With great sadness we are announcing the upcoming closing/sale of all Northern California Café Gratitude’s.

A series of aggressive lawsuits has brought us to this unfortunate choice. Although we believe that we have done nothing wrong and our policies are completely legal, it will cost us too much money to defend them in court.  Despite telling the attorneys that brought the lawsuits that the current structure and resources of Café Gratitude are insufficient to sustain and defend our community, they have refused to give up and are forcing us to close.

Greetings! My name is Shoshana Frumkin, and I have been committed to health, healing and transformation most of my life. What drives me is a deep desire for us to heal our wounds together, recover our connection to the power of love, healing our hearts and health while enjoying meaningful connection and taking care of our planet.

The earth is softer today due to rainfall. I noticed while walking about the farm early this morning as I opened up the chicken coops that my boots (yes rain boots) were treading softer on the ground. The smell of moist leaves, soil and wood chips is everywhere. The flies are vying for their last days. Today there is a group of volunteers coming out to help bring in the butternut squash from the fields, and the corn too.

Our campfire is going, the smell of smoke permeates those of us who live here, so much so that when we hug people they ask, "Have you been camping?" I call it "Campfire" cologne! I haven't yet put on any "window coverings" on the yurt screens but we can certainly feel the cool night air blow across our faces when we are tucked into bed at night!

Anna is still visiting from Kansas City and her assistance with Spanish (she speaks perfectly) is so wonderful and deepens our already deep connection to our family from across the border. She is a great "farm mama" assisting wherever she is needed. Newe our now 2 year old farm member loves her and she and he are a great duo to support his mama, Lindsay, who grows all our sprouts and wheatgrass.  

This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Eric-James Horton, Certified Health Counselor, Chef, and co-owner of "Conscious Nosh Chef Services." Conscious Nosh is a bay area business that helps customers create personal health and diet plans, and delivers hand crafted healthy and delicious foods to their doorsteps to help them stay on track. (They also make overwhelmingly delicious raw vegan macaroons!)  I caught up with Eric to find out about what has led him down this path, and what inspires him about his work.

To find our more about Eric, or to sign up for his "Farm To Table" Cooking Class on Sept 6th, visit: BayAreaHealthCoach.com.

What are you passionate about? I'm passionate about the work that I do; one-on-one health and wellness counseling, one-on-one cooking coaching,  teaching group cooking classes and personal chef services. I love connecting with a huge network/community of movers and shakers in the health and healing world, learning about permaculture, becoming a homesteader and a family man.

What motivates you in the work you are doing? Setting up a good home space for the future generations! I want my kids to live in a world that they feel safe and healthy in. My clients motivate me. Their strength and courage to create a life they feel powerful in motivates me to do all that I can do that too.

I woke up this morning with scarcity on my mind.  I’m sure many of you have had this experience.  Before my cup of tea, before letting the chickens out in the yard, or taking a hot shower, my mind was churning with fear and disappointment.  The theme today was: “I am not making enough money.”

Head to one of our Cafes and taste the first of our amazing blackberries and apricots. The heat is here and so is the fruit! All the plants in the fields are G R O W I N G like crazy! 

We have started to have our heavier meal at breakfast time as it is just TOO HOT to turn on the tortilla grill at 1pm for our midday meal. Our freezer just can't keep up with the demand for ice for cold drinks while working in the field. A sure sign of SUMMER.

Our Santa Cruz location is coming along with the transfer of the Beer and Wine license in process and the excitement building.  We are thrilled to be adding the location to our family and finally serving up the love near the coast. We are so grateful for the loyal following of Santa Cruz people over the years and happy to be bringing you your own Cafe Gratitude in August. Watch for the opening date and celebration!

Our cow Cacao, is due any day now. She just lays down in front of a big fan (yes, we cool down our cows in the summer heat) awaiting her time to give birth. She loves back and belly rubs not to mention her favorite head scratch, when she reaches out her neck and lays her head in my lap!
Love to everyone and thanks for being part of our Mission to serve up love along with some really great nutritious food!

Love. Terces

Happy Tuesday,

Such sweet Springtime weather. I am cleaning out our yurt today and I feel SO GOOD! There is something about dusting off winter that is so wonderful. The cobwebs, both inner and outer, the rearranging of what works for our life at this time... Today we had more salad than cooked food, which is always a sign of Spring! 

In what ways do you clean out the winter for the newness of Spring? 

Dragonfly Crystals is the pilot project of Amanda Self, a former Cafe Gratitude shift leader from our Oakland Whole Foods location.  A few months ago, she struck out on her own to pursue her passion, sharing healing with the world through her beautiful jewelry  creations.

A big part of her job at the Cafe was serving "I am Grateful" bowls, the company's by-donation bowl that makes our food available to everyone,  for a suggested donation.  "I often found that people didn't have any money to donate, so I would buy the grateful bowl for them."

This impulse towards generosity showed itself at Dragonfly Crystals as well.  "I've witnessed many people fall in love with pieces they couldn't afford to buy.  They would walk away feeling disappointed. I wanted  to give it to them, but wasn't sure how to do that while remaining in integrity with my business goals."

Happy New Year to everyone,

I am so grateful for how we can use the end of one year and the beginning of another to align ourselves with our mission, our passion, our opportunities to start again. 

I am inspired  to write the story of LA YAPA and how this little quinoa company became part of the Café  Gratitude Community!

LA YAPA (meaning: a gift of gratitude) is a family-owned business, started by Tania Petricevic,  a Bolivian-Guatemalan.  Having resided in the US since she was 18, Tania always missed Bolivia and dreamed of going home one day. Life stepped in, however;  she married, had a child and finally decided that if she was really going to maintain the bridge that connected to Bolivia, she would  begin to promote Royal Quinoa into California. And that is how we, at Café Gratitude, met Tania and LA YAPA and decided to introduce the fair-trade, organic item.

Royal quinoa is power-packed super grain (it boasts the highest content of protein after amerynth). Quinoa  once fueled the Incan empire as it's main staple, along with Potato (potatoes originate from South America as well) The Incan Empire was the largest empire of the Pre-Colombian Americas so you can just imagine what the markets must have looked like so long ago! There are several theories as to how large the Incan Empire was, but at one time it bustled with  37 million people.