Evelyn Libal

Shadow Afrika

It is weird coming back to the first world and all its dysfunction. Overwhelmingly the illusion of the necessary. My life i was building may not be glorious but I knew what was necessary for me and the people I care about to go forward. Being back in the states I hear a lot about what people need. It seems stressful to need so much, mostly stuff, expensive stuffs. But what is really necessary? Necessary for a full life?

Focus, (self)Love, Being Heard, Being Seen, Dreams, Compassion, Home, Acceptance, Friends, Simplicity, Attention, Laughter, Gratitude, Respect, Self Actualization, Joy, Sunshine, and Nature

Our valley floods so we want to try making a series of ponds to lower the water level for our vegetable garden once we have the capitol to do so. Once the ponds are in place we can see how the water flows and if stocking them would be viable. We have already dug one pond up by the house to catch water for our dwarf mango orchard. We just need to wait for it to rain to stock it! I also have this crazy idea of building rain barrel terrace and stocking it with fish and later using the water for irrigation. Please wish us luck/send us some good energy on securing funding so we can make it real!

Please Please! Help me get publicity for my work! I am so busy trying to get the farm started and that whole living in poverty really doesn't help the networking opportunities. I would be so grateful if you would share us and help get our name out in the world! Check out our latest at my blog Growing Futures Blog

At Growing Futures Kenya we have been having a lot of success with growing black solider fly larvae in rotten avocados. In a week the whole avocado turns into a huge writhing mass of larvae. I see very little writing about how awesome avocados are for black solider fly larvae. From my experience I can't recommend it enough if you want a good source of fat and protein and are wondering what to do with your stinky avocados that won't compost. Avocados also produce FAR more larvae than the food scraps I have always read about. Below is our avocado pit and corn stalks for more insect production. Hopefully this will help and we can all have fat, happy chickens. Good Luck!

find more of our art and adventures in permaculture at Growing Futures Blog

Slow food starts from a seed and becomes a coconut, a mango, a salad, a sweet potato. It is tended. Last years trash makes this years fertilizer. It stretches its hopeful cotyledons. It seizes the sun and soars up from a fragile seedling to become sustenance.

Slow food is gathering not just leaves and fruit. Slow food is gathering sunshine. Slow food is gathering an understanding of the myriad creatures in the garden. Slow food is a table set by the whole family to nourish bodies and souls.

What is dinner when women remain unseen? Imprisoned by birth to be caged in the kitchen?

I love the free flow of living space to kitchen in the houses of my childhood. I hate the isolation of the kitchen in Kenya. I would rather cook with a fire on the ground with my family than be isolated in a "modern" kitchen. No more woman's space and men's space, just our space. No more you have to cook and clean because you had the distaste to be born female. But we share because we are born equal.

This is our first try making a rocket stove. I live in Mombasa Kenya where gas is too expensive (and I am too poor) to use for cooking and trees are too sparse to cut for fire wood. So how do we eat? With coconuts of course! The Coconut husk gets the fire going and the shells burn like rocket fuel, they even roar. They fat from the meat gets squeezed into our delicious farm food and the fiber is spread out to feed our chickens. This stove is so great because after it gets started the coconuts burn like charcoal and produce very little smoke (many women have throat and lung cancer from spending their life next to a fire). So much heat gets trapped inside that I am able to get it started, put of food, and forget about it while I am busy on my farm. When I come back dinner is served! This is such a huge improvement over sitting in smoke constantly feeding a fire to feed yourself. Thank you people for being so inspirational. I am glad we have met with success. If you want to see more of our adventures building permacuture and making art check out our blog at Growing Futures Kenya Blog

One world, one love, one garden.

In permaculture everything works of each other. EWvery little piece is important is the system. We need everyone together to move forward to a better future.