Harvesting veg boxes from the market garden

After the success of our last crop-based blog post, we’ve decided to make a habit of writing about the produce that inspires us in the garden. While last time we looked into the sky for inspiration, this time we’ll be digging in the dirt. Looking at the bounty currently coming out of the market garden (see picture above), we’ve decided to focus on two particularly flavorful tubers: ginger and radish.

Ginger is the underground rhizome of the Zingiber officinale plant. Often providing a kick to our favorite Asian dishes, ginger is also medicinal and makes a lovely tea when steeped in hot water. In traditional medicine, ginger is often used to alleviate intestinal distress, such as nausea and stomachache. It is also said to have anti-inflammatory effects and to be helpful in relieving arthritis pain. A relative of turmeric, cardamom, and galangal, ginger root has a lot going for it. Our favorite uses include a comforting ginger and lemongrass tea with a spoonful of honey and a spicy Thai coconut ginger vegetable curry.

These bright red beauties are a new addition to our weekly vegetable boxes. Despite their well-known roots, radishes are actually a member of the Brassicaceae family and are related to kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and horseradish. Learning its family tree, the fact that radish leaves are also edible, as well as the tangy tubers, makes a lot of sense. Ancient Chinese medicine believed the radish to be good for overall health and this little plant is high in vitamin C, iron, calcium, phytochemicals and antioxidants. The tuber is delicious eaten raw, dipped in hummus, grated into a salad, or stir-fried while the tops can be prepared with similar leafy greens.

Email us for recipe suggestions for either of these tasty tubers!

Luwayo facilitating a training session

Despite being closer to town and the state house (Kamuzu Palace), the village has a whole lot of challenges to face. In my view, Nkhundi should have been the lucky one. From a different perspective, this village does not need a multi-million dollar project to improve their livelihoods. Simple initiatives that build the capacity of the community member can change their lives forever. Initiatives that help them think beyond aid, initiatives that help them define the path they want to go in life and pursue ambitions they perceive to be desirable. They need to be given tools that are beyond materialism. It is against this background that Kusamala through the JANEEMO Permaculture project is intensifying permaculture in Nkhundi village.

Kusamala conducted a Permaculture training workshop from the 5^th to the 9^th of June that brought 20 members from Nkundi village. The farmers were hosted at Kumbali village, which is about 15 minutes walk from NGP centre. They went through a 5 day training.

Certificates after the course

Kusamala’s Luwayo Bizwick (Permaculture Trainer) did not hold a word but storm them with all the necessary information they needed. Co-facilitated by Isaac Kamphinda and Chisomo Kamchacha, the 5 days were a time to remember. Nicely tailored through the course were practicals. The farmers made compost manure, liquid manure and other practicals to ensure the hands-on aspect of permaculture.

The climax of the training workshop was the final day which was Sunday the 9^th of June. Getting certified is always a beautiful thing and the farmers were certified for taking the course and headed back to their village to practice permaculture.

The 20 farmers that have been trained shall establish their own permaculture gardens around their homes and also use permaculture in their field in the long run. These shall become homestead demonstrations and will be used to teach others. In the quest to engender permaculture, eight of the farmers were women, four were young men and eight were older men. It is expected that this project will help to improve food and livelihood security of the trained farmers and their families.

Author of this blog, Megan, mulching the banana circle.

I wake to the sounds of morning birds rising. Opening my door to a small courtyard garden, the air is slightly chilled and foggy. The dry season has started indicating winter is here, and I’m grateful for my wooly hat. I make my way to the borehole (water tap), which passes the residential garden. Here and there plants are nooked and crannied into any old space, where comfrey and hot peppers reign free, and passion fruit, air potatoes, and herbs remain camouflaged. Chickens are waiting to be let out. Wild tomatoes and papaya are sprouting in the banana circle that collects the grey water from morning dishes, and I spot a lavender plant for the first time nestled behind a nearby compost pile.

Path through the residential garden to the water tap.

Morning chore teams assemble. I am assigned to seed saving which often involves tramping out to the staple fields collecting pigeon pea and tephrosia pods, shucked and seeds collected to be planted next year. Fridays are designated for Veg Boxes. Early morning, we filter into the commercial garden, which is beautiful and bountiful. List in hand we count out and harvest up seasonal produce (eggplants, bundles of greens, radishes, ect). I collect a cooler full of mint and handfuls of parsley. Produce is washed and divvied, and baskets are sent brimful of organic goodness to town for CSA (community supported agriculture) members.

