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  • Celebrate Women in Conservation

    World Female Ranger Week

    The first ever World Female Ranger Award winner Caren Yegon (Chags Photography)

    Original Post from Mara Elephant Project by Claire Bolles

    Protecting Elephants and Their Habitats Across the Greater Mara Ecosystem

    It is World Female Ranger Week, a time set aside to highlight the important conservation work undertaken by women on the frontline. The first ever World Female Ranger Award winner Caren Yegon just completed a month-long LEAD Ranger training at the Wildlife Works facility in Rukinga, Kenya. (Our cause coffee partner) The Mara Elephant Project  / Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Mau De-Snaring Unit lead ranger was joined by 13 rangers, which included nine women, from other conservation organizations for the Bush School Instructor course facilitated by both LEAD Ranger and special guest instructors.

    Caren will take the skills she learned and bring them back to educate other MEP rangers. Skills like making safe drinking water in the field, using various signals to communicate when you’re lost or need to be discreet, making shelter and fire with basic supplies, navigating in the field without technology and more.

    As we join other conservation organizations celebrating World Female Ranger Week, we continue our commitment to nurture a diverse and inclusive workforce thanks to your support.

    A special thanks to LEAD Ranger for their commitment to nature’s first responders and to How Many Elephants for supporting World Female Ranger Week to shine a light on women like Caren.


    You can send more Mara Elephant Project rangers like Caren for training in 2023, when you purchase Protect Our Elephants coffee. Support the MEP conservation heroes.


    Follow our Stories and More....

    Lavender Grace is the Sustainable Ecology Consultant for Thanksgiving Coffee Company .

    Our Causes

    Celebrate Women in Conservation

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  • Our New Cause Coffee Helps Protect Elephants

    Protect Our Elephants

    Mara Elephant Project (MEP, est. 2011) protects elephants and their habitats across the Greater Mara Ecosystem in Kenya, one of the last wildlife refuges on Earth. When poaching emerged as a threat, MEP and Kenya Wildlife Service took action to successfully combat it. Today, the drastic expansion of the human footprint is causing habitat loss and conflict. Our Maasai male and female rangers are working to build a better future for their families by protecting elephants and their habitats for generations to come.

    Protect Our Elephants Coffee supports the conservation of precious wildlife and habitats in Kenya.

    $1.50 per 12 oz bag and $5.00 per 5-pound bag are donated to the Mara Elephant Project. Learn more about Mara Elephant Project at www.maraelephantproject.org.


    I had an elephant friend when I was 10 years old. She lived at the Bronx Zoo and growing up, I lived five minutes from the Zoo. I got to know her by visiting once a week until I went off to college eight years later. On my early visits I noticed an elephant food dispenser near her outside enclosure and for five cents people could buy these little pellets of elephant food that came in 2-ounce packets. A person would empty the contents into their palm and offer them up to the nearest elephant who would extend their trunk to your palm and suck them up and then blow them into their mouth. I just couldn't spend a nickel on 2 ounces of smelly pellets when I could get two pretzels at the candy store on my way to the Zoo, but I could stop at my uncle’s fruit and vegetable store, which was on the way, and get a free bag of overripe bananas, rubbery carrots and a pound of fresh roasted peanuts which she loved and ate shells and all.

    I visited with her until I went off to college after spending a long day saying goodbye. As I was about to leave, it was beginning to get close to closing time, the Zookeepers came out and asked me if I wanted to give Helen a hug. They took me into the enclosure and encouraged me to approach Helen and to talk to her while I moved forward toward her. She lumbered over to me and I touched her flank. I had only touched her trunk up to that time. I put the side of my face up against her rear flank. She was warm and her skin was tough. I was 18 , they told me she was 36.

    After a short while her “keepers” signaled it was time to go. I know I was at a loss for words, How do you say goodbye to an Elephant? Turning my back I began to walk toward the enclosure's door when I was stopped by the full weight of Helen’s trunk on my shoulder and wrapped slightly around my neck. I stopped in my tracks. “Don’t be afraid” the keeper said ,”she is saying goodbye”. I turned around to find her big dark eyes looking right into me and I know I cried in that moment and all the way home. When I came home from College 4 years later she was gone.

