Training Farmers in Coffee Tree Management

Last week, 20 farmers joined our Coffee Tree Pruning Training to learn how to properly take care of their coffee trees. The training was led by Mr. Birdosh Lama, who lives in Jaisithok, Kavre and has been working in this field for 25 years and has over 2000 coffee trees in his farm. He facilitates coffee based training all over Nepal. He is an inspiration to all of the farmers who are striving to grow their coffee production and make a living as farmers in rural Nepal. 

This training is part of our Expanding Sustainable Agriculture Program, a 3-year vision to grow our agricultural support to more than 500 farmers across the region. In addition to these trainings, we also provide on-site technical support as well as coffee processing support, including the creation of 3 new coffee processing centers.

A group of women coffee farmers participating in the Coffee Pruning and Management Training

Our training focused on the techniques of Coffee Pruning and Management, including how to cut unnecessary branches of the trees in order to cultivate healthier and more productive trees. We also shared best practices for pest management, frost prevention and . The training was divided into 2 days – one theoretical and one practical.

On the first day, shortly after the participants introduced themselves, our theoretical training session began with a lot of enthusiasm and positive energy. Mr. Birdosh Lama shared his experience with the farmers on how coffee pruning can increase the life expectancy of the tree. Coffee pruning can be mistaken as just cutting the branches of a plant, but without proper knowledge, pruning can actually cause great damage to the plant. He further explained about the types of branches and how branches need to be cut selectively. As plants grow, they can become too crowded and suffer loss of production. He further explained about pest management, including how to identify pests and diseases and how to handle and treat them in an organic way to create healthy trees. Proper pruning and pest management increases the health of the tree and ultimately leads to greater harvests.

Farmers participate in the 2nd day of the training with practical lessons in pruning and tree management

On the second day, the training focused on practical knowledge. We went to Golma Kafle’s coffee farm, one of the most active coffee farms in Takure. Less than a 10 minute walk from our camp, it was easily accessible and a perfect place for Birdosh to show us the ways that a coffee tree can be pruned. Coffee pruning requires you to understand and listen to what your tree is trying to say. You need to communicate with your plant and see what your coffee needs. Instead of just blindly cutting your plant you need to understand and ask yourself how and why you are pruning the plant. 

Farmers meeting with trainer Birdosh Lama at the end of the 2-day training

At the end of the day, upon completing the training, farmers shared their gratitude for the new knowledge and for the information that Birdosh had shared with them. In addition to the knowledge, each participant also received one set of pruning tools, including clippers and a small saw. We hope that these tools will support them to better manage their coffee trees and increase their coffee harvest every year. We look forward to hosting more trainings like this in Takure and communities across the region.

22 Moments from 2022

Take a look at our 22 best moments from 2022!

2022 was a big year for us — we completed our biggest community project and reopened volunteer programs! We are so grateful to all of the donors, volunteers, and community partners that made this amazing list of 22 moments possible. After 7 years of doing this work in Takure, we are still so inspired and committed to our mission — to connect people to themselves, to one another and to the Earth through conscious, effective and positive service work in rural Sindhupalchok. Thank you for helping to make this happen!

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1. a complete, new water system for takure

2022 was a big year for us as we completed the Takure Water Project! After nearly 5 years of discussion, 2 full years of community mobilization and government coordination, and 1 year of fundraising, it is amazing to see the 96 household taps bring water directly to every community household. We are so grateful to everyone who made this water project possible.

2. 800 kgs of coffee picked and processed

Local farmers in Takure and the surrounding villages harvested more than 800 kilograms (or 1760 pounds) of red coffee cherry this year. After 5 years of planting coffee alongside these farmers, what a joy it was to see them happy with their harvests. We hope these harvests continue to grow year after year and that local livelihoods are supported by this additional income.

There is still time to get Takure Coffee in your own home!

We would love to have you try this delicious, specialty coffee that was grown, harvested and processed by farmers in Takure. Become a monthly donor before 2023, and we will send you a 250 gram bag of freshly roasted coffee this January!

3. The school mushroom project

Recently, we partnered with the Simpalkavre Secondary School, about 1.5 hours away, to teach class 8 students how to cultivate oyster mushrooms. The students were taught the theory of mushroom cultivation and then we worked with them to pasteurize straw and prepare bags of oyster mushrooms. Each student will take home and care for this bag of mushrooms for 4-6 weeks until their family eats or sells the oyster mushrooms.

4. we built a 2nd dome!

And hosted our 2nd ever Earthbag Construction Training Courses led by Mariana Jimenez. The 12 day course taught the 8 participants how to build a dome from foundation to roof plus some plastering too. As a result, we have a beautiful dome that is 4.2 meter in diameter and will happily house our long term staff and volunteers at camp.

5. twelve (12) classrooms painted

We are still brightening up rural classrooms in Nepal, supporting students to have more inspiring and engaging learning spaces. In just 4 days a team of 8 volunteers works to make 2 school classrooms for young kids beautiful, colorful and fun for learning. It is a transformative experience for all and all of our volunteers leave the projects feeling tired, but proud to see the immediate impact of their work.

6. women weaving chakatis

Sanu Kanchi Rana Magar (top left photo) is a weaver among weavers. Her hands never stop and her smile never fades. Over the past two years she along with a handful of other local women have woven hundreds of products now featured all of over the world by her customers (donors and volunteers). Recently the women’s small coaster sized “chakatis” were used in a wedding in Greece (pictured bottom left with Dolma Tamang). This was also the first year we worked with our local artisans to offer traditional weaving workshops. Sanu Kanchi Rana Magar and Dolma Tamang along with our community liaison, Narayan Mama, taught more than 65 volunteers how to weave rice straw into a coaster sized “chakati”.

7. we dug 12,000 meters of trench

To complete the water project in Takure, we dug more than 12 kilometers of trench to lay the pipe underground, that is nearly 7.5 miles. Basically a lot of work, that was only made possible by our donors like Drew Marshall, Shane McKenna, Wheeling 2 Help’s MyQuest volunteer teams, and of course the community of Takure.

8. our chinese cabbage grew bigger than kumari

Our garden spaces have really began to flourish over the past couple of years thanks to all the organic compost our Agriculture team produces via humanure, vermicompost and traditional forms. This year’s chinese cabbage grew so big, nearly as big as our Agriculture Program Coordinator, Kumari Bomjan. As a result of having such a plentiful harvest, we chopped up batches of kimchi to eat. Deliciously fermented!

9. robotic engineers in training

Our youth program partnered with Bikash Deshar for a program on “Designing and Building Simple Robots”. More than 40 high school students from Nawalpur and Aiselu Kharka schools participated in the challenges and by the end of the workshop could build simple robots from scratch using cardboard, recycled paper, super glue, some handy gadgets and batteries. The robots could jump, dance, draw and one was a hopping frog.

10. we canned sita miaju’s tasty achars

We love traditional Nepali food, the diversity, flavors, spices and local ingredients. One of our favorite aspects is the achar or pickle or fermented chutney famous in Thakali cuisine. Sita Miaju, our very own Narayan Mama’s wife, is one of the best makers of achar in Takure. She heats the oil and spices on her fire stove and uses a traditional slate stone to hand grind the ingredients. And now visiting volunteers can take Sita’s achar home with them.

11. breathtaking sunsets & himalayan views

After 7 years of being in Takure, the mountain sunsets and walks through these mid hills of the Himalayas never get old. The orange fiery sunsets and morning sunrise glows as well as the endless rice terraces make us grateful day after day.

12. school field trips to our conscious “camp”

We led 3 different site visits of local high school students to our Camp to teach about sustainability, organic agriculture and environmental science. The students were toured around our site learning from each of our program teams and doing activities like planting mushrooms, visiting the earthbag Dome and discussing ways to be environmentally aware and more sustainable.

13. More, MORE MUSHROOMS!

For the past 2 years, we have been partnering with local farmers to successfully cultivate both shiitake and oyster mushrooms for added income generating activities. We have trained more than 70 farmers and provided both technical and labor support to 25 farmers. As a result, we have also gotten pretty good at growing mushrooms at camp, such that we’ve been eating oyster mushrooms everyday!

14. white water rafting!

Every year we try and take a staff trip to a place new and full of new experiences. This year was one for the books as we went to Sekute Beach in Sindhupalchok, about 2.5 hours away from Takure and went white water rafting for Holi festival. It was hilarious and really pushed the adventure limits of our staff as many of them do not know how to swim or have ever been in a boat before. Fun times were had and we are grateful to these team bonding experiences with our one of a kind local staff.

15. local hikes to Gupha

The winter days are full of clear mountain views and sunny skies. One of our favorite local hikes is to Gupha Dada, or the Hill of Caves where rolling grassy fields meet the Langtang Mountain Range. It is about a 3 hour hike up to Gupha Danda and a 2 hour hike down, so a planned picnic and siesta at the top is a must. 

16. orphanage visits with lots of love!

The local Mother Sister Everest Children’s Home was established in 2015 after the earthquake to support children who’s families had members pass away in the devastating earthquake. We partnered with the Vita Association in 2018 to build a 12 room orphanage with kitchen and play room. The children’s home has 37 children living and staying in a safe and healthy environment. Our youth program leads activities at the orphanage to encourage play and also engage students in creative and academic subjects.

17. Shitake mushroom farming

This year we are partnered with 3 local farmers to build out full size mushroom farms with 100+ producing shiitake logs each. We are utilizing local bamboo and treating it to make a mushroom structure for each farm, supporting the farmer to cut trees appropriate for mushroom cultivation and providing 50% subsidy on the cost of mushroom spores. Additional to this, we are providing technical and labor support. It is an exciting time in the program and our Agriculture Program Coordinator, Kumari Bomjan is excited for local farmers to see the full income generating potential of these delicious and vitamin D rich mushrooms. 

18. farmer field trip to a coffee farm in kavre

Over the past 5 years of planting coffee trees with local farmers, we have learned a lot. Mostly we have learned the importance of showing a good example and allowing farmers to meet other successful farmers like Birdos Lama, a farmer in Kavre that has been growing coffee, macadamia, avocado and other fruits for the past 20 years. Birdos’s farm is full of inspiration and the 42 farmers left feeling ready to plant more trees and continue cultivating new crops for future generations of Sindhuplachok.

19. LEARNING ABOUT LOCAL herbs & AYURVEDA!

Orion Haas, co-Founder and Director of Conscious Impact, began studying Ayurvedic medicine during COVID-19. Ayurveda is the traditional medicine practice from India and Nepal that dates back thousands of years. Thanks to his passion for holistic medicine and Narayan Mama’s connection to elders in the community, they have started collecting local herbs and making medicines, like these “dry cough” herbal packed medicine balls.

20. The afterschool program expanded

Our model afterschool program at Takure Primary School is still in session and creating spaces for students to have creative and extracurricular activities. This year, our program expanded to a new primary school about 30 minutes away, Bhimsen Primary School. Last year we completed a painting project with Bhimsen and then the school principal requested more support. We showed our afterschool implementation plan and offered a training in how to implement an afterschool program on their own. After this training, the school conducted a series of sessions on their own, Conscious Impact disbursed our first ever Afterschool Program Grant to Bhimsen School. The grant has stages and implementation requirements, but we are happy to report the school has completed the first stage of implementation, and as a result have received sets of materials to continue running successful afterschool sessions.

21. we made a ton of compost!

Our agroforestry and reforestation program continued working with farmers to plant high market value fruit and coffee trees and we discovered a shortage of quality, local compost. Thus, we began producing compost with farmers right in their fields where they’ve planted trees. Our compost program worked with more than 15 farmers and trained more than 30 in techniques for improved compost production. This organic fertilizer will make the land and the trees happy.

22. we celebrated all the holidays!

After 2 years of COVID, we were excited to finally celebrate the festival season in October with the local community and also host them to celebrate our festivals too. Our lead engineer, Mariana Jimenez, always makes a traditional pinata for the local kids on Christmas morning, this year they came ready for the candy and fun!

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thank you for your continued support and love. OUR STAFF, volunteers and community partners are so grateful.

Our work is for the long term, and we are looking for donors to support our vision for multi-generational positive impact. If you would like to continue to support our work and see updates like this, please consider joining our monthly donor team, the Sustainers.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you and your loved ones from our team in takure!

A Fall Season Update

Happy Fall, happy thanksgiving!

Today, and every day, we are grateful for you for your support of our work here at Conscious Impact.