Kusamala staff being trained in Permaculture

The workday resumes. Beehives, medicinal garden, and fruit forest are underway. I can hear the Malawians dumping a new bucketful of groundnuts they’ve just harvested from the staple field. The kitchen staff, has just returned with greens from ‘memo,’ a lovely garden demonstration of household permaculture. A community training is taking place in the classroom. I bumble through Chichewa with the Malawian staff who are quick with a laugh and have smiles that melt into gold. The interns all swap stories, and are willing to lend a helping hand. The whole staff is trained in permaculture (even the night guards), which is extremely valuable in an environment where money, food, and resources are taxed and limited. Thus everyone here is mindful of the work they are doing, and the purpose of designing, demonstrating, and teaching a life that is sustainable as well as beneficial to the world around us. Though I am new, I feel both comfortable and inspired.

Leiza at the chalkbord teaching water management

Last week Kusamala welcomed Leiza Swennen, water management specialist and owner of Lukwe Lodge in Livingstonia.  Lukwe not only serves as a lodge, but also a permaculture demonstration and training site that specializes in the use and harvesting of water resources.   In addition to all of Kusamala’s staff and interns, we were able to invite 5 local community members to participate in the training in hopes that they can take what they have learned back to their communities.

Rhoda explaining her map to the group

The first day was spent inventorying Kusamala’s existing resources, analyzing the pipebreak, creating base maps and going though general rainwater management techniques. From here, Leiza helped us to determine what were the most effective areas for water management and strategies in which to focus our energy.

Alfred helping to redirecting the pipebreak

However, like all good meetings, we had to have a distraction to throw off the schedule.  The aforementioned pipe break decided to rear it’s ugly head and it began to flood Biswick’s house and Cynthia’s office. With everyone’s help in the afternoon we were able to redirect the water away from the house foundation and into the woods.  A real life practical assignment!

Planning the ponds in the garden

By the end of the work-day training we had action plans prepared for building a dam near the pipe break, harvesting water from the gutters around the buildings, building 2 ponds in the commercial garden and building a large swale to collect rainwater off the road.   These are large ambitious projects, but with everyone from the center contributing they are possible.  With that in mind, stay tuned as we make Kusamala a water harvesting demonstration site!

Under the auspices of the Malawi Forum for Agriculture Advisory Services (MaFAAS), different extension practitioner from across the country gathered at Malawi Institute of Management on the 8^th and 9^th May, 2013 for a stakeholder workshop and general assembly. The theme of the workshop was ‘Strengthening Extension and Advisory Services in Malawi.’ The gathering was presided over by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Honourable Ulemu Chilapondwa. Kusamala participated in workshop and general assembly.

In his address, Chilapondwa stated that “MaFAAS is a key partner of the ministry of agriculture and food security since it brings different players to share best practices. It adds value to the initiatives being made by the government. It provides a platform for sharing and renegotiating extension and advisory services in Malawi.” He concluded that MaFAAS brings great expectations and as a minister he pledged continuous support since it is in line with the Agriculture Sector Wide Approach (ASWaP) of government and it is complementing the economic recovery plan (ERP). For ASWaP to be achieved, it shall require an active and robust extension service and therefore, it recognizes the role of MaFAAS.

The issues that transpired in the deliberations included: expired extension policy of the year 2000- hence the need for it to be reviewed; disjointed information which confuses farmers, hence the need for the ministry to institute a technology validation committee which will check technologies; low budgetary allocation; low literacy level which leave farmers unable to demand extension services from extension workers; and finally lack of policy literacy amongst the extension practitioners.

Unlike other conferences, this meeting did not end at presentations of papers; it identified action points. Some of the actions that were identified are: registration of MaFAAS to ensure its legitimacy, publicity of the forum, harmonization of the lead farmer concept, lobbying for the review of the agriculture extension strategy in the national agriculture policy, developing a strategy for strengthening linkages between research and extension services, role of radio and ICT in extension services, and building the capacity of existing extension officer and strategy for addressing high vacancy rates in the extension services and extracurricular activities among extension workers.

In her remarks, Madam Kankwamba (Director of Extension Services in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security) stated that there is need for collaboration, coordination and joint planning systems to respond to the needs of the different players entering the extension service.

Kusamala’s Chisomo Kamchacha reports from the MaFAAS Workshop in Lilongwe.

Starting last week, Tchaison Herebart and Joel Nkhwentchera joined the Kusamala family. Both Tchaison and Joel have already been heavily involved in the JANEEMO project on a voluntary basis and we are excited to bring them on full-time.

Tchaison has been working both with the JANEEMO project and as a Peace Corps counterpart for the past year. He has experience in composting and tree uses as well as an ANAMED certification (natural medicine and plant uses), all of which will be important in his work with Kusamala. Additionally, Tchaison gained community mobilization and facilitation experience through three years of working for the Primary School Support Program.

