At DOMA we have always placed more value on the product inside the bag rather than what’s on the outside. Now, we can have our cake and eat it to.

How Magazine (a really cool design mag) has awarded Doma Coffee Roasting Company a design award for our slick packaging design. Lets see, great coffee, cool packaging and a truly compostable bag. Check.

Thanks to How Design for selecting us. Thanks to Chris Dreyer of Dreyer Press. Thanks to Shelly Croswhite of Crowberry Co. Thanks to all who inspire us. And a special thanks to the crew at Doma who put up with us.

Great Coffee. Great Design.

In our DTE contest…we gave away free coffee for a year!  Here is a bit about our winner:

Audrey hails from West Chester, PA. where she lives with her husband, teen-aged son and daughter and two West Highland White terriers. She works in marketing and travels often for her job. Going to live music performances is a long-time passion going back many years to when she was a young (14 year old) Dead Head. She is also passionate about great literature and great coffee. She used to think that the latter was harder to find than the former . . .but we’ve solved that problem! And that’s why she is a winner!

I have to give a little shout out to her husband Bob, whom I’ve gotten to know through his blog. If you’re interested in food and all things about it with a dash of humor and perspective, be sure to check it out at http://ahungerartist.bobdelgrosso.com/.

Here is a photo of the DOMA Assistant Director of Skiing last Friday. I’m certainly glad someone has there priorities straight.

We  need to support things like this in our community. Or, in Bart and Paul’s words.

Good morning loyal readers, listeners, friends and family,

As most of you know, we’ve been at this whole Down To Earth thing for quite a while now. In fact, it was this time of year in 2007 that we decided we wanted to stay in Spokane and hatched the idea of starting an environmental issues blog as a purpose for filling what we felt was a void in local environmental news coverage.

Since then, the blog has grown into a full-featured environmental news site and communications tool, we’ve branched off and formed or joined many different organizations, projects and causes, and as many of you Spokane contacts know, we developed, produce, and do a 30-minute weekly radio show on KYRS conveniently called Down To Earth.

And that is really the reason we are writing you today.

The KYRS fund drive is kicking off tomorrow (March 2) and we wanted to contact each of you before it began to ask you to think about why KYRS and community radio in general is so important in Spokane and the rest of the world, and also to ask for your support.

Whether you’re a loyal listener or not, there is something about KYRS and community radio that effects you – yes, even those of you far away from Spokane. In this day and age, the idea of an independent and diverse voice in media is almost nonexistent. There are mega media conglomerations, PR and communications work dressed as news, and mostly just a bunch of noise on the airwaves and on your computer.

During the Fund Drive we will be asking for your financial support – but this isn’t just about supporting the operations of the radio station – this is supporting diversity in the community, this is supporting sustainability in Spokane, and this is supporting a free, independent voice here and everywhere.

Here’s a little about KYRS for those of you that don’t know.

· KYRS is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit, independent, non-commercial, community radio station.

· Nearly all of the work at KYRS is done by volunteers. That’s over 100 programmers hosting local shows from diverse musical genres to public affairs shows that cover just about everything.

· KYRS has been on the air for six years – that’s six year’s worth of people saying they support community radio.

· A donation to KYRS will help pay for a new 70-foot tower to power the 6,500 watts that will bring KYRS to full power at the end of the year. The tower costs $25,000. But remember, donations first and foremost go towards current operating expensive.

While we have only been doing our show for three months, we’ve been supporting KYRS for a long time and we know the importance of locally produced independent news programs. In our short three months we’ve been able to report on stories that weren’t mentioned in any other media outlets and we’ve been able to bring in great guests like Taylor Weech, a 20-year-old local youth outreach director to get her perspective on youth and sustainability in Spokane, and Adriane Borgias, a local environmental consultant to talk about the work she did in the Republic area as a third party representative working on communication and consensus building with the community and the Kinross Gold Corporation. In addition we’ve been a voice for the Spokane River, Complete Streets, climate change, and for other organizations in and around Spokane, and a voice for YOU! KYRS is Your Radio Station – and we look forward to many more great guests and perspectives including interviews with Spokane County Commissioner Bonnie Mager and Drew Meuer from Second Harvest Inland Northwest this month. But we need your help.

