Life

Many of my recent posts have had plants or animals as their subjects, and are usually topics that I recently researched and/or found interesting.  What I have failed to do, aside from the 'new experiences' section, is update my blog followers (all five of you!) on life and my reaction to it.

I reached the halfway point of my internship at the beginning of October, which by itself is mind-blowing.  Add to that the fact that there is only one set of interns with more seniority than Laura-Catherine and I, and you have a recipe for really good head-explody.  What this means in terms of how I relate to the farm is as follows:

1.  Tours are routine and the topics flow smoothly and it's easier to pick and choose things to talk about rather than sticking to the standard talking points.  It's easier to judge the groups and tailor the tour to them, whether that means a focus on gardening techniques, appropriate technologies or mission training.
2.  Basic gardening techniques are second nature.  Having built 4 compost piles, made six or seven raised beds, mulched hundreds of square feet of soil, planted hundreds of seeds, transplanted hundreds of seedlings and pulled thousands of weeds, those tasks are no longer ones that require thought.  The concepts are understood.  Brain energy is now expended on more subtle growing techniques like managing sunlight, intercropping, fertilization timelines, detrimental and beneficial insect population control, and plant control by pruning/selection.  Experimentation plays are larger role in the rain forest.

The second group of interns 'graduated' at the end of September and left the farm, once again a hard experience.  Laura H is moving towards the Peace Corps and Kim D will be working with the ECHO Asia office in Thailand.  Joseph L is getting married but will likely continue using technology appropriately.

ECHO's projects around the world are also moving forward.  The experiment station in South Africa is getting underway, as we hosted Ndibu and Josh over the last few months to get them up to speed on ECHO's vision and capacity in Florida.  The first West Africa forum was held in Burkina Faso in September, bringing together hundreds of delegates from dozens of countries to learn about sustainable small scale agriculture.

As for me, I have been tending the rainforest and my ducks and hesitating to kill any more (ostensibly because they're hard to pluck, but in truth because I like them).  After a three month hiatus they have begun laying again, so the first five eggs are marked for the incubator.  Baby ducks are one of the cutest things ever.  My plans after ECHO have become more solid over the last few months.  I have things to pursue in Nashville TN and will be moving there for a time.  Reading about and experimenting with small scale agriculture and communicating with its practitioners will occur during this transition period with an eye toward agro-missions (which has always been the long-term goal).  My remaining months at ECHO will be spent partly looking for God's direction for a location or people group or demonstrated need.  Of course title of 'missionary' and location of 'Africa' is not a prerequisite for engaging in the spread of the gospel...

One thing I've been thinking about recently has been time-management.  Everyone can agree there is value in a well-cooked meal, but at what point does this example of a made-from-scratch meal become a poor use of time?  A four hour prep for a delicious ham with homemade stuffing is a self-focused activity.  Couldn't three of those hours be spent reading or studying or doing something 'other focused?'

New experiences in the last three weeks:
1. Saw, correctly identified, and tasted a sea grape.

It's like pre-made jam.

2. Started eggs incubating in order to hatch them.

I'm not very original with names.

3. Painted pottery.
4. Was thoroughly justified in worrying about a bike falling off a bike rack on the freeway.
5. Took an Army PT test in Florida (ran a 12:22, which isn't bad for me)
6. Went armadillo hunting to catch the animal that has been messing with my mulched beds.

Tomatoes

I started my tomato plants at the end of August and transplanted them into the rainforest on the 8th of September.  It is now the 29th of September and they are shooting up as fast as any plant I've seen.  I'm not sure what the reason for this is.  One guess is that I have been fertilizing them on schedule.  Another possibility is that they are the first crop on a new planting bed and have access to micronutrients that are depleted elsewhere in the rainforest.

I have 21 plants in the ground and am conducting an experiment to determine how to maximize yield.  The type I am growing is a grape tomato called 'St. Nick.'  Dave grew these in the spring in a different section of the rainforest.  I have the plants in four separate rows (first three are trellised) with five variations.  In the first row, I am pinching off all growing points except the leader and also pinching off all the flowers as they appear.  In the second row I am allowing the secondary leader to grow with the primary but still pinching off the flower buds.  In the third row I am pinching all growing points except the primary and secondary and leaving the flowers to develop into fruit.  On one of the these plants I have not pinched any growing points (it now has about six) or flowers.  On the fourth row I have not supported or pinched anything.

These are tomato plants.  

I will provide pest control for all the plants as needed and keep records of tomato harvests for each plant.  This should give me a nice looking graph of the harvest distribution over time and total quantity per plant/pruning method.

