Rain at last!

Finally we have received the rain that we have long been awaiting. The rain came in a blessed downpour last week. It was a great relief to finally feel the rain falling, it also gave us a short break from the manual irrigation we engage in every evening. After the soil had been thoroughly drenched for a day, we got started early in the morning planting the maize and beans. We had already prepared the earth by digging holes ready to accept the new life.

As previously mentioned, we were lucky enough to have indigenous maize given to us by another farmer. We planted three maize kernels, and 4 beans in each hole. We are fortunate to have a variety of beans that we both purchased, and received for free. The volunteers all participated in planting, digging, and covering the new crops.

The cowpeas that we have planted earlier are now about 4 inches tall, and we look forward to harvesting this nutritious vegetable. We have also begun planting sweet potatoes. We received an abundance of sweet potato seedlings from a farmer in the area, and have now planted them at the north end of our land. The sweet potatoes will be planted in rows of peaks and valleys, with the sweet potatoes at the top of the peaks, and irish potatoes in the valleys.


We were fortunate to receive some additional strength from volunteers, Ras Fyah Ng'anga and Sister Joelle, who came to help us with the farm works for a week. Ras Fyah Ng'ang is currently residing in Nairobi, but plans to join us on the farm full-time when he is able to leave the city.  Sister Joelle is form Canada, and is volunteering long term with Shiriki organisation. We are thankful for all the help we can get as there is no limit to the amount of work here on the farm.