Whether you live in and around Spokane, we know that you support us and the work we do, so please consider donating today. For $35 you can become a KYRS member. Your gift is tax deductable and you will be making not only an investment into our community, but an investment in a free voice.

Please visit this site – http://67.199.103.253/donate.cfm – and consider donating today. If you do decide to support us, support KYRS, and support community radio, please consider marking in the comments section of “check out” that you’re donating for the Down To Earth show! We really appreciate whatever you can do. And Spokane appreciates you as well!

Cheers,

Bart and Paul

http://www.kyrs.org/showprofile.cfm?id=1257998618783

http://www.downtoearthnw.com/blogs/down-earth/

bartly7@gmail.com

jamespauldillon@gmail.com

downtoearth@kyrs.org

on Twitter @DTE_Spokane

–
“Sala Kahle”
Bart Mihailovich
Down To Earth blog: http://www.downtoearthnw.com/blogs/down-earth
Down To Earth on KYRS: http://www.kyrs.org/showprofile.cfm?id=1257998618783
Twitter: @DTE_Spokane

Ben Tobin’s new bike. The boys and I made a pilgrimage out to Elephant Cycles on Sunday to check out the new ride, Glens shop and the awesome line up of new and old bikes. Very cool. I made the mistake of riding his cross bike (which fit me almost perfectly) and immediately went home and started checking the dryer and piggy banks for money. Rebecca, if you read this, I promise to start riding again and not set it up as a single speed if I get one! For the rest of you, check out www.elephantbikes.com.

OK…I know, there is no shortage of hype about the latest sine qua non for the home espresso enthusiast, but once in a while, there is something that comes out to truly impress even the most jaded hipster.  I admit, I might not wear my sister’s jeans, but I do drink espresso every day at the plant, and I know lots of big words.  Consider me impressed, though.

This morning, we recieved a box full of mypressi TWIST espresso makers.  This new handheld device (about the size and shape of a portafilter, but with a bulby round head) is purported to make a great shot of espresso without a boiler, or electricity.  Nicely packaged, it comes with everything you need to get started on a great espresso journey.  You get real 14g. portafilters, a tamper, nitrous oxide cartridges, extra o-rings and seals (i already washed one down the drain), a special portafilter to be used with coarse ground coffee, a pod adapter, and a couple of other things that I haven’t really checked out yet.

We pulled several shots of Vito’s this morning using the Anfim at its normal setting, and everyone was impressed (even Terry and Greg)!  The shots came out thick and syrupy and tasted great.  There was enough N2O gas in one cylinder to pull four double shots (or 3 doubles plus one for the barista if you know what I mean).  Easy to clean, too.

Just put coffee in the portafilter, tamp, screw the top on, add boiling water, seal and press the trigger.  You get a great extraction, that beats any home machine I have seen.  I think that most people would be hard pressed to discern the difference between the mypressi shots and shots from a commercial machine.

We have them online, or come by the plant and do a taste test…see if you can tell the difference!

I’m way behind on this but check it out. If you don’t catch it tonight, there is always always another Tuesday night. Green drinks Coeur d’Alene meets the second Tuesday of every month from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. in the deli area of Pilgrim’s Market, 1316 N. Fourth St., Coeur d’Alene. For more information email greendrinkscda@gmail.com. No topic is off topic for the group as long as it pertains to the environment. And that can’t be a bad thing.

We were fortunate to have Craig Goodwin come out for a visit last friday. For those of you that don’t know Craig, I highly recommend checking out his site at www.yearofplenty.org. I’d put it into my words, but Craig does a much a better job. Needless to say, Rebecca and I are really exploring the possibilities of doing our year of plenty and Year of Plenty will be a great resource.

Thanks go out to David and Ben who showed up around the same time, had coffee and nary a f-bomb was dropped.

This is a picture of our pal Ben’s garage. You might look at this picture and think to yourself, “somethings missing”. and you’d be right. They could use another 29′er, a couple cross bikes and maybe but probably not a fixie. Of course others may look at the garage and notice its absence of cars. Which in my book, is cool. Check out more of Ben’s work at www.bentography.com.