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By pigwhisperer, September 29, 2009

Hoje foi entrevistada no programa Estação Cultura na Rádio MEC do Rio de Janeiro. Toda terça-feira Estação Cultura tem seu Café Literário, onde anuncia os lançamentos de livros da semana. Hoje a apresentadora do programa, Alessandra Eckstein, me perguntou sobre o meu livro, A Costureira e o Cangaceiro. A entrevista foi ótima! É uma pena que não oferecem podcasts da Estação Cultura, porque eu gostaria que vocês ouvissem a entrevista. Mas queria agradecer Alessandra e Estação Cultura pela atenção.

Today the program Estação Cultura (Cultural Station) on Rio de Janeiro’s Rádio MEC interviewed me about A Costureira e o Cangaceiro. Every Tuesday at 1:30 Estação Cultura hosts their “Literary Cafe” where they talk about new book releases in Brazil. Today the program’s host, Alessandra Eckstein, asked me questions about my novel and my time in Brazil. Unfortunately Rádio Mec doesn’t offer podcasts of Estação Cultura; I’d really like to share the interview with everyone who reads the blog. Many thanks to Alessandra and her team at Estação Cultura for their time and attention.

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By pigwhisperer, September 27, 2009

Oi gente!
Boas notícias! Meu livro foi lançando no Brasil pela editora Nova Fronteira. O nome do livro em português: A Costureira e o Cangaceiro

“Na pequena Taquaritinga do Norte, Emília e Luzia aprendem desde cedo o ofício da tia, a melhor costureira da região. Em meio a moldes, fazendas, linhas e agulhas, as moças vão tecendo caminhos inesperadamente opostos. Revisitando o Brasil do início do século XX, Frances de Pontes Peebles constrói um romance encantador em meio a transições e turbulências políticas.”

Compre o livro aqui ou em qualquer livraria como Cultura, Saraiva, Travessa, etc.

Now in English: Good news! My novel has been released in Brazil by Nova Fronteira publishers. In Portuguese, the book’s title is: A Costureira e o Cangaceiro

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By pigwhisperer, September 25, 2009

When you were little and wondered about the intimate workings of the world, didn’t many of you turn to a trusted adult in your lives and ask, sheepishly, “Where do coffee beans come from?”

Of course you did. When you asked, you might have heard many stories, some true, some false. Coffee beans are not delivered by storks. They do not appear on doorsteps, swaddled in Starbucks bags. And, sadly, when a daddy coffee bean really loves a mommy bean, they do not make a baby bean. I really wish this were the case.

Here’s the real story: Coffee beans grow on trees. Actually, these trees look more like shrubs but they grow pretty tall. The coffee plant is a woody perennial evergreen belonging to the Rubiaceae family. There are two main species of coffee grown today: Arabica and Robusta. Robusta coffee plants are hardier, produce beans with higher caffeine content but, for the most part, inferior taste. Arabica plants grow at higher elevations and are more labor-intensive plants to raise, but their beans are denser and more flavorful. Our coffee trees are Arabica typica.

Three to five years after a coffee seedling is planted, it begins to produce white flowers. Our trees flower in December, which is summer time in Brazil. Arabica coffee trees are self-pollinating (hermaphrodites) whereas Robusta coffee trees plant depends on cross-pollination (plant sex; those devils!). Three to four months after a coffee flower is fertilized, the coffee fruit begins to grow. Here’s a very cool animation about the goings-on inside a coffee bean during its development.

When the coffee cherries turn red we pick them. It’s harvest time now, so we’re doing a lot of picking each day. Then, each evening from 4 PM until about 8 PM, after the coffee cherries are picked, we “process” the coffee. What does this mean? That’s the next stage of the bean’s life, and I’ll post it next week.

Thanks for reading.
xoxo
Frances

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By pigwhisperer, September 20, 2009

Blogs are supposed to be updated at regular, frequent intervals, and I’ve been delinquent. I’m going to be better about this.

Our favorite pig, Mona, gave birth to 8 healthy piglets this past week. She was in labor for about 4 hours. We knew she was going to have her piglets because, even though her belly was enormous and it was hard for her to walk, Mona became restless and began walking around her pen. A few hours before the birth she started giving milk.

The piglets slipped out with their hooves straight in front of them, like they were rushing down a water slide arms-first. Newborn piglets are covered in a yellow-hued membrane, like a sack that encases them. For the most part, no human intervention is necessary when a pig gives birth. But it’s good to pull the membrane from the piglet’s body and especially their face, as it could suffocate them. We scoop up the newborn piglet, wipe their faces, and give a quick, strong puff of air onto their little noses to make sure they breathe. Then we wipe them down, cut their umbilical cords and tie the ends with a cotton string dipped in iodine. We also put a squirt of iodine into their freshly cut bellybuttons to prevent infection, and also to stop flies from laying eggs in there. Nature is lovely, but it can also be extremely opportunistic—flies need to lay their eggs somewhere, and an open wound is a nice, warm place with lots of food. Gross, yes. But if you think about it, aren’t those mother flies just like our mother pigs, trying to continue their line and give their young a strong start? Flies are nature’s clean-up crew. Without them, wouldn’t we be neck-deep in a lot of nastiness? I’m a fan of flies, as long as they stay clear of my little pigs’ belly buttons, hence the iodine.

After the belly button treatment, we place the piglets in a small pen filled with sawdust, which keeps them nice and warm. Then, one by one, we let them nurse. The baby pigs must nurse immediately because during the first 12-24 hours of their lives, their mother’s milk is filled with colostrum. What’s this? It’s a mammal mother’s first milk, which contains natural antibodies that help babies survive. Even humans have it.

Mona is doing fine, as are the piggies.
Our next post: The Life of a Coffee Bean, Part 2. You’re excited about this one. I can tell.

Thanks for reading, everyone.

xoxo
Frances

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By pigwhisperer, September 3, 2009

We are smack-dab in the middle of coffee harvest. Coffee cherries are turning red on the trees, and we are scrambling to get our picking teams to every tree, so no cherries are wasted. What does a coffee cherry look like? Our trees flower in December. Then a small, green fruit develops. As the fruit ripens, it matures and turns red over the course of 8-9 months. The best time to pick the cherries is when they are red and juicy. Like any fruit, coffee is best when it’s ripe. If left on the tree after it ripens, a coffee cherry gets soft and wine-colored. Eventually, if it isn’t picked, the coffee fruit will turn black and shrivel. We try to pick our cherries red. Each evening, we use water-based machines to sort the cherries (because a few black and green beans inevitably make their way into pickers’ baskets) and pulp the fruits. We pulp the cherries (taking off their skins) because our coffee season occurs during our rainy season, which means a complicated drying process. Pulping the beans helps them dry faster. We also have covered drying patios, so rain doesn’t fall on the drying coffee and ruin it’s taste.

I’ll post more pictures of our entire coffee harvest process over the next few weeks. But since the coffee cherry is the heart of our operation, we’ll start with it’s life cycle.
Abraços,
Frances