Description
The Little House
Gustavo's family moved from Caicedo in the 1980s, trying to escape the violence that plagued the region during the height of the communist guerrilla war. They were able to acquire land in Cartagena, Urrao, deep in the Penderisco River valley.
When his father passed away, Gustavo inherited most of the farm, as his sisters were already living in Medellín and weren't interested in continuing the family business. Gustavo, on the other hand, had been helping his father for a while, a tradition his son, David, continues.
Coffee wasn't always a constant at La Casita. There were times when the family dedicated the land exclusively to growing beans and some local passion fruit, as they viewed coffee as unstable in price and labor-intensive.
However, as neighbors began to grow "caturro chiroso" and acquire stable prices for their crops through specialized coffee programs, Gustavo and his family gave coffee a second chance. This is their first chiroso harvest, and they hope to continue expanding their production as more land becomes available. Labor is an issue, as
that the region has become big on avocados, but thinks that with higher prices for chiroso they will be able to compete for the additional labor needed to pick the crop, beyond that of their own family.
His wife, Adriana, is the daughter of Aide Montoya, another producer in our chiroso program in Urrao. It was from her that Gustavo originally obtained his seedlings.
