Where's the Poop?

One of the goals of our service here in Paraguay is soil recuperation, or adding nutrients and organic matter to the soil to increase crop production. Currently, I am working with a family to create an abonera, (organic compost box), to supplement the family garden. We have been feeding this hungry compost pile lots of leaves, cow poop, kitchen scraps, (what doesn't get fed to the pigs),  and other organic matter we find around the farm. Since most families plant their gardens in March, the timing should be perfect with a ready supply of compost.

This project serves another purpose, as well. Leaves and other organic matter are considered trash and because there is no garbage service or pick up, it is burned. This creates lots of smoke in the air, particularly on hot still days. Composting this “trash” is a great alternative!

 
 Preparing the soil in the compost box



The kids are so eager to help and try new things. This little guy carried this bag of leaves, (or dry organic matter), that was just about as big as he is!




The whole family has been involved in this project! They were intrigued to feel how hot the compost actually becomes, (me, too: yeah- it's working!), and to see how the organic matter is converting into compost, (hey- the cow poop doesn't stink any more!).

We are discovering that the community has an interest in organic fertilizers through composting, so we plan to use this "abonera" as part of a demonstration when we begin to teach others. Hopefully the end result will be better veggie yields and better nutrition for our Paraguayan neighbors!