This morning we went to the Anglican Church in Gede again, and today it was Holy Communion. The service was almost exactly the same as the 8 o'clock service at St Paul's Fairhaven, so it brought back a lot of memories. Mind you, I don't recall ever having chickens wander in at St Paul's...
Afterwards, we picked up mangoes fallen from the tree outside and went on to A Rocha's Demonstration Plot just a bit down the road, where the other Jonathan told us about Farming God's Way. They have a plot of very healthy maize, which contrasts with the poor land of the small farm or shamba on the other side of the fence.
The success of this plot is the result of a combination of heavy mulching and planting into holes containing good compost, which is added to each year, then the worms do the digging and eventually the whole plot becomes more fertile. The ground is not dug over, the old stalks are cut down and add to the mulch, which also reduces weeds, and anything that does come up alongside the maize is cut at the end of the season to become mulch. Since there is less rain in this area than previously, due to global warming, many farmers are finding it hard to get a crop to ripen successfully. The plot in the demo farm is looking very good and should be ready to harvest in a month or so.
In the afternoon I went with Jonathan Baya again, this time to an oxbow lake off the Sobaki River. On the way, we saw two Fischer's Turacos, and were able to get a few pictures of them. We found a Cordon Bleu - a tiny, really bright turquoise bird. At the lake we found African Jacanas, Pelicans, Open-billed Storks, Spoonbills, Reed's Cormorants, a Malachite Kingfisher and a Pied Kingfisher.
We got back just in time for dinner, but I haven't got the pictures downloaded yet, so watch this space!
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