Garden at Ngeya UPDATE

As you all know the garden at Ngeya was built and planted about a month ago. We are now seeing the garden grow and grow. It seems daily the cabbage, onions and kale are growing into fine young members of the community :) Unfortunately, still a month or more away from reaping any produce. All the vegetables will be used to supplement the children's lunch. Plus the clubs at Ngeya are managing the garden to learn hands on about farming.

The Kansas State team is now in Maai Mahiu and they have worked weeding, building sack gardens and with the help of the children, the first organic compost heap. We use a solution called EM. Basically it's a natural bacteria that you add to the layers as the heap is built. By keeping the pile moist the natural bacteria breaks down the waste into compost in a third of the time as normal composting methods. So instead of waiting 3 months it takes apprx a month for use able compost. This bacteria also creates a very healthy, clean compost that will allow for better yields and healthier produce. And it's organic :) The children had such fun with K-State learning about composting and getting hands on experience building their first pile. The children are all part of the environmental club at Ngeya and are also the ones who manage the garden on a daily basis. Rocky divided them into small groups. Each takes care of a row of the garden and a few sack gardens.

We also planted 100 more trees at Ngeya with K-State. This brings our total to 200 trees at the compound. Because of the goats we have to surround the trees with thorny bushes until they grow to a level out of reach of the pesty goats. Like our saying goes "Kill a goat, save a tree". Rocky was talking about fencing off this area and creating a mini park within the school. We will see how that goes, fencing is expensive, but it's good to hear our employees wanting big things for the community. Without the help of K-State and the children at Ngeya we could not have completed the garden, compost pile and trees. So THANK YOU!!!!