Mzuri!

"Mzuri" is Swahili for "how are you?"

Day 1 was a success! Started of a bit awkwardly until everyone loosened up. We had a quick introduction meeting and while the roof of the main training hall was being replaced, the rest of us (15 or so) scurried around from the compost to the greenhouse to the 40 bed unit. Turning, applying compost, slashing down cover crops to add to compost and weighing cover crops by bed. The 40 bed unit is a really interesting demonstration to show that in just that amount of space, a family of 5 can be fed for one year without any outside food. Those crops are divided into carbon crops (maize,sorghum,millet?), root crops, and vegetables(for market) but they are all inter-planted.

I was happy there were no cobra encounters with the turning of the huge compost pile. Was able to get a mini tour that Samuel gave to a visitor who has a farm here somewhere and wants to practice biointensive. We are going to visit her place tomorrow and Samuel will give out advice for planning (she has 100 acres and 15 cows...). Learned about seedling flats and permanent beds, Swiss beds, and traditional. The permanent has 2 feet worth of stones at the bottom decreasing in size as they get closer to the top and the plants only need one foot of top soil above the stones for them to grow happily. The Swiss beds had plastic 2 feet down or so and was supposed to be really successful too. Water retention is a major factor in general.

Tomorrow we will plant cow peas, tomato seedlings and onions, which, I have been told are "no joke" to plant since they are planted so close to one another. There is also some fancy triangular spacing we will practice with the planting. Typical of Grow Biointensive but totally new to me.

I also somehow squeezed in a marathon bead-working session with a very patient but dramatic woman. Fine motor skills have never really been my thing. I haven't felt so incompetent in all my life. She wanted to teach me this pattern for a bracelet that would produce the alternating colors of the Kenyan flag. I kept getting flustered since the lighting was horrid, I couldn't identify the tiny holes in the beads and the fishing line strands were SO long that I kept accidentally mixing them up and reversing them.

A couple of times during the day I snuck away to a shed where the guard dog had her litter of 10 puppies about a week ago. Their eyes aren't even open yet and I shocked myself by picking them up and touching their tiny heads and ears despite the fleas I could plainly see. (Not to worry I compulsively washed my hands like a maniac throughout the day and shook out my clothes when I got home).

Also learned about their Take a Rabbit Home project for orphans of HIV/AIDS parents in the communities where G-BIACK has connections with farming families. More on that later.

Well now it's day 2. Worked more on cutting down the cover crops in the 40 bed unit and weighing them. Most beds have been around 30 kg and I believe the bed size is 1.5 meters x6 meters. There is no shortage of compost material!!!

Went to tour a big company's property where they have decided to "go green". They are going to do biogas, and Grow Biointensive farming on as much space of their several acres as they can. It was really a joy to listen to Samuel give them so many ideas of how to start with their land that is nearly flooded, has two types of soil, and (almost all of the space) hasn't been cultivated since they owned the property in 1990. He really knows his shit. What an inspiration.

Getting to know Thika and the surrounding areas a little more. They call it "The Birmingham of Kenya" which confused me like crazy until I was told it refers to the Birmingham in England NOT the one in the U.S.-since it's a super industrial place. Everywhere you look here there is a factory and if there is not a factory, then you are looking at the absolutely GIGANTIC (I'm not kidding around here, it is monoculture to the utmost extreme) pineapple plantations owned by Del Monte.

During the tour today all of a sudden a reeeeally scary noise came out of nowhere. It was earpiercingly loud and sounded like a humongous jet or a space shuttle or something so we all stared at the sky but couldn't see anything. It persisted and I started to get a little freaked. We were surrounded by quite a high cement security wall... then, before I knew it an Enormous cloud of solid black pollution rose into the gorgeous blue sky and looked like the effects of some sort of atom bomb. It started to smell bad and I asked what type of factory it was. Apparently they press oil, make margerine and biscuits (known as cookies to us Americans). Reminded me of The Lorax, or the Apocalypse or, I don't know, just a really awful nightmare we're not waking up from.

In happier news, the kids are really warming up to me and my toilet is (at least for now) fixed! Our work retreat will now be sometime later in the week- Thursday maybe.

Tomorrow I'm going to draw up designs for some bed marking signs that I get the honor of painting soon. Hope I can get my artistic skills on.