Or why Roger Henry donates money for pitch forks!

By Teresa Mellish

A pile of composted waste materials has nutrients for growing crops worth 6000 Kenya shillings. This is because it replaces 2 bags of fertilizer, each costing 3000 ksh.

With funds from Global Affairs Canada, Farmers Helping Farmers senior horticulturist  Stephen Mwenda demonstrated to 12 members of the Destiny Mboroga women’s group how to have usable compost in 4 months.

The waste materials included dried corn stalks, ashes, straw,  manure, green plant material, water, kitchen waste and air.

Ken videotaped the demonstration so it will also be available for other groups. Stay tuned for that and other videos coming soon to our Farmers Helping Farmers YouTube Channel.

One of the pitch forks that Roger Henry donated money for was used in the preparation of the pile.

He has been donating money for pitch forks for many years and they have made a huge difference.

Roger, a compost specialist for many years with Agriculture Agri-Food Canada, was in Kenya in 2013 with a Farmers Helping Farmers team to teach farmers in two women’s groups abou turning manure and plant waste into compost for their crops.

Here’s a story from 2014 about Roger Henry and the pitch forks.

Ken has also been visiting the lucerne farms of the Buuri dairy. On Prince Edward Island, we call it alfalfa!!

Then there are the locusts!

We knew there were locusts in northern Kenya which are travelling south.

Today we saw a group of them on a road.  Creepy little critters!