As winter approaches, we are keeping warm around the fire at night, enjoying the beautiful mountain views in the morning and working hard throughout the day. Our team has been busy this fall, and we have been so grateful to finally have our volunteer programs back!

You can read updates from all of our work (and celebrations!) below. If you would like to come join the work yourself, or know someone who does, we invite you to visit! You can also support our ongoing work by becoming a monthly donor. We are actively looking for more monthly donors to support our programs, and as a bonus, if you sign up this year, we will send you a bag of our delicious Takure coffee. We are so grateful for all the support from around the globe that makes our work possible.

THE WATER PROJECT IS COMPLETE!

After more than one year of work, the new water system delivers clean water to 95 homes 24 hours per day!

This system upgrade was a huge effort: 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) of trench dug and pipe laid, collective community action towards a common goal, and $25,000 (USD) of support from our donors. The best part is that each family now has equal and equitable access to sufficient water, relieving years of tension caused by scarce water resources.

Every time we visit a community household for dinner and wash our hands at their newly built tap, we are inspired by how community projects like this one make the lives of rural communities stronger and more resilient.

This project was such a success that the neighboring community has asked for support to build another water system. Look for more updates to come…

volunteers are back!

Our volunteer programs are running again and our community partners are so grateful! There is nothing quite like the cultural exchange and happiness our volunteer programs bring.

This month, our camp hosted 30 volunteers for our Tihar and Dome Workshop programs. We look forward to running a holiday program in December, a Natural Building course in January, and volunteer programs in February - July 2023.

Learn more and sign up at www.consciousimpact.org/volunteer and https://www.consciousimpact.org/intro-to-natural-building

dome #2

Our 2nd earthbag dome course is underway!

Did you know that more than 33% of carbon emissions worldwide are due to the construction industry? We are excited to share this sustainable construction technique to local, national, and international builders, learners, masons, engineers and architects.

This dome course will result in our 2nd dome at camp to host long term staff and team members. It also allows us to showcase how beautiful sustainable construction can be and inspire the next generation to build better for the environment.

rice harvest

We joined farmers to harvest literally tons of rice!

We love this tradition. We are grateful to local farmers for helping us connect to this land and to our food source.

This annual tradition of manually harvesting rice takes whole villages working together for a common goal. It is a beautiful process that has been done for generations in a stunning stage of golden terraces surrounded by the Himalayan mountains.

school painting project

We recently completed our 14th school painting project! This program is very popular among local schools seeking to beautify their otherwise dark classrooms with colorful visual learning aids.

Our volunteers and youth program staff travel across the district to stay 3-4 nights in a home stay and support the local school to have brighter, more educational classrooms.

It is amazing to watch the classrooms transform in just a few days, and the local students love participating and laughing throughout the project. At the end, students gather to read the letters and numbers off the wall, putting the work to immediate use.

farmers’ 1st avocado harvest!

The guacamole game this fall has been spectacular!

For years, we have worked hard with local farmers to increase access to fruit, nut and coffee trees to support more sustainable and diverse income for their families. Since 2015, we have collaborated with more than 200 local farmers to plant 3850 fruit, nut, medicine, or forest trees. Similarly to the experience with coffee trees, farmers are getting to finally taste the fruit of their labor.

In the photo on the right, a local farmer, Buddha Tamang, and his grandson, Sonam, show off their delicious avocado harvest, the 1st harvest of 17 kilograms since planting avocados trees with us 4 years ago.

school mushroom project

Recently we partnered with the Simpalkavre Secondary School, about 1.5 hours away, to teach class 8 students how to cultivate oyster mushrooms.

The students were taught the theory of mushroom cultivation and then we worked with them to pasteurize straw and prepare bags of oyster mushrooms. Each student will take home and care for this bag of mushrooms for 4-6 weeks until their family eats or sells the oyster mushrooms.

our earthbag pond

Remember when we began treating bamboo? Well we have been treating bamboo using a submersion technique with boron for 2.5 years and finally we now have a permanent pond. The best part? It’s made from earthbags, our lead engineer, Mariana Jimenez’s favorite sustainable building material.

The pond has since been plastered with cement and waterproofing agent, filled with the boron solution and more than 40 pieces of bamboo to be treated over 2 weeks. These bamboo pieces will be used to support mushroom farmers, but we are equally excited to have bamboo treatment available for other projects.

Fun for the festivals

We celebrated another season of Nepal’s festivals, Dashain and Tihar, with lots of dancing, singing, lights and colors. And of course with eating plates and plates of dal bhat with local families.

The festivals of Nepal are a unique and special time for us to connect with the local community and cherish the traditions of these communities.

“see you later” to

bishal Khaiju

After nearly 3 years of dedicated and inspiring work leading our Youth Program, Bishal Khaiju is moving on to his next adventure. Bishal has impacted and influenced the lives of hundreds of local students, inspiring their minds to be big and their hearts to be bigger. He is a one-of-a-kind educator, and it is leaders like him will take education and Nepal’s future to limitless heights.

See you later to our favorite educator, teacher, friend, mentor and brother. We wish you so much health, happiness and success in all of your future endeavors.

our work continues

As we enter our 8th year of work in Takure, we are more inspired than ever by the impact that our programs have on the local communities, volunteers, and environment. We are excited to watch the evolution and progress of our work over time and so grateful to the staff, volunteers and donors that lead this work. Our commitment is for the long-term, and while our vision is steady, our programs continue to adapt to local needs. We believe that positive change takes time, and that with consistent support more equitable and equal opportunities will arise, especially for rural communities like those in Nepal. The world’s rural communities are strong and beautiful - they are the land stewards and the food producers - and their lives deserve to be healthy, fulfilling, free and happy. We work to see them thrive.

November 2021 Updates from Nepal

Sending gratitude from a slightly bigger gratitude circle!

A group photo with some of our team members. We are grateful and lucky to have international volunteers again and as always grateful for our local, Nepali team of change makers!

Volunteers return to Camp!

It is the crisp, cool pre-winter season here in the mid-hill region of the Nepali Himalayas. Our team is growing as are our layers of clothes. This month marks the return of our first international volunteers back to our beloved Conscious Impact Sustainable Living Center, “Camp”.

The Langtang National Park and Mountain Range viewable from the village of Takure and a short walk from our Camp. This time of year presents daily gorgeous, clear sky and views of this Himalayan range. Photo by Jonathan H. Lee

Our team is so very happy to have the extra hands. International volunteers have always been a staple of our work - standing in solidarity with our community partners, supporting with their hands, energy, and resources. For the past 18 months, we have continued to operate our programs without these helping hands yet with the support of hundreds of donors. Nevertheless our staff has been eager to have diverse, kind people around again.

Our new volunteers arrived last month! We took a safe, private jeep from Kathmandu to Takure. Nepal’s restrictions have lightened for vaccinated tourist arrivals and we ask that every volunteer practices a 3 day self quarantine upon arrival to Kathmandu to ensure safety of our community partners in rural Sindhupalchok.

Our new arrivals jumped right into community activities with Tihar, the second biggest festival or holiday celebrated in Nepal and aligns with Diwali festival in India, both being recognized as the Festival of Lights. It is full of 5 days of festivities where each day is dedicated to a different ritual around animals and the goddess of Laxmi. This picture is from Bai Tikka the day where brothers and sisters give gifts and blessings to one another.

So, what has our team been up to?

In addition to clear skies, this time of year showcases the rice harvest, fruit and coffee tree care, the afterschool program, lemongrass, compost flipping, science projects, and the return of…

brick making!

Yes! We still produce Compressed Stabilized Earth Bricks (CSEBs). Well actually, the local social enterprise “Environmental Lover Brick Company“ run by Haribol Bhattarai and the team continues to produce bricks, and we partner with the team to ensure the bricks are produced safely and of high quality and can be affordable to local families. Since monsoon rains make brick production impossible, we usually start after the holiday season, sometime around early to mid November. The Earth Bricks are 100% locally made, seismically safe and the only locally available long-term, sustainable building material. Currently the team is producing bricks for our most loyal customer, the Janaki Thapa Foundation, a local foundation dedicated to supporting children and elderly in the region of Badegaun, about 1 hour drive from our site.

The Takure Earth Brick Production Center has been in operation since 2016 with the support of Conscious Impact’s donors. These bricks are made by a team of 10 local employees, 5 permanent and 5 rotational positions providing needed income and employment to 10 families. Photos by Jonathan H. Lee

The Janaki Thapa Foundation Home and Orphanage site in Badegaun, Indrawati-5, Sindhupalchok, Nepal. This site features a children’s home orphanage for 18 young children, space for elderly care, health clinics, a kitchen and living quarters for residential staff and visiting professionals, doctors and medical teams. The site has incorporated many features of a classic farm including a cow shed and a small-scale local chicken coop, plus areas for social gatherings including a play space, gathering space, alter for religious intents, meditation rooms, and more. They are currently building out a local hotel for visitors and teams to participate in their social programs.

Rice Harvesting

Rice harvest is always a favorite activity of visiting volunteers and during this season of harvest, there is a camaraderie around the village. Something that is felt when the community honors the same traditions that has been practiced by and fed this community for centuries.

Madhav Koirala, a local farmer in our cooperative, carries the bundle of rice stalks after they have been cut and dry. Photo by Jonathan H. Lee

Mela is word to describe the groups of farmer families that support one another in harvesting, planting, carrying rice. The system incorporates a social agreement where families support one another in the agricultural work. For example a local mela group may contain as many as 25 families - if the Gyanu Tamang family supports the rice harvest of Sunita Tamang family, then later when the Gyanu Tamang family is harvesting the same number of workers that supported Sunita’s harvest, will go to help Gyanu’s harvest. It is a labor exchange program that has been passed down for generations.

Supporting local farmers to plant fruit trees has always been about supporting their livelihoods so that they can continue to practice regenerative, organic, climate-resilient agriculture that feeds their families, communities, and country. That’s why we support them in activities like planting and harvesting rice too, building solidarity for their hard, necessary work as well as creating more connection of rice consumers to the producers. We believe that these relationships and awareness building programs are important to ensure future farming generations have access to secure livelihoods.

An aerial view of the rice production grounds. Photo by Jonathan H. Lee

The School Painting Program

Our School beautification project has a lot of popularity. We have partnered and completed 5 school painting programs and have another 7 schools waiting for their walls to be beautified!

We need painters and are actively looking among Kathmandu artists for volunteers to support this program. The schools in rural Nepal operate on very limited funds and restricted budgets, thus often cannot afford to improve the classrooms. That’s why we support them to do so! Our program paints bright and colorful learning materials on the walls of Early Childhood Development and Class 1 classrooms. The teachers are always appreciative and feel that the learning materials really helps them teach and supports the learning process of the students.

Tree planting and compost production

Our Agriculture Tree & Perennial program provided more than 15,000 kilograms of organic, quality compost for free this past summer! That’s more than 500 dhokos (baskets) of compost for those of you who have carried your share of dhokos full of compost.

15,000 kg of compost is a lot of compost! This compost helps farmers improve the quality of their soil and not take away compost from the other crops they grow. It was also provided as an incentive for local farmers. Growing trees is hard and different than the usual kinds of agriculture community partners participate in. Mostly it has a long waiting time to yield the benefits of their hard work - the harvest for coffee takes 4-5 years, the harvest for macadamia nuts takes 8-10 years, the non-grafted lemon, orange, avocado and other fruit take 5-7 years. For subsistent farmers, waiting that long is too much of a risk and pretty impossible, which is what our programs are designed to change.

After the free compost delivery, we worked individually with each farmer and created compost piles in their coffee and fruit tree fields, with the aim to increase their production of organic compost right in the very place it is used. Which means for all you compost carriers, less compost to carry! And also means cleaning up the overgrown grass in the coffee fields. A win win for all.

A view from above Udhav Kaphle’s coffee field. The upper canopy trees are Nepali Alder Trees which provide great shade and nitrogen nutrients to the coffee crop.

Udhav’s newly built compost field right next to his coffee tree orchard so he can easily give nutrients to the trees throughout the year.

Compost is a precious resource to farmers, especially when trying to grow organic fruit, nut and coffee trees! The photo on the right is a newly made compost pile - an equal mixture of cow or buffalo manure (if available), green grass, and brown leaves and sawdust and a bit of ash. The photo on the right is around 2.5 months later.

lemongrass and Conscious Crafts

Lemongrass farmers’ made their first harvests to be used for essential oil and natural soap production by Herb Nepal and sold as tea in Kathmandu.

