Farm News

This weeks edition of the farm news is being replaced by some news from Africa from Leah Smith. One of the great things about being an organic veggie farmer is that you get to work with some amazingly dedicated, talented, earthy, and interesting people. Leah is one of those folks, having worked for me for a summer while I managed a CSA farm in northern Connecticut. She has been a Peace Corps volunteer since that summer and has mailed me some fascinating accounts of her life in Niger. I asked her to write a piece for the newsletter.

Leah writes:

Just a few summers ago, I was an intern at Holcomb Farm, in West Granby, Connecticut. That’s where I met Paul, from whom I gained a deep respect for the fine art of organic farming, and the challenges and the importance of making a living from the land. That experience of working on Paul’s farm has taken me farther than I ever imagined going, to a hot, half-desert country in the Sahel of West Africa called Niger, as an agro forestry Peace Corps volunteer.

I must admit, I had never really thought about Niger before receiving my Peace Corps assignment. Perhaps it is its position at the bottom of the lists that keeps this nation from our awareness. According to the United Nations, Niger’s low life expectancy (47 years), adult literacy (below 30 percent), and GNP ($300), makes it the second poorest country in the world, next only to war-torn Sierra Leone. These are the statistics, but statistics paint a distant and bleak picture of a reality which is actually far more hopeful, and closer to our own lives in the United States, than one might at first realize.

Since December of 2002, I have been living in a small village called Kada Zaki, situated on a sand ox-cart path, a seven kilometer walk from the market town of Matameye in the south-eastern region of Zinder. The village is a cluster of mud huts with grass thatched roofs (mine included!). Drinking water is pulled from open wells and one hand pump, light comes from kerosene lamps, women pound grain by hand and cook over fires. The majority of people in the village are Hausa, one of five main ethnic groups in Niger, each with their own distinct language and culture. Hausa people are known as subsistence farmers who make their living from the land and the cycle of the seasons.

Niger cycles through three rather harsh seasons; it seems to be always either too dry or too hot. There is a rainless ‘cold’ season from November through February, which transitions into a hot season from March through May with everyday temperatures well over 100. During cold season, some people are able to garden, irrigating with water pulled or pumped from hand-dug or cement wells. Hot season is the time for field preparation. Finally, the heat gives way to rainy season, and the infrequent storms on which the millet fields and Hausa people’s lives depend. The village is quiet this time of year, everyone away in their fields, planting and cultivating, harvesting acres and acres of land by hand. Where the rains are enough, the sand dunes are transformed into a green patchwork of millet and sorghum, peanuts and beans.

Hausa people have been living off the land in this way for thousands of years, and I do not claim any expertise in the way of Sahelian agriculture. As a Peace Corps volunteer, I consider my role in the village as primarily cross-cultural exchange. By attempting to live at the same level as my Hausa neighbors, accepted as a ‘daughter of the village,’ I am learning more than I can ever explain about Hausa culture and Nigerien life. And for people in my community, I am the first American they have ever known. Without this relationship, the rest of our work together would be impossible. As a member of the village community, I encourage villagers to evaluate their needs and organize themselves to make the most of resources available to them.

Over the past year and a half together, villagers and I have come to realize the value of organizing- the strength, influence, and solidarity that comes from the formation of cooperatives. With help from the European Union, over sixty men and women have created a farmers’ grain bank. The co-op takes advantage of the predictability of the millet market by buying large amounts of millet at harvest time when grain is cheap, storing it, and then selling it to members during hungry season at a cost significantly less than the market price. Inspired by the success of the grain bank, men have organized a new committee of young men who plan on digging garden wells for cold season vegetable crops in the dry river valley near the village. In addition, the village school director and I helped to create a co-op of school girls, between the ages of 10 and 14, who, with a small loan for start-up costs, are selling home-made noodles to earn money for the next school year’s supplies and books.

All of this work has the potential to make an important impact in a place where infant mortality rate for children is twenty percent, and most of those deaths are due to malnutrition. By improving the availability and diversity of food, and increasing access to education for young girls, people are taking an active role in shaping the future of their community.

