September 26, 2012 Kakamega

Greetings

Today was one of those days that I have been waiting for quite some time.  Hezron and Robert picked me up this morning around nine.  Had a cup of tea and proceeded to go and visit some of the orchards that were doing well.  Our first stop was to the orchard of Pastor Ambula in Kakamega.  Upon arrival Pastor Ambula was working the orchard.  We went around looking at the vines and the fruit.  They looked pretty good to me but you could tell that something was wrong.  Robert informed me that the vines needed food which I believe to be CAN.  This is one of the chemicals that we did not purchase in the beginning since this is a maintenance chemical that is used to feed the passion fruit for the next few years every two weeks.  Tomorrow Robert is going to work out the chemical needs now that the orchards are starting to harvest.

Pastor Ambula's Orchard

After we left Pastor Ambula we stopped by John Imala’s for a quick chat.  Poor John has been in a worried state for quite some time dreading the day that our paths would cross again.  Upon our greeting John quickly asked for my forgiveness upon the failure of the three orchards around his home.  I tried to tell him that there was no need to ask for forgiveness and that we all fail sometimes.  I tried to explain to him that during my preaching’s I told everyone that we were going to have some failures but we would learn from them and make improvements or adjustments as needed.  He begged me not to leave him and I told him that I am still in it for the long haul.  John told me that he purchased some other seedlings but they died too.  He promised that it wasn’t from a lack of trying and I quickly told him that I understood.  As I have said in some of my earlier blogs that it might be me that should be going around asking everyone for forgiveness.  I am the one that brought up the passion fruit project for them in the first place.  I am the one that projected hope and opportunity.  I still question myself (I am kinda new at this) did I do enough?  My answer is still no I did not.  God had a different plan for John and it was evident upon walking down to what used to be the orchard.  On about half of it was a new bricks and mortar school building with a nice tin roof.  Sorry I did not get a picture but I will before the trip is over. 

After we left John’s place it was off to see the widow’s orchard in Mumias.  We arrived in Mumias and the first person I noticed was her.  Was she going to ask me to eat some live termites?  Was it rude of me to not remind her that I promised to try some on my next visit?  Maybe she did remember but termites might be out of season.  Anyway we toured the orchard and the surviving plants looked pretty much the same as Pastor Ambula’s with plenty of fruit but it needed CAN.  The ladies showed us some areas where the birds have been eating the foliage.  As with Pastor Ambula Robert explained to the ladies on where they could improve their orchard.

Mumias Widow's Orchard



After Mumias we were to go visit the Jerusalem church and see their two plots but it was decided to head to Khabukoshe to see their two plots and venture to see Roberts’s orchard to end the day.  Upon arriving at the first Khabukoshe orchard we noticed that some of the vines were on the ground.  We were told that a cow came running through the orchard yesterday and knocked down two rows.  This orchard was not very big in the first place and to knock down two rows was a major blow.  However upon further review only one vine was damaged and since it was broken above the graft it would be able to re-grow.  Peter will fix the posts, supports, and get it all back in order in a few days.  Even though they were on the ground they looked very healthy and with plenty of fruit about ready to start harvesting.  Robert also suggested that this plot will be in need of CAN soon.

Khabukoshe Number One Orchard



After we left Peter and his wife we went to Khabukoshe orchard number two.  Upon arrival we met up with Charles to show us what he had done with his orchard.  This orchard was by far the bushiest of all so far with plenty of ripe and unripe fruit.  I have already tried some passion fruit at the other orchards but they were just turning purple as for picking.  Since Charles had a boat load of fruit I went searching for a nice ripe purple passion fruit to try.  Of course I found some and the same is true as with any fruit left to ripen on the vine.  Green purple good and sweet however purple purple much better.  Robert was great that everywhere we went he started to explain where improvements could be made.  Robert explained to him that he should be letting the tentacles hang down eventually to a couple of inches above the ground.  You can see by the pictures of this plot versus Robert’s below.  Half of Charles plot was bushy and green while the other half was showing the signs of the other orchards or what Robert says is a lack of CAN.  I had previously thought that this orchard had lost more seedlings then what I saw.  I think this orchard only lost about ten percent of the seedlings we planted.



Khabukoshe Number Two Orchard



After we left Charles it was off to our last stop in Bulimbo.  Every time we go to Roberts the storm clouds come in and it rains.  I am always worried about being in the ditch.  Robert told us that the roads are much better now and it was true to some extent.  It was raining when we arrived at Roberts.  He suggested we go in and sit before we toured the orchard.  I said no let’s get out there before it gets worse.  We hopped back in the car to visit the orchard.  Robert originally planted around 800 seedlings and has since added another 200.  Robert was the last to plant his orchard last October and he has just harvested his first batch.  He told me he made about 2800 shillings on about 80 pounds.  He is already for the next harvest and he is expecting more fruit then the first.  This will continue for a few more months until the yield will be pretty steady for a few years.

Pastor Robert's Orchard



I asked Robert at what time he will be self sufficient.  To me he is sitting on a beautiful one and a half acre one thousand vine orchard full of fruit.  By my calculations in a few months he should be yielding one kilo or two pounds per plant per harvest.  Let’s just say he gets around 75 ksh per kilo.  That is about $900 per harvest.  If he harvests every week that is quite a bit of change and if it is only every two weeks it is still quite a bit of change for Kenya.  The orchard was so big that I really could not get it all in one picture.  It follows the road and there is no good spot to encompass the whole orchard.  I took a boat load of pictures but I will only publish a few but they are indicative of the whole orchard except the last 200 that are just now approaching the wire.

Robert had suggested that we bring the other farmers to his orchard for a couple of days to get a better idea of what to expect.  Robert is able to accommodate about 30 people and I think it would be a great next step.  Getting them all there at the same time might be a problem but if we are to continue to plant passion fruit in and around Western Kenya we need to have able passion fruit farmers in every area to help out the newbies.  Robert also explained that he is now the victim of theft as his orchard sits right next to the road.  Robert also stated that he needs more middle posts now that the vines are starting to get really heavy on the wire.  Tomorrow I will post some more pictures.  They take quite a bit of time to download.

Today I saw our first orchard planted last July empty.  Today I saw a few of the other orchards in various degrees of success.  I saw that a cow took down some vines.  I saw that birds are eating the foliage.  But what I saw that pleased me most was tons of passion fruit and I also have a bag of purple passion fruit to eat.  Today has been a mixed review for me and I ask all of you to continue to pray for these people as they continue to work the ground to make a living.  I do want to take a moment and give all the glory to God.  It is Him that makes all this possible and I take as my reward to be a servant of His people.

Tomorrow might just prove to be an interesting day.  Tonight at dinner another God thing just so happened.  Aaron you will be interested to hear about this.

Take care and God bless you all

Dave