This past monsoon, we helped farmers harvest their first batch of lemongrass, a pilot perennial herb we planted with a few farmers to test the growing nature and climate of herbs here in Takure and Bimire. Farmers were really pleased that lemongrass can be harvested twice per year and gives its first harvest within 50 days! That’s a very quick turn around for cash, something farmers are always in need of. We look forward to expanding this program! We were recently provided a higher quality variety of lemongrass for oil production by Herb Nepal, and farmers are very excited to plant next year. Additionally, we are looking at other types of herbs that can grow here to similarly distribute to local farmers and support their market access.

Farmer Chyangba Lama stands next to a organic lemongrass bush. He has planted around 80 plants and this past summer made nearly $80 USD on his harvest. That’s quite a good amount based on the 50 day harvest turnaround and the amount of work and maintenance required.

Dried, organic lemongrass for sale at Maya ko Chino store in Jamsikhel, Kathmandu. This store has hosted several products produced by community partners of Conscious Impact and we are always grateful for their support of local, authentic entrepreneurs. Check them out!

Coffee, coffee, coffee!!!

Coffee trees are FIVE and looking FINE.

It has been 5 years since we planted our first coffee trees, and htey look amazing! We are so excited to keep producing more delicious, local, organic, high mountain, Himalayan coffee and sharing it with the world.

The Aftershool Program

Afterschool Program kids build spaghetti towers to learn design, team work, and to eat the marshmallows!

Our afterschool program operates at the Takure Primary School twice a week with class 4 and 5 students, around 30 students aged 9-12 years old. Our team led by Youth Coordinator, Bishal Khaiju, works to develop hands-on, creative, learning activities for students that incorporates science, language development, creativity, and more. Currently our program is supporting the students to build a 3D model of their community. We explored maps, map history, google earth to introduce to the students the concept of a 3D map and the students loved it! On Google Earth, we visited around the entire globe, Kathmandu historical sites, the village of Takure and Bimire, Paanch Pokhari site, and Mt. Everest!

We are so grateful for all of the support for our work from around the world. This work is only possible because of dedicated, kind donors.

One Year Later & COVID-19 in Nepal

It has been 365 days since Nepal closed its borders, airport and all nonessential travel to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Our last volunteer group left our project site on March 14th, 2020, leaving only 17 of us, our quarantine team (“quaranteam”). We didn’t know it then, but we would end up living together relatively isolated from the world in the mountains for more than 3 months. Our team stayed safe, and took every precaution in solidarity with the local community of Takure. In June 2020, repatriation flights allowed for our international volunteers to return to their homes around the world, leaving our local staff to lead Conscious Impact’s work through COVID-19. While Conscious Impact looked different in 2020, our work continued on, and now, 365 days later, we can say with confidence that Conscious Impact remains more committed than ever to Takure, and the surrounding communities of Indrawati Rural Municipality in Sindhupalchok, Nepal.

The “Quaranteam” of 17 amazing international volunteers, alongside local community leaders in June 2020. We spent nearly 3 months in total lockdown together, until repatriation flights allowed most team members to return home.

HOW WOULD THE WORLD AROUND US CHANGE?

The COVID-19 pandemic left Conscious Impact, and everyone around the globe, with endless questions about what the future would bring. Where would we be one year from now? How will our lives all change? And now, exactly one year later, we can finally reflect on who we are, and how we have changed.

In Nepal, the complete lockdown continued until September 2020, about 6 months in total. Airports then slowly reopened to Nepali citizens returning home, and limited days for public transportation were initiated. Many amazing leaders within Nepal guided efforts to help prepare Nepal, and especially mountain communities, for COVID-19 prevention once borders reopened. By December 2020, tourists were allowed to visit Nepal again, with the requirement of a visa before arrival and a negative PCR test result before boarding the plane.

As of March 2021, Nepal has reached 3012 total recorded deaths due to COVID-19 and more than 275,000 reported cases. For many of us, especially those from countries still in an active fight to keep COVID-19 deaths below 1 million, these statistics feel a bit relieving. The situation could have been far worse given the limited availability of necessary equipment like ventilators and few medical facilities in most rural areas. The year has not been without struggle including a humanitarian crisis for migrant workers trying to return home to Nepal from India in April and May 2020, plus crowded ICUs and lack of available beds in government hospitals around the festivals in October and November 2020. Nevertheless, we are grateful to the leaders that supported the prevention of COVID-19, the organizations and agencies working to alleviate the economic effects, and the communities within Nepal that kept one another safe by wearing masks and staying home.

The Conscious Impact team that stayed through it all, and remains in Takure today! Here, Program Director Beth Huggins poses with the big family of Conscious Impact Nepal on a staff day hike to Kattike Farm & Homestay. It was a full day of walking, playing games, and visiting a demonstration organic fruit farm full of apple trees and kiwis.

HOW will CONSCIOUS IMPACT’S WORK CHANGE?

This was the main question of our team for most of the past year. Given that normally our programs operate from funding and support of around 200 visiting volunteers each year, we were not sure how exactly our work would continue throughout COVID-19. Furthermore, with school closures and limitations on gatherings, much of our community-based work was halted. Many times we asked ourselves what to do, how to respond, and where to put our energy and focus. With limited financial resources, no new volunteers and shifting local priorities, decisions needed to be made. Our local team, with support from Program Director Beth Huggins and Agriculture Program Lead Greg Robinson, Conscious Impact took on a new, much more local, and still inspiring and impactful look.

The summer months from May-August 2020 were a very busy time for farmers in rural Nepal, and for our agriculture team. This is the time to plant corn, rice and millet in order to provide food for their families all year long. For farmers that partner with Conscious Impact, it is also tree planting time! COVID-19 only made us more aware of how changing global circumstances, including climate change, market uncertainty and pandemics, can affect vulnerable farming communities like Takure. So we continued to work with farmers, planting trees outside in the open air. In summer 2020, we worked with 82 different local farming families to plant more than 5400 coffee trees, plus an additional 1000 other fruit, nut and forest trees with another 76 farmers, making it our most successful, and hopefully someday most “fruitful,” tree planting season ever!

Following the summer, despite severe financial challenges, we felt it was essential to continue working towards our program goals in solidarity with Takure. Our organization is local. We live and experience the daily life, joys and challenges that come to the communities in the mid-hills of rural Sindhupalchok, Nepal. Our local and international team felt that this was an important time for our work, that in the midst of a global crisis, we needed to continue working to be of service and build sustainability and resiliency for future generations. Even when the schools were closed, our Youth team worked to meet with school administration, local community leaders, teachers and students to find ways to support the education system, suffering from lack of technology in rural areas. We continued to provide jobs to our staff, operating as much as our funding would allow. We wanted to use this challenging time to strengthening our programs, our staff team, our volunteer camp, and ultimately our organization.

In short, Conscious Impact survived. In fact, not only did we survive, on many days we thrived. We built new partnerships, we developed new elements of our programs, we hired a new Community Organizer, and we even made some bricks! This is only the case because of the generous monthly donors we have from around the world.

Without our monthly donors, Conscious Impact would NOT have been able to continue our work, or survive through the COVID-19 pandemic. We owe our organization to YOU.

Conscious Impact Nepal Agriculture Program Coordinator, Kumari Bomjan and community leader and government representative, Shobhana Tamang planting coffee trees together in July 2021. Photo credit: Jonathan H. Lee

What will the future bring in nepal?

We asked our friend and one of Conscious Impact Nepal’s Board Members to comment on the situation with COVID-19 in Nepal. Raj Gyawali is a leader and innovator in sustainable tourism and lucky for us, an advisor to our work in Nepal. Raj is the founder and owner of Socialtours in Nepal, the first sustainability certified tour company in Asia.

“Since March 2020, tourism in the country of Nepal has come to a virtual standstill, and businesses are in the verge of collapsing, not to mention the thousands of jobs that have been lost. Nepal is however, endeavoring to open to the new world of travel, with particular focus on the pandemic and its ramifications. The country is currently open, albeit with conditions related to tests and quarantine. This is allowing the industry to start understanding how tourism could function with controls on the pandemic, both to the traveler and the community. While it might be complicated to come to Nepal at this particular time, there are always ways to connect. Several organizations are making meaningful utilization of the time, working with communities and helping them deal with the economic fallout caused by the pandemic, through agile pivots in the areas of agriculture, technology, innovation and micro enterprises, one of the main positive outcomes of the pandemic. Understanding what they do, engaging with them and supporting them can be a great way to connect from afar. When the time is right, one can always come in and also get engaged physically. Hopefully soon.” - Raj Gyawali

Today, life can sometimes be mistaken as normal, but the reality is far from that. The World Bank estimates that in the best-case scenario Nepal’s economy will not recover to pre-COVID levels until 2023. The economic loss, particularly with informal workers within Nepal, will have a far reaching impact. As for staying healthy, families are still precautious and many people wear masks, though not all. In Kathmandu, most places are business as usual. The largest exception is of course the lack of tourism, which faced a nearly 81% drop in 2020 reported by the Kathmandu Post, stating further:

“Nepal’s tourism sector generated Rs240.7 billion (2.07 billion USD) in revenue and supported more than 1 million jobs directly and indirectly in 2018, according to the annual World Travel and Tourism Council research report. The London-based organization said that travel and tourism's total contribution to the country’s gross domestic product stood at 7.9 percent.” (Kathmandu Post, https://tkpo.st/3oe6Kdq)

As the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available both in Nepal and countries around the world, we do wonder what will be the long lasting changes around us…

Flooded rice terraces in July 2020 | Photo Credit: Jonathan H. Lee of Subtledream Photography

WHEN WILL WE HAVE VOLUNTEERS AGAIN?

It has been a challenging, educational and exciting year! We weren’t able to reach all of our goals and certainly our work has been more difficult than ever with funding cuts, but we are still here dedicated to generational change. We miss the diversity, energy and enthusiasm of having volunteers and guests from all around the world, and we truly look forward to having international guests again. Our local Nepali team talks often about how fun and unique it is to have 30+ people around at lunch time or how much more fun volunteer music playlists make work. We miss having volunteers so much!

With Nepal open to tourists, we have begun to process individual applications for volunteering. Due to reduced resources and team members, we are only able to accept a very small amount of volunteers for different, specific programs and work throughout the spring and summer 2021. While it isn’t the normal community living volunteer experience, it is loads of fun, culturally immersive, and full of meaningful work. For more information, fill out our volunteer form on our website.

Thank you so much for your support, and for reading this story.

stay tuned for more volunteer programs in October 2021!

Kachenjunga National Park | Photo Credit: Joshua Umesh Bohara

We Did It! 5250 Coffee Trees Planted

After 6 months of work distributing coffee trees, digging holes, carrying compost and planting trees in collaboration with dozens of local Nepali families, today we announce that we have completed our goal to plant more than 5,000 trees this summer. We are very excited and super grateful to our donors, supporters, staff, and local farmers for making this possible!

Kumari (far left) and Greg “Shiva” Robinson (far right), our Agriculture Program Coordinators, walk with Anil Tamang (center left) and Aiscing Tamang (center right) after a full morning of work - carrying baskets or “dhokos” of compost, digging holes, managing forest land, and planting coffee trees.

For the last 6+ months, we were also fundraising actively through our “Planting Trees During COVID-19” fundraiser that allowed us to keep our Nepali team employed and at work supporting families across the Himalayas. We raised $23,766 in total from 170 donors. What a success! Thank you to each of you for supporting our work, and for keeping Conscious Impact alive during these challenging times. So far, we have raised enough to plant and care for 4,750, but there are still 250 trees left to adopt if you would like one!

Kumari Bomjan, Agriculture Program Coordinator for Conscious Impact, takes another 30 baby coffee trees from our greenhouse to be carried to a local farm for planting. Photo by Jonathan H. Lee

Our agriculture team worked tirelessly all summer to make this happen. Led by Kumari Bomjan and Greg “Shiva” Robinson, we loaded baskets, crates and trucks full of coffee saplings from our community greenhouse in Takure to be transported and distributed to community members in Takure, Bimire, Nawalpur and dozens of other local towns. We worked alongside 160+ total famers this monsoon season to plant the 5250 trees. Each tree once mature, in 3-5 years, can produce annually up to 10 kilograms of coffee, red cherry, and more than 25,000 USD per year in total for local families’ livelihoods.

Bala Krishna and friends load 750 coffee trees into the back of a truck to carry to their village called Pokhare, about 1.5 hours walk from Takure, for planting. Photo by Jonathan H. Lee

WHO ARE THE FARMERS?

