How our Garden Grows . . . in Kenya

I hope you really enjoyed Earth Day! It's raining here, and the farmers are busy in their fields.

Our gardens are growing, and we had a work party to pull weeds. We are growing Irish potatoes that are large and drought resistant, beans, black nightshade, beets and leeks, drought-resistant cassava, and spinach. See our portable garden with onions and black nightshade. Did you know that young pumpkin leaves are edible?

The earth is a generous mother; she will provide in plentiful abundance food for all her children if its soil is cultivated in justice and in peace.

Kenyan farmers plant and tend compost in community classes

We are determined to reach many people by teaching sustainable farming even though our community is going through hard times. Recently I read a book about the shakers that really encouraged me:

"The shakers were practical idealists. They did not dream vaguely of the conditions they would like to see realized. They went to work to make these conditions an actuality. They wasted no time on raging against competitive society or in complaining bitterly that they had no power to change it. Instead they build a domain of their own, where they could arrange their lives to their liking.”

Over time and with continued effort, I know we will succeed. Thank you very much for being with us during this difficult time. Attached are pictures of another farmers training that we did.
In solidarity, in friendship, in hope for a better tomorrow . . ..Philip

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!!!!