Global Village

Well, sorry it's been a few days since I've updated; we've been busy finishing up all our training so we'll be good to go on Monday when groups arrive. As a Learning Center, Overlook Farm's main objective is, obviously, education. So starting on Monday, the rest of the fall will be filled with field trips, church groups, college kids, etc. who want to come and learn about hunger and poverty around the world and about what Heifer does to fight it. If a group comes for the day, they take a tour of the farm, do some activities, have some discussions, and might eat lunch here, too. If a group spends the night their activities get a little more involved, since they get to sleep in the Global Village.

The Global Village is a fairly large chunk of the farm. Spread out in that area are houses that represent dwellings from various places around the world. Several of them (but not all) have kitchen gardens growing staple foods and things that would typically be grown in that region. The sites also all have farm animals usually found there. I don't really have pictures of the sites yet, but they will be coming soon. For now, here is a description of each site:

Thailand--We have a bamboo house raised up off the ground representative of the northern region of Thailand. There is a fish pond outside as well as a garden growing rice, hot peppers, tomatoes, kale, scallions, cilantro, and parsley. We also have a couple of water buffalo that hang out in Thailand.

Peru--There is a one-room mud brick/adobe house with a dirt floor typical of the Andean mountain region of Peru. It is built on the top of a hill with the garden down the slope. Because of that, the garden is terraced (instead of a smooth slope down, it was carved into a stairstep pattern) to protect from erosion. Growing there is amaranth, quinoa (both grains), potatoes (lots of varieties), carrots, onions, spinach, and other root vegetables. As far as animals go, there are a few guinea pigs that live in Peru, as well as two llamas (names Llightning and Llily) and two alpacas. Here is Llightning (the big brown one) with one of the alpacas whose name I don't know yet.

Guatemala--Guatemala has a two room cinderblock house with an indoor stove. (The others had outdoor firepits for cook fires.) Its garden grows corn, tomatoes, bell peppers, fava beans, green beans, winter squash, and lettuce mix. There is a small flock of chickens there, as well as three rabbits, and two Nubian goats (named Ruth and Jessie). Here I am with Ruth:

China--This site represents the Tibetan region of China. There is no garden because the people there tend to be nomadic. Likewise, the dwelling in Tibet is a yurt--a large tent made of yak hair. It's super warm and is one of my favorite Global Village homes. Predictably, there are two yaks in Tibet. Our bull cow hangs out with the yaks, too.

Colonias--The Colonias site refers to the area on both sides of the US/Mexico border. There are two houses built to look like an urban slum or "shantytown." It is representative of those people and families who have traveled up through South and Central America to come to the United States but were unable to cross the border, as well as those who have crossed but have been unable to leave that area and establish themselves anywhere else. There are no townships or infrastructure, so poverty is a pretty big problem. There is not a garden there now, although we may start some container gardening. There are also no animals, but we are going to add some chickens, rabbits, and goats.

Kenya--Kenya is a work in progress right now. We are working on both a cinderblock house and a mud-wall, thatched roof hut. There will be pigs and a cow in Kenya.

Poland--This house is significantly larger than the others in the Global Village. It is made of timber, which is abundant in the Carpathian Mountain region of southern Poland. This site is also new and will have a garden planted in the spring. It will have rabbits, a draft horse, and.....something else I can't remember.

Ghana--This house is sort of similar to the Guatemala house. It doesn't have a garden, but it does have goats!

Appalachia--The last site is representative of the rural Appalachian Mountain region of the United States. The house is an old construction trailer which is easy-to-obtain, low income housing used all over the US. The garden is made up of raised beds which let you fill them with compost or healthy soil so things will grow even if the soil around the beds is poor. Raised beds can ever be put on top of concrete or asphalt. Growing there are green beans, peas, collard greens, tomatoes, bell peppers, okra, and sunflowers. There is a guinea hog in Appalachia named Petunia. Here is my friend Susan feeding her one morning. She gets very excited about food and can be hard to move around until she is eating.

That's about it for the Global Village! I'll tell you more about what you can do there next time!