The Tree Club Planting Day

Yesterday was tree planting day with the tree club. We met in the morning and went over how to plant a tree properly. They dug square holes, it's easier for the roots to spread this way, filled the bottom of the hole with compost soil from the nursery and planted their trees. Some of the girls had a very hard pan they hit while digging and used more compost soil in their holes in hope of giving the tree a stronger start to spread their roots. The size of trees ranged from a very small Passion Fruit vine to a great big Nandi Flame, but they all dug their own holes and feel proud of their trees. There are still a few more trees to plant, which is lucky as some girls came out of the woodwork interested in planting trees (yayyyy!), that we'll plant later this week. Now it's a matter of maintaining the trees health and labeling them so everyone who comes to the school knows what the tree is, who planted it and in what year. Already the school looks a touch more finished and someday will be a shady oasis. Here are some pictures of the big day!

A very small passion fruit vine. We'll trellis it to the school as it grows.

Two of the girls with the Nandi Flame.

A freshly planted Teclea.

Countdown to Planting

Tomorrow we plant trees! This morning I went to the tree nursery and picked up the trees we needed for the school. We've got quite a variety and I picked up some extras in case some other girls want to join in the planting (and because we probably should have a sausage tree on the school property.)

The school map.

Just to give you some information on how we've got to this point of being able to plant I'll give you a little recap as to what's been going on. Throughout the last week the 'tree club' has been meeting to decide what type of tree each girl wanted to plant based on whether they wanted a fruit tree, a shade tree, a flowering tree, a fast growing tree, a water loving tree, a drought resistant tree, etc. We've come up with the best tree for each of the girl's locations and placed a symbol for it on my professionally crayon-coloured, almost-to-scale map.

Moving the trees from the nursery to the school.

This afternoon I'm meeting with Patrick, who works at Red Shank Nursery and knows a lot more about Kenyan trees than I, to verify that we have decided to put these trees in the best spots possible to have the most beautiful school in Rongai.

Primary school planting

On Friday I went to the primary school as they were having a tree planting day. The grade 8s are leaving the school this year (the new school year starts in January) and the principal, Sister Hiltrude, wanted them to leave a mark. After an awkward introduction of myself, in which I had to write my name on the blackboard, I became the guest of honour and got to plant the biggest tree. This isn't quite what I'd anticipated as I just wanted to observe and instead had to give a little speech. Let's just say it wasn't a very good speech, but they were all really excited to plant trees which was inspiring. Every kid wanted a picture taken with their planted tree and as it would take forever to upload all of them, I'll only give you a few. In total around eighty trees were planted, which will make for a cool, shady school in the future.

Life on Gogar Farm

My house.

For those of you wondering more about how I'm living, this post is for you!

When I arrived I moved into a house with three of the girls volunteering at the schools. After a week of sharing rooms myself and another girl moved into the second house so we would all have our own space. Now we share a kitchen and common space, where we spend most of our time eating and watching movies on laptops.

We have indoor plumbing though we have to light a fire for hot water, which has turned out to be really hard to do. I'll post a picture of the burner soon and you'll understand.

For drinking water we use rain water and put it through and sand and bone filter. It's a pretty great system if you ask me.

The inside of my house. The bathroom is in the back.

My bed.

 The farm where we live is huge and has security gates at all the entrances. There are eight houses (that I know of) on the property that are mostly inhabited by British families. There are some really cool things happening here including a floriculture business (they propagate seeds and send them overseas) that has an awesome boigas system and permaculture garden. There are cows everywhere and corn (maize) growing in all the fields they're not in.

Everyone has been very inviting and we have had delicious meals and drinks with many of the people on the farm. It's not quite how I expected to live in Kenya, but it's important to experience and great to meet all these amazing people.

What do we eat when we're not at other people's houses? Rongai (the closest town) offers us rice, pasta, vegetables from the market, beans, fruits and most of the things we need. If one wants cheese or meat you have to go to Nakuru about an hour away on matatu (think mini van meets city bus). This is where we get our cereal and coffee (it's instant) as well. It's about as exciting as going grocery shopping at home except the roads are a bit crazier and the prices of things are cheaper.

Nakuru is also where the craft market is. They have some beautiful things, but probably the most popular with the girls I'm living with are the kiondos. These are bags that they just can't get enough of. They are beautiful and I had the chance to learn to make them last weekend. Emily, one of the volunteers, and I were taught by the principal at the handicap school. It was a lot of fun and now I know how to use all the scrap wool I have at home.

A kiondo.

Prices of things vary. For the most part everything is very cheap. I spend about ten dollars a week on food and drink (a big beer is about a dollar). If we feel lazy we take a boda boda (a motorcycle) home at the end of the day instead of walking the half hour home. It costs thirty cents so it's easy to justify.

 That's just a quick update for you all. I can't really think of anything else to share. If you want to know something, ask away!

