Visible & Invisible

Spring?

When there is snow outside, ice to slip on and a wind chill below freezing it is hard to believe the first day of spring has come and gone. Flowers and rain, not ice and snow, is what I expect.
It's time to start...

artist unknown

In spring there are two types of cleaning that must be done.
The kind of cleaning done with a bucket, mop and broom which will require many pots of coffee; and the kind with a cup or two and some thinking.

Visible:
I promised my husband a freshly roasted pot of his favorite, Mocca Java, to help him tackle the garage which seemed to have exploded with dust, cobwebs and clutter over the winter.

Since I have not been able to roast for much of the winter, I haven't purchased any new green coffee beans. Going to my stash of remnants from last year's stock, I discovered I only had an ounce or less of the Java Ciwidey, Yemen Mocca Matari, Indian Mysore and Papua New Guinea Purosa.

It seems like a dire situation to a dedicated amateur.

Yes, I roasted in the snow to get a clean garage!
I would not advise.
Electricity and water (even if it is frozen) do not get along.

What to do?
The answer is simple. 

Do not throw them out, make a blend.
Take four ounces of whatever is remaining and roast them together.

This is the best way to gain experience. 
Experiment, taste and enjoy.

Cleaning out the remaining green coffee beans to make room for new ones in order to provide the fuel and motivation needed to spring clean away the visible dirt, but what about the other spring clean that needs to be done?


Invisible:
The first thing I thought, as I sipped with a two handed technique, was sadly far from deep.
It was what came first...

The chicken or the egg?
Stay with me!
The egg or the bunny?
There is a point, I promise.
A bunny who lays eggs...for children to eat?
Okay, so that thought is both disgusting and disturbing!

How has another holiday of candy taken priority over the real meaning?

Halloween I can accept as a candy holiday.
Trick-or-treating is a tradition in my house.
Christmas has Santa Clause; whose real name was Saint Nicholas; who was trying to share christian charity around Christmas; whose real message is the birth of Christ.
Logical.
But an Easter Bunny on the day celebrated for someone being killed
and rising from the dead?!
Whether a Christian or not, that logic is flawed.

Take the Easter season as a time to Spring Clean what cannot be seen.

Personally, I saw how I needed to spend more time on others than myself.
I don't own make up or a hair dryer, so I don't mean in a primping in front of a mirror way.
For me it is the time I spend doing what I want, like writing, drawing, designing and roasting that needs to be replaced with things my son, my husband or even my dog wants to do with me.

Reallocating my time, giving away what I want to others, has given me a happier heart.

As winter clings on this year give spring cleaning some thoughtful consideration.

Which rooms you might want to bribe your significant other to help clean?
The places too gross or high to reach are always my choices. 

How to spring clean yourself?
Personally, I made my husband shower before sitting down after cleaning the garage! The real answer I gave above.


Which coffee blend you can create with the beans left in last year's stash?
I would love to hear about your blends. What combination of beans were used? How were they roasted? How did it tastes? Use the comment box below or email me directly at sarahjorichards@gmail.com.

Happy Spring Cleaning, Roasting and Easter!