I just asked my daughter for her thoughts on the week, and she said: "I thought it was fun--I didn't have school!." I guess we all have our own experiences. I would not use the word "fun" to describe this week. Seven days ago I was writing about staying calm in the midst of the COVID-19 news from around the nation. Tonight I sit in my living room in a state that is under a stay-at-home order. Work has been chaotic, but the evenings have been spent playing board games with my kids. It turns out that when all other commitments are canceled, we get to spend a lot of time together.

I think that the last time I played Risk was at least ten years ago. But we were looking through a board games and realized Jack and Caroline have never played. So an old game became new again, and we have spend the last four nights trying to conquer the world. True confessions--they eliminated me early last night so that I could go to bed. Clearly my age is not leading to expertise.

How have you spent the week? What has been different for you? Earlier this week, I started noting in my calendar the decisions we made at work each day: how many employees we sent home, how we followed the government directives. On Sunday it says "governor orders 65+ to self isolate at home, restaurants to operate at half capacity." Within a day, restaurants were told to go to takeout only--so we complied by removing all of our tables and chairs. Today we made the move to offer exclusively pickup orders to those who call first. Our doors are locked, but we will be there from 7 am to 4 pm, Monday to Saturday if you call for a food/drink/bulk bean order (530 273-6424).

That's a lot of changes in a week. One way I am dealing with all the unknowns is focusing on what I can do. I can appreciate the first day of spring. We may have canceled Caroline's birthday trip, but we can still celebrate her birthday. I can help the customers who call in. I can go on hikes, with proper social distancing. We can play board games, watch movies, read books and make art. We can keep roasting coffee and selling it online. We can still make corned beef and cabbage and raise a glass to St. Patrick. I can change into green when I get home, if I forgot to wear it earlier. I can FaceTime my niece and nephew and giggle with them. I can watch my daughter choreograph a dance for me out in the yard. I can laugh at the ducks and chickens running around, and notice that the first robins have appeared this week.

There's so much that I can do, when I stop and think about it. I can also introduce a new coffee to you. I know that most of you will not be able to come in and taste it, but we will have it for sale online. This is an Ecuador Loja Protected Designation of Origin. If you are able to utilize our curbside delivery, you can try it this week. It comes from farms near the equator, in the far south of Ecuador. These farms have to work hard to get their coffee to market, from their mountainous region in the Andes.

According to our broker, “Jose Luis Eguiguren, a Q grader who works for an export company called Hacienda Santa Gertrudis, has helped 80 producers work together to improve the quality of their coffee. The model of collaboration produces a traceable community blend with a vibrant regional profile. This lot comes from small farms where each producer has their own micro-mill to carefully harvest cherries, depulp, ferment, wash and gently dry the parchment on raised beds (see here).”

In the cup this is a special coffee, with creamy tones of milk chocolate, and notes of caramel and vanilla. If you can't come try it this week, I hope that you do have good coffee to drink. This Ecuador Loja is only available online or from our curbside pickup, but we are still restocking all of our grocery store wholesale accounts. You can find our coffee at the local SPD Markets, Safeways, Raleys, Holiday Markets, Ikedas in Auburn and Sierra Market in Colfax.

I hope that all of you are able to stay home and drink good coffee this week. Get outside, and appreciate all the things that you can do. A big shout out to all of our health care workers on the front lines. And to the grocery store workers, delivery drivers, police, fire fighters and all those others working hard to keep our infrastructure running, thank you. We see you and we appreciate you. And also thank you to our teachers who are working so hard to put a new type of learning in place. Stay healthy, wash your hands (we are, constantly!), and have a good weekend. Cheers!

--Holly Fike