Of note for those unfamiliar with Florida gardening technique, planting timelines are opposite the rest of the country.  Our cool season vegetables are started in the fall and grow through the winter.  I have swiss chard, broccoli, cabbage, summer squash, zucchini and cucumbers all growing right now.  I anticipate great success.

New experiences in the last seven days:
1. Mixed and used Cornell spray.

That's it!  Pretty uneventful week...

People Walk

Disclaimer:  This post has nothing to do with my current situation or farming.  It is an advertisement for an activity that is better than whatever you normally do on Saturday morning, with no exceptions or qualifications.

When I lived in Italy, I regularly participated in a Sunday morning activity that involved running with friends, exploring the country-side, enjoying food and talking to locals.  That activity was known as a 'marcia' in Italy and a 'volksmarch' in Germany.  Wikipedia has a short entry about it that doesn't do it justice.  Let me try to explain it...

You wake up at 0730 and get your running clothes on because you are planning on running one of three distances (7km, 13km or 21km).  You could walk those distances like most of the locals do, but you're prepping for a half-marathon and this is the best training regimen in existence.  There are three reasons for this.  1.  You're passing people right and left which builds your confidence.  2.  You're running what amounts to a cross-country course which builds core stability.  3.  You're running the same distance as you will on race day (or if you choose, 1/3 or 3/5 distance).

You get in your car and drive about 20 minutes to an outlying town nestled in the foothills of the Dolomites.  As you get close to the town you start seeing an unusual number of cars all heading the same direction as you.  Once you reach the town, you are directed to a field where hundreds of cars are parked in the grass and middle-aged men are changing into running clothes with no shame.  You ignore this and park your car, do a little stretching and follow the crowd to the town center where local businesses have set up booths to sell food and wine and local produce.  You pay 2 euro for a paper checkpoint ticket and head out.

The course is dotted with people (mostly old folks, but lots of young families and runners like you) that you pass throughout the run.  At two points you have the option to shorten your run by turning at the 7km sign or the 13km sign.  You continue on because a half-marathon every Sunday is pretty easy.  At three points during your run, the town has set up refreshment stations (this is what your 2 euro bought you, aside from the great atmosphere) with water, tea, juice, crackers and fruit that you can use to rehydrate and get some sugar in your system.  You pull out your checkpoint ticket to get it stamped and prove that you ran the full 21km course.

Throughout the course you are running up and down mountain paths, back-country roads and easements between farmers' fields.  You see beautiful homes, amazing vistas and interesting plants (but not a lot of animals).  Depending on the town that sponsored the run that morning, you could climb anywhere between 100 and 1000 vertical feet.  Depending on the time of year, the air will be clear enough that you can see 40 miles away to the Italian coast.  

While running you see a number of people that seem faintly familiar, probably because of the hard-core group of runners that come out to every Sunday morning volksmarch within a 40 mile radius.  Most of them seem to know each other.  

As you pass kilometer marker 19 and appreciate the fact that you only have two more kilometers to go, you see familiar landmarks like the town bell tower and the road you drove to get here and a large number of people as the three distance paths converge to the end point.  You are feeling even better about yourself at this point because you are passing dozens of people every hundred feet.  You enjoy blowing past the 80 year old walker and his wife (they are such jerks) as you sprint to the finish line (which isn't really a finish line since it's not a race).  

More snacks and drinks are waiting at the town center and the announcer is shouting gibberish (Italian) at people coming in.  Music is usually playing and everyone is enjoying the endorphins from the strenuous exercise.  

After recovering for a bit, you head back to your car and drive home, and it's only 1030.  "How many half-marathons are THAT cheap and fun?" you ask yourself.  "None," you reply to yourself, and subsequently wonder if you shouldn't see a therapist about the conversations you hold in your head.

That is the scenario that played out over two years of my life in Italy.  I wouldn't trade it for the world.  That's why I am going to implement this outstanding activity in the Nashville area in 2011.  There are enough hipsters and young families and old people to make it work, and if you have those three demographics, you can accomplish anything.  So stay tuned and if you want to help me with this and you live in Nashville, comment on this post and I'll give you a call to explain my vision.

New experiences in the last month (I know, I've been slacking on this blog)

1. Ate a dragon fruit grown on the farm. (Tastes like kiwi)

2. Ate a plantain grown on the farm. (Tastes like plantain)

3. Saw a fellow intern eat ant eggs like they were candy.  (Have no desire to know what that tasted like)

4. Made blueberry ice cream. (As usual, delicious)

Summer growth

Some fun facts:

1. Mucuna pruriens, other wise known as velvet bean is an (mostly) inedible legume that is extremely fast growing.  Due to its nitrogen fixing nature, it can add the equivalent of 200 lb/acre of nitrogen to the soil.  It produces an amazing amount of biomass and can climb trellises and structures 55 feet tall.  I am going to test this theory by erecting a bamboo pole 55 feet high and seeing if the plant will grow all the way up.

