The Seminary campus here is all together about nine acres. I would say about a third of this space is taken with buildings another section with a soccer field and another small section is to be reserved for milking cows. I think that leaves me with about 4.5 to 5 acres to work with. The idea is to convert this area into a working sustainable organic farm. Providing food to students through the cafeteria, providing an income to the seminary to help fill in revenue shortages and to provide food as an outreach tool by working with local churches.
Step 1: Inventory:
Soil type: The soil to be cultivated consists is loamy clay, chocolate in color. The land hasn't been worked in a long time so there is a good amount of humus in the top layer and fortunately no chemicals have been used so microbial activity should be high. Honduras has very high rainfall totals, so without lab analysis I suspect that many rock minerals have been depleted by wash out. I.e. calcium. Calcium is incredibly important in the cultivation of food crops because it facilitates the amount of protein nutrients available in the plant for consumption either by person or animal, and persons eating animals as the quality of the animal being eaten is determined by the quality of the food it eats and that food quality is determined by the quality of the soil it is grown in. I am hopeful to find a soil lab in Honduras but if not I will act on my assumption and add lime to my soil additives.
Equipment Available:
Tractor: On the campus there is a 1967 Ford Tractor it is in very rough condition. When we arrived it really wasn't usable because of a bad oil leak coming from a missing bushing on the rear end. The parts are not readily available so I improvised a solution to stop the leak until the proper parts can be obtained.
One Way Plow: In addition to the tractor I found a one way plow in trash pile it was rusted up pretty bad and needed a little bit of welding but it is now in good working order and will be put to good use.
Disk Plow: Recently someone donated a disk plow to the seminary and I am so thankful for it, the fields are grown up with different native grasses and by turning those in we are adding valuable organic matter to the soil.
Cement Mixer: A very large hydraulically driven cement mixer was donated to the seminary and is only used a couple of times per year by a mission team from Indiana. This mixer is large enough to hold at least one to one and half cubic yards of material. I am going to put this thing to work by using it as an in vessel compost digester. Compost is the most beneficial amendment that can be added to any soil type, this digester will shorten the time it takes to produce the compost allowing us to constantly transform the livestock waste into a valuable soil amendment. (Much more later on compost)
Barn and workshop: You simply don't realize how much you take concrete for granted until you are lying in mud under a tractor trying to keep parts clean. Fortunately there is a covered barn here with a concrete floor. Unfortunately it has become sort of storage and junk holding facility since it was built long ago. Fortunately no one seems to be too attached to any of the junk, so we cleaned for three days and got at least enough room to work on things and as time progresses hopefully we can get it all organized and able to use.
Junk: Growing up around a sand pit gave me a great affection for junk. I mean MacGyver would have been almost useless without a good assortment of junk, a piece of tin here, a pipe there add some wire and a little duct tape and the skies the limit. We have no shortage of good junk which I intend to use any way I have to, the other day I attempted to melt an old trombone to fabricate a tractor part and I was almost successful, maybe next time, but I am very thankful for the trombone and its valiant effort.
On a more spiritual note: On Thursday morning I was so excited. The tractor was in working order and the first small field was waiting. I slowly navigated the old thing down to the plot and began to turn the earth, with each pass a tiny bit of progress was made. Slowly the excitement was replaced by sweat and the anticipation was replaced by a sharp pain in my back because the old tractor (who has been affectionately named Lazaro or Lazarus because of its resurrection from the dead) simply doesn't have power steering and driving the thing is like a bout of Wrestle mania.
I began to think about Genesis chapter 3 and God's curse upon the Earth Gen. 3:17 "Cursed is the ground because of you. In toil will you eat of it. All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field".
Here I was in a field trying to plow under weeds and reeds and a few thorns, sweating doing hard work and I realized that for most of my life I haven't done this. I have worked gardens and turned ground but I have never worried that if it didn't rain I wouldn't eat or if I couldn't control weeds or pests that my family would starve. In the U.S. we have food available in stores and cans and packages all at our convince. I think as a result of this convenience we have overlooked this passage of scripture and its significance in our lives. The results of sin are devastating! To Adam and Eve life got a lot harder. To the following generations famine often meant death or at least extreme hardship. Today we try to overcome the curse of sin with chemicals and technology and who knows what diseases like cancer we have fed in the process. God's word is final and next time you think that a sin is insignificant or just a small matter that really causes no harm, grab a shovel and hoe and go break some ground, plant a crop, keep it watered, fight the insects the weather and the weeds, and remember that there was a time when the Earth just gave to man what he needed.... The only difference between then and now is sin and its devastating consequences.
-Travis
