Honduras is back on the schedule! The materials shipped to Honduras earlier this year have arrived in the country and the missionaries have requested that we plan a trip for March 3-10, 2012 to build the greenhouse. We would be teaming up with the agriculture team from North
Carolina Baptist Men's Missions. We are excited about this mission effort to work with the

Quiche Indians. Below is a picture and a sketch of the greenhouse that will be built.

Goats and sheep will be part of our efforts to produce food this coming year. Faith Home near San Pedro Sula, Honduras has begun a program to produce meat for the children's home by raising sheep. We have sent $250.00 which should purchase about 6 more ewes. The administration and house parents are doing a wonderful job gardening and now raising animals.

At Ti Paradis, Haiti, we will be cooperating with Living Waters of West Palm Beach to begin a goat herd improvement program. We will be purchasing three Boer Goats to cross breed into the local herd of Haitian goats. The Boer is a large meat goat and the Haitian is an example of survival under harsh conditions. The off-springs will have many of the traits of each parent. The three Boers will be 1 male and 2 females. Plans are to keep the Boers penned and thus control breeding. This will involve purchasing the goats, fencing materials, and food.

Faith Home San Pedro Sula, Honduras 2011

Few things are as rewarding as seeing the success of people who
are trying to help themselves. The house parents at Faith Home
garden with enthusiasm and the results show.


This is the fall corn harvest in October 2010, pretty good
since they also ate a lot of the corn off the cob already .
Also that year they received their new roto tiller for their
tractor.


This was their goal, to rip out all the bermuda type sod and
turn this space into a garden. Roto till it several times and
then the kids help pick up the roots and grass tangles.


This is the summer of 2011. When I show these pictures to
folks the response is always "WOW. " And this was done by
the house parents and the kids of Faith Home. There is no
way I can express how this picture blesses my heart.

Seeds of Hope Community Garden pictures

These are pictures from inside the greenhouse with the shade cover in place. As you can see, the plants inside endured the 100+ degree days and produced abundantly while the outside garden literally cooked under the hot sun. If a hoop house was built only for use as a shade cover it would be well worth the investment.

When God says "Not Yet"

We had planned for several months to make a trip to Guatemala in July of 2011 to build an 18 x 40 greenhouse for the work of the Grossmans who are missionaries there. We were never able to get a team together and the trip had to be cancelled. Earlier in the year we had ordered materials to be shipped to Vine International a shipping ministry serving Guatemala. The materials were to be delivered before the July trip. However in every ministry the unknown always happens and the materials were not shipped. To add to the mix, the shade cover had never been shipped from the vendor and delivered to Vine International. After a lot of tracing and help from the folks at Vine International the missing cover was delivered. Now all 3 boxes are on hand and the shipment should go sometime this month.

Once the shipment is on the way to Guatemala, we can start to plan a team to build the greenhouse. Since cost for the trip depends on the number in the team, we will try to join with one of the churches that makes regular mission trips there. A larger group would mean lower costs for everyone.

In spite of our best laid plans, God's wisdom and planning always trumps ours. If we had made the trip this past July, we would have not had the materials to do the project. I have no idea why things happend the way that they did except to say that God wasn't ready. We will continue to seek His will as we look forward to completing this project. And thank God for the prayers that are answered, "not yet."

New Pictures from Dr. Z

Beets, greens, and tomatoes

Basil in forground, Peppers, and bed prepped

for replanting

"the corner" landscaped with sugar cane, a lime bush,

taro plants, and a few stray stalks of corn

Part of the garden with bananas in background

Pictures from MamababyHaiti trip

Some spent the night at the airport with a little dignity

Some with a little less

Why does Joe always get to hold the camera?

Goin' home

Blending herbs and spices for cooking

Unconventional protein

Mangos

Congo pea or pidgeon pea

Bitter melon used in herbal medicine

Guava fruit

Recruiting kids to pick up rocks

Tropical Sweet Corn Seed

Last Spring I gave Eli Bartley, a highschool senior from Hams
Prairie 4 oz. of tropical sweet corn seed. The result was him
returning 20 pounds of seed corn that would normally cost
$7.00 per pound. Following requests from missonaries for a
good sweet corn like they knew from home, I contacted the
University of Hawaii and an agriculture student there introduced
me to one of their leading sweet corn crops that is open pollinated
and can endure tropical heat as well as short daylight hours. This
is the same seed now produced by Eli.