    Helen introduced me to the other side and showed me how it is not only possible to share emotions with another species, but that it is essential to find a way to do so. That teaching instructed and served me until this day and I am so happy to be telling you that story as we embark on our joint venture to use coffee to raise funds for The Mara Elephant Project. It means alot to me to join The Elephants again.
     
    - Paul Katzeff, Founder of Thanksgiving Coffee Company

    Our Causes

    Our New Cause Coffee Helps Protect Elephants

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  • Pomo Possibilities

    Right Now We Are Seeing History in the Making.

    In the confluence of purpose and action, our community is coming together for Tribal sovereignty and reconciliation through the Pomo Land Back movement. This is an opportunity to learn about and support the Northern Pomo People of Mendocino County. This is an opportunity to regain alignment with nature, with our community, and the indigenous people of these lands.

    The parallels between the Indigenous Forest and the Indigenous People are striking. Much like the ancestral old growth Redwoods, only a fraction of the original Pomo people are still alive. 
Populations of Pomo tribes numbered between 13,000 - 20,000 in the early 1800s. By the 2000 census, only 5,092 Pomo were left. Likewise, only 4% of the original Redwood Forests exist, while the other 96% have been logged to extinction.

    Mendocino County is home to 10 surviving Pomo tribes. All have experienced countless forms of discrimination, forced assimilation, relocation, and legal termination. It is time for the cycle to pivot. We can do this together through regeneration, cooperation, and collaboration.

    What we do to the forest, we do to the people

     

    The Pomo Tribal Leadership has identified Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) as the focus of the Pomo Land Back movement and has gathered the support of 50 California tribes across the State. This has never been achieved before. Tribal Chairman Michael Hunter is ready to lead the way for healing and has asked Governor Newsom for co-management of these forests. With the help of a strong local coalition of environmental organizations, the logging has been stopped for now.

    "Our responsibility is to past... present... and future generations of all life."

     

    The way forward is to rematriate the forest and move into Indigenous stewardship. Following the lead of matriarch Priscilla Hunter, Tribal Chairman Michael Hunter is gathering the community together to bring healing and restore the biodiversity to our forests and rivers.

    The 50,000 acres of Jackson State Demonstration Forests (JDSF) has been managed by Cal Fire since 1949. It is full of ancestral sacred sites, and is one of the most diverse ecosystems in the State. With the co-management plan the tribes will guide the State agencies to implement their place based knowledge and create a real demonstration forest for future generations. This irreplaceable knowledge is the expertise that has been cultivated over millennia by the tribes who have inhabited these forests.

    Indigenous experts hold the wisdom of interdependence with our surroundings and how to live with the cycles of growth that will support all life. This traditional ecology knowledge (TEK) system was brutally interrupted at the time of colonization. The forest is suffering the loss of these practices and experiencing the harsh consequence of a dysfunctional system that breeds greed and exploitation.

    I invite you to be a good steward of the Jackson State Demonstration Forest and learn about the Pomo Land Back movement. Together we create a new era of justice for our First Nations People of Mendocino. With Pomo leadership, Cal Fire has an opportunity to truly demonstrate what a healthy forest and healthy ecosystem is for generations to come. This is a win, win, for people, policy, and the planet. Native-led co-management of JDSF is the strongest medicine for our forests and community as a whole. I urge you to learn how you can support the stewards of this amazing forest.

     

    To join the movement and learn more go to www.pomolandback.com.


    Further Resources:
    Pomo History - Encyclopedia.com
    The Intertribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council

    Redwood Forest Returned to Tribes

    Halt Logging Northern California

     

    The Bee Bold Alliance is a project of Thanksgiving Coffee that works to find sustainable solutions for our future generations by restoring biodiversity and supporting our local food systems. In collaboration with Tribal Chairman Michael Hunter and his family, we are building a resilient community for all life. www.beeboldalliance.com


    Give 20% to the Bee Bold Alliance when you buy the Bee Bold Cause Coffee in Dark and Medium, or Decaf. We have raised over $21,000 to support biodiversity and local food security to date.

