Day 53 Tree planting.

As the clouds grow so do our hopes for rain.

Last week over 100 trees were planted on the property after the rains the weeks before.

Now going on our second week without rain Cory is holding off again to plant more trees, as yesterday it took 4 guys all day to water trees.

This almost emptied the small amount of rain-water that had collected in the bottom of the new pond.

The tree planting process...

Two or three of the guys walk around an area, finding a spot that looks good they start to dig with a shovel and pick.

Once they have a good hole dug they walk about 10 or 15 feet away and start again.

Sometimes they find too much rock underneath a bit of dirt and then they move on to a new location.

With the bushes and grass growing up it is hard to see many of the holes unless you are very close and can see the pile of dirt.

First a bit of fertilizer is put in the bottom of the hole.

The dirt mixed up.

 A tree selected for the hole and then carefully dirt is placed around the roots, gently in an attempt not to disturb the dirt around the roots.

Sometimes a pot from the nursery contains 4-5 trees and they need to be carefully separated to be planted individually in their own holes.

Once the dirt has been returned around the tree a second planting occurred.

An second scoop of fertilizer was placed in a line near the edge of the planting hole and mixed into the dirt.

Then 2-3 squash seeds were planted, covered up, and the dirt gently pushed down by a foot.

A small died stick marked the locations that had squash seeds.

Some trees being more sensitive or having had more roots cut off to remove them from the nursery or the pot may have received water right away.

 In addition the sod from the hole or rocks that came from the hole were placed on the down hill side to help hold the soil in place when the rains do start.

Because Fritz and I completed our third grade work on Thursday morning we helped plant on Thursday afternoon, Friday morning and afternoon.

A variety of trees were planted including: egg fruit, mulberry, apple, cherimoya [custard apple], black sapote, velvet apple, grapefruit, jackfruit, mango, sapodilla, rumberry, pawlonia (lumber tree), loquats, peach palm, asai palm, guava, and macadamia.

Tree Planting Trip

Earlier this week, we  loaded up the truck with an assortment of trees, plants, and cuttings.

Then we bumped our way two hours east, out to The Children of the Promise Campus where we introduced my folks to friends and made some new friends.

Cory looked over the campus to decide where the different trees could be placed depending on the size of the tree and how much flooding it may need to tolerate.

Wednesday morning we played with some of the children, talked to various house parents/staff about the types of fruits or trees they preferred around the homes, and Cory placed the potted trees/plants around the grounds.

Following lunch, Cory directed the planting and watering of the trees, including: egg fruit, malay apple, mango, mulberry, starfruit, face roselle, chaya, edible hibiscus, aloe, miracle fruit, bilimbi, biriba, black sapote, jack fruit, dragon fruit, and Barbados cherry.

Ma'afala breadfruit in background to the right of the gentleman.

Cory, Dad, and a staff member also made a delivery to a local Pastor of some trees and plants. Because they happened to be leaving the COTP campus at shift change, they also gave a ride to some of the staff going their direction.

The church/school yard had a good size breadfruit that Cory brought a few years ago and people are asking for more to plant.

The photo is a 4 acre field that the pastor bought to plant and help the community. the former owner had planted one of the new breadfruit and a few local fruit trees. It is good to see the new varieties growing well and starting to produce.

Back at COTP we enjoyed our time learning about the staff and ministry.

After a few more chats and planting on Thursday morning we packed up and headed further east to see the Trou de Nord Wesleyan church and drop off the remaining fruit trees.

Since the phase-one dedication that my family attended a couple of years ago, the church building continues with most of the windows containing nice iron work.

Additional buildings in the church yard include the start of a parsonage and completed bathroom. The banana plants and garden on the property look productive.

Although Pastor Rigo could not meet with us, he reported that the church family now includes 200 new families in need of Konsey books.

Brother Eli met with us and told us that between 600-700 people attend weekly services and occasionally the church is full.

Turning the truck back west to head home, we did stop for one more agricultural visit at Helping Haitian Angels.

Parsonage under construction

Cory and the guys planted some trees at their location almost a year ago and this Wednesday received an email about giving some advice about planting a large garden including fruit trees.

So we stopped in to see how the first trees fared and talk a bit about the new plans. Last year's trees suffered during the dry season due to staff leaving but many of the trees were recovering from the past few months of abundant rain.

 Cory will continue to advise by emails and phone calls and hopefully get them some additional trees to bless the children and families.

We enjoyed some hamburgers and hot dogs in Cap Haitian on our ride back home.

