8 Leaves Later....Mmmmmm

Today we traveled to ECHO (www.echonet.org), an organization that trains both interns and people passing through on agricultural methods that can be used throughout the developing world. Thier vision is to be "a Christian non-profit organization whose vision is to bring glory to God and a blessing to makind by using science and technology to help the poor." They have a seed bank that they use to give free packets of seeds to people throughout the world so that they can test them in various growing conditions to see if they work well in that particular climate (arid, semi-arid, etc.). ECHO simulates each of these conditions on thier own compound, based in North Fort Myers, so that State-side personel can experiment with various irrigation methods, which plants grow best where, how to grow plants with very little water, etc.

Not only that, they experiment with raised and lowered beds, various methods to plant seeds, and various fertilizers, and the most efficient way to use space---which often means taking advantage of vertical space that is often unsued. For example, one might have animal cages above plant beds so that the droppings fall through the cage and fertilize the plants beneath the cages.

During our tour we tasted various leaves---some bitter, some plain, some sweet---that could be grown and eaten in "leaf form" or ground up and added to food as a supplement/to increase nutritional content. We even tasted a bush that may be used one day as an anticdote for malaria! It was an incredibly interesting tour not only because of the science and technology that they use, but because they have people stationed in virtually every country in the world in order to teach people how to farm more efficiently and feed those who are dying of hunger or lack resources and water to farm effectively (it made me think of you, Heather and Gerson)! You've probably heard that "if you give a man fish, you'll feed him for a day, but if you teach him to fish you'll feed him for a lifetime." They do the same thing, but with plants!