Garden Update

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With additional donations, the Orphanage Garden has expanded tremendously. The new space was cultivated by a group effort and the location behind the concrete wall protects it from strong winds and the worst of the downpours. It took about three days to prepare the land for planting.

With the help of a local organic farmer, the garden has become exactly what we had hoped (although I still like to get up early and do the weeding!) All the kids play some part in its care…mostly through watering as the water play is much more fun than hauling fertilizer or pulling beetles off the plants.

We are growing eggplants, peppers, a variety of Thai veggies I can’t name and we have two baby coconut trees rooted in the middle. The bamboo poles were placed to hold the roof, and act as a structure to protect both the plants and workers from the sun.

With the addition of a bench and some water collecting bins we have the makings of a beautiful garden. The little kids favor pulling the worms out of the surrounding piles of weeds and scrap and carefully placing them on each mound for the worms to help with aeration….they love this so much that they have a bucket they keep collecting worms in from the village!
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The big project for Life After Wave (Tara and Alex’ Foundation) this time was to clear off one of the concrete foundations from the old survivor housing. After the rubbish was cleared, days were spent filling in the old sewage tanks and burning out the stumps from the house posts. The easiest part was just preparing the surface.

The plan was to turn one of the platforms into a play space for the children, a place to ride the bikes and set up the badminton net. The net was easy, and with a couple of old paint buckets and some cement to fill it, the posts were erected and the net set up. It worked perfectly until Miles walked into the post and knocked it over…..

…that kid…..

The fun part of this project was the bike track. Brittany helped out tons on this project and the Crocodile mural is entirely her artwork. The track is in a rough loop and includes cement turtles to navigate through, a speed bump, a pond (that actually collects water in the rains) and a small painted gas pump.

The kids are using the track so much it will need repainting before I leave!

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Comments

[dian mccreary]

I love the garden, and I bet the peppers are soo tasty!! It seems like everything has grown so quickly, no doubt from all the heat and the rains.