Freedom Gardens

After lots of preparation and anxiety, I finally have arrived in Africa. Although the plane rides were terrible, and traveling was exhausting, I have already had the best experience of my life. The first day we went to Freedom Gardens, a sustainable farm run by a Malawian family. The place was awesome. Most farmers in Africa don’t use their land wisely, and believe that they have to start with lots in order to succeed. This family started with nothing. The dad started his farm in 1982 with a very small piece of land in the swamp. He only had 100 kwacha, which is less than 1 American dollar. He believed that in order to succeed, you don’t need loans or to produce the most crops, you have to start small, and eventually you will break even. Some of the practices that he used in order to keep the land self-sustaining were water canals used from the river close by. The canals ran horizontally, and they could control whether to let the water seep through, or clog it up with a brick. The canals ran by each of the gardens. They didn’t use pesticides, which is very unlike African farmers. Most believe that in order to produce the most crops, you need to buy fertilizer and use it on the plants. This only makes matters worse, because you have to pay for the fertilizer, and once your crops are gone, that poison leaks into the soil, making next years crop smaller and smaller. It is also unhealthy to breathe and eat. Instead of poisonous fertilizers, they used different herbs, such as aloe vera plant, and onions. They mixed these all together and ground them up. Then they pore water through these herbs and create a greenish mixture. They use this watery substance to paint on the crops in order to keep the bugs away. The way the compost is also very cool. Instead of using unnatural fertilizer, they create piles of compost that have lasted them 17 years, and they use that rich soil to fertilize their land. We walked around the farm and saw sugar cane, corn, chickens, beautiful gardens, canals, ponds, poinsettia growing on trees, and other beautiful flowers. It was like I was in a maze, and it was truly beautiful. A really great experience. After the tour we had a true African lunch, rice, beans, nsima- corn porridge, vegetables, home made scones, lots of good Malawian food. It was amazing to see them make so much crop and profit out of nothing. It was truly an incredible story, ones you hope to hear about in a country like Malawi. Another part of Daniel’s story that impacted me was that he has taught the farmers and helpers on his farm how to use these techniques, and now they are starting their own farms that are sustainable. It was fabulous.
Thanks for reading,
Katie Fuson