imes. The problem is that we have no soil here, it's just sand. Really dry sand that blows away easily to be more specific. Our director in training, Clara, is adamant about trying new approaches in Agriculture and proving once and for all that we can grow something at our school. Since all of the teachers refuse to work with her on it, we've been given the responsibility. That seems to be the only reason why we are given any task, because no else will do it.We wake up at 4:50 in the morning. At that time of the morning anyone can become suicidal, but we resist the urge to kill ourselves, get dressed, and arrive at our school just as the sun rises at 5:15. We are trying out a method called trench farming which is supposed to promote the growth of soil. We dug long lines of trenches, filled them with capina (which is rotting tall grass) and then buried it, leaving some sand on either side to protect the new soil from the wind. The capina should continuously decompose under the top layer of sand, offering rich nutrients for our little seedlings.
It has taken much longer than we thought it would. We've been working on this particular project for two months now, and we've only planted one trench. The students and administrators have become very impatient with the project. They think you can just plant a seed in crappy soil, water it, and then you'll have a tomato in a few days. They don't understand that this project is investing inthe future of the soil. Even things like fertilizer are completely new for them. We've had some lectures explaining the importance of fertilizer, pest controls, consistent water schedules and so on. I'm not sure id anything is sinking in.
So far these are our two biggest barriers:
1. a perfectionist boss: The trenches are supposed to be 40 centimeters wide and deep. If they are 39 or 41 centimeters he makes us do it over again. If the trenches are not in a straight line we do it over again. I don't think he understands that 40 centimeters is a suggested guild, not the end all and be all of gardening. He loves his measuring stick.
2. The students: They do not want to be there. Not at all. Every day it's a struggle to get them started on time and to actually work when they are there. Usually when I ask them to do something they will ignore me at first. Then I repeat myself and they look up at me with a blank expression and then just laugh. By the third try I usually have to grab their hand and lead them wherever I want them to go and stay there until I see them pick up a tool and work. It's like working with toddlers. Sojo and I end doing the bulk of the work.In addition to the trench farming we're also planting fruit trees all over the school and planting some decorative gardens. Sometimes I really don't understand their reasoning for things. The director will say that we need more trees at the school so he'll have a students cut down a huge beautiful tree that has been here forever and plant two baby trees there in its place. Can't we plant the new trees in a different aread!? It doesn't make sense to me.