If Arnold Schwarzenegger were a plant, he'd be mucuna

2. ECHO obtained banana plants from the Honduran Agricultural Research Center in 1995 that are considered by many to be the savior of the commercial banana industry.  Known as FHIA-01 or 'Goldfinger,' this banana variety is resistant to the two major diseases threatening banana plantations worldwide.  Black sigatoga and Fusarium wilt Race 4 are major crop killers in Asia and are of grave concern in Latin America as well (where the vast majority of bananas are grown for the US market).  The grocery store banana most Americans are familiar with, the Cavendish, is susceptible to both diseases.  Strict import controls and regular fungicide sprays have allowed the Cavendish plantations to stay afloat in central america, but it won't last forever.  Goldfinger was 17 years in the making, as obtaining seed from bananas is tedious in the extreme.  IF they're pollinated correctly, you'll get an average of one seed per 300 bananas.  IF you can germinate that seed (5% normal germ rate), you have to wait a full 18 months to harvest the bananas to determine whether the cross made anything good.  Compare that to rice which you can cross, grow, harvest and select three times in one year.

Banana seeds.  You will never see this in real life.  I guarantee it.

July and August have been great months to be an ECHO intern.  The amount of growth is completely validating.  If you can keep your weeds under control, you see everything else exploding.  Quite a change from April/May.  Fall growout was released two weeks ago.  This is a list each area is provided with that has specific plants and planting dates that coincide with activities that ECHO conducts.  Conference in Nov/Dec dictates much of the planting, as demonstrations are needed for the hundreds of visitors that ECHO hosts.  Vegetables for sale at the bookstore dictates much of what remains, since returning snowbirds buy lots of things from ECHO in the fall and winter, including produce.

The last three weeks have been full.  From Oklahoma themed parties to beach trips to Army training in middle-of-nowhere, FL, there's been ample time but not much motivation to blog.  See Flickr for the latest photos.

New experiences in the last three weeks:
1. Ate an avocado grown at ECHO (Brogdon)
2. Ate a banana grown at ECHO (FHIA-03)
3. Ate a starfruit grown at ECHO
4. Seeded rhubarb, smooth luffa, St Nick tomatoes and onions for planting in the rainforest in a few weeks
5. Discovered the pleasure of wiping out a yellowjacket nest with wasp killer when that nest was responsible for stinging you multiple times.
6. Saw someone pull out an iPad to look at Bible verses at church
7. Saw a sign for bear crossing.  In Florida.

The Rainforest #2

I've had control of the rainforest for two months.  When I first arrived in April, the rainforest was brown, sparse and sad.  Two months later, when I took over from Dave, the warm days and increasing daylight had transformed it into a jungle.  Two months after that and crops I planted are in full growth mode and the rainforest looks like it should.  That is, overgrown and full of life.  The weeds are slowly being evicted although they do try to sneak back in sometimes.  The sneakiest ones are the guys that move in with a useful plant and are full of excuses like, "Oh I'm just visiting" and "Wait, seriously, I'll leave next week I just can't afford rent right now so Mr. Lab Lab Bean is putting me up for a while."  Then, like syphilis, they just stick around.

Below are some pictures of the rainforest as it looks right now.

The napier grass bank.

Velvet bean on a trellis where the strawberries used to be

The back side of the pond where velvet bean and sweet corn are growing.

Tropical yam covering its trellises and about to cover a few trees.

Gliricidia trellises growing everywhere.

Wax gourd covering its trellis.  I have a lot of trellises.

Some red malabar spinach that I am testing to see how high it can climb.  Avast!

A cool tree fern that keeps getting bigger.

New experiences in the last 14 days:
1. Found out what it feels like to be stung by yellow jackets repeatedly.  (Not nice.  It feels not nice)
2. Made pumpkin soup like we used to have in Liberia. (I know we made when you were down here Kari, but you did most of the cooking)
3. Drove four hours to get a new military ID card.  Oh wait, I ALREADY DID THAT ONCE and was turned away because apparently it takes 4 months for an active duty soldier to be moved into the Reserve system.  Congratulations on getting eight solid months of work out of me, Army.

This is what inefficiency looks like.  The card, not me.

4. Finished reading through and discussing 1 Peter.  I'm going to call him Paul Lite.
5. Concluded a five day time-lapse photo shoot of some bamboo on the global farm.
6. Ate a red momban.
7. Ate a longan.

Random thoughts

1. The rainforest area of the global farm at ECHO is slowly coming under control.  Weedy areas are being recaptured by weeding, newspapering and mulching.  Maintenance weeding is required after that but it takes far less time.  This leaves more time for reforming cultivated areas and experimenting with food crops.

