For her Home Country Project, Heidi chose to work with the community of Agua Dulce Shori, a small community in the central jungle of Peru where she lives.  She set out to build greenhouses where she could raise coffee and a variety native trees so that she could design alternative agro forestry systems.

Since beginning her project, Heidi has produced 30,000 coffee plants of the “catimor” variety and has planted and managed 300 seedlings of native trees which she will donate to the community. Heidi has put together a manual about organic coffee production which she has distributed to 20 families in her community. Heidi has begun teaching a workshop were she introduces her manual and shares her experience in MESA program.

Peruvian coffee is an important crop in the eastern Andes mountains because the climate, the altitude and the condition of the soil in these hot and humid zones is ideal for growing coffee. The market for organic, fair trade, and environmentally friendly coffee has also grown consideably recently, and production has expanded and intensified, with many more farmers interested in innovative agroforestry systems that involve co-planting coffee with native tree species.

Land size: 10 ha

Skills utilized from US Training: Heidi used her skills in greenhouse production, transplanting and associate different crops in order to avoid natural pests and diseases. She also used her knowledge of Community Ssupported Agriculture (CSA).

Heidi associated with 2 former MESA Stewards from 2006.  They now lead workshops at Huancayo University to promote the MESA program.