Tablon de Gomez is a municipality in one of the most famous coffee-growing areas of Colombia: Nariño. It's an area where coffee has made an immense and positive difference in quality of life. To get to Tablon de Gomez, we first fly to Bogota, then take a local flight to Nariño. In Nariño, we board a pickup—one of few vehicle types that can pass through the muddy dirt roads ahead—and ride for another 2 hours.

La Cueva (Spanish for "Cave") is a small community located in the Tablon de Gomez municipality, with approximately 200 people. La Cueva is a community with a deeply-rooted tradition of ecological protection. All producers preserve part of their farm as untouchable forest. They also leave native plants untouched in places where waterways originate and keep livestock out of those areas. They are hyperaware that climate change is a real problem and that as it worsens, their community and others like it will bear the earliest and most severe consequences.

The producers in La Cueva focus primarily on coffee, intercropping with other fruit trees that they use for shade, like avocado and lemon. They also raise free-range animals such as chickens, pigs, and guinea pigs, whose manure and consumption contribute to the integrated ecosystem. The coffee-growing area of La Cueva reaches between 1,200 and 1,700 meters above sea level.

The producers here tell us that many years ago, the area was not nearly as productive, and the community members' economic situation was worse. Back then, producers grew mostly peanuts and corn, and few fertilized their land. This all changed as families switched over to growing coffee and were introduced to fertilizer, both of which have improved the community's financial and ecological well-being immensely.

La Cueva shares a culture of peace and respect between neighbors. In August, everyone gets together to celebrate San Ezequiel, their patron saint. On this holiday, each house puts together a troupe at the door of their houses to join the general celebration by sharing fried guinea pig and liquor.

Olmedo farms 2 hectares at his farm El Pindal, where he grows Castillo and Colombia varieties and bananas. After a selective harvest, the coffee is sent to cement tanks where it is fermented for 15 to 17 hours, then dried on patios or raised beds between 8-12 days. Olmedo lives with his brother Alirio and his mother in La Cueva. His farm El Pindal does not have road access, so they have to carry all their coffee to the nearest part of the road. Olmedo has been producing coffee for the last 19 years.