From City Life to Organic Farming: A Journey of Passion and Perseverance

From City Life to Organic Farming: A Journey of Passion and Perseverance
Written by Alexandra Olarte
Alexandra is doña Maria Cristina Guasca's daughter, who produces our sweet, chocolaty, and herbal Colombia Washed.


I still remember the first time we went to visit the farm in the year 1996 or 1997. I had been a city girl, same as my parents. Mom wanted to invest in a farm and she was looking for options around Bogota. San Francisco was 1 hour away, had a template climate,  and the road was in a good condition. The farm was very hilly and I struggled to get around. Mom instantly fell in love, she loved the mountains, the coffee and fruit trees, as well as the river in the lower part of the farm. In the first 5 years the farm was more recreational, we used to go pick fruit, walk around, and fish in the river. However, once Mom retired she changed her live from a secretary at the National Bank to a hippie farmer, thanks to her desire to connect to nature and the community living in the town. Mom eventually met with other farm owners in the area and joined a cooperative of organic farmers that continuously collaborate on best ecological practices.

The transition to organic farming has not been easy, Mom has encountered many difficulties in maintaining an organic production that is not only environmentally, but also financially, sustainable. For example, organic farming is labor-intensive and costly.  It requires constant care of the compost, growing the microorganisms that are used for pest control, physical control of weeds, constant harvesting of ripe coffee so that it does not fall prey to and pests. Not to mention the manual labor involved in the normal tasks of harvesting and processing the coffee. 


My mother has always needed a person to take care of the farm since she cannot run both the farm and the business at the same time. However, nowadays it is very difficult to find a person who can work on the farm. There is a lack of young people who want to work on the farms because most of them prefer to work in construction, which is more profitable, or they go to work in the cities. Sadly, this is a trend throughout Colombia, which has seen its urban population increase significantly in recent decades, from 50.5% in 2000 to 75.7% in 2020.

The lack of people willing to work the land in the region has had an impact on the sustainability of production, as Mom has had to change workers often and also has to continually train them in organic farming practices. The younger ones are not interested and the more mature workers are averse to having a female as a boss and are also less interested in learning about organic farming. My brother and I cannot help her on a regular basis since my brother works with my Dad and I am overseas. We are still hoping to find a person who can work on a permanent basis and who is interested in learning about coffee and organic farming now that coffee has reached a record high price this year.

Although it has not been an easy road, my mother and the whole family have found organic farming greatly rewarding.  Over the years, soil fertility has improved due to the removal of invasive grasses and other measures, and an abundance of local fauna and flora has returned. An example of this is the appearance of collared peccaries, blue morpho butterflies, and Andean squirrels. We hope that these changes will have a positive impact on the farm's ecosystem, and that it will become resistant to the drastic climatic conditions that the future may bring. 

My mother wants her customers to know the hard work that goes into the production of coffee on her farm so that it is free of herbicides and pesticides. Likewise, her coffee is picked and selected by hand, which reflects her commitment to this work. She hopes that with her coffee she can bring the smell of the Colombian Andes to your home and the sweetness of tropical fruits to your cup. 

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