Merry Christmas

For the next 10 days we are planning to have our Minden store open everyday, so everyone gets a chance to shop for those last minute presents.
Meanwhile Steve and I are enjoying the warmth of Thailand.

One of the first things we did when we arrived here was to top up our roasted coffee.
We were lucky to have Kow Soi to help with the roasting again, along with her friend Ahm.

A few days later we took a trip to Sooks village to see how the coffee was growing for this season.
It looks like we'll be able to harvest soon.

Steve,Sook and Sooks father checking the coffee in the fields.
Meanwhile Sooks mother stocks up on the fire wood. We are at quite a high altitude in Sooks village and it is quite chilly in the mornings.

The classic Christmas poinsetta flower is used for hedge rows in the village.
The slash of red through the fields is very dramatic.

A very Merry Christmas to you all from all of us at Bwana Johns

Popup Bwana Johns on the West Coast

We recently bought a building on the west coast and have been spending a bit of time there. In the small community we are in they had their annual Winterfest, so we decided to turn our living room into a popup Bwana Johns for a few days. It was a great way to meet our neighbours and I think they are ready to see more of us.



It was fun to see what we could do with no fixtures. From old laundry tubs to lengths of plywood on plastic tubs we somehow made it work. The blank walls were of course perfect for our art and photos. I think in the end it looked pretty good.
Now we are in Thailand enjoying the warm weather and getting ready to start production for next summer. It's a tough job.....

Bwana Johns has left the building

Yesterday saw the Haliburton store emptied out.

And the sign taken down.

It was all pretty sad to say good bye.
 But no worries we still live on in Minden. We will be open Fridays and Saturdays over the next few months.
Phone us at 705 457 3078 for more information.
You can find us at 150 Bobcaygeon Rd, Minden.

Closing Haliburton store

Our Haliburton store is now closed. It has been an incredible 30 years there.
However our Minden store continues to run. You can find us at 150 Bobcaygeon Rd, Minden.
For the next few months it'll be open Fridays and Saturdays 10am-5pm.
Our contact phone number is still the same - 705 457 3078.

Amazing sale soon to end

Our amazing 50% off everything in our stores has been incredible. What a success.

But the countdown has begun and it will end in 12 days. 

We close our Haliburton store on Thanksgiving Monday, and the sale will end.

After 30 years on the main street of Haliburton it will be hard to leave.

We will still be operating out of our Minden store, though the winter hours will be somewhat reduced. Call us at 705 457 3078 to check out the hours.

We will be operating at full speed again next summer in Minden. We are planning a few renovations there so it will be better than ever.

Amazing sale

After 30 years on the main street of Haliburton we are sadly closing our store . It will be closing after the Thanksgiving weekend. The good news is we are keeping the Minden location open so you can still find us.

Even better news is that EVERYTHING IN BOTH OUR STORES IS SELLING AT HALF PRICE UNTIL THEN.

Hope we see you there.

What to wear in August

We are at the height of summer. Here are a few great outfits to put together from Bwana Johns for August

Singing the blues

As the temperature heats up this summer think cool. think blue.

We're feeling really cool at Bwana Johns.

 These knit dress's and tops are so easy to wear at the beach or on the street.

 This is a great outfit. take one over sized shirt, add a tank and a matching skirt and see how many ways you can wear them.

 Rayon is such a nice fabric to wear in long flowing dress's or pants. it drapes wonderfully and has a great swish factor.

Shorts and a loose top by day and add a hoodie as it cools down in the evening.

Feel great in blue this summer.

Sales

Another summer is here again, and once again we have started our "everything in the tent is $10-" sale. We've set it up like an outdoor market. Very eye catching.
Lots of great stuff is flying out the tent door. So if you are up in cottage country this summer be sure to stop by.

Bwana Johns is still for sale Check out the details here. A great opportunity for an interesting life style in a beautiful part of Ontario, and could involve lots of travel.

Tropical looks for summer

The weather has warmed up, life has slowed down and summer is definitely in the air. When it comes to dressing for the heat, think tropical. Here are 5 tropical looks from Bwana Johns to get you started.

