A Duka Stop Now

When I came to school Wednesday I was surprised to see a man sitting out front with various types of snacks and drinks for sale. Evidently, he figured that our school was an opportunity to make a few lempiras. He asked Manuel for permission and so we shall see what happens. It is strange to think of our students as being a market opportunity. My guess is that the man will move on in a few days. For now, he sits on one side of the road in the morning and then moves, with the sun, to the other side for the afternoon. (btw - duka is the Swahili word for a small shop).

The Duka man - perilously close to hurting some of my plants - and earning my wrath :))

 This morning, a student, Maynor,  came with a ginger plant in a bag. He wanted to trade for Vetiver grass and Lemon Grass. It is such a delight when something like this happens.

Maynor with the Ginger plant

 With the rains, we can begin to plant some more stuff and that is exciting as well. Edgar has planted a whole bunch of plants on the opposite side of the road from the school. He is, as well, gradually creating more space along the roadway. Erosion has built up a good amount of soil. He takes the soil, uses it to create seed bags and then uses the resulting space to plant more plants we want to propagate. The road looks nicer as well so everyone is a winner.

Maynor with Juniapa - edible plant / good for cooking

  This week Edgar started some seeds and cuttings in tubes. We are experimenting growing things in 2 foot tubes. The idea is that they will have a much longer root mass when we transplant them. This will mean the roots can head for moisture much more quickly. As well, we can use a post hole digger in the future to drill the hole for planting. The tubes can be reused for more plants. Saw a picture of a company using 3 and 4 feet tubes in the States so want to see what happens. If we can gain 3 or 4 months in the field it will be worth the effort, especially for higher value trees.

Edgar with tubes - leaf dryers in the background

Someone passed on a very neat world clock site - Poodwaddle. It has some incredible statistics to absorb. One of the staggering things I noted was that there is 1.6 more sugar produced than vegetables, 2.13 times more sugar than milk, 14 times more sugar than fish. The cost to health and environment is and will be staggering as this imbalance continues to grow.

We spent a number of hours working on some land issues for our next housing project. The importance of finding a way for poor people to get homes and land legally was underscored yesterday. We passed one location where 80 people are occupying some land. The person with me said that in this area alone, over 600 people are invading land. Unfortunately, often this process is done simply as a way to make money - either through extortion, bribery or future sales of stolen land. However, a root cause is the problem of legal ownership of property.

So ... today so far - cropping Vetiver grass for worm food; planting ginger; giving Vetiver and Lemon Grass; taking and sending photos of edible Honduran plants to an African friend working on a book; organizing photos of students for biographies; helping a young man create a business plan; tracking down prices for equipment; accounting (month end); phoning condolences to friends in Vegreville ... and it is just coffee time. Certainly not boring at all.

TTYL

BB