The Vegetable Project

A month or so ago, when I was meeting with community members, they had expressed a desire to plant vegetables, and said they needed some training. Later, I met with them and we did a planting calendar and began to write a letter to Paul Chiriboga, a Christian young man recently graduated with a Masters in Agronomy, who is working in another Quichua community in Imbabura province (where Pigulca is located). In the letter, we asked him to come and teach about natural fertilizers, planting vegetables and possibly about raising animals for money. Finally, the weekend of September 25-27 Paul was able to come spend time in Pigulca, teaching and demonstrating. The community provided a place for him to stay (in the community house), food for him to eat, and paid for his transportation costs. The community (and we) enjoyed his visit.

On Friday night, the community had to finish making Paul's lodgings comfortable. They wanted to put in a plug so that Paul could plug something in if he needed to. Since it was the first plug ever installed in the community house, it was a group effort. There is no breaker, so I was concerned about electric shock. Even though there was a spark, no one was hurt and the plug was successfully installed.

Once Paul had a plug and some ladies had brought him hot milk and sugar, boiled eggs and crackers, the participants in the vegetable project were ready to get to work. Paul taught about many different organic fertilizer options, which included types of composting that we had never heard of. Some fertilizers take a long time to make (like 3 months) and other can be ready quickly (like in one week). It was necessary to translate some into Quichua for those participants who do not know Spanish. However, the breaks were good for Paul, and provided good times for asking questions. The meeting was well attended, with a good balance between men and women.

After the meeting, Paul got some sleep and in the morning he toured the community a bit with Gregorio (the community president). There was a worship service scheduled for 10am, but due to school issues, most people were not able to arrive until after 11. Segundo and Laura came for the worship service, since Segundo was teaching. Those of us who arrived "on time" sat around and talked about any number of things until more people had returned from Otavalo. Gregorio lead music and Segundo taught. Those who attended felt comfortable to ask questions for clarification. After the lesson, there was a lunch for everyone in the community. Apparently, a man has bought property on the edge of the community near the road and plans to build a hotel. He wants to collaborate with the community, and sponsored the meal. It was soup, rice, potatoes and chicken. Several people we had never seen before appeared for the meal. It was a nice time to visit with community members.

At 2pm we met back with the participants of the vegetable project for some practical application. Paul showed community members how to prepare the beds, set the rows, water the beds and plant some seeds. The only seeds available at that moment were cabbage and cilantro. Someone went into town to buy more seeds, which they were planning to plant after we left. The beds prepared that Saturday were for a test bed, though I believe they will have the use of the next field over for a cooperative project. Here are pictures of the afternoon's activities.

Planting Beans and Sorting Corn, Beans and Peas

I bought some boots! Why, you ask? Well, the ground is so dusty that no matter what other shoes I wear, I end up with my socks and feet covered! The other reason is that Mike and I decided that once it starts to rain (Oh, Father, let it be soon...), there will be lots of mud. So, amazingly, I was able to just go out and buy a pair of hiking boots. Why is that amazing? Since Ecuadorian women have smaller feet than I do, I have never been able to buy shoes here- so it was surprising to be able to walk into a shoe store, ask for my size and buy a pair of boots. Hallelujah!

Last week when we were in the community, I kept thinking that I really had no agenda. However, the plan was to help with planting if possible, to practice Quichua as much as possible, to teach English twice, to just spend time with people, to attend the workshop on planting vegetables, and to attend the Saturday worship service. Obviously, I had a bigger agenda than I had thought.

When we arrived in the community, we had already eaten and it was about 1pm, close to time when children begin arriving home from school and eat lunch. Thinking that the community president was away, we did not call him, and just wandered around looking for someone to visit. I found Virginia, an older woman who lives with her son's family and who also runs a very small store, and she was very happy to see us. She began right away to talk to me in Quichua, and I began to respond as well as I was able. She was getting ready to shell dried corn in order to sort it for planting, and she asked if we wanted to help. We had done this a bit before with Josefina, so we said that we would help. Virginia opened a wood door at the back of a covered cement area, and I saw several hens with a number of chicks, and a number of guinea pigs. Hanging from the ceiling was the dried corn. Since I am much taller than she, she asked me to get the corn down. We sat on the ground and she helped us to know which kernels went where. The bad ones were given to the chickens, while the good ones were reserved for either cooking or planting.

