When bugs attack part 2.

What is it with bugs in this country? I thought the worst was over with the bee stings now that honey season is over. I was wrong. Ants. Lots and lots of ants.
The other night I went out to my porch and noticed hundreds of grasshoppers, spiders, and other bugs all running around. I assumed that the warm night explained all the buggy activity. I went back inside and was reading for about an hour when I noticed that they were all trying to get into my house. This time when I went to check outside I was greeted by millions and millions of ants. They were EVERYWHERE. It was an ocean of ants that were killing and hauling away any living creature in it's wake. They killed spiders, grasshoppers, frogs, lizards...they even talked dogs, cows and myself! Once I went outside the ants quickly crawled up me and bit away. Luckily they didn't come inside.
The next day I talked to my neighbors and they said those ants are called "Tahyi ne" which means stinky ant. When they come out like that it is taken as a sign that rain is coming. Most people actually like them because the ants clean out houses of any bugs that might be living there.
Here is a little video I took. The quality is not great, but you get the idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAcBckEVWpk

The schooling continues

Work in the school is continuing and extremely enjoyable. The only frustrations have been in dealing with the teachers and setting up times, as well as their participating in the teaching activities. My way of teaching is different from what is traditionally done in the school systems here and I hope that teachers may see something useful in new teaching methods.
When I first told them I wanted the kids to do a majority of the work in the garden, the teachers were a bit hesitant and told me that the parents do the work. This was the exact opposite purpose of the school garden. It is there to teach children about gardening and then use the produce to make healthy snacks. The garden can also be used to teach other subjects such as science and math. Regardless, I pushed the teachers and more or less demanded that the kids work with me. Needless to say, the kids had so much fun. We prepared seed beds for our tree seeds. Discussed the advantages of making raised beds and giving them a good batch of fertilizer. From there we also prepared our garden beds and vegetable seed beds. We talked about companion planting and started planting some vegetables.
The kids were so much fun in the garden. Not only were they excellent workers, but they showed more interest in the topics and actually wanted to learn about the garden - something I can't say about all the adults I work with.


Cleaning the garden.

Preparing the tree seedbed.

Preparing one of the garden beds.

Students and teachers worked side by side.




Planting Swiss Chard alongside with carrots.

The power of success

That's a pretty heavy title for a blog post, no? It sounds like I'm going to give a lecture to a group of businessmen in a nondescript convention center - "We may be the number 4 wholesaler of paperclips in north eastern branch, but gosh darn it if we keep pushing our products we could make the 3 spot!". Okay, not quite. Hopefully this should be a bit more interesting.
You all know that I work with three woman's committees: two have been around for almost a decade and one is brand new. I have had difficulties with one of the older groups due to a lack of participation in meetings (nobody would show) and them simply asking to be gifted things from myself or other organizations. I had little hope for this group and felt that it would probably fall apart sooner than later. So, we sat down and had a talk. I know I've previously discussed how Paraguayans shy away from confrontation and would do without strong words. I tried my best not to be too strong and direct in the way I said things but still told them how I felt. I told them that they could not accomplish anything without being responsible and showing up to meetings - they all agreed. Then I asked them exactly what it was they expected to gain from being members of a committee. Did they want a place to sit around and complain about neighbors? Did they want to find ways of making extra money? They decided that they wanted the committee to be a place where they could learn new things, and find ways of getting more resources (food, money, etc.) for their family.
With their goals clear it was much easier for me to work with the women; they started showing up more regularly to meetings and actively participating.
Our first project was to make detergent soap. Detergent soap, along with cooking oil, yerba mate, and meat, are the biggest expenses families have on a week-to-week basis. The women and myself both felt that this was an important and potentially profitable thing to learn. All the ingredients could be obtained locally: cow fat (tallow), caustic soda, fabric softener, room deodorant,and water. We also made the fabric softener and the deodorant as a side project before hand. We made around 8kilos of soap and the women were ecstatic. The process was so easy and fast while the end product was just as good as commercial detergent soap.
This got them thinking. They could make these products and sell them to neighbors and other communities. Currently, they want to make more soap and want to expand to bar soap and other deodorants with different colors and fragrances.
I was amazed at how well this simple project got the women so excited. You could see the ideas popping into their heads and they really got enthusiastic about working together as a group.
So, I brought up the garden seeds I had received from the national newspaper. Last year we divided them up and each woman took them back to their own individual garden. I have been pushing community gardens since the day I got here with no success, but I figured I might as well try again. After five minutes of ironing out the logistics, the women decided that they wanted to start a community garden! Before I knew it we were grabbing hoes and rakes and preparing the garden. All this happened within about 15 minutes of bringing up the idea. By the end of the day we had prepared and planted our seed beds, prepared the other beds with manure and planned out how we would plant the garden.
It was truly unbelievable. This was the power of success. The women were so excited after successfully making soap that they felt they could do anything if they tried, especially if they did it together. The one group in my community which I felt would fall apart has now become the strongest,and most active one. I can only hope that this trend continues.

