Communities Make Liquid Manure in Kenya's Northern Rift Valley to Avoid Using Synthetic Fertilizer

Most of our crops are doing well. But for those few that are not doing well because they were planted with less compost, we are applying Liquid Manure. So far we have trained many farmers on how to make Liquid Manure by using the Tithonium diversifolia (false sunflower) shrub and how to apply it to their crops.

Even farmers who used to buy expensive and chemical-laden synthetic fertilizer (C.A.N) for top dressing are now using Liquid Manure. It is purely organic and contains a lot of nitrogen and phosphorous nutrients and is better than synthetic for the growth of the plants.

To make Liquid Manure from Tithonium diversifolia, chop it into pieces and soak it a container of water in the shade for 7-14 days. Then mix it thoroughly and filter it through a sieve made with a gunny bag. The resulting Liquid Manure is then applied to the plants. It is full of nutrients that enrich and encourage plant growth.

Some people think the Tithonium plant is a weed but to us, it is very useful. If it is a weed, long live weeds!!!!

Weeding and Harvesting Song: Our Garden Grows

Simple Rules

Super felicitous birds, appreciative flowers,
Thick green leaves where sunlight can't reach,
Green vegetation of all comfort,
Where birds of the same feather flock together.

Every morning the queen of the garden,
Every morning the prince of the garden,
Command weeds to be wild flowers, hence no burden,
Because they are the pullers of the weeds and the planters of the seeds.

Think smart, Work smart,
Be determined, Avoid compaction violation,
Use biointensive agriculture components,
And your diet will contain all its riches.

Better to be a BIOINTENSIVE farmer,
Better to be and to train other farmers,
Digging done so well, kind of a dance,
Model so simple anyone can do it.

OTEPIC Visits the Street Children of Kitale, Kenya

Many bite the food, more than their mouth full.


Having refreshments and a good time with the street children.


Alice Nasambu with her three children. They are now living in the street.

Kitale's street children live in abandoned buildings, cardboard boxes, parks or on the street itself. They often are characters who pursue interesting and adventurous lives. They range in age from 5 to 17 years old and are deprived of family care and protection.

Twelve-year-old Alfred Yego works in the streets because his earnings are needed by his family to survive. Alice Nasambu is in the street with her three children because her husband died of HIV/AIDs 3 years ago.

OTEPIC aims to help the street children as it is an important and God-pleasing matter. On a recent visit we shared food and drinks and encouraged them to avoid abuse of drugs and other immoral activities. The children we met said they ended up on the streets because they had no choice. They were abandoned or orphaned, and some were thrown out of their homes. Some chose to live in the streets because of mistreatment or neglect or because their homes do not or cannot provide them with basic necessities.

Alice Nasambu asked OTEPIC to support her little children with food and education. We hope to involve them in our garden so that together we can grow food and share it. At OTEPIC we are trying to sustain ourselves in this way: “If we concentrate on giving, receiving will take care of itself.”