Ketcharnath and Bodi Mai Dahal, live 40 minutes below Takure in the village of Bimire. These two inspiring and active farmers have 10 existing mature coffee trees (8 years old) that produce around 50 kilograms of coffee cherry annually. Through our Tree Cultivation Program, we are working with farmers like these two to improve their cultivation of coffee, so that they can get more fruit each year. Additionally, this year a team of volunteers and staff went down to plant 35 new coffee trees with Bodi Mai & Ketcharnath along with their visiting grandchildren from Kathmandu. Ketcharnath says he is really excited to hopefully pass over his coffee farm to a grandchild someday and looks forward to increasing his income with coffee.

Shobhana Tamang lives in the village of Duduwa Kharka. She had not planted coffee before October 2019, when she agreed to trial coffee on some of her forest land. Shobhana is a local government leader, she is hardworking and active in the community to support positive social change on various fronts. After planting an initial 30 trees in 2019, she was inspired to lead her community to plant more. Not only did she inspire 5 other farmers to plant trees this year, but she also planted an additional 50 coffee trees. Carries heavy baskets of compost the whole work shift alongside our team. We are so grateful to work alongside community members like Shobhana.

As we celebrate the completion of a 6-month fundraiser, we also want to honor everyone that made a donation. This work would not be possible without the support of the 170 people that in total contributed $23,766 to help us plant 5250 coffee trees, 750 fruit trees like citrus and hundreds more native forest trees. Thank you so much from our entire team! 100% of the money donated goes directly to supporting local farmers. This was our most successful tree planting season yet, and we look forward to more!

Left to Right: Narayan Bhattarai (staff), Greg Robinson (agriculture program lead), Kumari Bomjan (staff), and 4 farmers from the village of Pokhare picking up their 750+ coffee and other fruit trees for planting.

THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS.

Jim & Dede Huggins | Victoria & Kyon Hood | Andy and Cathy Huggins | Julien de Wit | Elizabeth Layton | Drew Marshall | Wil Kiser | Emily Ray | Jean Dorband-Penderock | Sherry Ray Manka | Brigitte Ender | Haley Poarch | Tony & Soos Angles | Ben Perlmutter | Mr A Hughes-Onslow | Benedikt von Schroder | Daniel Escola | Gary Butler | Greg Ichtertz | Helmut Penderock | Isabelle Durrett | Pat McFadden | Scott Hanson | Erin Enright | Maria Antequera Mulet | Kevin Keierleber | Kris Muller | Marc Benoit | Elpis & Dora | Cameron Wallenfels | Dylan Ho | Morgan Smith | Pamela Maguigad | Joey Hassan Suárez | Holger | Ingrid Müller | German Linares | Elisabeth Musum Mathisen | Sophie Lemee | Michael Müller | Nathalie Stauffer | Kakai Marr | Skjalg Bjørkevoll | Alison Kearns | Chase Keierleber | Chauncy Hinshaw | Cindy Hecht | Elson Haas | Emily Cohen | Federico Amorosi | Grace Aaternir | Jeanne Krafft | Kara Callaway | Lee Farrell | Marty & Barb Ceranec | Mathew Kwok | Peter Phelps Renee Dyke | Samantha Nolloth | Steve Tracy | Suzanne Benoit | Tiffinie SMITH | d benjamin cahn | Andy Klun | Stan Stalnaker | Christina Patsi | Natalia Mixailidou | Supreme Galactic Emperor Jupiter | Joy Maguigad | Anna Wirtz | Rachel Phelos | Dor Yanai | Paolo Garlasco | Clare McInerney | Katharina Ziller | Normande Grenier | Amy Robertson | Ankesh Gupta | Anne Goodman | Barbara Wilt | Birgit Penzenstadler | Candace Forest | Carla Villasana | Carly Boggs | Christina Yu | David Hawkins | Eric Low | Jay Saponaro | Joyce K | Judy Haley | Kathy John | Khara Ledonne | Kristi & Dan Michener | Marlene Negrete | Matthew Robinson | Muriel Manka | Nicola Radcliffe | Patricia Silverman | RHETT BUTLER | Rene Pyatt | Ricardo Marin | SHERI OLSEN | Sam Wong | Shannon Haley | TIANGE ZHANG | Tammy Chan | Tim Witzenman | Tonio B | Angelika Klüver-Leclercq | Alan Haimowitz | Dora Lee | Raquel Portillo | Amelie Weber | Jennifer Giordanelli | Xochi Maberry-Gaulke | Hannah bailey | CAROLINE GRENIER | Gilles Massicotte | Adriana Pineiro Coen | Frank Pinto | Seema Patel | Alison Edwards | Carl Adler | Clark Atkins | Dan Michener | Darian Gumper | Eduardo L. | Jessie Paul | Katrina Zavalney | Sarah Algwaiz | Simona Zagrean | Conrad Olende | Eduardo Evaristo | Eunice Jimenez Martinez | Dimitris Athanasiadis | Georgia Lagoudi | Abigail Rotholz | Callia Johnson | Jateshwar Das | Lisha Limbu | Maria Fotopoulos | Nga Hoa | Samantha Taylor | Sarah Beyerlein | Shamin Dagan | Shannon Reid | Tallulah Kay | Giuseppe Di Biase | Hanna Ginzburg | JoAnn Riemen | Ibrahim Ahmed | Alexandra Frousklia | Keely Mclaren | Eduardo Mouhtar | Patricia Mora | Pau Farres Antunez | Alex Maguigad | Ferdinand Maguigad | Francisco Santos | Daniela Di Martino | Edoardo Caroli | Rob Aerts | Edgar Gomez | Jaime Gomez | Jillian Gomez | Nico Hoffmann | Vanessa Farias | Jack Sanctuary | Luis Perez Gonzalez | Kira Schlegel |

Narayan Bhattarai, Lead Community Organizer for Conscious Impact, makes a final count of coffee saplings loaded into the truck. 750! Photo by Jonathan H. Lee

3,000 Trees Planted, 2,000 More to Go!

Planting 5,000 Trees Amidst a Global Crisis

When COVID-19 halted the world in March, the Conscious Impact team in Nepal quarantined in Takure, and at the same time undertook a huge tree planting mission: to plant more than 3,000 organic coffee trees in collaboration with local farmers. For 3 months, we worked almost every day to dig holes, carry compost and plant coffee saplings across the region. We are excited to announce today that we have reached 3,000 trees, and with the support of local farmers and our Nepali staff in Takure, we have extended our goal to 5,000!

We are SO grateful to everyone that has helped us raise almost $15,000 since March to help us plant 3,000 coffee trees. Every donation of $5 has already planted one coffee tree, and will allow us to continue to care for this tree for years to come. Our work would not be possible without your help, and we are so grateful.

Help us reach our goal and keep Conscious Impact at work

The Conscious Impact international team heads to a local family farm to plant coffee trees. Photo by Jonathan H. Lee

What does it take to plant 3,000+ trees?

1. Dedicated Local Farmers: First, it takes an incredible mobilization of local farmers from Takure that are inspired and ready to plant on their own land. We work directly with the Takure Coffee Cooperative, more than 50 men and women committed to expanding quality coffee production in the region. We do outreach to find new interested farmers around Takure, and in nearby communities such as Bimire, Baguwa, Aisilukharka and Pokhare. Each farmer is required to provide compost and participate in the tree planting process. We have made so many new and amazing community partners along the way! (Check out some of our highlighted families below)

2. A Growing Nepali Staff: Conscious Impact’s agriculture program is run with great support and leadership from our long-term Nepali staff. Program Coordinators Kumary Bomjom and Narayan Bhattarai communicate and organize with local farmers, and set the plan of work for the week. But with growing demand for support planting coffee, and limited access to international volunteers, Conscious Impact has needed to grow our local Nepali Agriculture Program Staff. In the past 2 months, we have added 4 amazing Takure community members to the team, Reshma Tamang, Tharendra Mishra, Chyangba Lama and Kapil Kafle. We love working together and are so grateful for the extra hands!

3. International Donor Support: With international travel to Nepal stopped, and no new volunteers, Conscious Impact faces the most challenging financial circumstances we have seen since our foundation in 2015. We rely on international volunteers for 90% of our annual income, and without this revenue, we struggle to pay our Nepali staff and invest in necessary supplies for our projects. Despite all of this, we have been able to continue our programs, and even grow our local staff, in thanks to the contributions of international donors around the world. Our fundraiser, launched in May, has almost reached our original goal of $15,000 and continues to provide the income we need to sustain our work. Every $5 donated plants and cares for one tree for life. Thank you so much for making this happen!

The fundraiser is still open, and we need your help.

Kumary Bomjom, Agriculture Program Coordinator for Conscious Impact, takes another 30 baby coffee trees from our greenhouse to be carried to a local farm for planting. Photo by Jonathan H. Lee

Who are the farmers?

Since the beginning of our coffee program in Takure in early 2016, Conscious Impact has helped to build a network of passionate, innovative and skilled local farmers across the mountains where we work. These farmers include men, women, grandparents and youth, and range across the diversity of ethnicities in the area. Tamang, Brahmin, Rana Magar, Dahal, and people of every community are excited about the possibility that coffee brings to increase their income without significant additional labor. We are excited about supporting them to make this transition into agroforestry and organic coffee production.

In a single day, our team can plant on average 35-50 trees with one family, which means that we have supported more than 50 families during this time, families like Ser Bahadur Koirala, Haribol Bhattarai, Aising Tamang, Radha Mishra, Madhav Khanal and dozens more. Each partner family becomes a part of our growing network of beautiful people that we work each day to serve. Take a moment to explore the family photos below:

Who makes this all happen?

For those of you that have visited our project in Nepal to volunteer with our team, you know our local staff well. Our work, our lives, in fact all that defines Conscious Impact, is our Nepali staff. Almost entirely born and raised in Takure, our team demonstrates the best of what makes Nepal famous: hospitality, kindness, humility, physical strength, non-stop work and playful laughter, all wrapped into one. Plus, each team member has their own stories, background, passion and visions. Kumary Bomjom, at only 22 years old, leads the way with her enthusiasm, open-mindedness, radical vision and absolute dedication to serving the Earth. Narayan Bhattarai, our lead Community Organizer, has spent 5+ years building our relationship to Takure with great humility, selflessness, a soft smile and deep wisdom. In our agriculture program alone, we now have 6 team members: Kumary, Narayan, Chyangba, Tharendra, Reshma and Kapil. They each offer a unique perspective and individual personality that together creates a dynamic, powerful and effective local Nepali team. Check out photos of our team below:

Why plant coffee now?

We know that this is a challenging time for people all across the world, and we stand in solidarity with struggling communities globally. In Takure, community members are also vulnerable to changing climate patterns, economic downturns, health risks and international travel restrictions. More than 25% of the country’s GDP comes from remittance (money sent from Nepalis working abroad). With this income in jeopardy, local agriculture becomes even more important to creating resilient, self-sufficient, economically sustainable village communities.

Every coffee tree planted sequesters carbon, builds soil life, prevents erosion, preserves local ecology and provides essential income to farmers in need. After more than two months of work, we continue to believe that planting coffee trees is the most valuable way to support the local environment and the resilience of Nepali families in the Himalayan mountains.

We need your help.

Without international volunteers able to arrive to Nepal, Conscious Impact is facing our greatest economic challenge yet. We have lost 90% of our income, and are now entirely dependent on the generosity and donations of our alumni and international supporters. We need to raise $25,000 in order to sustain our work, and keep Conscious Impact alive and well into 2021 and beyond. Please consider helping us today so that we can continue to pay Nepali salaries, purchase necessary supplies and plant thousands of trees in the Himalayas.

We know that this is a challenging time for families across the world. We send our love and blessings to each of you, and hope that you, your families and communities are staying healthy and safe. We understand as well if this is not a time that you can make a financial contribution. Still, we are committed to continuing our work in Nepal, and without this fundraiser it may not be possible. We are grateful to anyone that can donate, and to each of you for all that you have already given to this organization.

Love and blessings from Takure,

The Conscious Impact Team

Plant Trees During COVID-19

COVID-19 has changed the world, creating uncertainty and challenges for every human being. Businesses are closing, travel is stopped and thousands of people are facing compromised health. We send our love and appreciation to everyone that is in the middle of this struggle, and our deepest gratitude to each of you that is taking care of yourself and others during this time. We hope that you and your family are healthy, well and able to find peace, wherever you may be.

