The Family Gehm – Felipe, Ticiano & Simone Gehm. Fabricio do Canto. Vilsom & Salete Gehm, Leticia & Raven, Tiago Gehm.
Photos by Victor Hugo Cecatto
Autonomous farmers like Family Gehm are now officially permitted to produce organic craft mates. Although they are not yet officially Demeter certified, the practices and values of those families goes beyond, and normally agencies and university teachers come to learn about mate and forest agriculture from them. They are pioneers!
20 years ago Vilsom Gehm transformed soya monoculture into mate forest. Meta Mate’s Moonshine Mates are harvested in the twilight under the full moon, processed before sunrise, using aromatic medicinal wood to dry the leaves. The Family Gehm is the very first and still the only family in Brazil allowed by law to harvest and process mate in traditional small scale model.
Since 4 generations the Family Gehm has been producing Mate and are still going strong. Felipe Gehm says when he grows up he wants to help his dad make mate and we look forward to enjoying future harvests.
The January 2020 harvest will be available soon at metamateshop.de
