BirdingGirl

Uh-oh...I was just doing some additional research on shade-grown coffee and I found out that Trader Joe's Shade-Grown Coffee (and other coffee for that matter) does not have any third-party certifications for being shade-grown. That's actually one thing I noticed when I was looking at the label in the store, and when I was reading it again just now. They have the certified organic seal but that's it. To be labeled "Shade-Grown" I expected them to have something else. After posting I visited Christopher's Picus Blog since I noticed in my Blogger Dashboard feed he had just posted about shade-grown coffee yesterday. I've been trying to find time to post about it since I bought the coffee on Tuesday, so I'm not copying you! I promise! Anyway, Christopher was inspired to write about shade-grown coffee after attending a talk by Kenn Kaufman. I've heard a lot of buzz about him and remember wanting to go to the lecture (on migratory birds) but obviously 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_wint...