Vertical Gardening Takes Off

 Livelihood, Nutrition, Vertical Gardening  No Responses »
May 052010
 

Last week, we introduced vertical gardening to the women of Pulang Lupa. Vertical gardening is the growing of plants  in an upright five foot metal-plastic cylinder that is filled with soil and an irrigation tube. Plants grow out the sides of the cylinder, thereby maximizing space and bypassing the mercury-contaminated soil found in Pulang Lupa. It was developed by Philippe Girardeau and the local community of Boayan Island in the north of Palawan. (To read more about vertical gardens, see Marcus’s earlier blog entry) We were all a bit nervous about how the sessions would go and we wondered, “Will the women in Pulang Lupa really be interested in vertical gardens?” Will they listen to our explanation and want to have their own vertical gardens?”

We had planned to introduce the vertical gardens to the Wednesday group early in the week, but we had to cancel that session because of really hard rain. By Friday though, the weather had cleared and we headed to Pulang Lupa with our demonstration vertical garden ready. By the time we started the session, there were 11 mothers present. I introduced them to Marcus and Leonar, the two people who have been constructing and experimenting with the vertical gardens. Marcus and I started teaching the women about the vertical gardens by explaining some basic information about how the gardens work. A few of the moms were listening but I noticed that some of the women didn’t seem all that interested.

We just kept going and started telling them about the compost and rice hull charcoal that makes the soil extra fertile I listed the best plants that can be grown in the towers (mostly leafy greens but tomatoes and beans as well). I also explained the vitamins and minerals contained in the vegetables that can be grown easily in the vertical gardens. I noticed more of the mothers listening at that point, especially when we explained the advantages of vertical gardens, such as needing less water to feed the plants, the mercury-free soil, and the fact that the gardens take up much less space than a plot of land with the equivalent surface area. By this time all the women started asking questions and getting excited.

I was so happy to see the ladies so enthusiastic about and interested in the vertical gardens. After we answered all the questions the women had, we held a raffle, with the prizes being two vertical gardens with free seeds to plant! (We will eventually loan the vertical gardens to every household that wants one in exchange for a small deposit that will be returned to them if they stop using the garden but the ones we raffled off we are giving away for free).

The mothers were so excited! Before we drew names from the raffle, we asked if anyone did not want to be included because they weren’t interested in having a vertical garden. Nobody raised their hands. Before we drew the names of the two winners, I even saw some of the mom’s praying that their name would be the one picked out! When we announced the first winner, the mother who won the raffle had a wonderful smile on her face and she was so excited to get her prize. We drew a second name and that mom was so happy too. We only had time to set one garden up that day so we asked the two winners to decide between the two of them who would get her garden that day, and who would get hers the following week. The first winner didn’t even look at the second one and she just shouted with a smile, “I was the first winner, I should get my garden today!” We all laughed and we could all see how excited she was.

At that point Marcus and Leonar left the group to set up the vertical garden at the first winner’s house. I stayed behind with the moms and as they started eating their merienda (snack), I told them that whoever wants to have a vertical garden should just tell me and Ami early so that we can start preparing their gardens and deliver them as soon as possible. One woman was so eager to get planting that she asked if she could order three gardens! Another mother asked if she could help us make hers so she could have it sooner. It was really great to see how happy they all were and to see their enthusiasm for this new technology that will enable them to grow safe and nutritious vegetables to add to their diets.

This week we will have a vertical gardening session for the Wednesday group. We’ll also raffle two gardens off for that group, and will continue setting up all of the winner’s vertical gardens. I’m so thrilled that there’s so much interest in this project and have a feeling that before too long, most households in this community will have their own vertical gardens to grow nutritious food to feed their families.

To see more photos of the sessions and the set-up, click here.

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Going Vertical

 Livelihood, Nutrition, Vertical Gardening  No Responses »
Feb 172010
 

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, the soil at Pulang Lupa is contaminated with mercury. Mercury can get taken up by a plant’s roots and can enter a person eating that plant. The residents at Pulang Lupa are aware of this contamination but continue to plant small backyard gardens because they simply can’t afford to buy all their food from the market. We’ve been trying to think of ways to help change the current soil and food situation in this community and recently a friend and local organic farmer, Simon Gill got in touch with me about something called “Vertical Farming”, a useful technollogy that was developed by Philippe Girardeau and the local community on Boayan Island, where the soil is saline. He told me that he could train me on how to make these vertical farms if I was interested. Of course I jumped at the opportunity to find a partial solution to the mercury problem at Pulang Lupa.

I arrived at Simon’s farm, aptly named “Bountiful Harvest” and was soon put to work.  First, we cut a corrugated plastic sheet in half and used a pop-rivet to join the two halves together. We laid the sheeting flat on the ground and set about cutting holes where the plants would later be placed. Simon has a special drill attachment that makes perfect holes in seconds. We cut as many holes into the plastic sheeting as we could. Once this was complete, we stood the sheet upright and riveted the two edges together, making a tower that resembled a log of Swiss cheese.

We then dug a round hole in the ground to place the bottom of the tower in. Once we had the base secured in the ground we started to fill the tower with prepared soil – a mix of sand, vermicast, rice hull charcoal and clay soil.

When we had filled the tower half way with the soil, we put in the irrigation pipe, which we had drilled with many little holes. We filled the water pipe with gravel to slow down any water intake so that the soil in the tower won’t be washed out when the tube is filled with water. We then filled the rest of the tower with soil.

The work was not over yet, as we had to cut out peg-holders from another sheet of plastic to keep the soil from falling out when the farm is watered. We placed these in the holes and stood back to appreciate the sight. The surface area that the vertical farm provides is equal to almost two square meters. The towers are perfect for leafy greens that are susceptible to contaminants in the soil.

When we get to the stage of building these farms for residents at Pulang Lupa, we will provide them the prepared soil mixture we used so they will be able to avoid any mercury in their food. An added bonus for residents is that the landfill composts organic waste and gives the compost away for free, so residents will be able to nurture their vertical farms without any added financial burdens. In addition to dodging the contaminated soil problem, these vertical farms are also very appropriate for our community because they are portable. The residents at Pulang Lupa are all squatters and have been given permission to live on the land until the government decides to use it for something else. If that day comes, the residents will be able to transport their vertical farms to wherever they settle next. We really feel that these vertical farms are ideal for Pulang Lupa.

We will start by making a demonstration farm that we will leave in Pulang Lupa so that residents will be able see the results for themselves. We will build the vertical farms with residents that are interested in learning how to make them. Each vertical farm costs roughly $50, including the soil and seeds. If you are interested in supporting our vertical farming project, donate here. With your help we can provide every household in Pulang Lupa with nutritious and uncontaminated food.

For more photos, check out the Facebook fan page album.