Dry season in the Wet Season. Keep on trucking!

Greetings Bona Fide friends and supporters,

The dry season in the middle of what is supposed to be the wettest part of the rainy season continues. We received rain on Saturday and a heavy set of rains on Sunday of this past week, it felt like the entire island of Ometepe breathed a collective sigh of relief as the rains deeply refreshed important crops of rice and people's second crop or 'postrera' of beans and corn. Famine is being combated already in Guatemala and food shortages based on this surely global weirding influenced weather are already being predicted both nationally and by the United Nations via a visit here by a food security expert just 14 days ago (see Nica Times for the article).

On the positive side the drought resistant system that we have innovated at BF in the annual field trials area seem to be resisting the drought quite well, were are probably losing more corn crop to slippert fingers than drought stress, though comparison with last year's harvest will only paint the full picture. It is extremely interesting to note the contrast of this year wih last years as last year it was so wet that some bean crops rotted or were damaged by rot and now they are threatedned or have been damaged by drought. SO it goes.

As for pictures: Please enjoy a shameless shot of some hermoso maiz that Norbert and Nevis have been harvesting as well as pipian which is the white squash below, kind of like a white variety of summer squash. The bundles of drying plants in neat rows are sesame plants, harvested and drying on the concepcion side of the island ready for transport to Leon to be dehulled and then exported abroad. It is a shame we do not even have the means to process sesame on island, soley an export crop, could be a future food/calories producer for sure though if we had the simple durable machinery... Last foto, corn and rice, grown together on a somewhat steep hillside that is left in partial timber and is grazed in rotation when cropping is not present, nice local and simple and effective agro-silvo-pastoral system. Cool.

Thanks for your support,

Chris Shanks

Harvest begins...

Greetings Bona Fide friends and supporters,

Hello everyone. Well now its dry. No dry time when the usual patterns predicted and now it is dry. The coast and here in Granada from where I am updating have been unseasonably dry, Ometepe much better but this last week gave us sunny weather great for certain kinds of work but hard on planters and farmers. Good weather to dry beans though which brings me to the first foto, the START of our red bean harvest at BF. OG red beans. Whoo hoo!!

As I continue you those of you who have had the distinct pleasure of meeting our kitchen manager, Clemencia will recognize her in the foto that speaks to a big BF theme, abundance. All of the pictured food is BF grown, you will notice multiple varieties of squash and cucumber. So far so good, not buying much more than salt for the kitchen now, BF coffee, BF rice, BFcorn and VEggies. NICE work to everyone who has nade and is making this possible. One wil also notice the foto of younf cron as the elote ready, young corn that can be eateb con and all in soups or stews. Yummy or picadillo. Yum.

Lotus, oh yeah, that is the flower and plant featured in the last two fotos. No wonder it is the enduring symbol for the buddha.

Well folks, I gotta run. See ya on the isla!!!

Best to all,

Chris Shanks
Co-Director Project Bona Fide
Chris@projectbonafide.com