By Marsha Winsryg | Director, AACDP
Thanks to your generous donations, many of Zambezi Farm’s projects are well underway!
Vegetable Projects:
The eggplants and impwa are yielding enough for personal consumption and sales to the local supermarket in Livingstone. But the season has barely started - when the rains arrive, the plants will produce much more, and should continue fruiting for about a year!
Carrot seed has been planted to a large, well irrigated plot. Tomato seedlings still need to size up a bit before being transplanted. Cabbage seedlings are just about ready to put in the field - we planted enough seeds to yield 1800 - 2000 heads of cabbage.
Building Projects:
The unit for dry maize storage has been completed. The new irrigation tank has been built, but still needs plumbing for both the input and the output. The farmers' house needs 2 windows, a door, interior paint and furniture. The bath house needs some plumbing, a door and lighting.
A lot of fencing has been done - the maize and vegetable fields are all protected. We must now fence the side of the farm that borders the road. Eventually we will probably be fencing more and more of the perimeter.
Future Plans:
Our next project will be raising chickens. Sydney (our Zambian manager) proposed a commercial setup, but I am more interested in a smaller, more traditional approach. So we will try two chicken projects - one free range and the other commercial. The commercial side will be a large chicken house built with cement blocks, and the free range will have small grass chicken houses, similar to the ones pictured below. It will be interesting to experience these two styles of farming side by side.
A lot of projects, right? The goal for the farm is sustainability, and a key ingredient is diversity. We hope that establishing a good mix of animal and vegetable crops will soon produce a balance that can weather the difficulties that Nature may deliver.
The five day Little by Little campaign, which starts today, is a great opportunity to stretch a small donation! GlobalGiving will add 50% to all donations up to $50 from Monday, September 18 through Friday, September 22.
Your participation is what has made all our projects possible! Thank you for your support of Zambezi Farm and its farmers.
Links:
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