FARMER FIELD SCHOOL
GETTING THE FARM READY FOR THE NEXT PLANTING SEASON
Objective:
- To clean up the farm for the next planting season without burning!
Time needed: 1-8 hours
Materials needed: enough jembes for each student, posters to show what healthy vs. unhealthy soil looks like.
Intro:
- Why do people burn their farms?
- Who remembers why burning the organic material on the farm is not a good idea?
(kills the decomposers that help our soil, makes the soil hard-we burn bricks not farms!, removes nutrients from the fragile topsoil, makes the soil unfertile after only a few years, requires large amounts of chemical fertilizer for healthy plants)
- How can we clean our farm without burning? Especially if you have a large plot of land? Explain raking all the organic material into piles throughout your farm, allowing them to decompose and then using that material throughout your farm later.
- What are the advantages to this method? (It keeps your farm more fertile, the soil is easier to work, you do not have to find new land after only a few years, you can reduce the amount of chemical fertilizer you need to buy.)
- This method also creates a firebreak between your farm and that of others. If others burn their farm then their fire cannot invade your farm and burn your trees or banda.
Activity: let’s clean!!!
Have students rake all organic material into piles throughout the farm. As these piles break down, the resulting compost can then be spread out onto the farm. This activity is best done right after harvest when the leftover organic material is still somewhat green and easy to remove.
Evaluation: The participants will successfully rake the organic material into piles throughout the farm and be able to explain the benefits to this method.