Catching Up...

Well, IST (that's In Service Training) is officially over, and as usual, it was about half useful. The highlight was definitely getting to go out and harvest honey. We didn't use a smoker (as a little experiment) so the air all around us was filled with swarming bees, it was rather eerie. It sounded like they were all inside the suit (which they weren't of course, but it took a bit of getting used to). We had another good session on fruit tree grafting where we learned the tongue and groove method (for mango, avocado, cola, etc) and the T-budding method (for citrus). Introducing grafted varieties in the villages has the potential to extend the fruiting season by several months, which would dramatically improve nutrition. Alex, Matt, Cam, and I are trying out a bunch of really interesting trees and plants at site. I'm taking Indian Blackberry, Avocado, and Almond seedlings back to site with me, as well as 2 ducks (for a small-scale breeding program that I want to introduce to my family) and a cat (more of a rat and lizard killing machine to rid my garden of the pests). Should make for a very interesting gele ride back to site. I have no idea how I'm going to transport all of it! I collected some good seeds as well to take back and plant - improved cassava, almond, Acacia albida, some new beans, pigeon peas, acacia nilotica, mesquite, and a bunch of others. I'm excited to get back and get everything planted, should keep me entertained for a couple months at least!