I had another email from Leo in Mexico and as usual, some great news. A couple of weeks ago they canned 57 quarts of salsa from the tomatoes and vegetables grown at Madera. They also butchered a hog and made chicharrones (pig skins) and posole which included pork, radishes, cilantro, cabbage, corn, and onions. Of course red chiles and lime rounded out the dish. They also have some of the older children and adults taking a course on hydroponics and green house management to better utilize the green house. Monday Sept. 28, 1,500 strawberry plants will be shipped to Leo in El Paso complete with Dept. of Agriculture certification for transporting them to the farm at Madera for fall planting.
At Faith Home in Honduras, they harvested some corn to make a special dish to celebrate Independence Day. Tania Willis wrote in her blog that they made "tamalitos" a sweet corn bread mixture cooked in the fresh corn husks and eaten with sweet cream. There is still plenty of corn left in the garden. Before next spring they will have a new roto tiller for their tractor that will greatly expand their ability to garden. Here is a picture of the corn from Tania's blog.
Mr. Leonard is preparing to plant 60 plantain banana plants at Ti Paradi, Haiti. Of course they will be planted in October when the moon is in the correct phase. Don't laugh this guy knows how to grow food. Here is a picture of bananas growing out of a pothole at Ti Paradi. Literally bananas growing in the desert.