New from Nepal

A friend who was in Kathmandu during the earthquake is visiting and has been telling us of the horror and the scariness of the situation at that time. He tells of the buildings falling down and having to 'sleep' outdoors and feeling the constant tremors of the after shocks, and how the city emptied out as everyone went home to their villages to see the extent of the damage there.

Fortunately most of our business acquaintances and friends we have in Nepal seemed to have survived, though there probably is no one who hasn't felt the affects of the earthquake in some way. Though there are some of the small villages up in the hills above Kathmandu that we enjoy spending time in that we just don't know about.

We have been discussing ways to send money and to help. Probably one of best way for us to help is to sell our Nepal merchandise and to go back next fall and do more business there so that at least the business people we know can start to move forward.

Our most recent shipment is in.

So come on in to Bwana Johns and see the latest and know that every item from Nepal you are buying is helping in some small way for someone get their life in Nepal back on track.

Coffee is good for you

The coffee we roasted last week has been bagged and is in the box ready to go to our stores in Canada.

I just read this article that suggests once again that not only does coffee taste good but that it can be good for you as well. I'll go along with that.

Another round of coffee roasting.

It was another hot day here, but we got an early start with the coffee roasting.
Fortunately there seemed to be rain squalls circling us so the clouds moved in and the breeze picked up and it ended up being very comfortable.
We have a couple of helpers here. An eighteen year old daughter of a friend-Khao Suay and her friend Nue. They have helped roast coffee before, and we kid them saying that they are so good at it next time they can do it on their own.

We were all done by lunch time. Next week we'll start bagging it, then it is off to Canada it goes.

Back in Thailand

We are back in Thailand and the heat- over 40'C some days. But it doesn't stop us from enjoying the food and the massages and seeing our friends again. It is great to be back.
Sook and Steves shop in ChiangMai has being doing well though it has slowed down a bit now that the hot season has kicked in. We are waiting for the rains to start so it will cool down a bit.

It is time to roast up another batch of coffee.
The coffee we roast is from Sooks village which is a Karen hilltribe village. Many of the Karen people are Catholics. In ChomThong where we live, the Catholic church is active in the coffee business. They are trying to improve the agricultural practises and to help teach people how to process the coffee once it is harvested.
 We have started to establish a relationship with them. Today we took our dried beans to them and had the skins taken off. Now the beans are ready to roast.

The coffee beans are being weighed in preparation for going into the machine that takes the dried skin off them.

Next step is to fire up the roasting machine. It'll be hot work!!

New Arrivals

Janice just let us know that the shipment from Thailand has just arrived.
Always exciting when the boxes arrive and get unpacked.
Lots of coffee in this shipment for those of you that have been waiting for it.
Also some great silver jewellery from Nepal.
Here is a glimpse of some of the clothes. The summer clothes seem a little premature given the endless cold weather, but it will warm up some time. There are lots more to see, but for that you'll have to come in and pay us a visit.

Pretty in pink for Valentines day

Whether you are off to warmer and sunnier climes or snuggling into something warm at home, at Bwana Johns we have something for you.

So for Valentines day search out something pink and celebrate in style. Maybe it's a wool hat or pink sox or a snugglish sweater.

Maybe it'll be a cool summer dress or a pair of sunnies worn on a warm tropical beach.

Where ever it is have a great and loving Valentines day.

Lots going on

It seems like it has been a busy few weeks.
Steve and Sook opened a store in ChiangMai. It is called Sook Jai which means Happy Heart.
They are both pleased at how well it is going.

Then in the middle of it all Sook got married to Chee.
It sounds like it all got pretty crazy over therefor a while.

 

We call Sook our Thai daughter. Steve got to walk her down the aisle along with Sooks natural father.

Unfortunately my internet failed me so I didn't get to be part of the day at all.

 



Sook looking very beautiful and Steve looking very distinguished.

I was in New Zealand. Fortunately I had a few Christmas markets to keep me busy.

Steve is now winding up his business in Thailand and I am hoping to see him in New Zealand this weekend.