Teaching Photosynthesis

This school year I asked if I could participate more in classroom activities. The teachers were more than happy to give me time once or twice a week to come in and teach both morning and afternoon sessions (school days are half-days in Paraguay). The school is very small, only 57 students in all. Because deforestation is a major problem in Paraguay I have decided to start off with a series of classes on trees and reforestation. Our first class was centered around the importance of trees as well as the current problem of deforestation. The idea of this class was to nail home the importance of trees and develop a deeper appreciation for forests while the children are still young. The most recent class was centered around photosynthesis. This is a tricky subject to teach. Most people in my site don't really understand what photosynthesis is, so to try teaching it to children was a challenge. We first started talking about breathing; why do we breath? What do we breath? What is oxygen and carbon dioxide and where do they come from? From there we went into trees and plants and how they too breath just like us but instead of breathing oxygen they breath carbon dioxide.

Once the basics were established the kids easily grasped how clorophyll captured photon energy and transfered it through the electron transfer chain in the light-dependent reaction thus creating ATP and the full mechanism of the Calvin cycle (ok, not quite).

To drive home the topic we did a little art/science project. The kids did leaf rubbings (which they LOVE!) and we made a diagram of what goes into a plant/tree and what goes out. Using arrows we showed nutrients from the dirt, water from the clouds, energy from the sun, and carbon dioxide from humans going into the leaf, while an arrow leaving the leaf depicted oxygen leaving.

Whether or not all the students really understood photosynthesis is not necessary. I wanted to teach this subject not to increase their knowledge of the workings of plants but as a means for increasing their appreciation and awe in trees and other plants. Maybe that way they will be more inclined to plant more trees, or at least not cut down those that are left.

Work Stuff

Michael (dad) was also able to see what type of work I do in site. It was good to have someone from the outside there to observe and give ideas as well as another take on the issues I was teaching about. He came to check out my demonstration plot. Now that winter is almost here it is time to play my winter green manures. I invited a neighbor (kai Andres) over to help me since he has a rollocuchillo (rolling knife). This is a great farming tool used to cut and press down green manures, leaving a thick mulch. It is a simple farm implement; it is a heavy metal cylinder with blades that, when pulled, cut and press the plant matter to the ground. I used it on my patch of Mucuna, the nitrogen fixing vine. We did this before the plant flowered and set seed so that all the Nitrogen fixed in the soil stays in the soil. Prior to rolling over the Mucuna I seeded the plot with black oats, the winter cover crop that also makes great animal forage and mulch. I seeded before we used the rollocuchilo so that the seeds had a chance to get to the ground. Had I seeded afterwards the seeds would sit on the mulch and not sprout. When I came back from Ecuador the Avena had already sprouted and looks great.


This is a panorama view of my demoplot. The mucuna (on the left side) is what I will cut and use as a mulch.