Joel is a lead farmer in Madzi Mayela, one of JANEEMO’s most motivated communities. He has been active in the club for the past year. As a lead farmer, Joel has used his knowledge of tree planting and compost making to teach his fellow community members. He has also worked with Total Land Care on composting toilets and tree planting activities, the Clinton Foundation on tree planting for carbon offsets, and DAPP.

This past week, Tchaison and Joel underwent an intensive seven-day training to deepen their knowledge of permaculture and JANEEMO practices and expand upon their previous experiences. They have now left our demonstration centre and are excited to begin facilitating JANEEMO activities in their communities.

We are excited to see the growing success and impact of our JANEEMO project in Dowa and to see what our new, motivated team members will produce!

For more information on our JANEEMO project, visit the website or our project page.

During his usual tour of the centre, Eston always explains to people how we strive to use all of our resources in permaculture, including vertical space. We have diggers, such as cassava and sweet potato, below the soil, ground cover and mulch on the soil, and a whole cornucopia of species growing to varying heights above the soil. A group of crops that use virtually all vertical space are the climbers, which do particularly well in the rainy season.

Our three favorite climbers here at Kusamala all just happen to be very unusual looking.

Air Potato

The first in line is the air potato (dioscorea bulbifera), also known as an African potato or potato yam, is native to West Africa and tropical Asia. Unlike most potatoes, this yam grows in the air on a climbing vine. Hence the name! A perennial crop, the vine dies back in the dry season and grows back with the rain. It is prepared much like a regular potato, peeled, blanched, then roasted, boiled, baked, or fried. These alien-looking yams are a good source of vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, and some iron.

African Horned Cucumber

Next, the African horned cucumber (cucumis metuliferus). Native to tropical Africa’s woodlands and grasslands, this spiky fruit is an annual vine that grows easily from seed. It has become a weed in Australia, but here at Kusamala we can’t get enough. Peeled and sliced, this cucumber makes a refreshing salad or pureed for a cold soup.

Sprouted Chayote Squash

The last climber is the chayote squash (sechium edule), also known as vegetable pear and shu shu, among others. Easily cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions, the chayote squash in indigenous to Central America. The fruit will begin to germinate while still on the vine and can be planted directly into the soil, preferably at the base of a strong tree as this guy grows fast and heavy! The young fruit can be grated or thinly sliced into a salad; they also can be baked, boiled, or stuffed. They’re a lovely addition to soups and curries in place of or alongside your old boring potato.

Chayote and Cucs just harvested

All three ready to eat in our weekly veg box!

If you have any interest in trying or cultivating these unique crops (they all make memorable table decorations as well!), please contact us and we can help you get started.

Maize harvest

this is the time when you begin to hear about weddings and you get to see more gule wa mkulu (Big dance: lined up as a world heritage practice by UNESCO). All these are signs of celebrating the harvest. “Thanks to mother nature for food.”

However, this harvest only takes people five to six months into the dry season before they run out. Therefore, they have to find ways of getting food to take them to the next harvest. Most of them earn a living on piece work (ganyu), food for work and sometimes, when things get worse, they trade property such as livestock for food. Some who own wetland gardens grow vegetables for sale but also eat from them. The returns are used to buy food to take them through the remaining months to the next harvest. But how can they make these gardens more productive to suffice their household consumption needs as well as their economic needs?

Kusamala, through the partnership with the Red Soil Project, has organized a series of trainings for our staff to equip them with necessary skills to maximise productivity in the wetland gardens. These trainings are a follow up to a similar series done last year on permaculture design and wet season cultivation. The training starts on May 2^nd, 2013 and will continue for three consecutive

Staff and families in class

Thursdays. Luwayo Bizwick, Kusamala’s permaculture trainer will help them gain the knowledge and skill to design wetland gardens that will supplement their rain fed agriculture. The hope is that this will help our staff produce enough food for the entire year and that they could have surplus to share and sale. In this way, they are extending their seasons hence regaining their sovereignty on food.

How is this complementing the efforts of the government of Malawi? Presidents Joyce Banda (Malawi) and Armando Guebuza (Mozambique) launched the ‘One Daily Cow’ and ‘Two Cropping Seasons per Year’ projects. These projects

Bizwick demonstrate water management practices

launched at Traditional Authority Kalolo in Lilongwe aims at improving irrigation and daily farming in Malawi. President Banda said “the two cropping seasons per year will help to reduce hunger in the country in general, and those areas that will or have experienced dry spells.” However, launching a project is one thing, but what matters most is the implementation. Kusamala shares in the idea of growing twice a year. However, it believes capacity building is ideal if the ‘Two Cropping Seasons per Year’ project is to succeed. As we are training our staff in preparation for this task, we hope that this project will be just the beginning and that these practices will continue to spread through the efforts of Kusamala and our staff.