Here in Nepal, the country is dealing with similar challenges, dozens of new COVID-19 cases everyday, and the first few COVID-19 deaths this past week. A nationwide lockdown has been issued until June 2nd, and the international airport is closed. The economic challenges of the lockdown are beginning to affect all families in Nepal. There have been very few cases of coronavirus in the district of Sindhupalchok where we live, and most farmers continue their lives as usual, planting corn in the fields and collecting grass for their animals. At Conscious Impact, we are healthy and eating well, sheltered in place at our camp in Takure.

Despite the global crisis, local farmers have no choice but to continue their work, and we are committed to supporting them in any way we can. Many farmers already rely on less than $5/day of income, and often struggle to afford basic necessities such as food, supplies and education for their children. Taking a break from their work is just not an option. Similarly, we feel that our work in Takure and around this region is essential, and we aim to continue supporting farmers in every way that we can. Global challenges like climate change, economic instability and COVID-19 are not new to these rural families that have spent generations building self-sufficiency, and our work has always been to strengthen their resilience and independence. We believe that planting coffee trees is one of the greatest ways we can support the planet and Takure families during these challenging times.

We are asking for support to continue this work.

Goma Kafle (shown in the above photo) is one of Conscious Impact's partner farmers. In the last 5 years, she has planted more than 250 coffee trees with our support, and this year she harvested beautiful coffee cherries! Her mature coffee trees will increase her annual income by more than 1200 USD to buy essential food and supplies for her family.

Every coffee tree planted and cared for sequesters carbon, mitigates climate change and provides a much needed sustainable livelihood for local farmers. A single coffee tree can produce 10kg of red cherry every year. At $1/kg, a farm of 100 trees can bring in an extra $1000/year, or nearly the equivalent of a year’s salary for one full-time job. This makes an enormous difference in the lives of these farmers and their families.

Over the past 5 years, Conscious Impact has partnered with over 100 farmers to plant more than 15,000 trees.

Our goal this year is to plant another 3,000 coffee trees.

We are asking for help to fundraise $15,000 to keep Conscious Impact working to support Nepali farmers during this challenging time.

The work has already begun, and the Conscious Impact team is working every day to plant trees alongside local families. COVID-19, however, has stopped all international travel to Nepal, and halted the majority of income to Conscious Impact. Without any donations, we are unable to pay our local staff and provide the necessary support to continue. After 5 years of hard work to get this far, we are not ready to quit. We are so grateful to anyone considering donating to our current fundraising campaign.

Each donation of $5 "adopts" one coffee tree in Nepal for life. That means digging the hole, carrying compost, planting the tree and providing the initial care. It also includes follow up consultations and support from our Nepali team and international volunteers for years to come.

Each tree produces 10 kg of red cherry equivalent to 10 USD in annual income to a local farmer. We support farmers to plant 50-100 trees depending on their land availability, which can provide an additional 500-1000 USD annually (nearly doubling many local families' annual income). 

$5 Donation = 1 Tree Adopted for Life

$25 = Adopt 5 Trees 

$50 = Adopt 10 Trees

$100 = Adopt 20 Trees

$500 = Adopt 100 Trees or a Local Farm (supports a farmer to increase their annual income by $500-1000)

We understand that right now is a difficult time for people all across the world. COVID-19 has changed all of our lives, and many of us are suffering. We truly hope that you and your family are healthy and well during this time. If you are not in a position to fundraise, we completely understand. If you can still help share this campaign and spread awareness about our work with others, that is also helpful. Every donation helps, just $25-$50 can plant and care for 5-10 trees. 

Above, Sanu Kanchi Rana Magar stands alongside her husband Ambar with one of their new coffee trees. This tree, as well as dozens of others they have planted, will provide much needed income to their family in future years.

Additionally, every tree planted sequesters carbon, mitigates climate change, supports local ecology and rebuilds soil. Our goal is to plant more than 50,000 trees in the next 10 years to transform the environment and economy of the local area. 

Narayan Bhattarai, our Lead Community Organizer, stands with his wife Sita and daughter Anju (in the above photo) next to one of their 4-year-old coffee trees. Narayan will be one of the staff that Conscious Impact continues to employ with the support of our international donors. He has more than 100 trees planted, and is excited to continue training farmers across this region of the Himalayas to plant coffee for years to come.

Kumary Bomjon, our Agriculture Program Lead (shown in the above photo), sits happily among more than 50kgs of locally harvested coffee. Our goal is for coffee to become abundant in this region of the Himalayas so that local families can sustain their livelihoods without needing to leave to the cities or foreign countries for work. Coffee is a great cash crop, in addition to being great for the local environment. We love it and we hope you do to!

Thank you for your support, and we look forward to the day when you too can taste locally harvested Takure coffee. :)

2019: The Year of Coffee

Coffee: The world’s favorite drink, and the key to bringing reforestation and revenue to the farmlands of Nepal.

Sano Kanchi Rana Magar is a resident of Takure and one of Nepal’s newest coffee farmers. Two years ago, she planted organic coffee saplings from Conscious Impact’s greenhouse, and she hopes that this year she will get her first big harvest! Photo by Jonathan H. Lee

For Conscious Impact and the community of Takure, 2019 is the year of coffee. It has been three years since we planted the first 10,000 coffee seeds in our greenhouse, and this year many of these seeds (now small trees planted throughout the mountains) will finally give their first fruits. Our partner farmers across the region are excitedly anticipating their first harvest, and the income that will come with it. We at Conscious Impact are hoping that the dream will come true: financially profitable reforestation across the hillsides of Nepal!

Orion Haas, CoFounder and Director of Conscious Impact, examines the more than 10,000 baby coffee saplings in the Conscious Impact greenhouse. Already more than 10,000 trees have been distributed, and this year another 6,000+ will be planted by farmers across the region of Sindhupalchok, Nepal. Photo by Jonathan H. Lee

Our team is preparing for 2019’s first harvest by constructing Takure’s first ever coffee processing center. With space for pulping, soaking, drying and storing the coffee, this agricultural center will become the new hub for organic coffee processing and distribution. Plus, with space for an office and meeting area, Takure’s Coffee Cooperative will serve as a central gathering space for passionate locals to meet and plan the future of organic farming in the area. We can’t wait for the space to be operational!

This week, we completed the 6th course of the new earthbag Coffee Cooperative Office and Meeting Hall.. This construction will be completed by April, 2019 and will provide the region’s farmers with a place to process and store their new coffee harvests. It will also host trainings for organic agriculture, tree care and compost management.

We are now two months into the construction of the new Coffee Cooperative in Takure and already the progress is inspiring. The gravel foundation is complete, and now the earthbag walls are going up! Over the past 3 years, earthbag construction has become one of Conscious Impact’s favorite building techniques. Besides being affordable and easy to build, earthbag construction is extremely low impact, environmentally sustainable and very earthquake safe. Plus, the local sandy and silty soil is perfect for filling the earthbags. This is our third earthbag project, and we hope to build many more in Nepal.

Conscious Impact volunteers filling earthbags during the construction of the new Takure Coffee Cooperative.

We are so grateful to all of the volunteers that have given their labor to this project already, and to everyone all over the world that has supported the Coffee Cooperative. We want to give a special shout out to Ali and Fayza for their generous donation to make this project possible. If you are still considering becoming a donor to Conscious Impact, please visit www.consciousimpact.org/donate to support this project and many others in Nepal. We are forever grateful!

And of course, we are always looking for more volunteers to come to Nepal to get their hands dirty with us and learn how to build with earth. Check out our upcoming programs at www.consciousimpact.org/volunteer and see you in Nepal!

Water Tank Update

Thanks to dozens of donors from around the world, we recently raised $7,000 to build a 40,000-liter water tank in Takure. This project will triple the capacity of the current water storage and replace the broken, 20-year-old tanks that now service the community. Community members and volunteers have been working every day—moving sand, stone, concrete and gravel—to make this project a reality. Once completed, the new tank will provide more than 50 families with greater access to clean water, helping to keep the community healthy and happy.

Update filmed and edited by Jonathan H. Lee of subtledream.com

Last winter during a community meeting, members unanimously agreed on their #1 priority: access to clean water.

Shortly after the project began, we established a water council consisting of men, women and members of different castes from the community. The council has worked together to order materials, hire laborers, and help out on days that require more hands. Last week during Dashain festival, 25 community members joined our team of volunteers to pour the concrete ring beam. It was the biggest turnout yet, and we shared laughter, smiles and plenty of sweat!

MANY THANKS TO…

Narayan Bhattarai and the community members that have made this project possible.

Mariana & her friends in Cypress

Lea Martetschläger

Deanna D Huggins

Kyon Hood

Dylan Ho

Kyon Hood

Priyanka Premlal

Kyon Hood

Lillian Le

Jake Costin

Ben Silverman

Paolo Garlasco

Tamar Eilam

David Enos

Oliver Atwood

Hernan Diaz

Rebecca Marshall

Miranda Konowitz

Elizabeth Layton

Britny Coker-Moen

Tayler Jenkins

Christian Lackner

Tim Obrien

William Harry clews

Joey Sagala

Krishna Bhattarai

Gil Brown

Camille Martinez

John Buchanan

Manuel Cardona

Daniella Castro

Terrie Lynn Azevedo

Sean Oh

Laura Keagy

Susan Emery

Kyle Paquette

Trina Bhattarai

Diyana Helmi

Jonathan H. Lee

Daniel Horton

Clay Strand

Ruth Heenan

Clare Mcinerney

Eman

Kelsey Eagleburger

Sarah Neumann

Zane Poh

Tiange Zhang

Jonathan H. Lee

Hanna Moosa

Christina Towle and Clark Demarest

Rebeca Segal

Nhung N Duong

Aaron Huang

Mariaseth Reyes

Tracy

Tamara Homeyer

Tiffany Cha

Kalliopi Garyfalli

Evan Paul

Matthew Levin

Olivia Lockwood

Amanda Mendoza

Colleen Grassnick

Linds Sanders

Ben Webb

Abigail Rotholz

Elpidoforos Chrysovergsis

The Mundubbera Nepali Community of Australia

Hannah Huxley

Paul Farres Antunez

Reema Rai

Harry Green

Skjalg Bjørkevoll

Corey Scull

Jenna Jarrold

Sebastian Buffa

Tiange Zhang

Joseph Almond

The Magic of Moringa

The Agriculture team here on the ground has some truly exciting updates! With the completion of our newest bamboo greenhouse, we were able to plant about 4,000 Moringa seedlings, of two distinct varieties. Moringa Oleifera is native to foothills of the Himalayas, exactly where we are currently located. The second variety, Moringa Stenopelata, grows at high altitudes in Ethiopia and Kenya, which is also fairly similar to Takure's altitude. Moringa is a tenacious and fast-growing tree, that can grow 2-3 meters in less than a year. It can be grown alongside to provide shade if grown in a sunnier area, or by itself in the clear sun. The Ag team plans to distribute these trees shortly before the monsoon season and hopes to have them established before the heavy rains fully arrive. 

Volunteers planting 4,000 trees!

Some of the many reasons we've decided to grow Moringa here in Nepal:

• It's deep taproot won't have to compete with other vegetable and field crops for ground nutrients.
• It is drought tolerant and will do well during Nepal's 9-10 month dry season.
• The leave can be ground into a fine powder which has a high market value. Their long bean pods that can also be sold for 50 rupees/kg at market.
• It can help alleviate malnutrition because it is high in Vitamin A, C, calcium, potassium, phosphorous, iron, and is a complete protein.
• It's nutrient-dense leaves increase milk production in cows.

Moringa Stenopelata seeds

Moringa Oleifera seeds

Providing a space for experimental growing is one of the biggest advantages that the CI Ag team can provide for the local community, an opportunity to see if a lucrative crop like Moringa can grow in this exact terrain and altitude. More importantly, it supports our initiative to reforest this area, reinvigorating the surrounded environment, preventing terrace erosion and circumventing the danger of landslides in the future. 

Week old Moringa trees beginning to sprout

Meet Narayan: A Philosopher and a Farmer

Narayan Bhatterai is the local leader for Conscious Impact's agriculture program and was recently named the chairman of the new Basic Organic Coffee Cooperative in Takure. Out of affection, we call him Narayan "Mama", which means "uncle" in Nepali. 

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Q: Tell us about yourself.

