May 2018, Psalm139love

The trip to Pignon began in a new way for the SFP shade house construction team of Ron Lusk and Ben Frey.  First flight on a C-47 and it was wonderful.  First time to have the pilot come back and have prayer with the passengers before take off.

Missionary Flights International

Path to the Building site

Building Site

Getting started

Ron observes safety procedures (sometimes)

Beautiful and functional framework

Some great local help

Shade house/greenhouse #52 for SFP

A blank canvas for growing food crops, starter plants, or starting  ruit trees

                      MICAH 4:4
                      Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree,
                     and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken.

Ephrim Orphanage Las Cahabos, Haiti October 2017

 

This shade house was constructed by Haitian workers with Ron Lusk supervising.  The ends were covered with fiberglass screen to keep out the many harmful insects.  The men did an excellent job constructing the unit and quickly adapted to the power tools.  Later that week they built a garden bed for a widow and her family and  installed drip irrigation.

 

Mission of Hope Haiti April 2017 2 Shade houses

 

Curacao February 2017 Siloam Children's Home

Project completed

 

Robert de Vries   Administrator

 

 

 

A Dutch dish. potatoes, kale and other stuff

Framework assembled

Setting the anchors

January 2017 Lemuel Ministries

Two large 18' X 40' shade houses were completed for Lemuel Ministries located near Anse Rouge, Haiti.  The ends are covered with nylon screen to keep out birds and harmful insects.  They will be used for growing vegetables and starting trees.

SMALL GREENHOUSE

Back in September SFP donated a 14 X 20 greenhouse to the Hams Prairie Christian Church missions fund raiser. Hannah Bartley, a junior at Mizzou bought it at the auction and the SFP team constructed it at her dad's farm. It came out quite beautiful.

Growing Onions in Haiti



Growing Onions in the Tropics

 

There are two main types of onions, based on the daylight hours required for bulbs to form. Short-day varieties start forming a bulb when days are about 13 hours of sunlight; long-day varieties don't form a bulb until days are 14-16 hours long. For both types, bulb growth is slowed or stopped during hot, freezing or dry weather. Near the equator, where days are 12-13 hours long throughout the year, long-day onions will never form a bulb; and in Canada, where days are 14-20 hours long during the growing season, short-day onions will not be successful.  The seeds you find in the southern United States will be short day varieties.  Seeds in Haiti are questionable since well-meaning missionaries carry in all sorts of seed, many which will not grow in the tropics.  Short day onions tend to be milder in taste but will not store as long as the long day variety.  The Vidalia onion is a short day variety.

 Short day onions almost always must be started from seed.  Seed should be started in December/January and then transplanted in February/ March to the garden. I have found that planting the seeds in trays or beds inside the shade house to be equally successful.  If you use a tray, don’t use an insert just fill with planting soil and sow the seeds in the tray.  Scatter the seed and cover them with about ¼ “of soil and water liberally.   After the plants reach 3 to 4 inches in height, they can be transplanted to beds either in the shade house or outside beds. Extreme hot temperatures and drought will prevent good heads forming.  The beds should be loose soil and the onions plants should be set about 4 inches apart, onions don’t like close company.  Don’t keep the beds damp but water a couple of times per week.  If for some reason the heads do not develop or are small, don’t worry, green onions also taste great. 

 If you can get onion sets, which are long day onions, into Haiti they make wonderful green onions in a very short period.   They will not make large heads but as green onions they are a wonderful addition to Haitian cooking. 

 Hours of day light for Port au Prince will reach 13 hours about May 15, reach a peak of 13 hours and 15 minutes June 20 and decline again to 13 hours at the end of July.