Beekeeping pictures are more

I just got back from my beekeeping seminar. It was a two day long course given by Peace Corps for volunteers and a Paraguayan contact. I was invited because my advisor knew that I have been doing a good amount of beekeeping work in site. The seminar was great! I learned a lot, my contact learned a lot, and we are both really excited about getting back into the beehives as soon as possible. The seminar was held in an agricultural highschool supported by the government. It had great facilities and was in a beautiful location. Also, I did not get a single sting the entire time, go figure! Enough with the talking, on with the pictures!

The gang waiting to go do some bees.

When the hive is lacking pannels the bees will start building comb on the underneath of the hive box cover as seen above.

This hive was lacking many panels and so the hive made almost it's entire comb on the underneath of the box cover. The white wax indicates that it is very fresh.

This was a Paraguayan contact, Hugo, looking for the queen. He obviously did not think gloves were necessary. He had balls, but, he found the queen.

Bees.


My contact, Kai Zakaria, and Mitra with a little friend.

Random shot of my demo plot. I had harvested most of the oat seeds last week. Funny story; I was harvesting the oats on a beautiful day and because someone in the field nearby was using a loud chainsaw I decided to listen to my ipod. I put on some Michael Jackson and was so inspired that I started dancing to the music while harvesting the seeds. I was really getting into it. I turn around and see a family just staring, wide eyed , jaws dropped. They burst out into laughter. After they leftI continued harvesting and dancing. Now every time I see the kids see me they start dancing.

Let there be light!

Finally, electricity! Yesterday a guy came out and hooked up all the wires correctly so that I have reliable electricity (knock on wood) It has been nice to read a little later at night with lights on and use my little hotplate stove. Let´s hope it stays this way.

In other news, it is cold again! We had a massive storm roll in two days ago, lots of wind and hail. I was worried that my roof would get torn to shreds since it is thin fiberglass and I have seen roofs with hail damage before, but luckily it held strong. However, the storm brought on cold, rainy, gray weather. I have no idea WHAT season I am in right now...maybe it´s spring? maybe it is still winter? Maybe this is just a cold snap in spring?

There was a bit of damage out in the fields. A lot of the watermelon crops were damaged, but survived, and the corn just has some torn leaves. It could have been worse.

I am preparing information for a citrus grafting capacitation class with the farmers committee. They were all very excited about learning how to graft citrus, and because it is relatively easy I think it should go well.
I am also doing a lot more health and cooking classes with the womens committee. I am going to have each session be a theme. For example next week will be fat and cholesterol. We will go over what exactly they are, how our bodies use them, in what amounts do we need, what foods are highest in them etc. Then we will do a cooking class in which we take a common food here and make it so that it is lower in fat or oil and more nutritious. These classes are all really fun; the women get a kick out of watching me cook and they understand the importance of a healthy lifestyle so the atmosphere is always light and full of enthusiasm.

Currently, I am almost finished with The Satanic Verses. It was slow going at first since the writing style is so different, but now I am really into the book. Very interesting story and written like no other book I have ever read.

Thursday I am off to the beekeeping classes with my contact. We are both really excited and I am just hoping I get through it all without kankles again!

Work, work, work

So much for Spring. It is HOT! Already back in the upper 90s, last night was rough....no fan and the mosquitos were out. I woke up early and headed off to Asuncion for a dentist app. I will be here for two days enjoying AC and TV.
Things have been so busy in site. Absolutely wonderful. All this work makes up for those slow, stagnant days of winter.
We have been working in the fields a lot. Everyday there seems to be some farmer who would like help and is interested in new techniques. So far I have:
1. Planted mucuna ceniza, mucuna negra (both related to kudzu), and Crotalaria (A tall, thing green manure) in pineapple fields.
2. Intercropped Mandioca with pineapple.
3. Intercropped more melon with pineapple.
4. Cut down and left a thick mulch of oats with mandioca.
5. Harvested Nabo Forrajero seeds for next season. (See pictures below)

Needless to say my hands are calloused over with blisters on my callouses, my skin is dark, and my hands and legs are all cut up from the spines of pineapples. But I enjoy this work! It is good to be out in the heat again; cold showers never felt so good.

Yesterday I had one of the greatest moments in site thusfar. I was drinking terere with my neighbor and a woman from one of the committees walks towards us. I have had many, many problems with. She didn't seem to like me, and I didn't really like her. Last week she came over and asked me what to do about her tomato plants. We went to her garden and I told her they had a virus and gave her the recipe for a homemade virucide using hot chilies, a little soap and water. She was hesitant and gave me that "Yea right, buddy, hot peppers for a virus...psh" type of look. Anyways, she comes over and sits with my neighbor and I and goes on and on about how it worked! Her plants are growing like wild now and she has already harvested some tomatoes, which she proceeded to give me. Then she goes on and on about how smart I am, how well I speak Guarani, and how she has never had tomatos like these before etc. I'm sitting their feeling a bit awkward and blushing and my neighbor is just giggling because she noticed I was uncomfortable with all of it. The woman left and thanked me and said that this time the community got a volunteer who really knows his stuff. What?!?! This was the same woman who during committee meetings went on and on about the past volunteers and how amazing they were and why doesn't David do what they did etc. So, yea, I am feelin pretty darn good.
Enough of that. On with the pictures!!

Pineapples in mucuna ceniza mulch and today we planted mandioca inbetween the pineapple rows (the dug up areas are where the mandioca is.)


This is a new experiment. We planted a little known green manure called Dolichos lab-lab with pineapple. It is a vine, like mucuna ceniza, but lives longer and is a bit easier to manage. So far so good.

Mucuna ceniza mulch. Mucuna is related to kudzu but dies in the winter. It grows over everything so the weeds cant compete and it fixes nitrogen.

Pineapples in mucuna ceniza mulch.

This is another pineapple field with old mucuna mulch and kumanda yvyra'i - the tree like plant in between. It creates good shade, ample leaf litter, and adds tons of nitrogen to the soil.

This is a pineapple field planted with Nabo forrajero. It has a large root that breaks up the earth and also brings nutrients up that are usually locked deep within the earth. This worked out very, very well. I was happy, Kai Oscar was happy, and the pineapple is happy.

The dead branches are from another green manure called Crotalaria which we planted last summer.

Good coverage!

Nice flowers.

Check out that root!

This is Mandioca with avena negra growing in between. The Avena helps to soften the earth as well as create a nice mulch when cut down. Kai Oscar says that the mandioca from this field was bigger, and easier to harvest than that from other fields without the Avena.

This is our vivero project. 10,000 tree saplings will be sold. 6000 native species, 4000 exotics. Not bad, eh?