    Our Causes

    Pomo Possibilities

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  • Expanding the Story of our Growing Alliance

    Expanding the Story of our Growing Alliance

    We are the story makers for our future.

    The Bee Bold Alliance (BBA) tells a vibrant tale of World renewal. Like the exploratory mycelium, the BBA reaches out and connects diverse aspects of our community to link into the same wisdom stream. This wisdom tells the tale of a path of green. As we grow with up to 40 members, so too our tools expand.

    Growing

    The newest facet of the BBA is our Regenerative Youth Leaders Productions, for short Bee RYL Productions. The team is led by Henry Thomas, alumni of the Tech department at the Mendocino High School. The Bee RYL youth will produce multimedia based on resilience with nature, and the importance of our biodiversity for the survival of our local ecosystems.

    The project is underway with the support of the Mendocino Film Festival, Hope 4 Natives, and the Mendocino High School. The first pilot is about two Forest Grandmothers, Pricilla Hunter and Polly Girvin, who have actively been working to protect the Redwood Forests for 40 years.

    Polly-and-Pricilla

    This all came about synchronistically at a recent rally to protect the Jackson State Demonstrations Forest. Inspired by Tribal Chairman Micheal Hunter’s talk, I approached him about collaborting with the BBA. The ensuing dialogue was full of possible pathways where we both sought mutual benefit for the tribes and the lands of Mendocino. The direct result led to the creation of The Bee RYL Productions. In alignment with the primary goal of Hope 4 Natives, which is to establish an active online cultural library, the BBA will help train Pomo youth with multimedia tech skills to support this goal.

    The Regenerative Youth Leaders Productions generates a path to valuable job skills through the creation of valuable media to tell stories of resilience and sustainability.

    No sooner had the nucleus of the project been formed when I had the pleasure of meeting the new Executive Director of the Mendocino Film Festival (MFF), Angela Matano. There was an immediate outpouring of inspiration to build a partnership and create a wonderful base for the youth project to grow. With the support of MFF’s Technical Director, Marshall Brown, and in alignment with MFF’s vision, Bee RYL Productions will help to offer opportunities for filmmakers and locals to celebrate the power of film, art, and story in the beautiful, natural setting of Mendocino.

    The subsequent Bee RYL projects will include:

    • Interviews of prominent elders in the community
    • Round table discussion on best practices for sustainability
    • Support material for the RYL to take action
    • Multimedia for all platforms
    Choose the Path of Green

    It has been said that when you truly focus on something you can find the entire universe hitched to it, and that is certainly the case here.

    The BBA is a central ring that emanates from Mendocino, sending a signal to each heart to help the seeds of thought sprout and grow a future full of diversity, and food for all. We are working together to tell our story well, and that story is about choosing the path of green.

    Thank you to our co-sponsors for the Bee RYL pilot: Coyote Valley Tribe, Fortunate Farms, Sweetwater Inn and Ecospa, Cafe Beaujolais, Corners of the Mouth, Princess Seafood, Mendocino Trail Stewards, and all the support of the volunteers who make this happen.

    Give 20% to the Bee Bold Alliance when you buy the Bee Bold Cause Coffee in Dark and Medium, or Decaf. We have raised over $21,000 to support biodiversity and local food security to date.

    bee bold

    Expanding the Story of our Growing Alliance

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  • Honey Bee Day 2018

    Honey Bee Day 2018

    This Saturday is National Honey Bee Day! Take time in the garden and around your neighborhood to thank the pollinators around you this weekend. These little black and yellow insects play a vital role in keeping all of us alive on this planet, and they are worth taking the time to appreciate.


    In addition to simply appreciating these creatures, it’s also important to learn more. Why do we need pollinators? What would happen if bees went extinct? What action do we need to take to make sure communities are protecting our bees? Take a look at the Bee Action Friends of the Earth page to get a better idea of what you can be doing for your community.


