Kastom Gaden Association

 

My adventure buddy and I drove out to the Kastam Gaden Association (KGA) this morning.  It was so much more than what we anticipated!  We were hoping to find some seeds and/or some seedlings to take out to our villages.  We found our seeds and plants, but we found a thriving education program as well.

 

 

We made a new friend, Thecla, who showed us around the gardens, helped us join the KGA, gave us free seeds, pinched off sorghum (above) because it's good to feed to chickens,

 

 

and pinched off dried marigold seeds because their are good to help keep pests away from the garden.  We picked up booklets about choosing and saving seeds, how to keep chickens for income & food, and natural ways to keep the gardens as pest free as possible.  We also learned that the KGA leads training seminars in villages if we provide food and a place to stay.  I will definitely be talking to my friends in Marulaon about this!  Next door, an organic farm had rows of different seedlings for sale.  While we waited to talk to someone in charge, we made new friends.

 

 

I was hoping to take home three flats (with 39 seedlings each), one of Chinese cabbage, one of tomatoes, and one of capsicum.  But we learned that the wooden flats have to come right back to the farm, so I only ended up with a handful of plants to take out to Marulaon Village.  But I learned so much today!  I'm excited to share what I learned with my friends in the village, and I think this is only the first of many trips to visit our new friends at the Kastam Gaden Association.