Eli is a gifted seed producer and grows all sorts of seed for an
heirloom seed company. We are indeed indebted to him for his
service in this area.

At this writing, 3 gallon bags of seed have been cleaned and sorted
and about 2 gallon are yet to be cleaned.



20 pounds of seed corn from a 4 oz investment


Test shows about 90% germination


Using the wind and a fan to blow away foreign matter and
defective grains.


1 gallon bag of cleaned and sorted seed corn

Small Farm Poultry Seminar

Saturday May 28, we were blessed to attend a small farm pasture poultry
seminar. Guest speakers Albert Hilty and Jacob Mitts from the
Amish community at Bowling Green shared their expertise, successes,
and failures raising pasture poultry. Much of their expertise can be
applied directly to poultry raising on the mission field. At the same
time I had the opportunity to share about the community garden here
at Troy 1st Baptist as well as the work of SFP in third world countries
growing food. Part of the seminar was a workshop on processing poultry.
The following pictures may be disturbing to some but the fact is that
in order for you to have meat, something must die. The killing of the
birds is very humane and processing is done quickly to the point of
cooling the bird quickly.



Birds are killed by cutting the throat, death is quick

Birds are scaled to loosen the feathers

After scalding the bird goes into the picker to remove feathers

Birds from the picker cleaned and ready to be iced down

MamaBaby Haiti

I want to thank everyone for their support and to bring you up to date on our recent mission trip to Cap Haitian, Haiti at the MamaBaby Haiti birthing and pediatric center. Ron Lusk, Jaime Oestreich, and I completed two very nice 10 x 18 shade houses and they were put to immediate use. We actually completed our objective two days early and that enabled us to do a little landscaping using vegetables and banana plants and to show some of the clients at the center how to make vegetable beds to enhance their gardening efforts. Ron and Jaime also visited a small orphanage run by a couple who are caring for 12 little boys and girls, all under 8 years old. They receive $200.00 per month in support. We were blessed to leave money for them and also money for the birthing and pediatric center. Ron ran tests on the well at the center and found it to be contaminated with bacteria. That is going to require some attention. Also, the birthing center is in need of a take home packet for the new mothers. I am working on that and will keep you informed. Forgot to mention 3 baby boys were born while we were there and we had at least one day that the temp got up to 115 degrees, siesta time.

MamaBaby Haiti provides a clean safe place for Haitian women to give birth with the assistance of liscened midwives. Pediatric care is also provided. The shade houses will help provide fresh vegetables for the staff and clients at the center. The interests of the staff go far beyond the walls of the center in finding ways to help the local people grow more food.

MamaBabyHaiti project

Greenhouse wreckage

Ready to rebuild following heavy snow load

Winter Blues

The greenhouse we built as part of the community garden project at 1st Baptist Troy did not handle the severe winter too well. The first 10 inch snow followed by near zero temperatures the following night caused many of the hoops to snap. Most of the mess has been cleaned up and repair will take place as the weather warms up and the ground dries out a little.

Before the snows in late December and January, we were harvesting spinach every week up until the week before Christmas. We also had a great crop of early winter radishes which were very mild and tender. We look forward to completing repair of the greenhouse and getting some early spring crops.

Mission Trip Plans

Plans for the mission trip to Cap Haitian have been completed. The week of April 8 - 16 will be used to build two small shade houses which will be used to grow food and medicinal herbs for use at the birthing center operated by Mamababyhaiti. Travel arrnagements have been made and money has been wired for purchase supplies in Haiti.

The week of July 16 - 23 has been scheduled for a trip to Guatemala to build a large greenhouse for the ministry of Roger and Vicki Grossmann. The greenhouse will be used by the Quiche Indians to grow food. The Polymer greenhouse cover and shade cover have been ordered and will be delivered to Vine International who will ship them to Guatemala in May. We would like to have a group of aboutr 12 people make this trip. Since construction will be at a high elevation, more workers working shorter periods of time will be needed.