Help expand "Young Smart Farmers" organic gardens

We start 2023 with the last of the fall harvest bounty, along with a strong reminder to conserve water.  The rains have ended, one of our well pumps has stopped working, and the village water system has a broken pump. 

So far we are getting by with our second well and the sub-district offices have promised some fresh water for the children and some lake water for the vegetable gardens.  The dry season still has 5 or six months to run, so this is a good wake-up call for all the children and staff to conserve water.  

We're still harvesting tomatoes and there is a small kitchen garden full of salad greens.  The children all eat salad now and have converted to my vinaigrette for salad dressing, rather than the creamy sweet one they used to eat.

We spend Sunday afternoon making a big vat of tomato sauce that was split between the vegetarians, the meat sauce eaters, and the extra frozen for later use.

The Keyhole Garden has started to yield beans, tomatoes, fresh herbs, and some huge squash spread into a nearby tree.

The compost piles are yielding for the kitchen gardens and new ones have been set up for the next planting. 

The building of the new rainwater catchment tanks is underway, with some old orchard trees being removed to clear the space. This is located between the current active fields and the new  "One Rai" field (a bit less than half an acre). 

Spencer, Earn, and the children added biochar and some other natural soil enhancers to get the field started.  Sun hemp will be the first crop - it will add nutrients and then be the first "No-till" crop to be left in the field, with the next crop planted on top.

Thank you for making this all possible!

Best wishes for the New Year ahead!

Dana, Evelind, Michael, the Warm Heart Children, and Staff