A: Namaste, my name is Vishnu Bhatterai, but people know me as Narayan Bhatterai. My house is in Nawalpur, Takure Ward number 4. In some ways, my life has been painful. Because nobody can say, “My life is full of happiness.” Everybody has their own pain. Everybody has their own suffering. My life has been different than others in certain ways. I didn’t receive the warmth of love from my mother and father. I never got the chance to realize what that kind of love was like. When I look back on my childhood, there was a lot of suffering. It doesn’t matter how many times you’re injured, because when you are able to heal, you are stronger. In my life now, I have a place to be satisfied. There is a reason we pick from the edge of the river when choosing a loro (stone pestle). It is those stones that pass through the most struggle and hardship, making them strong. They are the best for the work that needs to be done.

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"It doesn’t matter how many times you’re injured, because when you are able to heal, you are stronger." 

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My father died when I was 1 and a half years old. I never knew the face of my father. When I was 7 years old, my mother remarried to another man, and then left him. After that, my life was not so easy. By the age of 14 -15, I went to live with my maternal uncle. I grew up there, and I was able to complete some of my studies. After that I went back to my house in Takure, and got married. Right now I have 5 members of my family. My two daughters are a blessing from God. They are so much better than me. I forget all my pain when looking at my family. I am satisfied. The earthquake brought a lot of pain and sadness. Yet after this sadness, to some extent there is always happiness, because we were able to find a new family in Conscious Impact. I met them, and had the chance to sit with them, talk with one another and recognize each other. All of this is such good luck. This is a good opportunity, because every challenge has possibilities and every possibility has challenges. This is my experience.

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"There is a reason we pick from the edge of the river when choosing a loro (stone pestle). It is those stones that pass through the most struggle and hardship, making them strong. "

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I have a simple family and don’t have so many fields for farming. I have one cow and two baby cows. The cow gives me milk. I have 5-6 goats. Simply our life is going on. Maybe I’m not able to fulfill all my children’s wishes, desires, and happiness. But I am trying. I am trying to give more than 50%. If I am able to at least give 51%, I can be satisfied. And when it comes back to 49%, that is my bad luck.

A single individual makes up one part of the whole, while the community makes up the bigger part. If society improves and develops, then your village, your tole (small community), your VDC, will also grow to be better. Just because your neighbor is rich, doesn’t mean that you are poor. This is a way of thinking that still exists, and hasn’t disappeared. I hope that it doesn’t. I am satisfied with this way of thinking.

The benefits we receive as individuals are not large. We are not taking any things with us, yet we try to earn so much to have sufficient things. We come into this world with empty hands, live in nature, step on this earth, breathe the air, drink the water, get warmth from fire. And when we die, we leave empty handed. We reach again the water, and are burned by the flame, mixing our soul back into the fire. We take only the satisfaction that we drew from our own lives and the thoughts that others had of us, when we die.

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"We come into this world with empty hands...And when we die, we leave empty handed...We take only the satisfaction that we drew from our own lives and the thoughts that others had of us, when we die."

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Q: What role does agriculture play in your life, and why is agriculture important to you?

A: When I was in class 8 or 9, I learned that Nepal is an agricultural country. About 87-90% of people rely on farming to live. Slowly, there was a decrease in production because people were becoming less interested in agriculture. This is sad for me, and for everyone. Everyone has begun flying to other countries for work. People are constantly fighting one another for government jobs, or for any kind of work. The number of people that focus their time on agriculture is decreasing day by day. This really hurts me, because we are sacrificing so much to try and work abroad, giving so much blood and sweat working for someone else in a different country.

Increasing population, the population density, unregulated farming methods, the use of chemicals and unnatural fertilizers -- all of these things are leading to less income generation and more expenses. Because of all these things, people are moving away from agriculture, and just trying to find easier work.  Because of all these reasons, agriculture is the most important thing. It is life. Along with this, agriculture protects the whole world. Agriculture takes care of all human beings and animals. Because of all these things, I am more interested in agriculture, and more attracted to agriculture.

 

Q: Why are you interested in growing organically?

A: When we adapt to organic farming, I believe that the soil that is now dying will slowly regenerate. If the soil is good, we’ll be good as well. If soil is healthy, you will also be healthy. Thinking about all these things, we have to make the soil healthy and more fertile. If we make the soil unhealthy, then we will also be unhealthy. Maybe we’ll be able to make money just for the present moment, but we cannot avoid questions about what we will do in the future?

Now it seems we are too late. We have made the 5 elements of our world impure and muddled. We are human beings who have a big responsibility, but we are becoming selfish and only focusing on our individual needs.

Air, water, earth, and soil -- all these things are our life. Yet we think we can challenge these things, and move forward with the wrong concept of trying to control them.

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"Challenging nature is a foolish thing. We use the word 'development, development' but it is only bringing destruction. If we forget to keep a balance between development and destruction, or our future generations will resent us."

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Challenging nature is a foolish thing. We use the word “development, development” but it is only bringing destruction. If we forget to keep a balance between development and destruction, or our future generations will resent us. Meditating on all those things, the only way to make soil healthy is through organic farming.

Q: How did Takure move away from organic farming and start using chemicals?

A: In 2036 B.S. there was a huge famine. I had only heard about this because at the time I was only 2-3 years old. After that, chemical fertilizers became popular to use, and people were so happy to see the very quick increase in abundance.

In the last 30 years, we have given birth to unheard diseases and unhealthily polluted air and water. Because of deforestation, and the use of unnatural fertilizers and chemicals, the soil is not able to bear the load, because everything has balance. Now it’s time to think deeper. Even if we aren’t thinking about it right now, imagine what will happen if we continue using chemicals and fertilizers at this pace. Deforestation leads to landslides and flooding, and yet we are continuing these practices. And the use of chemicals will leave future generations with nutrient-less, poor quality food.

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"Deforestation leads to landslides and flooding, and yet we are continuing these practices. And the use of chemicals will leave future generations with nutrient-less, poor quality food."

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Only the owners of those companies who make chemical fertilizers are earning money. Farmers are investing money, and making money, but losing more. Even if we do hard work into the future, by the end of it we will not have a good environment for farming anymore. Still we have time, and if we coordinate with each other, getting helping hands, it won’t be too late, even though there’s little time left. We can stop all this destruction and save the soil.

We can give life, and to give life is to give a future for our children and to save our world. Along with this, it’s important to keep ourselves healthy, not only yourself, but all creatures, and the whole planet.

With continued support, interest, and help -- one day Takure will be a place that is again fully organic. I am hopeful that one day it will be like this.

Q: What does partnering with us to bring organic coffee to the community mean to you?

A: I was in my own lifestyle and my own way of thinking. After the big earthquake, you chose to come here after seeing our pain and suffering. We were given the chance to receive this help. 

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"Even before the earthquake, day to day life was difficult. After the earthquake, it was like we were left naked. It was a pitiful situation. "

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Even before the earthquake, day to day life was difficult. After the earthquake, it was like we were left naked. It was a pitiful situation. There were no businesses around or government services or jobs in this area. For the five of us in my family, it was very hard. Without work, it is so hard for me to take care of my family. When  you [Conscious Impact] came along many villagers received job opportunities. Not only jobs, but got the chance to serve our own community. Brick making is a service to the community. We now have a coffee nursery. And this is not just for one individual, but for the community. If the community will rise up, I can also rise up. I am the smallest part of the community.

Not only me, my society, my community -- we need to stand up together. We all need to understand what the truth is. This is my expectation. Even though we may not be able to help with every sector, with the help from Conscious Impact we’ve started a nursery, we began growing 10,000 coffee trees, and next year we will plant another 10,000 coffee trees. Slowly in 3-4 years, we will have 40-50,000 coffee plants.

This will be a great source of organic farming. Along with this, people’s standard of living will be improved. Growing this organic coffee will mean not having to work as hard every year because we will not have to plant every year. We just have to plant once, give care, and provide water. If you wait for 2-3 years, then you will regularly be able to make income for 40-50 years. On one side, it is beneficial for human beings as a source of income, and on the other side it is beneficial to the soil because it is grown organically. It is healthy for us as human beings.

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"Growing this organic coffee will mean not having to work as hard every year because we will not have to plant every year."

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You [Conscious Impact] have given so much inspiration, so much help, and you’ve made us so much more enthusiastic. For this, we want to say thank you. I hope this community will take this in a positive way. Truly, we don’t have to just focus on temporary happiness, and we have to think about the future. I want to thank Dheeraj Mishra for bringing Conscious Impact to Takure.  I want to thank my community as well.

The Formation of a Coffee Cooperative

Meet the "Basic Organic Coffee Cooperative"

June 18th, 2017

Our "Basic Organic Coffee Cooperative." Elected chairman Narayan Bhattarai stands third from the left and the Sakute offical stands third from the right. The committee is 3 men and 4 women, and represents 4 different casts within the community. 

This week with the help of our own Greg Robinson and Narayan Bhattarai Mama, Conscious Impact formed the Takure branch of the Nepali based coffee cooperative! On Saturday we were excited to set up a training with a representative from the Sakute Coffee Cooperative in Nepal and the local community. Sakute is a town in Sindhupalchowk, the same district as Takure and only a short bus ride away. A representative from the cooperative came to Takure this week to provide a training regarding the structure, requirement and benefits of the co-op model. To join the cooperative members were asked to provide citizen cards and passport photographs. We are so excited that 46 women and men turned in their paperwork and the cooperative has officially formed! We now have 26 members from Takure and 20 members from Bimire. Others in the community will still have the opportunity to join in the coming years.

Members meet for a training with a representative from Sakute.

The cooperative has been named the "Basic Organic Coffee Coopetavie." Basic means to be directly connected to the earth through simple and organic means of farming. 

Apart from forming the cooperative, the members sat together and elected a 7 person committee to represent the "Basic Organic Coffee Cooperative." Narayan Bhattarai was unanimously selected as the chairman of the committee. Of those elected as representatives 4 were men and 3 were women. The elected committee represents families from 4 casts, Brahmin, Tamang, Magar, and Dahal. We're so excited for this opportunity to have women and men working together as well as families form 4 casts. 

A huge thank you to our agriculture team and Mandu Tapa (third from the left). 

The cooperative is Nepali run and organized and supports an equal women to men committee. The chairwoman of the cooperative is Mandu Tapa who has been extraordinary in helping us form the Takure/Bimire branch of the cooperative. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has been a part of forming the cooperative. None of this would be possible without the support of volunteers and donors from around the world. To learn more about our More Than a Tree campaign and supporting the farmers of our community click HERE. Please consider donating to help us continue this project, and for every $1 donated one tree is planted!! DONATE NOW!

"Coffee is less of an investment. I can spend less money and generate more income." - Gopal Achraya

"I'm excited to plant coffee because small worms destroy corn and millet. It is much easier to plant coffee." - "Bal Kumari Dahal

"I'm excited to plant coffee because it provides a long lasting income generating source." -Amar Bdr. Ranamagar

"There is a big problem with Monkeys destroying other crops and I think coffee will be good." - Sarita Achraya

Support our More Than a Tree Campaign by clicking

Written By: Bryce G. Tanner, Greg Robinson

Photography: Greg Robinson, Rebeca Segal, and Jonathan H. Lee

Meet Buddha: A Farmer Using Permaculture in Nepal

Meet Buddha Tamang 

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A note from the interview: Buddha Tamang is an elderly Buddhist man living just down the hill from Conscious Impact's camp. His friends in the village could only praise him for his love of organic farming and dedication to his plants and trees. We knew we had to meet him. He is a permaculture enthusiast in every definition of the word. He plants in a way that benefits all the living things near and on his land. His trees are intermixed with crops and everything he grows has a purpose. His devotion to Buddhism is directly reflected into the way he farms. Buddha has often said he loves his trees as much as his children. He loves to talk about his life, his plants, and how he has coped through major distresses including the passing of his wife and the 2015 earthquake. Buddha is now a close friend, a coffee co-op member, and a mentor, we visit him often. 

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Q: How is your way of planting trees different, and what is special about that?

A: My original home is not here, but in Daduwa. When I first moved to this land there was not a single tree. This land was just for grazing animals for the people of Takure and Dude. From that corner of land to the other, in the 15-20 ropanis (2-2.5 acres) of land, I could only collect 1 basket of grass.

All that I have planted I brought from somewhere else. This tree here, has grown here (pointing to large tree behind him). This land had no plants or trees, when I first bought plants, I didn't know how to grow them. Then I learned how to use compost. There wasn't any grass for my animals to feed on, so I learned to grow grass. Now this time, there won't be wood shortages or problems. We grow trees for wood and bamboo to make baskets. Before we used to carry everything in rice sack bags, but now we use bamboo to carry things and make baskets.