We pray that the trees and plants will grow big and strong and be a blessing to many people as they produce fruit, and seeds for planting.

Trip planning...& trees for sale.

It looks like early next week we will be making a trip to Southern Haiti where the hurricane destroyed the fruit trees and gardens.

Will try to post a few details and a list of prayer requests before we leave.

This week Cory's guys started digging breadfruit root cuttings of the quick bearing Ma'afala variety to build up a good supply to ship or deliver to Southern Haiti. The existing breadfruit variety in the damaged area will sprout many root suckers for regrowing or transplanting so there shouldn't be a need for that variety.

Cory checked what types of coconuts would be strongest in high winds, disease resistant and produce well. He was surprised to find that the strange mutant looking short coconut trees near our favorite beach must be 'Fiji Dwarf' coconuts, one of the top recommended varieties now in Florida due to high disease resistance. He plans to start buying coconuts to use as seeds for new trees. We've also started to save more seeds from various fruits now in season to send south.

For some places the complete destruction will allow for improvement on what was once there. Maybe the trees and corps will be more diverse as the areas get replanted.

A good lesson that both missions and homeschool taught me and remind me of often... to take the time to occasionally check out what is working and what is not and adjust procedure as needed.

This week Cory and I created a new section in the plant nursery for 'sales' .

As more people learn about Cory's trees they tend to drop in to pick up a few trees without notice. Cory and the guys try to head across the river about once a week to check the gardens there and work on them....leaving the non-plant expert here to sell trees.

Last time a man didn't really care that he could be buying a black sapote or and egg fruit, [Cory thinks maybe he got an avocado as one is now missing from that area].

Yes, I do know and recognize some of the trees....but Cory has lots of trees in the nursery and when they are little some have very similar leaves...if you are not an expert on rare tropical fruits.

another nursery area

Another issue we're hoping this helps with is that before when people came for plants, because different trees were scattered here and there-they would see other trees they wanted to buy but some trees Cory has plans for or are experimental and he's not ready to distribute them.

Now with a nice area with trees for sale I can sell without worrying about letting some special tree of Cory's go accidentally. The trees are organized by row and I hold a list of names so I don't sell the wrong type of tree.

Trees in a plastic bag 25 Haitian gouds or 50 for a tree in a plastic pot. Grafted trees cost more. Return the pot for a 25 goud refund. We may add a 50 goud section for rarer trees or decorative plants that Cory doesn't like to spend as much time on. [64.76 goud to a USA dollar-as of this morning.]

So currently selling: egg fruit, black sapote, malay apple, breadfruit, starfruit, mulberry, bilimbi, jackfruit, grafted mangoes, cupuasu and biriba. Grafted avocados in a month or two.

Helping Haitian Angels

Cory, Gener and Yvon brought a few dozen fruit trees on Wednesday to plant at the Helping Haitian Angels orphanage, about 15 miles east of Cap Haitian.

A strong breeze comes in off the nearby sea most of the time and the climate is closer to semi-arid LaGonave than rainy Port Margot.

It has been a few weeks since the last good rain so it was a pleasant surprise to find the soil was good and deep, relatively easy to dig, and still moist.

Most of the trees planted are drought resistant, like mango, egg fruit and avocado. Since the soil is deep, other species will also probably do well.

A few each were planted of starfruit, jackfruit, black sapote, everbearing mulberry, peanut butter fruit, and a few others to see how well they grow.

A few kids helped plant the last few trees, and then carried water for each tree.

A second trip will probably be made soon to finish planting the area.

We pray that the future fruit will be a blessing to the children and spread to surrounding farmland.

Link to the Christian orphanage website:

http://www.helpinghaitianangels.org/

Last weekend in April.

Yesterday morning while working on-line the power went out.

Sadly what ever happened appears to have damaged our internet modem.

Thankfully we can borrow from folks on campus a second system that provides limited access, so we can check E-mails and do some on-line things.

Will be working next week to get the modem replaced as we need the high-speed for school, sending pictures and such.

Cory's talk to some of the local gardeners late Thursday afternoon went well. He shared fresh mulberries and cuttings.

They sold almost a couple dozen baby banana plants [couple types, disease resistant] then gave away a few small ones. The pastor placed an order as well.

Scott made it to the USA without problems.

The KCC team will be sharing their experiences tomorrow at 12:30 at a mission's meeting.

School continues to go well for Eli and Anna.

Prayer Requests: Getting the modem replaced or fixed. Book translation. Adoption paperwork [Some ideas how to get the home study done here-just need agency approval. Checking about medical testing in Cap Haitian.]