Provincials. An opportunity for the whole family of volunteers from across Central Province to share skills, exchange ideas, socialize, air dirty laundry, and to catch up on the pleasantly fickle policies of our capital staff. After its all over, we can get back to work. This month, the farmers of Changilo self-sponsored a workshop series on integrated farm management. My job was to head up sessions on perma-culture organic gardening, tree nurseries, supplemental feed production for fish and livestock, and organize the whole thing. I needed to call in a few favors and bring out volunteer experts on beekeeping, livestock management, and gardening, as well as district officials from the departments of agriculture and co-operatives, forestry, and livestock and fisheries.
Two days of gardening, lectures, presentations, and of course, good food, with the assistance of four other volunteers and the people of Changilo village led to a surge in interest throughout the area. Demonstrations of composting and producing natural pesticides have conspicuosly led to adoption at several farms and 'nitrogen fixing' has become a new local buzzword. Immediate results aside, the participants constructed a community demonstration perma-garden with the intent of using the site for future workshops on organic farming. I am hoping to assist the development of self-sustained farming systems over the year via more workshops and one-on-one consultancy at individual farms.
Winter has come to Mkushi with overcast days and windblown nights. Aside from sporting a new skylight in my thatch, due to the shifting air pressure of the mountains ripping at my roof in the dark hours, I have come to realize that the sub-tropical bush gets much colder than I was led to believe in America. Never would I have guessed that icicles could form on the grass hanging over my porch. As maize harvest begins to conclude, farmers in the village have the time to build fish ponds and practice more environmentally friendly (read less subsidized chemical fertilizer use) farming techniques that take a little bit more planning but payoff in higher yeilds and lower expenses in the end.
Provincials. An opportunity for the whole family of volunteers from across Central Province to share skills, exchange ideas, socialize, air dirty laundry, and to catch up on the pleasantly fickle policies of our capital staff. After its all over, we can get back to work. This month, the farmers of Changilo self-sponsored a workshop series on integrated farm management. My job was to head up sessions on perma-culture organic gardening, tree nurseries, supplemental feed production for fish and livestock, and organize the whole thing. I needed to call in a few favors and bring out volunteer experts on beekeeping, livestock management, and gardening, as well as district officials from the departments of agriculture and co-operatives, forestry, and livestock and fisheries.
Two days of gardening, lectures, presentations, and of course, good food, with the assistance of four other volunteers and the people of Changilo village led to a surge in interest throughout the area. Demonstrations of composting and producing natural pesticides have conspicuosly led to adoption at several farms and 'nitrogen fixing' has become a new local buzzword. Immediate results aside, the participants constructed a community demonstration perma-garden with the intent of using the site for future workshops on organic farming. I am hoping to assist the development of self-sustained farming systems over the year via more workshops and one-on-one consultancy at individual farms.
Winter has come to Mkushi with overcast days and windblown nights. Aside from sporting a new skylight in my thatch, due to the shifting air pressure of the mountains ripping at my roof in the dark hours, I have come to realize that the sub-tropical bush gets much colder than I was led to believe in America. Never would I have guessed that icicles could form on the grass hanging over my porch. As maize harvest begins to conclude, farmers in the village have the time to build fish ponds and practice more environmentally friendly (read less subsidized chemical fertilizer use) farming techniques that take a little bit more planning but payoff in higher yeilds and lower expenses in the end.
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