Home-made Compost….’la ABONERA’

Why buy fertilizer when you can make, ‘abono’, using resources from your own backyard?

1) Find a location where you’d like to create your compost. My location: outside, near my seed beds, tree nursery and outdoor sink (where I toss food scraps—nitrogen for your compost)

2) Dimension I chose is 1 meter by 1 meter

3) Clear all weeds and dig out the soil, a few centimeters in depth

4) Place a layer of twigs and small branches

  

5) Next add dry leaves which will serve as our carbon layer

6) Follow your dry materials with green pasture and leaves (nitrogen layer)

 

7) Poop…from cow, chicken, horse, etc.

My neighbor has plenty of animals. She had a good laugh when I asked her in Guarani if I would be able to use her ‘caca’…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8) Regular soil

 

9) Food scraps (just remember, less fats from oils, etc—doesn’t compost as well as the other materials)

ADD WATER and mix it up! Your compost will be ready anywhere from 3-12 months.

9 day prayers…

Death is a matter differently observed here in Paraguay. Generally, when someone dies, the family holds a nine day ‘rezo’ or prayer. Each day, for nine days, family members, friends and neighbors meet for about a thirty minute prayer where they recite the Rosary and The Lord’s Prayer. Following the prayer, guests are given cookies, candy and depending on the weather, either juice/soda, or a warm ‘cocido’ or coffee. This ‘rezo’ tradition is held at the 6 month, 9 month, year, 1 year six month mark, 2 year mark, etc. etc., of the loved-one’s death.

This past week, an elder woman was sent to the hospital after a possible stroke. She was in pretty severe condition, and at about 11am that day, word got around the community that she was pronounced dead. My host mom, Odi, me and the girls went over later that night to the family’s home to pay our respects along with the rest of our neighbors. The granddaughter was the only representative present from the family. As we were sitting, chatting, waiting for the body to arrive, the granddaughter receives a phone call from a family member at the hospital saying, ‘todavia, no está muerto!’ (she’s not dead yet!)

This threw the whole community for a whirlwind and of course the nine-day prayer off as the next day was supposed to be the open-casket, slash first day ‘rezo’.

The elderly woman lasted another day; however, the community kept calling my host mom and asking, ‘has she passed away, yet’ as Odi was communicating with a family member concerning the health status of the woman.

My goodness!

 

Below are photos of some happenings these past few months. Enjoy!

 

My lovely family! Daiana, marched for her highschool in our community’s ‘desfile’ (parade). Each high school featured their group of ‘chiroreras’ and percussionists.

Danced a Paraguayan ‘Danza’ for my community’s ‘Dia de la Madre’ celebration. Isn’t my little sister, Yeni, just adorable?? Had to snap this picture.

Celebrated a 2nd birthday of the little guy in the red and blue soccer jersey. His mom also asked me to sing ‘Happy Birthday’…yes, the English version.

 

Went to a ‘Quinceañera’ back in Cumbarity; the location of my training site. It was fun getting dressed up and seeing my host family.

Kicking it with the Nuns

So, a bit on what has been happening in Paraguay the last few months! Easter was spent with my host family in Monte Alto. ‘Semana Santa’ began with mass on Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos). My host sister, Yeni, gave me a ‘pindo’ or palm frond to be blessed at mass. Tuesday, a family invited me over to make ‘chipa’. As I was kneading the ‘masa’, they made sure to point out a woman MUST know how to prepare chipa if she’s going to get married….the jokes never cease!

If you’re looking to brush up on your Spanish and want to read a neat article on how ‘chipa’ is made, check out this article….the pictures are pretty neato if you just want to see the process.

The pictures above were taken with my Monte Alto host family!

‘Verano’ Vacation

The Chickens Ate My Worms!

Remember the worm compost pile I started with my host family? Well, the other day, I went to feed the ‘cevo’i’ (lombrices) some cow poop and happened to find one of our chickens chilling in the worms’ home!

Being two months fresh in site and the compost pile being my first project in the community, I really want this thing to work! Not wanting to immediately blame the worms disappearance on the chickens, I told Odi, ‘umm, Odi, ko’anga, hay menos cevo’i en el composto’.

‘Ah! Entonces, yo pienso es la gallina!’

This is why I absolutely adore Odi, my host mom and site contact: she calls over to Julio, her husband, and explains the problem, suggesting we get to work solving the issue. Mind you, it’s the middle of a hot summer day, 100 degrees outside in Paraguay, ciesta time—I think most peoples’ mentality would be, we’ll fix it later!

Julio and I got to work placing a cover over the compost pile. I’m hoping a few are still alive, we’ll see!

In a few weeks, I’m taking two girls to a 3-day national environmental camp for youth. Peace Corps and the NGO involved are covering all costs except for transportation to and from the camp. In total, each girl needs to raise 28.000 mil Guaraníes; which works out to about 7 dollars for bus fare.