2. For the price my father paid in 1993 for our first Apple computer, a Powerbook 160, you could currently buy a 2.8 Ghz C2D Macbook Pro.  The spec differences:  291x as fast, 6,250x as much HD space, 512x as much video memory, 1,000x as much RAM, 7.5x as much screen space.

New experiences in the last seven days:
1. Ate a jelly palm fruit

This is a random tree from the interwebs.  I use it for example.

2. Found out that new bamboo shoots grow about two feet a week.

That was one day!

3. Learned about pulse chargers for lead acid batteries and how awesome they are.
4. Saw a real live rattlesnake (after it was dead).

Stan and Brian acting brave. ©Brian's camera

The venom is actually yellow.  Just like in your nightmares. ©Brian's camera

5. Ate rattlesnake (It tastes like chicken).

©Noah Eldhart

6. Saw chaya flowering (It never does that in Florida).
7. Participated in my first full weekend of US Army Reserve duty (That only took 3.5 months.  Way to be on the ball, Army)

Trips and Delays

It's been three weeks since my last post, and I'm feeling guilty.  There's always stuff to write about but not always motivation to do so.

I had the opportunity over the 4th of July weekend to travel to Honduras and visit a farm that is closely connected to ECHO.  The farmer, Larry Smoak, has lived in Honduras since 1994 and practices many of the techniques that ECHO demonstrates on the global farm.  He has tweaked some of the concepts to fit the local conditions and adapted the methods to match local farmer practices.  One of his key demonstrations is a 3 acre plot on a steep mountainside that he has planted with rows of Inga and Gliricidia, two nitrogen fixing trees that provide erosion control, ground cover and free fertilizer.  The trees are coppiced yearly in May with the large branches used for charcoal and the small branches stacked on the uphill slope to provide additional erosion control.  Corn is planted immediately after coppicing (and a light weeding) to allow full sun during the long summer days.  3-4 months later, the trees have re-grown and almost completely shaded out the 4 meters in between rows where the corn was grown.  That shade prevents weeds from growing and the leaves falling continuously for the next 9 months fertilizes the ground and prepares it for the next growing season.

Larry took a survey of the local farmers a few years back and asked about crop yields in their lifetime.  As near as he can figure it, yields have decreased from 200:1 to 15:1 over the last 70 years.  The rubric measured was sacks of beans harvested against sacks of beans planted in a season.  As Larry sees it, this is due to more frequent slash and burn of the rainforest and subsequent loss of biomass and soil.  Before the population explosion of the last 100 years, a section of rainforest would be slashed and burned once every 30 years, which was sufficient time for it to recover.  Now farmers have smaller plots and more mouths to feed and so enter into a downward spiral of increased slash and burn frequency which leads to poorer soil on the next go-round which leads to more frequent field rotation.  While they do alternate between corn and beans (which add nitrogen back into the soil), practices of erosion control, soil cover, seed selection, and multi-use plants are not widespread.  If they were, soil fertility and yields would be on a shallow upward slope over time versus the marked downward trend Larry currently sees.

Larry's current trial is in its third year and he hopes to see dramatic yield increases by the fifth year.  During my visit I was able to see the first pile of coppiced wood and the transition stage between maturing corn and resprouting trees.  Larry showed a section of the demonstration where he had not coppiced and planted corn and showed how the shade provided by the nitrogen fixing trees prevents weeds from germinating.

I could write pages and pages on the things Larry is doing in Honduras but you really have to see it to understand (at least with my writing you do).  At one point during my visit I went running with Larry.  We went a nice easy four miles (ignore the part where the first half is all uphill).  Also ignore the fact that Larry runs a 2:19 marathon.  I was dying.

New experiences in the last three weeks:
1. Took an item to Antiques Roadshow to have it appraised.

2. Got my hair cut after two months (a new experience in the last 8 years)
3. Said goodbye to the first set of ECHO interns that I lived with (they say it only gets harder)

4. Found out my pilgrim geese will follow me around and help me weed (it's pretty awesome)

5. Lost one duck to a mystery illness
6. At more lychees and came to the conclusion that they have something akin to cocaine in them because you say you're going to stop and then you find yourself climbing up the tree for more and can't figure out how you got there.  Just one more....ok, just two more.  ok now I'm done, I'll just grab a few more for the road.  oh I'll just eat them here since they're in my hand...see how it goes?
7. Drank fresh passionfruit juice (did you know you can eat the seeds?)
8. Found out that new bamboo shoots come up the same diameter they'll be when fully grown (it's a beautiful thing to see)

9. Found out what a breadfruit tree looks like