    Thanksgiving Coffee on Honey Bee Day

    Bee BoldIn 2016, Fort Bragg became the first Bee-Friendly City in California. This was due to the efforts of local beekeepers, the Fort Bragg Garden Club, and Thanksgiving Coffee. We were proud to lead the movement in California toward ridding our state of harmful pesticides and neonicotinoids that are killing our pollinators. Over the course of the past two years, Thanksgiving Coffee Company has partnered with two organizations to save our pollinators: our local Noyo Food Forest in Mendocino County and the international group, Friends of the Earth. We have raised over $17,000 for these non-profits, thanks to YOUR support of Bee Bold Coffee.


    Pick up a bag of Bee Bold Coffee at your local grocery store, or grab a bag online through our web store. Let’s celebrate National Honey Bee Day together, and save our pollinators!




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    Honey Bee Day 2018

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  • Mendocino Trail Stewards Update

    Mendocino Trail Stewards Update

    Chad

    Mendocino Trail Stewards Reflects on Progress

    by Chad Swimmer – President

    July 10, 2021, marks sixteen months since the founding of the Mendocino Trail Stewards–488 days that have changed my world irrevocably. It wasn’t just that six mountain bikers gathered around a table then somehow matured to a coalition which has grabbed the attention of the highest levels of the state government. It wasn’t only the pandemic, the acceleration of climate change, the barely averted July 6 Capitol Hill putsch. It wasn’t vapor trail-less blue skies turning apocalyptic orange, the shattering of heat records across the Pacific Northwest, the dying of billions of clams and mussels.

    Mendocino

    It was a greater transformation, a surprising ray of hope for the future, an unlikely group of strangers joining hands and hearts into an unexpectedly effective coalition, one which includes the Pomo People, young children, once-retired forest activists, and climate scientists, among others. The Coalition to Save Jackson State Forest has struck a chord with our push for accountability, tribal rights, and a legislative solution to the California Department of Forestry’s (CDF) mismanagement of our beloved public lands. Fueled by a pervasive rage at the Trump Administration’s incessantly racist crisis-mongering and by the powerlessness we all felt with Covid-19 sweeping the nation, our ranks have boomed.We have opened the door on an issue right in our backyards, one combining our love of the redwood forest with our greatest fear: climate-driven annihilation.


    Mendicino

    From 18-year old Greasy Pete, who climbed into Mama Tree’s branches and captured the imaginations of thousands on April 9, to 5-year old Jory, our youngest activist hero, to Paul and Joan Katzeff, whose Redwood Forest Reserve Blend Coffee has kept me organizing late into the night. From the prayers and blessings of Priscilla and Michael Hunter of the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo, the tireless work of their lawyer and ally Polly Girvin, to U’ilani Wesley’s proud chants echoing through the groves, the people of Mendocino County are again at the forefront of change.


    CDF has been forced to take notice and they are fighting back, but we still have the moral upper hand. Members of the Mama Tree Network and Redwood Nation Earth First! have repeatedly stopped timber harvest operations, saving thousands of trees and frustrating forest managers. Public comments submitted to CDF have delayed the approval of the controversial Little North Fork Big River and Mitchell Creek plans by months–and hopefully indefinitely. We have overwhelmed California Natural Resource Agency meetings with our calls for change.


    Where we go from here is uncertain, but our aim is high. We are drafting litigation to rewrite the Forest Practices Act for the entire State of California, righting historic wrongs and paving the way for this forest to become our ally in protecting our children’s future. Join us for our first ever Caspar Forest Fest, on July 31, from 1:00 to 7:00 at the Caspar Community Center for music, speakers, food, kids’ fun, and to find out how you can become a part of it. Hope to see you there!





