Fresvindo Hernández

I was raised by my grandfather, since my father left when I was still very, very young.

My grandfather brought some coffee plant seeds from El Salvador and was one of the first farmers to cultivate coffee in our region. Little by little, he taught me the details of coffee cultivation until I was old enough to start on my own.

My wife, Rosa Romero, also owns a small plot of land, so we work our land together, and have been doing so for decades. Now, we no longer have the strength to manage our farms alone, and our children are all grown up with their own families, so although they try to help when they can, they are often too busy with their own coffee.

In fact, one of my sons, Roy, is the manager of Cafesmo. Roy and his wife, Dariela, grow excellent coffees and work with roasters in the United States and Europe. Roy is very good at selecting the best lots for specialty coffees, and Dariela takes care of the drying. They have three solar dryers, and when they're working, I usually check the lots for them during the day.

In return, they help me prepare my own micro-batches. You could say that everything we do is an intergenerational family effort. Each of us contributes our own skills and knowledge.

On my own plot, I only grow the Lempira variety because historically it's very resistant to rust, and I find it a reliable variety. That said, this year (2021), I also planted some Parainema in a small plot we usually maintain for corn and beans. My son Roy insisted because he says it's even more resistant to rust than Lempira. We'll see how it goes, but in any case, it takes us three years to get a full first harvest from any new plant.

The corn and beans we grow on our small plot are for our own consumption. It's much cheaper than buying them at the local market. But if we can produce high-quality micro-lots with the help of our son and daughter-in-law, it might be worth planting all that land with parainema plants and buying corn and beans with some of the profits.

Aside from that, we don't have as many future plans as our son. Given our age, we're grateful for every year we can still work our land, and for the support our children give us whenever they can. And, of course, we can always take care of the drying and other lighter tasks, while the next generation focuses on the heavy lifting!