Thursday morning I wanted to visit Carmen to practice Quichua, since she does not understand or speak much Spanish. However, when I went to her house she did not answer the door. Mike and I were heading up the road to look at something, when we noticed Maria Josefina out in one of her fields. It looked like she was planting. We walked up the path toward the field to greet her, and she came out of the field to greet us. She asked what we were doing, and we responded that we were just walking around. She asked us if we would like to help plant beans, and we said sure. The field was plowed into rows. To plant beans, you walk along the row, poke a hole in the side of the row mound with a stick, drop in the beans, and close the hole with your foot. Also, you tie a piece of fabric around your middle, and this holds the beans, so that you can reach in and take out two at a time.

This 63 year old lady is very quick! Mike and I, on the other hand are very slow! Maria Josefina gave me her stick and showed me how to use it. Then, while she went to find another stick for herself and for Mike, she left me on my own. First, in some places I had a hard time making a hole with the stick. Then, I had a difficult time getting the beans to fall into the hole, and I had to keep bending over to move them. And about half way down my first row, my fabric piece came untied and all of my beans fell onto the ground! Boy, did I feel inept- especially when an old lady practically raced past me on the next row. However, when my beans dropped, she offered to help me pick them up, and she never criticized or scolded me for being so slow. When she ran out of beans in her pouch, she headed off to her house, leaving Mike and me to finish with our beans. The day was clear and windy, and Mike and I became very warm and tired. Finally, when we ran out of beans, we used our sticks to mark where we finished, and decided to head to Maria Josefina's house to return the pieces of fabric we had been using.

She met us part way, and asked if we had run out of beans. When we said yes, she said she was cooking something and that we should come to her house. She asked if we liked toasted corn, and of course, we said yes. So, we helped her shell the corn, and she was already boiling potatoes and eggs in her outside kitchen. However, when it came to toasting the corn, she said she was going to do that inside. The whole back of her house is a large open room, that looks more like a storage area than a house. On one side, she has a low block wall to make a pen for her guinea pigs. She says they are dying because of lack of green plants to feed them. She lit a fire between cement blocks, and with two thick wooden poles over the top to hold the pan. I am amazed at the way the women burn the eucalyptus wood; they have long branches which they continue to push into the fire as they burn. The fire does not travel down the wood, and they just continue to move it further and further into the fire. Amazingly, their anacus (the skirts they use) do not catch on fire as they are careful.

Once the toasted corn was ready, we went back outside and she served us a bowl of toasted corn, a bowl (each) of boiled potatoes and hard boiled eggs. Just when I felt that I could eat no more, she brought each of us a bowl of "quaker". Quaker is a drink made of ground oatmeal and panela (a minimally processed cane sugar). I have to tell the truth and say that I really did not like it much at all. However, so as not to offend, I took it bit by bit with a spoon, until it was gone. We finally told her that we could not eat anything else, and she gave us plastic bags to carry home the leftover potatoes and toasted corn. In Quichua culture, if you cannot eat all that you are served, you are usually expected to carry the rest away with you in a plastic bag. Otherwise, you may offend your host (or hostess) by seeming not to like what you were offered. This would be the height of rudeness, so we took it with us.

Thursday afternoon I helped Virginia sort beans for planting. She had a large amount of beans which we sorted into three groups- one for planting, one for cooking, and one for trash. I was not really sure about the sorting process, so I watched her and asked occasionally if I was not sure. Mike opted out of the bean sorting because sitting on the ground like that was hard on his back. I enjoyed the interaction and the opportunity to practice more Quichua.

Friday morning we went up to the community and found our other friend Josefina and her daughters sifting sand for finishing concrete. We stood there and talked to them for a while and then offered to help. Gregorio called Mike, so he left to practice Quichua, but I stayed behind helping to sift sand until they had finished. Then, I headed off to find Mike and Gregorio. When I got to Gregorio's house, we went inside to talk and Gregorio showed us the new screens (or pattern-makers) that he had bought for his weaving loom. We watched him for a long time before leaving.

We returned to the community a bit later and I helped Virginia shell peas for planting for a little while. Later, I had to go to Otavalo with Mike to use the internet and to pick up Paul Chiriboga (more about him in another post). When I came back again, Virginia was beginning to use the wind to separate the peas from the chaff of the pea plants. I helped for a while, and practiced more Quichua.

I really enjoy spending time with the older women of the community. They are interesting and are really willing to help me practice the language. While most everyone in the community understands Quichua better than Spanish, not everyone is really willing to make us practice. These older women, on the other hand, are actively trying to help us, and we are thankful. It is the least we can do to try to help them work as well. They live a difficult life, but they do not resent it. They seem to enjoy the time we spend with them as well.