But enough about the air conditioner. Today, we worked at Langa, another Soil for Life site about 15 minutes from our hotel. This was our hardest day of work so far -- not the smelliest -- but definitely the hardest. We arrived at about nine in the morning and set right to work in four groups: greenhouse, cleaning up around the fence, trench digging, and, ta da! composting! Our favorite, and something we could probably do in with blindfolds on, as each layer does have its particular qualities that make it identifiable by one of the major senses. "Wet, green" continues to inspire excellent faces, noises (of the gagging sort) and a real desire to speed things up just to get to the trusty manure layer. At least you know what you're dealing with there. As the day progressed, we were able to rotate through a few of the stations, leading my original trench group to move to compost and to create the most perfect compost bed ever seen. And that is not hyperbole talking! Edward gave a 100% and gave the other group's an 85% "or so." Ours was perfection!
But more about our pile later. In the above left photo, you will see one of the chain gang groups, called that due to the fence (keeping them in or out...I don't know). Please note the barbed wire at the top -- this crew truly appeared to be on work release with their implements of destruction: shovels, spades, pitch forks, and even a pick axe. The people who worked on the fence clearing it of dead grass and debris, filled ten (at least) large (huge) garbage bags with weeds, bottles, and other exciting trash finds: a pair of flip flops, shoe inserts, and an old CD.
The first seedling group, to the left, planted many seeds and worked very quickly. While it looks as though this group had it easy...they are sitting after all, trust me, this is the first day where we've experienced the true South African sun -- direct and no shade to be found anywhere at this site. So they may be sitting, but I guarantee they are sweating!
The third group in the morning was the composting group. As I have said, they put in a valiant effort, and I am sure that the compost will, um, taste the same as the compost that my group put together later in the morning, but their compost pile was a bit lacking in square corners -- a necessity when it comes to measuring and assessing how much compost is in the pile and how many bags it will fill. All that said, this group did have to put up with the most offensive of the "wet, green" of the day and deserve a round of applause for that. Margaret, below, has
met the first of the "wet, green" of the day, and has quite a reaction to it. Seriously, compost is so important to this region. When you see the mostly sandy composition of the soil as well as the complete lack of moisture, you can see that the compost is really what makes gardening possible at all. I have been amazed at what these hard-working people create from such a barren land. The vegetables that they sell are absolutely beautiful -- all the more for the labor that goes into them.
Those of us who started the day in the trenches, or rather, who began the day making a trench, know the meaning of hard work -- work so hard that when it was time to move on to something else, the group did not want to because they wanted to see the whole project through...until they realized that they had done the hard labor and that the next step would involve the particularly virulent "wet, green," so movin' on was okay. The trench was to be knee deep, 3 meters long, and 1 meter wide. We had to remove the topsoil (a pretty sandy mix) and then also take out the subsoil (I think we'd all refer to this as "beach sand.") We dug and dug and dug some more. Then we dug again. When we had arrived at knee deep, we lined the entire hole with cardboard and then had to move on to the next station.
Right at about lunch time, the second seedling group had planted everything that could be planted and even ran out of pots. The chain gangs had dug, and clawed, and raked, and hacked at, and at least established a sense of dominion over the fence area. The group that had moved to the trench had filled in the hole (What???? We just dug it!!!) with compost fixin's and then covered that over with all the soil that we had removed. The bed looks to be ready for planting. The compost group ("Chatham Hall Number 1 Composting Group") that finished things off, labored long after everyone else had gotten on the bus to grab their lunches (leaving us with the an abundance of "Polony" sandwiches, and some egg salad ones); apparently the chicken ones were the hot commodity and went early. That is just the cross we have to bear for making the most beautiful and squared off compost pile known to mankind. And that's still not hyperbole talkin'!
We were supposed to work until 1:30 p.m. and then go to an outdoor market featuring African crafts. We found out as we ate lunch that the schedule had changed and that we were going to stay at Soil for Life until 3:00 p.m. We paid Mr. Merricks to inform the girls of that, but they all got off the bus and set to work under the hot African sun. In the hour and a half that we worked after lunch, we divested the garden area of many weeds, garbage, and broken glass. The chain gang (most of the group) worked along the fence, clearing the long side. It was wonderful to see how everyone's hard work paid off in an area that was much neater and much more organized. By the time we broke at a little before 3:00, people were tired (and, I'm just going to get this out on the table: MOM! I forgot to put sunscreen on the back of my neck!), thirsty (everyone had taken frequent water breaks, but you really cannot drink enough under that sun!), and a little red. I don't want to say too much, but lots of people did leave the area with various body parts a little redder than when they arrived -- I don't want to divulge too much, but a frequently burned body part rhymes with "flacks of the fleas."
Just so there is no question about water breaks, here are several students breaking for a drink of water in the only shade available...so it was good that we brought a really big bus with us.
So, a very, very tiring day. This was a day that required much more physical work than the previous two days, and our students stuck with it and completed a very challenging job. I admire their ability to find the humor in situations and to keep perspective in the face of painful blisters, fatigue, thirst, heat, sweat, annoying suntan lines, and grime. They have done us proud.
The final photo is one of the Soil for Life workers with whom we spent the day. We have found, to a person, that these people have a deep understanding of what they do, why it is so important to teach people how to garden, and that they convey an appreciation for the help they receive. I think that we have all been edified by our time with them. I know there are several students who would like to start a tire garden on the sun deck. This would involve making compost, so watch out! Okay, so Mr. Blog will not allow me to add another photo! I'll put that into another posting. More later!
Great to see the group working hard! I remember the Langa site - it's great to see it in even better hands this year. Keep it up, everyone! And hydrate!
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