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Okay here are some answers to questions asked in the comment section of various blogs....
Yes, I was getting tired of wedding planning. HOWEVER, now that my parents are arriving in FOUR WEEKS I am into the panic phase of planning. Fortunately, I finally convinced Lenin that having the reception in a restaurant would be a lot easier than trying to organize it in our community. So now we don't have to think about anything for the reception except transportation of people and of the cake.
We are planning to take a month or so once we get to the States to relax and take some vacation, which will technically be our honeymoon. So, no, we are not taking a standard honeymoon here in the Nica. Though we arrrre staying at a hotel the night after the wedding.
In other news, I had the meeting for women who will be planting family gardens with the seeds so generously sent from friends and family at home. There are various photos and descriptions on here. My group grew from 14 women to 16, but it's a good set of families. Some men came in place of their wives who, understandably,
were cooking or washing laundry or whatever. The men down here have a lot more room for mobilization. The women don't get to leave the house much, the exception being church, meetings, and occasionally going to the health center.
During the meeting we talked about the reasons to plant family gardens. One reason is to have nutricious vegetables in the house. Since most families can only eat rice, beans, and corn tortillas, having tomatoes and carrots and squashes and radishes and beets to supplement the basic diet is a great advantage. The other reason to plant is that they save money because they don't have to spend money on vegetables at the corner store.
We also talked about how to keep leafcutter ants out (mix a paste of water, chili seeds or chili powder, and ashes and smear it around the posts of the garden, or mix ash, water and laundry soap) and how beneficial worms are for gardens. Some people have boxes of worms and they use the dirt from the box to fertilize their gardens. However, not many people have worm boxes, or have interest in having a worm box. I was explaining that they could
find a few worms and just put them in the garden. Any worms are better than no worms.
I also had them draw pictures of their yards. I wanted them to think about what they actually have at their houses, what resources they already have. In poor countries like this NGO's do "needs asessments" where they find out what the community LACKS. I wanted the women to think about what they HAVE in their yards. What kind of trees? Shade trees? Fruit trees? What other plants? Medicinial plants? Foilage good for livestock? I wanted them to think about where the water is and how far they might have to haul to water their gardens. Are they planting things in above ground gardens or in tires or in the ground? How will they keep their chickens and ducks and turkeys out of the garden? I wanted them to think about all of this and map out their yards.
Then I presented them with bags of seeds. Everyone received tomatoes, onions, carrots, radishes, some kind of squash, and some kind of hot chili. Most received green beans, coliflor, and either spinach, lettuce, or cabbage. I have plenty of other seeds
i had the participants draw pictures of their yards
I wanted them to think about what resources they have in their yards. What fruit trees do they have? What medicinal plants, where is their water coming from, where are they going to plant these seeds.... to give out as I see what is growing and how much room they have after the initial seeds. Then, in like August/September we will plant again.
All went fairly smoothly. Lenin came to take the photos and to help clarify some points that I made that were a little unclear. We make a good team.
Today I walked down my mountain, dropped off Ben's shirt at the seamstress so she can take measurments, stopped by the mayor's office to get the full name of another dama, gave some money to help buy new shoes and a dress to the family who is providing both the ring bearer and the flower girl for our wedding, bought black sandals for my black dress for our civil wedding....
And I still have to do after I leave this cyber.... buy dog food, buy oil and lard and tomatoes and onions for mamita, shop for some chocolate for me, stop by the hotel and make reservations for the days before the wedding.... and catch the bus!
over and out...
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jeri
non-member comment
gardens
Thanks for the info. We are going to need it. We got 2 beds planted the other day, corn and beans up and growing well. Our friend Ramon stopped by this AM to point out that we have had a HUGE hatch of guisanos, so we have been busy squashing them as we dont use poisons. Any suggestions??? Also we learned in the states that a trail of plain old salt around the perimeter (or down their holes, no pun intended) will repel ants. In CR we had them coming up through the floor and this handily put an end to it!!