The first ever compost pile at Mawe Hai was constructed yesterday (and possibly the first one in Goma, but probably not). We stacked grasses and plant matter in layers with rabbit manure and some dried grass and some compost from a pile of things that had been rotting for months and will let it ferment for a while. The plan is to turn it every three days and hopefully after three weeks or so there will be a nice pile of compost. If it works, everything at Mawe should be composted and I'm hoping the workers will see the value of it.
Other than that, the moringa project took another turn a couple days ago too. I think it was Tuesday night as I was talking to Lyn that she told me HEAL already had moringa powder.
What? That's right, at the same time they got the seeds they got a couple sacks of the powder as well. Ok, that would have been really nice to know a month and a half ago because we could have set up trials using the powder to increase nutrition then instead of waiting for 8 months for the moringa to mature like I was planning on doing. We could have been half way done because a lot fo the stuff I read say changes can be seen in less than two months. Running it for three months would be a for sure if there is going to be a difference. Now Dr. Vindu is gone until the end of the month so we won't get started until December, but it's still earlier than what I was originally thinking. I think I must know everything about the moringa and the resources HEAL has because I really can't think of anything else that could possibly have been left out.
I still dont' know what's up with any of the other projects I've thought of yet. Lyn hasn't looked at the budget yet for Mawe Hai so that's holding up a couple things, and the moringa project will probably get going with the planting of more seeds (planting thousands to account for the low germination rate) and doing other small things at Mawe Hai, specifically directing all organic wastes to the compost piles. I think I'll become the organic matter master as we gather it into areas and make compost. We also really want compost at Mawe Hai to make compost tea to fertilize seedlings. There are thousands of tree seedlings for a reforestation project that need fertilizer as they are getting big and using all the nutrients in their pots, but can't be planted yet because they are destined for the areas with the fighting and it's unsafe to travel there.
1 comment:
Greetings Josh - its john osborne from EB. Hope you are feeling well as you continue to adjust to your new surroundings. Here's a thought - If possible you should build your compost piles directly on top of volcanic flows which should be easy int hat country assuming it is flat enough. The decaying matter produces weak humic and fulvic acids and the CO2 from the orgainisms produces carbonic acid both of which should speed weathering of the rock and increase your soil volume while adding important trace minerals to the mix. There are other ways to increase weather such as creating carbonic acid by bubbling CO2 through dihydrogen monoxide (careful that stuff can kill you :-) and percolating the corbonic acid into the rock. I am curious how quickly that rock will erode. The flows from Niyragonga are reportedly nephelinites that are silica-understaturated. That is pretty rare and it should enalbe weathering to occur more rapidly althouhg there are quite a few other factors as well. One of the proposed fixes for global warming is creating cheap carbonic acid and increasing the weathering rate of bedrock which will tie up carbon in inorgainc forms - so you could even be saving the planet with this experiment. I am also curious of your current climate conditions this time of year? I hope you feel strong in the Lord and are absorbing all He has for you. You are in my prayers regularly. May you know greater joy each day you serve him. See ya, John
Post a Comment