Today is Earth Day, but really, Earth Day is everyday — especially here in Lake Tahoe. The endless inspiration we feel when we set foot outside our doors each day ensures we appreciate and simultaneously protect the beautiful planet we call home. At DRINK COFFEE DO STUFF, we strive to make sustainable decisions in every aspect on the day-to-day running of our roastery, including importing coffees from regions who employ sustainable farming practices such as our partners at Sustainable Harvest.
Recently, we were proud to partner with Greg's Organics, a CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmer) based just over the hill in Grass Valley, on a really special project facilitated by our friend Ryland West as part of a class project for Sierra Nevada College.
Over the course of a few months, Ryland gathered used coffee grounds from our Truckee facilities, as well as our friends over at I.V. Coffee Lab and a few other partners from around the North Tahoe Region — not an easy (or very clean) task! After several hundred pounds of brown goop had been collected, Ryland loaded the grounds in the back of his truck and made the trek down to Grass Valley to Greg's Organics in Gold Country — an urban farm boasting 7 acres of organic heirloom tomatoes, heirloom squash, Bartlett pears, blackberries, and more, just a stone's throw away from downtown Grass Valley. The donated coffee grounds were incorporated into fertilizer for Greg's tomatoes, yielding a successful harvest. Portions of the bounty were then donated to a local school system to be enjoyed by future generations of coffee roasters and tomato farmers!