When my wife was sick, I learned how to grow fruit trees, specifically lemon trees. I took my wife to India and other foreign countries. I would carry around lemons in my pocket to put in water when I wanted to drink. When she was in the hospital there was no one at home to wash my clothes. I took off my jacket and hung it in my house and did not wash it for a year after she was sick. After one year, once she had passed away, I reached for my coat again, and found the same 2 lemons, but now they had become dry. When I opened them, there were 11 seeds. I wanted to know if they would grow, so I planted all 11 seeds in the mud. I wanted to try, and all 11 seeds grew.

I planted the 11 trees in small plastic bags. I put soil and compost inside the small black bags, and placed them under the shade of a tree for 2-3 years to grow. I gave them water and took care of them, even though I didn't have experience, I dug 11 holes to plant the trees. I planted them too close together, so when they grew the branches touched each other.

After my wife died, I traveled to so many places and saw many people doing tree grafting. I watched and learned how to graft by watching other people do it. I eventually did the same for my plants. Through tree grafting, I was able to grow 80 lemon trees. All these trees, especially lemon, are from grafting. I used to have more trees, but 20 trees were destroyed when the government expanded the road.

 "I want to build a garden around this land. Gardens need to be cared for. They need water, and medicine, everything. I want to make this place a garden. That's why I'm doing this."

There was no system that allowed my son to stay home and work in Takure, because there were no jobs available. Like the heavy rains that wash away everything in its path, my wife died, and I was left alone. I was left having to pay back 14 lakh rupees in loans, which I had spent on my wife's medical treatment. And even after she died, I spent so much money on her death ceremony and funeral.

Because of the need to pay back these loans, there was no way for my son to stay home. My son, when he comes to stay, is more like a guest. Not out of his own interest, but because he is obligated to work.

Throughout all this, I had wanted to build my house. I have so many plans to work on my land. I have a problem where there is not enough water. I want to make the land level and build a dam to store water. I already have a small pond. I want to plant different types of fruits and vegetables, like onion and garlic. Anything can grow in this soil, on this land. If there are problems with starvation for 2 months, we will survive because I have grown so much food, like yams and sweet potatoes. I planted all different types of wild yams and sweet potatoes all over this place.

Q: What are your dreams and vision for your land for the next 50 years?

A: In my view, I want to make it a better place. I've only done experiments on this land, and haven't really benefitted from what I grew until now. Now I've seen I can do what I want to do. My son and grandsons, are all involved with the agriculture on this farm. Everyone's heart is in this work and land. Right now, why go to America or the UK or Korea or different countries? If we can plant trees and fruits here, we will have flowers, and now I have bees. We can create benefits from all these things.

Nowadays, there are roads and markets everywhere. You can use vegetables for eating, you can sell them in the market, and you can send them far away to be sold. Onions, garlic, and green vegetables are essential. We need them every day, morning and evening. If you have extra vegetables, you can sell them, and then you don't have to buy it. I will manage the problem of water, and I will grow different kinds of fruits and vegetables. It is hard work doing agriculture, but there is no other option. This is what I want to spend my time doing, putting all my energy on this land. Not just for myself, but for my grandson. My grandson has a good education, and it is good for him to do this work because he has knowledge. That is why our dream is to manage this place, and to have guests like you from far away. I have experience, I just don't have enough resources or economic power. I have less income and more expenses.

"Right now, why go to America or the UK or Korea or different countries? If we can plant trees and fruits here, we will have flowers, and now I have bees. We can create benefits from all these things."

If we look, there is nothing to do. But if we just do, we find what there is to do. We have so many bamboo trees, so we can make so many things from them, but we need the skills to learn how to make these things. What we need is skills. How to plant trees, how many trees need to be planted – all these things need to be learned.

I have 6 children/grandchildren. All of them are going to school, being part of society, attending ceremonies and inviting everyone. If for 2-3 years, you are all coming and going from this place, you'll have the opportunity to see these changes. If one person died, we don't have to stop doing things, because dying is a natural part of life. In 2-3 years, I want to decorate this place like a bride on her wedding day. I may die, and I will not be able to do this, but my son and grandson will be able to continue this work.

Q: There is a large tree behind your house and there are many pigeons living in it. Have you built these homes in the tree for the birds?

A: Before the earthquake we had a two story building here, and the 2nd floor was a just for pigeons. There were 500-600 pigeons there. I don't keep pigeons, but I give them grains. Because of the earthquake our home was destroyed. After that, there was such a horrible smell. We realized it was the smell of pigeon poop. 500-600 pigeons produced 80 sacks of poop for compost and I collected all of this.

"If we have to climb up, then we will also have to climb down – there is always both happiness and sadness. We have laughs and tears, life is like this. Even if you feel right now everything is okay, maybe it won't be later."

We dug a hole under the lemon tree and put all the pigeon poop there and covered it. You can see the lemon tree is still flowering and giving fruit. After that, the pigeons were still living in the damaged house. We didn't have any space for them to live. Just like human beings, who also didn't have anywhere to live after the earthquake. But still they would come at night and live there. We believe that 50-60 pigeons were eaten by cats.

For agriculture, when it comes to rice, millet, wheat, corn, black beans and other different kinds of beans, you will not understand if I tell you all the different things I know about these crops. I am the child who did so much agriculture and still I am doing. Now I have so many hardships because of my wife. I have experienced so much pain because of my wife. I was not even 50 years old when she died. It is not worth it to love someone who has died, but it is worth it to love those who are living, that is why I love my children. I get so much happiness and so much sadness from everything I've experienced in my life.

I traveled so much. If we talk about India, I went to Calcutta, New Delhi, and many other cities in India. I also went to West Pakistan. In my country, I went to Rolpa, Dolpa, and Gorkha. I have so many experiences through traveling. Time did not give me the chance to do everything. I am not hopeless, nor am I overconfident. Everything is good with me. I am okay. I am not jealous that other people are earning more money. If anyone says anything, it doesn't make me feel bad. If time favors me, I am going to be able to do so much. We have to travel to different places inside and outside our own countries. And if you will come here sometimes, you will see all the changes that I want to do to this land.

I have planted 150 Lapsi trees around here and I have cut some of them for wood. I have also planted 50 chestnut trees, one variety that you can open with your teeth and the other you have to crush with stone. Now they are bearing fruit. We came to this land just 30-35 years ago.

"You ask, I will answer. Or I will just speak alone like a crazy person."

If we have to climb up, then we will also have to climb down – there is always both happiness and sadness. We have laughs and tears, life is like this. Even if you feel right now everything is okay, maybe it won't be later. Time is powerful, and we have to move according to time. We cannot say, "No I can't," due to the power of time.

To donate to our agriculture program click here

To learn more about Conscious Impact visit: www.consciousimpact.org

Interview by: Jose Welhan and Bryce Tanner

Edited by: Bryce Tanner

Photography: Johanth H. Lee

Meet Durga: A Woman Farmer in Takure

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A note from the interview: I had misconceptions of the difficulty a female farmer in Takure faces every day. I had no idea the daily struggle that Durga Koirala endures because it was always hidden behind her beautiful smile. When we interviewed Durga her eldest daughter had just been married and subsequently moved away from the village. This was weighing on Durga deeply. Because of the emotions that were connected to these questions, we chose not to ask further details on challenging subjects. As a widowed mother, Durga is responsible for bearing the weight of farming and raising her 6 children. Her youngest son attends boarding school and lives with his uncle, while the rest of her daughters help with farming while trying to attend classes. These children respect and adore their mother whole heartedly, she means everything to them, and it is obvious in the ways they help her and care for her. This family has constantly shown adversity in difficult times and I admire their continuous courage. I hope that next season we can continue to help her family though our agriculture’s coffee program. For every dollar donated, one tree is planted, but it also means so much more. The money raised will continue to support families like Durga’s in creating sustainable long-term job opportunities. I hope to continue this interview at a later time, as for now, here is a glimpse into the life of a female farmer in Takure. I hope that by reading this interview you see the connection between mothers around the world. Durga, just as a mother in your home country, hopes to raise empowered, smart, and healthy children. Sincerely, Bryce Tanner

Learn more and support Takure's farmers HERE

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Durga stands in her field with two of her young daughters. 

Q: What is your name, where do you live, and what do you do for a living?

A: My name is Durga Koirala. I live in Takure with 5 family members, including myself. Two others are in Kathmandu and another lives in my uncle’s house. Sometimes they come home, but not often.  The five of us stay here to do all the household work. I have one son, one daughter who is already married. Now five left waiting to be married.

Q: What does it mean to be a female farmer in Nepal? What do you like the most? What is challenging?

A: It is hard. I am getting a little help, which helps pay the school fees for my children. People ask me how I’m doing, all these things. Before they said they would provide a job for one of my daughters, but now they are saying they won’t. My other daughter says it is not possible to work in Takure. She will only find work in Kathmandu. Who will help her find a job or a place to stay?

My son still has to study. I provide some education to my daughters, but I have to spend money on my son’s education. He is small.

Q: Is farming sufficient to provide your family with food for the whole year?

A: No. Sometimes we have to buy food. Nearly half of what we eat we have to buy. This year we had enough corn to feed our buffalos, but not our family. We are not able to take care of all of the buffalo, and have to sell one. We are not able to get sufficient production from our farm because of problems with monkeys and insects.

We don’t have a sufficient water supply for our fields and for our crops. This year we planted corn in the month of Jestha (Nepali month). We were not able to plant millet and that is why we don’t have sufficient food from farming.

I have one coffee tree. It already has some fruit. Last year I didn’t pick any of the fruit because I was busy building my house. This year I will harvest it. Before last year I was able to earn 700 NPR (~7 USD) from the coffee tree. After my husband died, I planted this orange tree and now it is bearing fruits.

 

"My other daughter says it is not possible to work in Takure. She will only find work in Kathmandu. Who will help her find a job or place to stay?"

Q: Does you have access to enough water for your plants?

A: No. Because of the water problem, I have so many difficulties. People fight for water from the tap.

Q: Did you grow up farming? What is your favorite memory of farming as a child?

A: I didn’t work during my childhood. After I was married, every year I gave birth to a new child. My husband is the one that used to work in the fields. Before he died, he did all the farming, grew all the millet, and took care of all the animals. Now that he is gone, I have to do it. But even these days, I have my daughters to do a lot of this work as well. I have to take care of the house, and all other household chores. When it is necessary for me, I will leave the house and go run errands. For the government funding, I recently left to go receive it in the city.

Not only now, but I’ve had so much suffering and hardship during my childhood.  

"If we have access to a water source, I can work hard and grow more."

Q: What do you grow on your farm?

A: I grow greens, onions, cabbage, and peas, but there is no water. You can see I planted onions, but there is no water for them. If we have water then we can grow a little bit more. If we have access to a water source, I can work hard and grow more.

Q: How much time a week or a day do you spend collecting fodder for the animals?

 A: It takes 2-3 hours to go down to the field every day.

My daughters usually go to cut grass, and most of the time I am at home. When my daughters are busy with their studies, I do the work. One of my daughters is in Nawalpur right now for her studies. She only studies in the morning and returns home after lunch.

Q: What do your children do in the farm?

A: They do everything. Digging corn and taking care of the fields.

Q: What hopes do you have for your daughters? What do you see for them in their future?

A: My only wish is for them to find jobs.

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To learn more about our coffee program or support the farmers of Takure,

CLICK HERE

Interview: Bryce Tanner and Sunita Pandey

Photography: Jonathan H. Lee

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Meet Shyam: A Coffee Farmer from Nepal

Shyam Katuwal owns and operates an organic coffee nursery in Takure. Over the last year, he has shared his experiences with Conscious Impact so that we can help connect potential coffee farmers from Takure and Bimire with a local cooperative. He is truly an inspiration. 

Q: Why did you start growing organic coffee?

A: I have found inspiration from within myself grow coffee. For me, coffee farming is more important than life itself. I started growing coffee in the year 2043 B.S. (1986).

Growing coffee is important for the bright future of children. It is good for our health to drink coffee. For families, it can be become a good source of income. From the very beginning, I have felt that coffee farming is good which is why I decided to do it. Now I am so happy and proud of myself. My sons and I have registered the name of a coffee cooperative under the name Surjya Coffee Cooperative.

Shyam in his garden.

A young coffee tree with plenty of compost will grow be strong and produce plenty of income-generating fruit.

After the registration, I now have different NGOs (non-government organizations) connecting with me. If I was only growing corn or millet no one would want to work with me. Because of coffee, Conscious Impact has also come, and I feel so happy for this to happen.

 

Q: How has the community grown from having coffee?

