seen one before? They're huge and pretty startling to come across when you're pruning your tomato plants. They blend right in, until you accidentally touch one- hopefully not with the horned end! This picture was taken near the end of the season so I wasn't SO upset, but I definitely want to prevent hornworms for next season. I started doing some research on how to get rid of tomato hornworms and the good news is you don't need to use insecticides or crazy home remedies- birds will do the work for you! This great website I found- the Yardener has a whole section about insect pests in the vegetable garden. According to the site, feeding birds year-round will help you control the tomato hornworm problem in your garden. For bird lovers, this shouldn't be a chore at all. Just keep your feeders full with desirable seed like black-oil sunflower s...

Large-billed Crow pictures from Japan

These large-billed crow pictures come courtesy of my work colleague Phil who lives in Japan. He told me he had some great Japanese crow pictures, and the first thing I noticed about the bird was the large bill. I started doing some research to come up with the correct crow name. First I thought it was a carrion crow since those are a common type of Japanese crow, but the bill wasn't big enough. Then I found pictures of the large-billed crow and those were a match! Duh- "large bill"- it couldn't have been any simpler. These crows are also called jungle crows, but most of the birding sites call them large-billed crows. Phil said they can get really big, which I believe since American crows are huge sometimes. I have vivid memories of standing my in my parents Cape Cod kitchen doing dishes and getting spooked by something huge in my periphery on the deck. All it ever was was a giant crow, but really they can be scary when they get so big! Here are some interesting thing...

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