Lutheran Church of Hope’s team in Abaco shares about their time at the Poinciana Driftwood Farm. The team was able to put in a lot of work and set the owners up well for the upcoming market.
Check out the past blogs at Team updates – Impact Trips (manyhandsimpact.com)
Another wonderful day in Abaco!
Today was spent at a farm that produces fruit, vegetables, and chicken eggs. The owners have formed an alliance with Many Hands to not only feed the locals on the island, but also to educate them in methods of agriculture so they can become self-sustaining.
We learned about hydroponic farming and had the opportunity to work on the Poinciana Driftwood Farms. The farm is owned by Glen and Tracy Kelly who established the farm 9 years ago. What is hydroponic you ask? The “soil” is not the dirt that we have in Iowa, but rather a compost of coconut and rice husks. Then the plants are fed with nutrient-enriched water through a complex computerized system.
We harvested green beans, tomatoes, eggplant, broccoli, and cauliflower to be sold at farmers’ markets, the community, restaurants, and the local grocery store.
While some were harvesting, others were cutting unusable overgrown lettuce that the 100-120 chickens could enjoy. Then we planted 4 types of mixed greens, green beans and cucumbers. They said we saved them 4 days of work.
As we do every night, time was spent sharing, reflecting on the day, and praying.
Today we physically sowed seeds during our adventure, just as we have also been sowing God’s word.
