Les Petites Vachettes

Today’s blip is to give thanks to the Nicas – today I had the pleasure of spending some time with a great man: Don Mario Guttierez from Masatepe. He is one Nicaragua’s pioneers to have brought back from an almost certain extinction the “Ganado Reyna”, a variety of cows found only in Central America. This man is also the first finquero to have introduced me to the idea that coffee can be grown at altitudes of below 500 m - in desert-like conditions: with nutrient-deficient and dried out soils. By using techniques never seen before (triple-trunk coffee trees, and “vaccinated” coffee trees) he is now producing surprisingly vast volumes of coffees from his local Catuai semilla – I have been awed into respect. His passion, dedication, and love of the agricultural art (he is an agronomist!) – has allowed him to gain respect in the local community and amongst the exporting coffee companies in Nicaragua – he is also unique as he actually lives off his coffee farm production. He is also one of the distinctive coffee farmers in Nicaragua to have a “mechanised” farm, as the conditions in Masatepe (flat slopes) allow the use of tractors to plant and fertilise his plantation – almost felt like in the outskirts of Minas!

I’m so glad that it was insisted I come see this farm before my departure to the cold.