KACH landscape

below is the rough sketch of the landscape as it is now and picture of the site currently... we have a "circle of love" which will be planted with guavas, we will have flame trees, ever flowering yellow trees, fruit and nuts galore! with many areas to rest and retreat to as well. On the upper terrace we will be creating a permaculture style orchard and passion vine trellises. After the rainy season all ground should be covered with lushness! 

The gat                       the gate for the road to the goat pen

African Rain

Great interpretation by a cappella jazz choir from Slovenia...

http://videos.komando.com/2009/06/18/african-thunderstorm/

Duel at Sacred Lake

Up high near the base of mount Kenya the vegetation became somewhat reminiscent of home. A shepherd led us to the sacred lake where there were elephant tracks and a duel!

Permaculture Demo at Ayub's

23 farmers came yesterday to watch a impromptu demonstration of permaculture and bio intensive farming. When we arrived in the morning I was a little worried it would be just me, Ayub, JP and Mikey.... But sure enough people started coming in from every direction. We sat in the shade of the banana trees and went over basic principals. All of which had to be translated into Kemeru. We did a small forest guild with sheet mulching, Which all of the women were so excited and got their hands right into it! we finished the guild in no time. We then moved over to some beds Ayub had prepared and Ben Muia talked about bio intensive...but surprisingly he put a permaculture spin on it. I was so impressed as I had literally given him Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway the day before and here he was converted! 

We had an amazing conversation over sodas and white bread(still need to work on why eating only organic food is important for diet and tried to make a point that future meetings we will only eat from the garden...one step at a time). They agreed to form two groups and visit each others farms once a week and get together once a month to discuss all they were learning. They are so eager to do anything that will improve their shamba and for so long they have been fed such crap information. The intentions I believe were good to start but now their only seed source is treated/ GMO seeds and everyone is planting the same crops as that is all they have access to.

So here we are to start a new way and give them confidence that their traditional ways and instincts are correct and to keep going and take back their power and their gardens.  Have something that sustains them and provides for generations to come. It all starts in the soil and the roots! At the end of our day together they sang a little song for me and said that they were so happy I had come and brought a little light and love...The ladies even renamed me farmer lady in Kemeru "karimi" or something like that.... it was an absolute honor to bring something and have it so well received. I often feel it is someways easier here than in the states as there is a bit less resistance..... and still we keep going to crusaders for love and beauty and a healthy planet. 

mikey contemplating an amaranth

Planting a kale plant into sheet mulch

Bio intensive demo

bio intensive with a permaculture twist

What?

Farm Visit #3 CHUGU

 I was cordially invited to one of Chugu's( my favorite village) weekly meetings to discuss organic farming as well as go visit some of the local shambas.  The lay of the land is hilly and lush and somehow feels cozy, a place where you could settle into. Chad and I had been in October last year with Karambu to give them water pipes to complete their project to receive government water. It was an absolute pleasure to come back. They had been collecting their own maize seeds and had  some very old varieties. It was a successful meeting with 30 new farmer's interested in and committed to organics!!! we are growing!!!!

Farm Visit #2

We headed to a much drier region just east of Meru with Sally Kims a friend of Ayub's.  She has been working in agriculture with the help of Farmer's Helping Farmer's  for the last 10 years on different programs. A water tank initiative, a forestry program and most recently a crop diversification program. We went to visit one of their 62 members involved in the crop diversification. It was a wonderful example of how to utilize ground effectively it was still in the vein of small monocultures, drip irrigation and conventional practice but they were getting increased yields and had crops no one else in the region had. We then travelled to her home and the Muchui Women's Business Center, a building built by women and home to their forestry program. The building held their offices as well as operated as a store and storage for grains through surplus periods. 

Her home gardens were all organic with great practice of intercropping with fruit and nut trees, reverse bio-intensive beds to collect water, green houses, and a gray water system from their kitchen. She had wonderful drip systems with buckets, a soil sterilization unit out of oil barrels and while we there tons of local mama's were bringing seedlings to contribute to the nursery. The grew a variety of fruits and nuts, grafted mangos and tissue culture bananas. It was exciting to meet a new friend and partner for our projects ahead as well as expanding our organic community. 

Much of my work here has been being a catalyst or pollinator of people and resources that exist here. I realized today that there is limited or no access to organic, heirloom or untreated seeds. So we are looking into it and it may be something we pursue as it is a direct need. 

   

cabbage: crop diversification 

drip irrigation

passion seedlings

pine seedlings 

mango seedlings with Ayub, Karamana and Sally

Inverted Bio intensive beds

Mama with seedlings

soil sterilization tank

sterile pots ready for seeding

RACH

This is the new site for a second community home. The climate and lay of the land is very different than KACH. It is brown, hot, dry and windy almost all year with very little rain fall. It is absolutely beautiful with a natural saline spring and two varieties of acacia trees. The Acacia senegal is known for it's seeds and sap. The sap is the source of gum arabic and is used as a food additive as well as medicine. The seeds can be eaten and are said to help with milk production in both livestock and humans and are extremely nutritious. We have been to the site three times and each time I am struck with a new idea and appreciation for the beauty. One of the days, We headed over with exuberant Dutchman and his funny team who sell windmills. He just fell in love with it, and was a wealth of laughs and knowledge. One lively guy in particular was very familiar with the microclimate and ecology and would be someone to include in the future.  We came up with some crazy ideas of natural spring pools, and eco resort and vineyard. The area is  surprisingly good for growing grapes and practicing permaculture within the existing ecosystem. The bedrock is a white limestone which has wonderful building capabilities and leads to the soils being very productive.  As with everywhere the are many people there utilizing the property and springs so the concept of the community home and creating a project that ripples out to the entire community will be critical. 

I have a dream of creating buildings using only local materials such as stone, lime mortar, lime plaster and black acacia timber with thatch roofs. 

While here I have been revisiting Ian Mcharg's "Design with Nature" and remembered we often miss the simple things and forget to look at our spaces as a "layer cake" of history, hydrology, ecology and human patterns and how fascinating it can be to look at a small parcel of 5 acres like RACH and all that it holds. 

     

Our Fearless Leader

sisal plants nibbled by camels 

saline spring

                                 

  the Dutchman and team

arabian camels

Outside walls

We ran out of stones for the cook's bedroom today.  Whenever we have to find something else to do, we end up working on the finish for the outside walls of the kitchen.. and she's cleaning up nicely..

Auction Day

auctioneer extraordinaire

Mikey bought a Chicken!!