Planting Seeds for those in need

Here we are in Mozambique, Africa on an 18 day trip - the end of September 2012 with CNFA - Farmer to Farmer Project.

 We were privileged to teach Small Scale Intensive Agriculture workshops that we now call GO WILD! Gardening with "Black Gold" compost, which is part of Gardening for Life - planting seeds for those in need.

 New crop introduced:

Salmon River Pumpkins (a very rare squash plant) 6 planted 5 germinated in 5 days and in 9 days they had a 5 inch leaf spread (unheard of - that fast of growth here in the USA).  They were planted in native soils with dry cow manure mixed in, 2 meters apart.

Impact of our teaching:

 

7 full workshops on 3 farms and one school completed.

Student teaching students in the local school

 

All classes constructed their own compost (8 compost piles constructed in 4 different locations) 

Great acceptance of information (great translation by Mr. Rufu in his Community School for Organic Agriculture).  We tested our teaching by having students re-teach each session back to the group with prizes for those brave enough to stand up and give a talk.  They passed with flying colors (like almost word for word) we were amazed.   Some students then conducted their own workshops with other local famers as this was a community effort. 

We planted 2 Long Box gardens. Students then planted 3 more Long Box gardens when we were not there.

Photo of two Long Box gardens students planted by themselves

One big discovery for us was at the local markets at Nhangau, Mozambique. We were shocked!  We toured several different people selling vegetables and found out that no vegetables were from local gardens.  Which means that these markets were selling retail bought wholesale with very little profit.   WOW, what a difference growing local would mean to this African community.

We showed them how to double and triple vegetable production with much less labor.  They loved the words "Black Gold"  a soil based compost - the best homemade soil in the world. We explained this way of growing food ... the soils work for you, not you working the soils.  Also the compost piles heated up to 125 degrees F, a very good sign that they were working OK.  And even a cobra snake liked one of the piles.  This class jumped for safety!

BETTER THAN ORGANIC - Black Gold Soils

"BLACK GOLD SOILS" that work for you

 

 

Below are winter squash that we call Salmon River Pumpkins 300 pounds from a very small garden

 

Results from growing in "Black Gold Soils"

 

GO WILD! GARDENING IDEAS where we get to break the rules to work less and grow more.

BETTER THAN ORGANIC - "Black Gold Soils" are ... homemade, soil based compost with balance diversity in them that become full of angle worms.  These little guys, plus billions of active microbes, are your soil employees that work day and night for you.  Just feed them some organic matter and give them a drink of water and they will be happy litter critters that fertilize your soils for free (think, worm cafes in our garden soils).

 

NOW YOU HAVE BETTER THAN ORGANIC - SOILS THAT WORK FOR YOU!

SOILS THAT WORK FOR YOU are self-regenerating soils that labor for you at no costs, not the other way around where you have to work the soil by adding costly petroleum products - even the organic ones cost money.  So better than organic means to learn how to let natural methods do all the work, not you.

Besides BETTER THAN ORGANIC is free and much less labor to accomplish - to work less, grow more.

 A view from our home in Absaorkee, Montana USA

Here we go again, leaving our peaceful view from our Montana home USA located near the Stillwater River heading back to Africa.  This time - teaching farms how to increase their produce production and marketing skill.   We will be there in Sept 2012 in Mozambique, Africa with the Farmer to Farmer program.

Gardening for Life - planting seeds for those in need.

12-Day Compost

Compost in a bucket started July 11, 2012

 Same bucket July 23, 2012

Our neighbor asks: "Can you make compost in a bucket?"

This became a Go Wild! Gardening test idea

 

Answer, you sure can.   

Photo taken 12 days later

                      GO WILD! Gardening method:  Drill holes in a 5 gallon bucket and the lid for oxygen.

  Fill bucket:  1/3 full of chopped-up dry tree leaves (carbohydrates) plus add water to wet these leaves

                            2/3 full of chopped-up green leaves (protein) for a carbon protein ratio around 30/1

                              1 scoop of good topsoil and/or old compost for inoculation of soil organism

                Hand full of kitchen waste: bananas, egg shells, potato peeling for added diversity

This compost, to be completely broken down, needs more time.   However, it is still usable when mixed with other soils.

Nicaragua Food Gardening

Here we are after completing a “Gardening for Life” teaching session (compost and kitchen garden demonstrations) in a very rural village in Nicaragua with the Farmer to Farmer program.  Peace Corp volunteer Brittney Stanley will continue the important follow-up efforts with this community.

Seeds for those in need in Nicaragua

100 individual seed packets (cabbage and squash) that we put together, all translated into Spanish, going on our next project with Partners of the America’s Farmer to Farmer program. There are thousands of life-saving seeds on this table. We will be there for two weeks teaching sustainable farming/garden techniques and how to better market produce in several different locations in and around Managua Nicaragua.  It’s going to be HOT! … Both in temperature and great learning information.

Mission Trip to Mexico Orphanage

This is a photo of children in a Mexican Orphanage that we instructed on how to build and care for a kitchen garden. They even instructed each other.

They are eating from a small pot of sunflower microgreens, grown in only 8 days. The leaves of this very tasty plant (nut flavored) are full of protein (20%). They loved them so much, we need a truck load. We consider this sunflower microgreen a new 8 day crop (a food system) and a new way to feed the world.

The children also helped build 3 bucket gardens with a tomato, pepper and cilantro plants - Called “Salsa Gardens”. Please pray for them and for the success of the vegetable gardens.

“We Plant, We Pray, God Grows”