    Join us for our first ever Caspar Forest Fest

    July 31, from 1:00 to 7:00

    at the Caspar Community Center



    Mendocino Trail Stewards are working to create a visionary model demonstration forest on the Northern California Coast, the Mendocino Coast Redwood Forest Reserve, 20,000 acres of second growth coast redwood forest, preserved in perpetuity for the demonstration of how humans and nature can partner to:


    • Fight Climate Change
    • Restore Degraded Ecosystems
    • Promote Spiritual & Mental Health
    • Support Sustainable Economies

    Sign the petition and add your voice to the movement to #createthereserve.




    The Coffee

    The Mendocino Trail Stewards’

    Redwood Forest Reserve Blend

    When you drink this coffee, your purchase supports Mendocino Trail Stewards’ efforts to create the Redwood Forest Reserve.

    Mendocino

    Kenya Peaberry

    Medium Roast

    A big, bold, sweet and fruity cup of coffee – with a long finish.

    Your purchase supports forest conservation efforts by Mendocino Trail Stewards.


    Buy this coffee
    Kenya Peaberry

    Dark Roast

    A bold, sweet blend with hints of nuts, chocolate, and caramel.

    Your purchase supports forest conservation efforts by Mendocino Trail Stewards.


    Buy this coffee
    Kenya Peaberry

    Decaf

    Complex and sweet enough to enjoy straight, yet bold enough to punch through milk.

    Your purchase supports forest conservation efforts by Mendocino Trail Stewards.


    Buy this coffee
    Category_From the Roastery>Featured

    Mendocino Trail Stewards Update

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  • THE WAY OF THE BEE BOLD ALLIANCE

    Bee Bold Alliance


    The Goal of the Bee Bold Alliance is to Unite Pollinator Protectors to support Biodiversity and Food Security for future generations.

    The How:

    Here are four ways for you to be part of the solution for pollinator survival.

      1. Drink Bee Bold Coffee – Use your coffee dollars to support your local pollinator protectors. We will send 20% of your online purchase of Bee Bold Coffee to the Bee Bold Partner of your choice. This organic, fair trade coffee is a full circle product.
      2. Sign the Pollinator Protector Pledge –  Pledge to care for the Earth, your home, and your watershed for pollinator survival. You can protect pollinators by using organic land management at your place of residence, your business and community. Join the Pollinator Pledge.
      3. Create a Pollinator Garden – Feeding local pollinators is possible at any size. Doorstep flowerpots, a tree between a sidewalk and the street, a border of herbs and flowers, a full backyard garden, a front lawn replaced by herbs and veggies, or acres of sustainably farmed vegetables. Garden spaces come in every size. Get planting here
      4. Sponsor a Pollinator Garden – Support food security in collaboration with the Bee Bold Youth Core. Contact 

    We Facilitate

    • Pollinator Gardens to feed our communities

    • Youth Projects to develop self-responsibility

    • Intentional Creativity for visions of hope through art, music, and dance

    • Traditional Ecology Knowledge for integrated relationships to all life


    We Create

    • A circle of regenerative ecology

    • Support for continued life on Earth

    • Hope for our future generations


    We Celebrate

    • Each season with heart-centered storytelling, art, dance, and music

    • Connection to our natural world for social and systemic change


    This is the Bee Bold Alliance, uniting pollinator protectors for the future of our biodiversity and food security for future generations. The Bee Bold Alliance is a project of Thanksgiving Coffee Company, a certified B Corp using business as a force for good.

    Project Director ~ Lavender Grace Cinnamon ~ Sustainable Ecology Advocate  info@beeboldalliance.com or www.beeboldalliance.com




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    THE WAY OF THE BEE BOLD ALLIANCE

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  • Introducing the Bee Bold Alliance

    Bee Bold Alliance

    A Regenerative Ecology Network

    Right now, bees are dying worldwide at an alarming rate. Why should you care? Because bees and other pollinators are an essential link in the food chain—our food chain.


    The Bee Bold Alliance is a movement to help people attract and sustain pollinators in their home gardens, and at their place of work through habitat restoration and creation.


    The Bee Bold Alliance blog will share stories that follow both the root causes for the disappearance of the bees and why it is so important to listen to the pollinators. Join us as we explore the diversity and abundance of our Pollinators of the world.


