Home Gardens for 200 Families, Oaxaca, Mexico

Dear GlobalGiving Supporters

During this period, we held several meetings with the 10 students who were successful in the implementation of home gardens to discuss how to continue with the production of vegetables. One of them decided to continue planting despite the predicted dry season with promising results so far, the others are going to wait until the rainy season.

We collected native corn seeds to test different methods of seed conservation with extracts of chili, garlic and some plants, evaluating their survival against fungi and moths, with promising results. The next step will be to carry out training on these seed storage methods in order to conserve the seeds for a longer period of time for later planting.

We also had a meeting with the community leadership of San José Chiltepec to activate the tree nursery and place the shade netting for the production of trees to support reforestation and we obtained a donation of compost for seedling production.

Finally, we have scheduled a new workshop in June for the preparation and use of organic compounds such as fertilizers, fungicides, and insect repellents, in response to requests for technical advice from community producers.

With your support, we continue working for the conservation of natural resources and the improvement of food sovereignty.  We are profoundly grateful for your partnership!

In solidarity,

Marco Acevedo, Mexico Program Officer

Dear GlobalGiving Supporters,

Happy New Year! I hope your year is off to a great start.

Since I was last in touch, we have continued our work with family gardens in collaboration with students from the Universidad del Pueblo. This has included training in the preparation and implementation of organic compounds including insect repellents, fungicides, and fertilizers.

Community producers were also invited to learn about the benefits of these organic compounds and the results of the first harvests from the family gardens were shared, which included cucumber, squash, chili, tomato, green beans, cilantro, epazotes, and scallions.

The difference was also shown between the gardens that used the organic compounds and the few that did not. The ones that used the organic compounds prepared in the workshops obtained the best results, as the vegetables grew and blossomed better. The results were evident. Based on this, the demand for organic compounds by students and producers increased, so additional training workshops will be scheduled.

Finally, at the beginning of the activities with the students of the Universidad del Pueblo, a small competition was proposed to encourage their participation, commitment, and effort in the implementation of the home gardens.

The challenge consisted of a monthly evaluation of the work they did to achieve a successful harvest. The top 3 were rewarded with some additional equipment. This December water tanks and pumps were delivered to facilitate irrigation in the best-performing home gardens. The students were excited and immediately asked us what the next step would be in relation to the home gardens.

It is a new year and there are many opportunities ahead! Thanks to the work and effort of everyone involved the home garden project has great potential for expansion and replication, as several schools from different grade levels in the region have reached out and want to be considered for future activities

We now have new allies and capable people, convinced of what can be achieved if they make an effort.

Thank you all for your support!