ULIVjava and a New Addition to the Farm
There is a lot of activity going on at my farm.
Here in the Northeast, the last few days have been very pleasant - warm enough to get a lot of chores done. The outdoor grounds crew has been busy cleaning the woodlands in preparation for new seedlings, top dressing garden beds with mulch, and picking up any stray branches or debris left over from two recent snow storms. Over the weekend, we also welcomed a new peacock. Pedda Reddy, a passionate peafowl breeder and raiser in Dutchess County, New York, came by to drop him off and to help introduce him to the resident peacocks, peahens and peachicks - he is simply stunning.
We also celebrated the launch of ULIVjava's new "k-cups". You may recall, my longtime personal trainer, Mary Tedesco, is the co-founder of ULIVjava, a company that seeks to create and promote healthy, great-tasting, organic coffee products that are infused with vitamins, minerals, and herbs. The company produces ground coffees, and now single-serve coffee pods. I joined the ULIVjava partnership after tasting the delicious drinks. The following are some images taken of the "k-cup" manufacturing process.
-
- This is the the entrance to Barrie House Coffee Roasters in Elmsford, New York. Barrie House makes the single serve cups for ULIVjava – I am glad to know their cups are recyclable and environmentally friendly. https://www.barriehouse.com
-
- Inside, this is where all the production begins – at the cup filling area. https://ulivjava.com
-
- Here are the empty product boxes with the new colorful coffee mixologist logo ready to be folded and filled.
-
- Nearby, a giant sack of coffee is waiting to be blended.
-
- This is the giant blender that Barrie House uses for ULIVjava.
-
- Once blended the coffee is fed into the packing equipment production line.
-
- Here are the ground coffee cups traveling to the filling equipment station.
-
- This is the conveyor for the cups. Each actual cup has 13-grams of coffee and green tea with herbs. These single-serve cups come in the same three delicious ULIVjava varieties: lean, happy and smart.
-
- Spot checks of the packaging seal are done along the way.
-
- The cups go through this unit carton-forming mandrel. It is interesting to see how the boxes are folded and ready to be filled.
-
- This is where it collects the nested cups and places them into boxes.
-
- Here, the sealed unit boxes are sent through to the final check-weighing station.
-
- And then the unit boxes are pushed through for a final bottom seal.
-
- This monitor shows the statistical tracking information for each box as it passes.
-
- This is a box of system rejects. If any of the containers are damaged during the process, it is automatically pulled and dropped into this box.
-
- This is a laser engraver. It creates the production bar code and the “best by” date.
-
- And this is where the boxes go for packing. The robotic case packer picks up the cardboard box, makes the case and fills it with the finished cups. Each case holds eight boxes.
-
- The finished case goes through a final closure seal and then gets weighed one last time. Here comes the first case of ULIVjava SMART coffee.
-
- This is Kevin Steward, director of quality control for Barrie House, showing us a completed case of ULIVjava “k-cups”.
-
- Mary is so excited, she had to take some of the boxes home with her.
-
- Meanwhile, back at my farm, there’s a lot going on down at the peafowl coop.
-
- These peafowl are growing more beautiful every day. As they mature, their necks turn more and more blue and iridescent.
-
- This peahen is also very pretty – see the crest at the top of her head? Both male and female peafowl have a fan-shaped crest on their heads called a corona. On young peafowl, it may take up to one year for a corona to reach full size.
-
- Peafowl are very hardy birds, and even though they are native to warm climates, they do very well in cold weather as long as they have access to dry perches away from strong winds. These birds will spend most of their days outdoors, and nights in their coop where it is warm and cozy.
-
- While peafowl are ground feeders and ground nesters, they still enjoy roosting at higher levels. In the wild, this keeps them safe from predators at night. This is my handsome Black Shoulder Pied peacock.
-
- This is my Black Shoulder Silver Pied peacock. The Silver Pied is a white bird with about 10 to 20-percent color on it, including the bright iridescent blue. He also has white-eyed feathers in his train.
-
- And here he is – the newest member to join the flock. He arrived over the weekend – I love his bold, dark colors.
-
- And look at his legs – a peafowl’s legs are very strong. They have three toes on each foot facing forward, and one facing backwards. They also have sharp, powerful metatarsal spurs that are used for defense. Also, as they develop, males will tend to have longer legs than females.
-
- This peacock doesn’t have a full tail yet, but he will soon. A peacock doesn’t grow its first train until three. And even then, it won’t be full grown or have showy ocelli. The train gets longer and more elaborate every year until five or six years old when it reaches maximum splendor. He is so beautiful. I will share lots more photos as he begins to go outdoors and feel more comfortable in his new home here at Cantitoe Corners.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
