wakulima [farmers]

This week Kennedy from ACE Africa came to visit and teach us a bit about organic gardening!  The two day seminar was held at Anerico's place, the same location as our community garden itself.  We had a lot of preparation, arranging to borrow chairs, dishes, and utensils from neighbors, and also trying to figure out how much rice and beans should be bought to feed 30 people for two days.  Turns out about 6 goro goros of each...whatever that turns out to be.  Anerico also hired a lawn mower to prepare the venue.

Dad, maybe we should get a cow at home!  Might save you some yard work.  Not only can you use it as a lawn mower, but it can help you make some nice compost and liquid manure!  Kennedy taught me that!

We borrowed sooo many chairs from all of Anerico's neighbors, and created a nice little sitting area in the shade.  You can see the farmers were all hard at work, taking notes from Kennedy's lecture. 

 

 

We even had a field demonstration, during which everyone kindly pointed out that our garden is a bit overgrown -- even "bushy," as they called it.  Perhaps we have a ton of work to do, but at least now we know how!

That's Kennedy showing Anerico something in the garden. (Maybe I should have taken better notes!)  You can see that they are standing in the sukuma wiki (kale) section of the garden, which we now know should be harvested soon and sprayed with a magic potion to get rid of harmful pests.

So anyways, I am now an expert farmer, certificate and all!  After these two days, I know all about making liquid manure, from plant waste, animal waste, and yes, even human waste!  (But we won't use that method...apparently it's not culturally acceptable...)  I also know how to prepare the perfect compost, how to properly space each type of crop, and how to make all kinds of organic pesticides.  When I grow up, I'm going to have the bestest garden in the world!!!