Dan Chikhawo in his garden

Daniel Chikhawo has been working at Kusamala’s demonstration centre since its inception in 2009. He is one of our three-member implementation team charged with maintaining our Memo garden, staple field, buildings, and other aspects of our demonstrations.

Dan lives in Chikhawo Village, a forty-minute walk from the Centre. His journey is made particularly challenging in the rainy season, when he has to ford the swollen Lilongwe River. Having grown up in this community, Dan lives next door to his parents, across the road from his brother, and near to many other relations. Dan and his wife currently have one baby girl.

Having worked for the centre for a few years now, Dan has been exposed to many permaculture practices and has experimented with home gardens before. In the past, he has always struggled with the free-range livestock in his village eating his hard work. In Malawian villages where goats, chickens, and pigs roam between houses, this can be a serious constraint to implementing permaculture around the house.

This time, after receiving training and support from Kusamala and the Red Soil Project, Dan decided to fence his garden using readily available tithonia (Mexican sunflower) branches. This low-cost fence effectively kept out much of the livestock – though Dan also contributes his recent success to his wife, who scared out the most persistent animals.

The team at Dan’s house helping with the initial permaculture design

The same part of Dan’s house, after implementing his design

Dan named his Zone 1 Tifalitze (meaning “to spread” in Chichewa) Permaculture Garden, where he planted a variety of vegetables, fast-growing fruits, and staples. By eating out of this garden Dan was able to save money on vegetables throughout the rainy season, a time that many farmers consider the hungry season. He even grew enough vegetables to share with his family and friends. In addition to saving money, Dan also saved time, as the nearest vegetable market is an hour walk away.

While Dan was able to harvest from his Zone 1 vegetable garden within weeks, he has also invested effort into a more long-term Zone 2. Farther up the hill, behind his house, Dan has planted a diverse fruit orchard, including vegetated swales for water management. While some of the trees were provided through Red Soil Project funding, Dan also sourced papaya, mango, guava, and banana trees on his own. Next he plans to put a fence around this Zone 2 so that he can plant and protect more crops in the area.

Dan has big plans for his Zone 2, where he has started already planted a number of fruit trees

While Dan is very pleased at the benefits his work this past rainy season, he is also hoping to use it to as a demonstration for his community. “People who find me working ask me what I am doing and express interest in learning themselves,” Dan says. “I want my household to change and my village too in the next four years.”

Kusamala plans to be there to support Dan in this effort.

Masankho telling a story

Masankho Banda, an international consultant in strategic leadership revealed the power of saying ‘Inde’ (which means ‘Yes’) to Mtendere cooperative during a workshop organized by Kusamala. The workshop was held in a catholic church hall at Kangóma trading centre from the 17^th – 18^th of April, 2013. Kusamala has been working with Mtendere cooperative since 2010. It is through this partnership that Kusamala and cooperative members identified lack of a unified vision as a main challenge facing Mtendere cooperative. Therefore, Kusamala organized this workshop so that Masankho Banda could lead the cooperative through the process of formulating a vision and strategies which could help the organization realize its full potential.

Throughout the workshop, what transpired is the word Inde (Yes). “Saying yes unlocks the potential that is untapped,” says Masankho. “Its time every member of Mtendere starts saying ‘yes, I am human, yes, to take up space without apology and yes, my thoughts and words matter.’”

Masankho is also an amazing artist. With his artistic skills, he spiced the whole workshop and the participants came up with a vision statement. There was dance, traditional music and drum beats as well as stories of our land.

At the end of the training, Mtendere members came up with this vision:

In Chichewa

Chairman of the cooperative

Mtendere Cooperative likhale bungwe lotsogola potukula miyoyo ya alimi pa chuma ndi chakudya popitiliza kupanga ulimi wa mthilira and wa mvula. Tidzilima kwambiri soya, mtedza, chimanga ndi mbeu zina zosiyanasiyana kuphatikizanso ulimi wa ziweto.

In English

Mtendere Cooperative shall be a leading organization in advancing the lives of farmers on food security and economic development through promoting irrigation and rain fed agriculture focusing on soya, ground nuts and maize as well as different other crops and promoting livestock production.

The members of the Mtendere are very thankful and are forecasting prosperity in the cooperative. They have called onto one another’s commitment toward achieving the common goal. Commenting of the workshop, the club chairman said quoting bible scripture “where there is no vision, people perish (Proverbs 29.18). Mtendere has not progressed to its full potential in the last 13 years because it had no vision. But from today onwards, we are a changed Mtendere.”

Members in a group photo

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