The second semester is completed and while the students are away on a weeklong break, I have time to think back on the past semester.
Below are some of the events that have taken place over the past four weeks:
We purchased 200 Sweet Gum seedlings and did a reforestation project on a steep Northern slope at the school. I am hoping that the leaf-cutter ants will allow the trees to become established.
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| Grow little tree, grow! |
The broilers only have 4 weeks left. Julio began growing green beans wholesale for an exporter and recently used his proceeds to buy 50 broiler chicks and concentrate. Everyone I know, except me, is anticipating fresh fried chicken. I am hoping that these birdies get turned into caldo (i.e. soup).
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| Julio and his chicks. |
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| They are getting bigger. |
The pigs are staying fed and clean without any help on my part, which is fine with me. Julio has a group of students overseeing the pig operation. They have grown much over the past 4 months on the leftover tortillas and vegetables the students do not eat, which unfortunately is a large quantity of food.
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| One of the 4 happy hogs at Bezaleel. |
In the garden I have been assigning terraces to each grade of students. They must prepare the ground, plant the crop and care for those vegetables through harvest. So far it has been going better than in the first semester. If a terrace is weedy, I know who to blame. Also, the students are beginning to take pride in their work. For example, Tercero Basico feels embarrassed if their terraces are weedier than Primero's or Segundo's and this gives them the motivation to clean up theirs.
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| Primero's carrots. |
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| Segundo's leeks and cilantro. |
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| Tercero's Swiss Chard. |
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| Cuarto's cucumbers. |
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| Quinto's radishes and red beets. |
My chili peppers are producing well in the greenhouse, except the dozen plants that were chomped on by a steer one weekend. So far I have harvested 85 pounds and probably more than that since I cannot weigh the chilies stolen by the students when I am not around. I am hoping to surpass my goal of 100 pounds for the entire harvest.
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| Roberto and Jose from Tercero helping me with the first chili picking. |
During the break I have had time to make some collinear hoes for my vegetable plots. The large, clunky hoes available here are not conducive for cultivating raised vegetable beds and while, machetes are versatile tools, they do not do a great job cultivating and my back gets tired bending over all the time. I began with an idea in my head, angle iron, rebar and a stick welder to create my own version of a collinear hoe. So far it works quite well.
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| Cultivating the beds is much easier with this beauty. |
I achieved one of my goals for this year 3 weeks ago: seeing the Resplendent Quetzal (the national bird of Guatemala). Following the advice of fellow birders here, I rose at 3am one Sunday morning and caught the Monja Blanca bus to the biotopo, 2 hours from Chamelco. There is a small restaurant with a wildlife preserve there that the Quetzal frequents (the Quetzal comes to the wildlife preserve, not the restaurant). Sure enough, at 6am I saw the male Quetzal for the first time and watched him for over an hour. I even was able to see the female. I am pleased to have seen this beautiful bird before leaving Guatemala.
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| The picture may be blurry, but my memory of the bird is not! |
It was time to renew my visa again, so last week I journeyed Northeast to Belize. I spent the week working on Allen and Tina Reimer's farm in Spanish Lookout, one of the Mennonite communities in Belize. The Reimers raise laying hens and broilers as well as field crops, such as corn, rice, soybeans, peas and dry beans. I enjoyed my time with the Reimers and their neighbors working on the farm, eating the best-tasting mangos I have ever eaten in my life, and singing familiar and new hymns in four-part harmony; it was the most beautiful singing I have heard all year in Central America!
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| The entrance to Spanish Lookout. |
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| Planting rice with Rick and Jason. |
"Tomi" the orphaned duckling that made her home at the Siquics has now grown into a fine young duck. (I think she is a hen.) She and her two comrades now inhabit a fenced in enclosure constructed by Albino, Feliza's husband. This way, the ducks may have more freedom than being tied to a post all day with a short length of nylon twine. The ducks seem happy enough and I try to make life better for them by donating all my banana peels to their pen.
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| Three ducks with the typical duck-like personalities of not having a clue what they are doing, but going about and doing it anyway! |
