This January marked my fourth harvest at the Kasaraneni farm, and my third one as his sole buyer and business partner. When we piloted our healthcare program last year, it felt like a good thing to do, but I didn't think a whole lot more of it. The minute I showed up at the farm this year though, the difference was HUGE.

You see, for the past 7 months, a doctor has come to the farm every month, topped up every workers' prescription, checked them out, and when necessary- sent them to the hospital in the city for consults or additional care. For women that have avoided the doctor for years, or struggled with their diabetes, blood pressure, or thyroid issues without access to care for over a decade or sometimes their entire lives, this changed everything. This visit, I was greeted as one of them, as kin. The role of buyer can only go so far, and we're proud to be much more than that. 

I teared up realizing that your little jars of turmeric on the other side of the ocean (where you're reading this!), have created the most beautiful circle of care and community that we all reap the benefits of. It creates a trust that allows us to push for unparalleled quality standards, to evolve the farm to table model into a global one, and to know that in a time of endless chatter about ethical and direct trade, we're going far beyond just words. 

A month ago, I was eager to add on as many new spices as possible. Y'all are fantastic cooks, and I want to fill up your pantry with as much deliciousness as possible. But my time at the turmeric harvest taught me that I'd rather go slow, and build small bubbles of care, community and quality on every spice farm we work with. So this year, we'll add on healthcare to our Guntur Sannam Chilli farm, and work on getting them their own milling equipment and processing shed. We'll work with the Baraka Cardamom estate on scaling their production, even if it hurts our sales like hell. We're building relationships for life, not just our 2020 balance sheet. Yes, we'll be adding a few new spices, but not an entire pantry's worth. I hope you'll stick with us for the journey, we've got a lot of exciting surprises in store! ;)

And speaking, of journeys - I'm in India for another two months (thank you to Team Diaspora for keeping the ship afloat in my absence)! I'm visiting spice farms across the country, trying to create supply chains in some pretty remote and lush corners (can't wait to share more!!!), and even making a dip to our neighbors in Sri Lanka for a spice that I'm sure you can all guess! Please follow along on Instagram - I'm a millennial after all and it's just how we share, hehe. 

The first picking and milling of the Narne Family's Guntur Sannam Chillies are here! We have 500 precious jars before the rest of the harvest arrives in April, so snag what you can/need/have been waiting for! There are also a super limited amount of trio's!!! Shhhh.
 

Extracting the specifics of this recipe out of Prabhu's grandmother one afternoon after we'd stumbled home from the harvest was not easy for a woman loathe to sharing exact quantities, or for letting her daughter-in-law or grand-daughter, also proud cooks in the family, get a damn word in. Nevertheless, we persevered and this umami, full-bodied spice blend is our new obsession.
 

It should take 9:26 minutes, and you'll be entered to win a year's worth of our spices! Tell us all your spicy problems and pantry frustrations, we'll make it better ;)