Avena is seeded by hand.

Kai Andres and the Rollocuchillo.

It turned out to be a good teaching day. He had a lot of questions regarding planting avena and mucuna.

This is the rollocuchillo.

This is what it looks like after being chopped and pressed down.

Update - The Avena has sprouted, though the mucuna mulch was so thick that there are parts in which the Avena could not come through. I plan on planting sunflowers in this patches.


He also came to school with me. I am starting a reforestation program in the school. Deforestation is a huge problem here in Paraguay and the earlier the kids learn about the value of trees the better. I started this program with basics: what do we use trees for, what does deforestation mean, what does reforestation mean, what is agroforestry etc. I will continue with sessions on how to treat seeds and properly plant them in the garden. How to take care of trees, etc. Eventually all the children will take trees back home and plant them.






Finally, he came down to check out one of the womens committees. I gave a short charla on companion planting in the garden. It is garden season and everyone is getting ready. Most people here plant a mini monoculture in their garden; one line of tomatos, one line of carrots, one of lettuce etc. It is a better practice to associate plants of different space requirements and nutrient requirements together. In this way the space in the garden can be used more effectively and also certain associations keep bugs away from plants while others help plants grow even better. Examples are carrots and tomatos, basil and tomatos, beets and lettuce. etc



Finally, this is a beautiful shot of Rubito's year old pineapple field. After talking to him about it for a long, long time he decided to leave all the weeds he took out from between the pineapple lines. The resulting mulch is so thick that no other weeds will grow.

Back after Vacation

I'm back from a wonderful vacation. My father came down to visit me for a week in site. I don't think he could have picked a better time to be in Paraguay since he was able to experience the one week we call Fall in this country. Prior to that it was scorching summer, and now it is very cold winter. During his stay in site we were able to visit the neighbors and give him a flavor of Paraguay. We did some cooking with the neighbors (we made Chipa Guasu, which he agrees is the best cornbread in the world). After his brief stay with me we headed to Asuncion for a day to give him a taste of the big city and from there we headed to Ecuador. What a wonderful country. We landed in Quito, which is located up in the mountains and the thin air was a pleasant surprise after the thick air of Paraguay. The next day we headed down to Tena, the capital of the Napo province where we stayed at an ecolodge for 3 nights. We explored primary Amazon rainforest, went to waterfalls, a butterfly conservatory, a canoe ride down the Napo river. From there we headed back north to the Mindo area to visit a cloudforest. It was absolutely magical. The number of birds, especially hummingbirds, was exceptional. We also were able to hike around the forest there. The difference between the cloud forest and the rain forest is astonishing. While the rainforest is muggy and very buggy with huge trees, the cloud forest was more stunted in it's tree growth (though by all means not small) and everything was covered in epiphytes. Plants growing on plants growing on other plants. In the cloud forest the mornings are clear and then after 12 the clouds roll in and enshroud the whole forest in a mist. The bugs are not as ever-present as in the rain forest and we were able to see many more birds. Also, it was rather chilly in the cloud forest due to it's altitude.
After our trip through the cloud forest we headed to Otavalo, a town about 1.5 hours outside of Quito known for it's large market of indigenous goods. The main square was packed with stall after stall of goods made by indigenous (though it seems that more and more of the items were made outside of the country). None the less, we bought our fair share of recuerdos and then headed back to Quito for one last night.
It was a great trip, though more time was needed...at least another week or two. For such a small country, it's diversity makes for much to visit.
I will post a couple pictures on the blog, but we are creating a link to all the pictures and videos which I will post when ready.

Mist rising off of the Napo river in morning.

Morpho butterfly. Don't worry, the butterfly was not killed and flew off. These things lazily glide all over the rainforest.

Michael in front of a giant Cebo tree. These trees are huge and house all types of plant and animal life in their canopy.


The cloud forest once the clouds roll in.




A wall of green in the cloud forest.


Blue Jay in cloud forest.