"The journey of coffee is longer than that of us human beings. "

A: Now I am providing training for farmers on how to dig holes to plant coffee trees. With the help of trainings, coffee farming will be able to expand. But right now, we are unable to supply as much coffee as being demanded by the market.

Coffee farming is so good. It is like farming for dollars. Planting trees are beneficial for our health long-term. Even if we don’t have food to eat, even if we just sit in the garden drinking water, coffee is good for us. Gardens are good for the environment because plants give us oxygen to breathe.

Shelled coffee, drying on racks.

Shyam sharing the coffee production process with John.

 

Q: Tell us a little bit about your farm, and what coffee has done for your farm because we like your organic style and sister planting, which has led to the creation of a beautiful farm environment:

A: Rice and millet farming is not sufficient to generate enough income. Our goal is to begin three-story farming: with a large tree creating shade as it grows over a coffee tree, and then a low growing plant below that; such as ginger or turmeric. Though land size never changes, the number of people we have to feed only continues to grow. By farming in this way we have enough food to feed everyone, and future generations will have a good source of income. Millet and rice is not sufficient, so this is the best way of generating income and feeding people.

Shyam showing off his turmeric, a great low story plant.

Beautiful tumeric.

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"Rice and millet farming is not sufficient to generate enough income... Though land size never changes, the number of people we have to feed only continues to grow. By farming in this way we have enough food to feed everyone, and future generations will have a good source of income."

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Until now I haven’t received any donations. I have been coffee farming by myself. I am so happy that you are all coming here and doing this interview with me, helping to promote my hard work. Coffee is life. We have to go out and cover these naked hills with coffee plants. Since you have coffee saplings, you must plant everywhere, to make everything green again. Whatever help you need, I will be here to support you. Whether it is with trainings or helping speak to people.

There are so many important things that we still have to learn about coffee farming.

Over the last two decades, 25% of Nepal's land has been deforested which contributes to increased landslides, loss of biodiversity, and economic downfall.

Shyam and Narayan. Two friends and farmers ready to reforest their land.

Coffee begins to give fruit after its 3rd year.

"Coffee is life. We have to go out and cover these naked hills with coffee plants."

We have already been certified internationally as organic coffee farmers. We collected soil for 3 years and tested it for being organic or not and for use of pesticides. After going through all those requirements, we were finally certified as organic. We have the certificate, and will eat organic vegetables. We are not like broiler chickens, we will make our whole lives organic and healthy.

We are spreading the message of organic farming in our villages. Some people understand and some people don’t. People do not think for themselves, and so they don’t understand the importance of organic farming and why it is good for everyone and the environment. I am working so hard to convince people that we are capable of doing good, instead of bad.

Shyam speaking to other farmers about the benefits of growing coffee organically.

Stronger together!

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"We are spreading the message of organic farming in our villages. Some people understand and some people don’t."

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I started a coffee nursery in the year 2043 B.S. (1986). Now I am providing coffee trees to my friends and selling them for 15 rupees each. Since 2063 B.S. (2006), I have continually worked in the nursery and spread knowledge to my friends on how to grow coffee.

I’m so happy that you came here to see all of my work from the very beginning. I feel so lucky. By unveiling my work, I am able to connect and share my story with different foreigners, donors, or organizations. This has created a good environment and strong network for me. After connecting with you [Conscious Impact], I feel I like my knowledge has increased from what it was before.

 

Q: How has starting his own coffee cooperative changed the way he is farming coffee?

A: From the very start at the beginning, we had so much difficulty selling the coffee because there was no cooperative. We first supplied coffee to Buddha Coffee Mill. I started I realized it was necessary to find constant and stable suppliers who would buy coffee. Constantly having to go to different places and people was not sustainable. After that we made 8 primary coffee cooperative groups.

Now we are established and are able to supply all our coffee to this processing center in Sukute. They collect all the coffee there, divide the organic from the inorganic, and all the organic coffee is shipped to Korea and elsewhere. In this way, we directly transport our coffee to Sukute as we grow it.

Shyam talking about the benefits of growing coffee with other plants.

Compost tea at Shyam's farm!

By connecting to this district coffee cooperative, we can create unity among us which can be hard and difficult to do. If we support each other, we can raise each other up. Some people still do not understand why I plant coffee trees. If we cover all these hills with coffee plants, we can look at it and know it is for the benefit of the Nepalese people. It is not for foreigners. Our aim is to raise awareness among people and help them to do something by themselves. Coffee is so important.

"One person cannot do anything on their own. If we help each other, we are able to raise each other up."

One person cannot do anything on their own. If we help each other, we are able to raise each other up. If Conscious Impact is here to help, then we are more than willing to receive it. Whether it is with our coffee or with a nursery, we are here to receive and share knowledge. We as farmers are a marginalized group. I am trying by myself to do this work, but with more energy from others, we’ll be inspired to do more.

For us, coffee is our life cycle. The journey of coffee is longer than that of us human beings. People are not able to understand coffee. Our coffee is organic Arabica, and comes all the way from the Americas. The name Arabica is famous in this way.

I want to thank you again; I am able to sit here and give this interview and not worry about time. There is no value of time because the life cycle is constantly going on.

Narayan, Greg, and Shyam talking coffee in the Conscious Impact greenhouse.

Training Takure in Coffee Management

Our first coffe tree is being planted!

Volunteers Meryl and Jatesh measure 6 kg of humanure per tree!

Farmers sit in front of the Bimire School as we plant our first coffee tree!

Greg is teaching our hardworking volunteers the importance of prepping holes for each coffee tree!

Farmers from Bimire and Takure are ready to plant coffee! Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this project!

Community Training

On May 5th and 6th Conscious Impact, in partnership with a Nepali coffee cooperative held two local coffee trainings. One in the community of Bimire and another in Takure. We were grateful to host Ehak Prashad Bykurel from the neighboring village of Sukute to train our community. Ehak works at the processing and distribution center and trains farmers to be successful in creating their own branch of the coffee cooperative. Each farmer was trained in the history of coffee, where and what to plant with coffee, how to prepare the soil, how to take care of the tree, benefits of organic trees, and benefits of the co-op model. We will be helping the community organize into two groups of 25- 30 farmers.

As a part of the training we planted our first 10 coffee trees. These are the first 10 trees of our 10,000 tree initiative. Each tree represents so much more than a tree, they will help to reforest these mid hills in the Himalayas, help mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon, and help support livelihood security by providing cash crops and making agriculture a viable way of life. We’re 10 down and 9,990 to go! We’re so excited to plant all of these trees over the next year. Learn more HERE. 

In the next few weeks, as monsoon rains continue to increase, we will be distributing trees to the farmers in our community. Each farmer will receive the amount of trees for the holes they have prepared. Most farmers have asked to purchase between 50 and 500 trees. It will take 3 years for the trees to reach maturity and begin producing fruit.

Over the next few weeks we will begin planting new coffee seeds for next years distribution. We are also continuously planting other varieties of tree to be planted alongside coffee including neem, ippl ippl, jack fruit and other income generating trees.

Camp Training

On May 7th we held a special training for our volunteers. Each volunteer was taught how to properly dig and prepare a hole for coffee. Each hole is prepared with a 50 cm radius and depth. The top soil is separated and each pile of soil is mixed with 3kg of compost. Our tree compost is made specifically from our composting latrines. This means that every volunteer who has pooped in our latrines is contributing to the health and longevity of each tree planted at camp!

We will spend the rest of this week digging and preparing holes!

Are you interested in supporting our 10,000 tree initiative? Learn more, or donate Here! Thank you!

Written By: Bryce G. Tanner

Photography: Rebeca Segal / George Blower

Conscious Impact's First Coffee Meeting

  On February 4th, 2017, over 50 members from the local community gathered in Conscious Impact’s garden. Woven mats lined the ground and cob benches. The coffee was poured and the doughnuts were frying. The moment was surreal. Countless hours of hard work from hundreds of volunteers had led up to this meeting. From the moment coffee was introduced, we were aware that there was an opportunity to provide sustainable income for the community through agriculture.

 In January of 2016 the coffee green house was built. A beautiful structure with 20 foot tall ceilings and welded steel beams. The entire structure was fundraised and built with love from our volunteers. What followed was months of coffee care. Volunteers and locals combined spent days filling bags of soil, each receiving a small coffee seed. Once the trees began to sprout volunteers squatted for hours weeding the thousands of bags. The bags were then moved and spaced out to where they will mature. Every week they are carefully watered.  After over a year of intense labor, here we were, with 8-10,000 coffee saplings and a community eager to invest.

Our agriculture team was nervous, hosting a meeting in Nepal is not easy. You can’t send out an Evite to the whole community and expect them to show up. Instead we spent weeks walking door to door and speaking to community members about attending our meeting. Who decided to show up would be a direct reflection of how interested our community was in forming a cooperative. The worry faded as dozens of community members arrived with smiling faces.

What was surreal about this meeting was being surrounded by the people we idol the most. The farmers we meet with every week, community members who bring us their fresh produce, the families who have been farming this land for decades before we were here.  

We ended our meeting with those same smiling faces wandering through our greenhouse, admiring what has emerged of countless hours of hard work. Beautiful and healthy coffee saplings. Coffee and doughnuts were served with delight to all of our local friends and families. They politely told us the coffee was only good with nearly half a cup of sugar, the same way they drink their tea. They loved the doughnuts.

There’s a lot more work to come. We will continue to have meetings with the local community. We will provide them with proper training in tree maintenance. Our hope is to have a significant amount of our saplings planted by the coming monsoon season. That is going to be a lot of work for us and our community, but we are ready.

Thank you to all of our volunteers near and far who made this possible. To the dedicated people who provided our trees with water and sorted each coffee sapling to ensure it would survive. A special thank you to Elpis and Dora for supporting this project with your friends and family.  This meeting was successful because you were here. 

Written By: Bryce G. Tanner / Brycegtanner@gmail.com / Instagram: BryceGeralynn

Photography By: Jonathan H. Lee / Subtle Dream Photography / Instagram: Subtledream

Connecting Community Through Agriculture

Shyam Katuwal beams with joy as he hands us yet another bag of ginger to take home. He is proud to show us his farm, as he should be. The Katuwal family’s organic harvest is bountiful and they have put countless hours of hard work into it. The terraces are full of ginger, turmeric, potatoes, sugar cane, bananas, chard, and coffee. All growing in perfect harmony. His family knows how to farm to a degree of perfection I can only hope to one day understand. Our own vegetable garden is growing, but not in the same way as the Katuwal families', they know this land. They know the composition of the soil, they feel the changes in the climate, and they share the same concerns for the environment as we do. In this way, we are all connected. Visiting local farmers and connecting with families through their stories allows us to grow and connect even more as a community.

In the foothills of the Himalayas, Takure is a village of farmers. Land is inherited through generations and is the most precious family belonging. Everyday we are surrounded by families that rely on farming to survive. Families walk their goats past The Training Center, strong men and women carry 50kg dokos of vegetables with no pause, and our tents look over terraces full of rice, buckwheat, and millet.

Local families of farmers have opened up to us in teaching about their practices. On our visits families show their land with pride and offer vegetables to taste. They tell stories of their lives before the earthquake and the hopes and dreams for their families now. In exchange we share stories of the faults of our own countries abroad. We discuss the damage chemical fertilizers and pesticides have caused in countries around the world. We discuss organic practices, climate change, and reforestation through coffee, cardamom, and other cash fruit trees.

Our own vegetable garden is thriving thanks to the dedicated volunteers that care for it. Our farm is completely organic and we produce compost directly from our camp food waste. We have developed a system that guarantees as little waste as possible and we are working our hardest to leave no impact on the land. We use natural and organic fertilizers to combat ants, termites and aphids that become nuisance. By creating natural pesticides and farming organically we can see firsthand the struggles faced by local farmers when not using pesticides. We also teach our volunteers these practices to take home. People from around the world are introduced to organic farming, and can start their own vegetable gardens in their home country!

I am thankful that the farmers are letting us into their homes and sharing their stories with us. Our farm visits and agriculture program have brought us even closer to the community that we admire so much. It’s about connecting with a community on a deeper level. I am grateful for the volunteers that come to Nepal eager to learn about organic farming techniques and implement them in their home country. I hope that one day our cultures from around the world are able to adapt environmentally friendly techniques and create healthy and sustaining agricultural communities.

Written by: Bryce G. Tanner / Photography: Jonathan H. Lee @subtledream 

Brycegtanner@gmail.com

Instagram: BryceGeralynn