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.