People in Niger are intelligent, resourceful, and hard-working, but they are constrained by poor soil, a lack of water, and limited access to education and resources. There is little we can do to change this sandy soil, or bring rain to the desert, but even a small amount of money can go a long way to bring people access to education and resources that can change their lives. In my seven months remaining in Kada Zaki, we are looking for funds to continue building the capacity of the farmer’s co-op, increasing the store of millet and expanding the co-op to include loans for organic fertilizers, and training for those who wish to use them. The gardening group is hoping to construct wells and pumps and purchase tools and vegetable seeds in anticipation of next year’s gardening season. And the girls’ group is in need of seed money with which to diversify their income generating activities and to subsidize school fees.

At Christmastime, Paul mentioned to me that members of his CSA might be interested in making donations to the work being done in my village, and that is one reason I am writing this letter. But more importantly, as even my villagers would agree, I am writing this letter to share a little bit of good news, from another part of the world. People everywhere are working together, making a difference on the land and in their community. As a member of Paul’s CSA, you are making a difference as well. You are supporting a sustainable food system which makes it possible for people to be farmers, the land to be cared for, and food to be accessible and nourishing. So, I am writing you this letter, to thank you, and to offer you this little piece of the hope I have found somewhere on the way between Paul’s vegetable farm and the millet fields of Kada Zaki.
~Leah Smith

Donations to the Girl’s Education Fund, which is Leah’s main project, can be made by sending a check made out to Peace Corp Partnership Program with “Niger Education Initiative” in the check memo. Send to Peace Corp, 1111 20^th St. NW, Washington DC 20526. Donations are 100% tax deductable, and you will receive a letter recognizing your donation.

PLEASE NOTE THE LAST CSA DELIVERY (Week 20) will be Thursday, October 21.

In the box this week:

Arugula Sweet Dumpling Squash

Bok Choy Beets

Cauliflower Onions

‘Cherry Red’ potatoes Carrots

Garlic

What do I do with it?

Cauliflower: I don’t like to go back-to-back weeks with many vegetables but we still had a ton of cauliflower left over. We had to harvest some of it early last week so be sure to cook it or freeze it soon. See the cauliflower soup recipe below.

Sweet Dumpling squash: A great, sweet and nutty winter squash. Slice them in half, scrape out the seeds, brush the edges with olive oil, put upside down on a cookie sheet with ¼ inch of water, and bake for 35 minutes at 350F. When you can stick a fork in them easy, turn over, add butter and a little maple syrup (the real thing, of course!), bake another 5 or 10 minutes, and enjoy. This is a good way to prepare almost any winter squash. Sweet Dumpling squash hold well for 6 weeks in a cool, dry, place as long as they have no cuts or dings.

Arugula: good as a salad spiker, or try the pasta recipe below. Remember it cooks really quickly.

For the rest of the season: cabbage, beets, carrots, potatoes, leeks or onions, occasionally lettuce, kale, collards, winter squash, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and cooking greens.

Recipes:

Cream of Cauliflower Soup, from Jane Brody’s Good Food Book, sent in by shareholder Elaine McMillan

1 large onion, chopped 1 tablespoon butter

4 cups chicken or veg broth 11/2 pound head of cauliflower, cut into florets

1 carrot, peeled and diced 1 cup low fat milk

salt to taste ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 to ¼ teaspoon cayenne, if desired freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan, sauté the onion in the butter for three minutes (optional: add 1 tsp curry). Add the broth, cauliflower, and carrot. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce the heat, cover the pan, and simmer the soup for about 15 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Remove the soup from the heat and cool it down until it is warm. Transfer the soup to a blender or food processor, add the milk, and puree the soup until it is smooth (Farmers note: I don’t like purreed soups and tend to substitute an incomplete mashing by hand when puree is called for). Transfer the soup to a bowl if it is to be eaten chilled or pour back into the pot for gentle reheating. If the soup is too thick, thin it with a little more milk. Add the seasonings. If the soup is to be eaten cold, chill for at least one hour.

Pasta and arugula fra diavolo, by former apprentice Shad Bridges

1 lb. Angel hair pasta 1 medium onion, diced

1 28 oz. Can organic diced tomatotes 1 tsp. crushed chili flakes

1 bag arugula, cleaned ½ tsp. black pepper

3 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tsp. salt

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add pasta and cook until tender, drain. While boiling water, fry garlic and onion with oil in a large sauté pan until translucent. Add remaining ingredients and simmer 15-20 minutes. Toss pasta in pan with sauce for five minutes and serve with grated cheese.