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Traditional agriculture is “sustainable” agriculture. Traditional growing practices have evolved all over the world, wherever generations of people have lived on the land their food comes from, growing and harvesting in concert with the local landscape. Traditional farmers work from a deep knowledge of the local ecology, using methods passed down through centuries, integrating the human need for food with the health of the land and its inhabitants. These people understand that the growth and cultivation of these crops are interlinked with a wealth of other plant and animal species, all of whom share and contribute to the overall health of the air, land, and water. The beauty of a vibrant and intricate whole is maintained through what is locally available. Traditional farming systems have always been rich reservoirs of biodiversity. They support a huge variety of plants, animals, birds, and insects—many of them still unknown to the wider world, yet vital to their local ecosystem. They are also repositories of cultural knowledge, comprising oral history, land stewardship, culinary traditions, and traditional growing techniques. Throughout the world, the ancestral wisdom of these traditional systems is being replaced by the single-crop farms of modern agriculture, and with the resulting loss of crop diversity and habitat comes a profound cultural loss as well. Traditional farming peoples understand that their cultural health is bound to the health of the land, and that by maintaining one, they feed the other. The beans we at The Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie provide you with are rare and grown in these honorable, wise, traditional ways. The mineral rich volcanic soil is the “secret ingredient” that gives these beans their vibrantly deep and complex flavors. Close your eyes, take a deep relaxing breath in then out, put your nose just above the cup and gently breathe in as you sip a cup. Let this nectar of the Gods fill your senses as you imagine yourself surrounded by the peace and beauty of the region and peoples of the past and present who grow, cultivate, and harvest these beans for your pleasure.  By offering these Traditionally Grown beans, we honor the global and the local together, in keeping with our deepest belief: that in the end there is no difference between the two.