    The four areas of focus:


    • Culture
      • How Beauty, Art, and Intention Influence our Ecology
    • Provisions
      • The Power of Food & Herbal Medicine for Global Health
    • Regulation
      • Regenerative Systems for Ecological Solutions
    • Support
      • Soil Health, and Traditional Ecology Knowledge of Ancestral People

    In these stories we tell how to collaborate with our Bee Bold Partners for the greater good of all. We will look into how we learn from our mistakes and utilize all of the tools available to us to solve the problem of our disappearing pollinators and the huge impact this has on our ecology.


    As a Certified B Corp Thanksgiving Coffee Company is prepared to lead the way for Pollinator Protection in our community and beyond.


    Bold local action for pollination survival

    The Main Objective

    The Bee Bold Alliance is about helping people learn how to attract and sustain pollinators in their home gardens & at their place of work through habitat restoration and creation.


    However we will not stop there, we are going to look deeper into the root cause of the disappearance of pollinators and discover modern solutions, that perhaps have previously been overlooked.


    To find examples of a sustainable relationship with the earth, we will look to a regenerative ecology network that includes Traditional Ecology Knowledge (TEK). Incorporating Indigenous wisdom gathered from around the world by those who develop and maintain a deep and ancestral connection to the land.


    Each one of us carries a piece within, it is up to us to find it, and use it for the greater good.


    You too, are part of this solution, and I thank you for being here. Your support on this collaborative project is essential. Your participation will allow us to move forward for a bountiful future for all. If you are coffee drinker,  make your coffee our Bee Bold Coffee and support pollinator protection in your local region every morning.


    The Beginning

    The Bee Bold Alliance came into focus in 2018, just after receiving a loud and clear message that it was “my time” be a steward of this land. Shortly after I received this message, Thanksgiving Coffee Company invited me to relaunch the Bee Bold project.


    In revitalizing this campaign, the Bee Bold Alliance for Pollinator Protectors came into being. The more I learn about my role in leading this campaign, the less I truly know. For example, now I understand it is not about being a “steward”, one who watches over the land, but more importantly one who actively gives to the land before one takes. To be full of gratitude for all we are given. To move through each day with honor and respect for the Earth that gives us every little thing.


    The Bee Bold Alliance is a way to give to the land your home is on, to the land you do your business is on, and to the community you are part of. The vision is to build native food forest with First Nations People, the seed savers, and to support the health of our new generations. The Bee Bold Alliance is about honoring the original care givers of these lands, and protecting the pollinators who allow us to grow the seeds of real food that nourish us.


    As we develop a full spectrum Ecology System, we must include the practices of Cultural Ecology from the wisdom of our elders. How has  community song & dance been part of the creation process for our food systems?  How do we honored the spirit of life through our culture, and how is the sound health for our ecology manifested? This is the focus of work I do as a singing woman and consultant at the Honey Hive of Mendocino.


    Connecting people to collaborate on the Bee Bold Alliance is the role I serve at Thanksgiving Coffee Company. The company’s mission is to lead by example and inspire coffee drinkers to be a part of the solution.

    The Earth is full of abundance, the gifts of life are all around us, all that we need to survive comes from this Great Planet. So how do we learn to live in harmony with the Earth and all its inhabitants. This is what I want to know, and I will take you through this journey of learning, as we travel many roads and look at many different tools that can be utilized in this work.


    Here we are at the beginning of an emerging network for mutual support of our pollinator protectors: it will grow as we build it. Our World is as resilient as we make it. Let us find this new form of global coherence with the aid or one another. I hope you will join us on this journey. Become a pollinator protector with the Bee Bold Alliance here.

    Upcoming blog – Bee Bold Advisors

    This work has been informed by many wonderful advisors and I will share with you the work they do in the upcoming posts.


    Lavander Grace

    Lavender Grace is the Sustainable Ecology Advocate for Thanksgiving Coffee Company and Consultant for the Honey Hive of Mendocino




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    Introducing the Bee Bold Alliance

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