The Tree Club Introduction

There is a lot to tell, so I'll break up these posts into a few different ones.

The school yard as you walk down the center walkway into the school

First, I'll explain a bit more about the project I'm working on now as I have a few more details since arriving.

It turns out I'm not working at the primary school, I'm working at the Girls' Secondary School, which is a boarding school for Kenyans. This is where we'll be planting the indigenous shade trees around the property for education and, of course, shade. I went to the school yesterday and introduced myself and what the plan is to the 'tree club'. That's right we have a club! There are fifteen girls that will be making the decisions on what trees we use and where they'll go. The idea is I will be a resource to help ensure the trees go in to the best spot possible, but as it is their school they need to be the decision makers. I have done the research and found the trees at the nursery on the farm (where we hope to take a field trip all together) and will teach them how to plant them properly and how to take care of them once they're planted. They'll be responsible for taking care of them until they are established. This way they'll live on at the school (the trees will be labeled with the name of the tree, its uses, the girls who planted its names and the year it was planted) as well as hopefully learn something.

A courtyard inside the dormitories we hope to make look like the secret garden.

The dream of starting a tree nursery and a garden are fading as there is only so much time until the term is over (November 18th). I'll still be doing some work on the woodlot around the sports field, but it is a challenge. It has poor drainage and already has trees growing. Ideally we would dig swales (trenches on contour with the slope) to capture some of the water draining down to the area that floods, but the trees already growing there cause a bit of a problem. It will take some problem solving but the solution may be to wait until the trees that have already been planted are bigger and plant underneath them. I guess that means another trip to Rongai in the future!

The original compost pile.

We have started a compost system at the school. The kitchen has been great about making sure to throw only compostable food and ash into the box. They had already started before I arrived, but we've worked on adding different things like dead grass and manure so that we get a really rich soil at the end of the process. It's been smelly work, but will be worth it in the end.




Another project we hope to initiate is a wetland garden. We hope to plant some bananas and bamboo in the area where the grey water from the kitchen drains in to, to make a lush landscape and use that water instead of losing it to the ditch beside the road.

My pants covered in black jack from walking around some of the fields. I still have to pick them all out.

There is a lot to be done and it's all very exciting work. Everyone is very positive and thankful when it comes to planting trees and I'm so glad I'm getting to be a part of it!

Kenya-ya!

Just a quick post to give everyone an update. Am now going to be using this blog to let you all know what is going on while I'm in Kenya (provided I have internet). Currently am at the airport getting ready to take off on this new adventure.

First stop: Gogar Elementary School.

Here the plan is to set up a mixed tree plantation. This project is being sponsored by the Rift Valley Tree Trust and will help educate the students (and me) about indigenous species as well as how to sustainably use the forest. The hope is it will also be a nice shady area to spend time and learn. We'll also set up a tree nursery to help maintain the forested area.

A kitchen garden will also be set up with the help of some friends to produce food for the girls and the community. Using local manure and the soil that surrounds the school we'll try to create a productive garden that is drought resistant (means some experimenting... fun!)

Next stop: ..... I'll figure that out when the time comes.

At this point nervous and excited are the feeling, but I know it will be worth it and a major learning experience. Things may change, but that's the fun part.

Keep checking for updates. I'll write and post pictures whenever I can.

Have fun friends and thanks for being so supportive!

digging, composting, and mulching

Here we are, in my last week in Toronto and there is a lot of work to be done in the garden. I'll give you a quick update before I get back outside.

Over the weekend I managed to track down some free soil. Having a vehicle definitely made the work of bringing the soil from one location to another a lot easier. I managed to get six garbage pail loads to the car before I felt like we had enough for the time being (meaning I didn't think I could carry another load at that moment without collapsing.) After a short drive I unloaded it into a pile in the backyard as I wasn't quite sure exactly where I wanted it.

I was also able to find a lumber tarp free from the Home Hardware lumber yard. Can you believe they just throw those out? They are perfect for putting over your compost pile in the yard. With the black side up they insulate well and keep the compost with just the right amount of moisture. And free!

Also people were willing to give away all their old leaves they'd raked up this spring. I scored a bag of leaves (though judging by the amount of brown bags on the side of the road I could have enough leaves to fill the backyard numerous times.)

This morning I also found a full dumpster of straw. It was being used to insulate a foundation that had been built over the winter and was about to be thrown out. If you need something to mulch* your garden you can find this bounty of straw in the alley between Spadina and Roberts, South of Harbord.

So now its off to find some free cardboard and get going with digging out some beds and turning some soil. This week I'll be in search of some heirloom seeds, some buckets (hopefully free) for hanging the tomatoes and some kelp to add to the garden to give the seeds a kick start in nutrients.

Hope you're having as much fun in your garden! Keep your eye peeled for cheap or free garden aids!

*One uses mulch to retain moisture reduce erosion, provide nutrients, and suppress weed growth. You lay a mulch over your beds once you've planted your seeds.