I had a meeting with the girls and we brainstormed how we were going to raise the money. The girls came up with two ideas. 1) Bake a ‘torta’ and sell it to neighbors. 2) Sell ‘sorteos’ at the upcoming community club soccer game! A ‘sorteo’, I later found out, is a raffle.

Great! Ok, so what are we selling tickets to raffle off…...BEER!

The thought of two fourteen year old girls selling raffle tickets for beer stunned me. And after asking them if this was something normal to raffle off, getting the ‘ok’ from their moms, we went along with their ideas. The girls ended up raising just over 60.000 mil Guaraníes—enough for bus fare and a snack along the way!

I can add another food to the interesting ‘tembi’y kuera’ eaten in Paraguay. The other day, a neighbor killed their cow for a ‘rezo’ celebration. A ‘rezo’ in Paraguay is a nine-day prayer held for people who have passed away. I was invited over to the neighbor’s house for lunch to eat part of the butchered cow. Agustina, served me a plate of ‘ipokue’ (name for the food in Guarani). When I asked what part of the ‘vaca’ I was about to eat, she said, ‘la pata de la vaca’ (the cow’s foot).

I ate as much of that foot as I could without giving off the impression I didn’t care for the taste—the thought of eating dirt and poop came to my mind…. seeing some remaining cow hair didn’t help ease my thoughts either!

“Super Chicas” a group of young ladies had our first meeting of the year! We discussed our purpose for the group: to learn something new, help with community needs, play soccer, cook—ultimately, just to have some fun!
We brainstormed ideas for how we’d like to spend our time when we meet up then played a game of “Two Truths and a Lie” (thank you InterVarsity small group ideas book!)
This past week, Maddie Smith, a volunteer who’s been in her site for over a year, invited me over to kill her chicken!! Maddie is working on a chicken coop project with her women’s committee. This chicken was ginormous, weighing in at over 7.5 pounds. After boiling, plucking the feathers, taking out the innards, cutting it into pieces, and cooking it in a marinade, we sat down to a delicious lunch!
The picture with the three ladies is of my host sister, Daiana, her mom, Odi, and Odi’s mom preparing dinner in our kitchen. Three generational photo, couldn’t let it pass without snapping a photo!
This past week, I also had the opportunity to milk a neighbor’s cow for the first time in my life!

A Day In the Campesino…

If you’re wondering what a typical day looks like for me, well, here it is!

Typically, I’ll wake up at 7:15am, sometimes to the sounds of roosters crowing or my host sister (who shares the same room) will get up before me to do her daily morning chores—either of those will wake me up.

‘Cocido’ is the preferred morning drink; a crafty beverage made using Yerba Mate, sugar, hot coals, water and milk. I’ll sit with my host mom, Odi, and we’ll drink our ‘cocido’ with a small piece of bread called a ‘galletita.’ *I recently introduced peanut butter to my family, which they love, so we now have some peanut butter to accompany our bread.

After getting dressed, I’ll head out of our home with my younger host sister, Yeni, to meet some neighbors! I’ll have to admit, upon coming to my site, it was awkward walking up to a home and clapping; yes, clapping at a neighbors’ front gate. Our knock on the front door is equivalent to the Paraguayan clap.

My neighbors will invite me and my host sister to sit on the front porch while we drink Terere. This is where I’m truly thankful to have a little companion because of the language. At home, I speak mostly Spanish with my host family. During visits with my neighbors, I’ll speak Guarani, as it is the preferred language. Yeni, can often translate when I’m not sure of something a neighbor has said. My conversations are basic at this point—‘how many children to  you have?’ ‘what are their names’? I’ve become really good answering questions about my state of happiness, age, where I live, how long I will be in Monte Alto, and if I have a boyfriend…—’He’e, che avy’a terei Monte Alto pe ha ndahechai hina petei chico hagua) (Yes!!! I am very happy to be in Monte Alto and no I’m not looking for a boyfriend!)

I’ll return home for lunch at noon. After lunch, my host family rests for a few hours while watching our favorite ‘telenovelas’ (soap operas) because it’s too darn hot to do anything!

I like to leave the afternoon free for studying Guarani and Spanish, reading, playing ‘Loco Ocho’ (crazy eights) with my host sister and some other kiddos. My family will also drink some more Terere in the afternoon.

Dinner is usually served around 9:30pm. Dinner may consist of ‘tortillas’ (fried pancake mixture with cheese), or empanadas. Every meal includes mandioca!

Then it’s off to bed!

Yeni, Jr. and I cleaning out our harvested beans with a fan!

Yeni and I brought this lil’ pup home (our neighbors were probably going to kill the puppy since it’s a girl and female dogs are less desirable). Mickey is a bundle of love!