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Thursday, June 21, 2012

Revitalization of the Casa Materna Part II: The Vegetable Garden


After approval from the Ministry of Health, we began to plan.  The grant we were applying for required an HIV/AIDS component, so we had to incorporate education into the mix.  Greg, our environment guru, was happy to help with the vegetable garden, but also wanted to try out his newly-designed economic stove which uses less wood and redirects smoke.  We also decided that an event would be a great way to finish the project and show the community the improvements that would be made.  So what was at first a two-tiered idea soon became a five-tiered monster!  I wrote the proposal and sent it off to Washington.

We recruited students from the Instituto Público de Boaco (public high school) and volunteers from the local YMCA to help with the vegetable garden.  Simply cleaning up the garbage took an entire weekend.  Unfortunately, it has not yet caught on in Boaco that throwing garbage on the ground instead of in a garbage can is a. rude, b. bad for the environment, and c. ugly to look at.

Kelli recruiting

Garbage clean-up BEGIN!

YMCA working hard as usual!

Greg and Instituto students

Peace sign break!

First week of garbage collection



We then had to weed and figure out a good plot for planting veggies.  Then the real work began!  Digging holes, sifting dirt, hauling rocks, etc.  Another method of garbage disposal in Boaco is burying it in the ground or burning it.  So we found just as much garbage in the soil as we did above it.  If you are wondering at this point whether or not there is a garbage pick-up system in Boaco, the answer is yes there is.  But old habits die hard. 


Greg showing us how it's done

Sifting dirt.  In spanish the tool is called a zaranda.

Hauling weeds

Plots of okra and bell pepper.  If you look closely enough you  can see their sprouts!

Plots of carrot, onion, and edamame.
No, people here don't know what edamame is.  Or okra for that matter.

Squash!


By the end of April we had made 5 plots for vegetables and even an organic compost!

Seeds currently growing:

Carrot
Onion
Edamame
Bell Pepper
Okra
Squash

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