sustainability update: food
a bit overdue but I wanted to give everybody a picture of where I think the island is and where I think we can go.
I’ll start with food and move on to a new subject in a few days. If anybody wants to do more than give comments or feedback please contact me directly at bkatz@tribewanted.com
Our gardens are in desperate need of attention and I have been spending a good amount of time in there with Leavi. We have also had members from the agricultural department come visit us a couple times and I am encouraged that they will continue to be a source of assistance.
We are producing very little food from the gardens at the moment. The soil quality is very bad. lots of sand, very little organic matter, not enough light. The good news is that all of this is possibly to remedie but will take resources. To fix the soil we have started using a method called double digging which involves removing the first foot of topsoil, loosening the second foot with a pitchfork, and then mixing compost into the first foot and replacing it. I’m hopeful that a few rotations using this method will bring our gardens up to snuff. The gardens are in a bit of a shady spot too so we will be thining out the trees next week.
We are also looking at the items that are being bought in Labasa and looking for alternatives to the less sustainable ones such as canned food and imported items. I’ll post a list of all of these soon.
Fish from the sea is an excelent resource and I’m hoping to utilize this more with the input of Mariah.
water is also an issue for the gardens and I’m hopeful that people are reading my comments on the new shower location as they are directly related to our ability to increase the amount of food that we can grow.
Comments
Hi Ben. I’m due out in October and have been trying to think of what I can add to the party. Perhaps I can help with the gardens as it seems to me that these should be an essential part of sustainability and the provision of some basic foodstuffs. I dont profess to be an expert gardener. Is there anything you will need that can’t be sourced locally. I look out for your list. All best
Ben – brilliant report – thanks so much for explaining what’s going on. I’m planning to come back in October as well to check on Ili and help more with the gardens. (Maybe I’ll see you there, Rogelio!) Hope you were able to make the changes to the compost pile so it suits this new soil project. I still wish a huge new tank would be purchased with some Chief’s budget to collect water from the winter rains for just the gardens. Is that possible? In the meantime, one of my “ideas” last year was to build a “water farm” for the gardens. We’d constantly cut off the top of the big plastic bottles, thereby recycling them and secure them so they don’t tip over when the rains come. It may sound crazy but we’ve got so much space in the back, they’d be unobtrusive and easy to carry when watering the plants. We’ve got lots of free labor who could cut off the tops of the bottles while sitting around chatting on the beach, the campfire or the kitchen. Any way, you’re doing a wonderful job. Elizabeth
Buying bulk supplies would be excellent and the kitchen needs to have more airtight containers in which to store these. Hopefully there is some budget to do this or what is saved in some areas can be expended on this. I am not sure that quality containers are available in Labasa though as most I saw were cheap and not airtight at all.
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