Ordinary life / Creating routines

About a week and a half ago I thought it would be good to share something of a "regular day" since a lot of this blog has been around activity beyond our regular days.  Then it took about a week and a half before we had a regular day.   But here it is.  I wondered what might be the most appropriate title for this post.  Initially I thought I'd simply say "Ordinary life," but I can't say all of what we are living feels "ordinary" yet.  What we are doing is trying to establish routines that help us organize our time and energy, and help us through our adjustment.

Breakfast table.  I've been making baked oatmeal (I'll cite Mom's cookbook and Aunt Lorraine's recipe) fairly regularly as our alternative to cereal, which is expensive.  We're not at a rice-and-beans-for-breakfast stage yet.

The walk to school. Around 4 blocks. Sometimes Silas can be a stinker about only wanting to be carried the whole way, but today he was okay with being held just across the roads, and basically walking the rest.

Often Rebekah and I are the first to arrive at the office after dropping the kids off.  Task one: a cup or two of ice water.  Task two: the coffee.

Our office.  Rebekah's desk side. (Note the list on the whiteboard of how much she has assigned for me to do!)

 Our office.  Derrick's desk side.

 Back at Preescolar Globitos to pick up the kids.  Silas at the playground.

Lia in the doorway of her classroom.

Lunch was quiet today with two of our staff out.  Quiet as lunch can be with Lia and Silas present.  This has not been an easy part of our day.  Yolanda prepares wonderful food and everyone has been really flexible as our children test our public parental performance.

Here's a good moment. Our kids at their best.  Lia and Silas pulled out the chairs for the second day in a row to give a "school concert" of all the Spanish songs they know (I was their only audience).  Makes me proud. Looking forward to the Good Charles Family Band Christmas recording for 2015.

 Today it was my turn to be with the kids at home in the afternoon. On the way home we stayed in the park a little to watch some park repairs that are underway.  The task of the moment was to put a new concrete surface the basketball/soccer court.

 Back at the house, we attempt quiet time. Silas wrestles a chair.

Lia sings and colors.

 Quiet time is over and we hear the ice cream man ringing his bells.  I'm slow to get the gate unlocked.  Lia and Silas produce enough volume to make sure he knows he has buyers.

The Super Cono today.

A conversation with my brother and his family.  Much to be said about the wonders of Skype.

Rebekah made fried rice with leftovers from Pollo Estrella (a restaurant), a grilled chicken fundraiser from church last Sunday, and yesterday's supper.  Nicely done.

Wrapping up the kids' day with stories.  Tonight Lia chose a book about fireflies and a Fancy Nancy book on poison ivy.  Right now Silas only wants to hear Danny and the Dinosaur and Magic School Bus: Lost in the Snow (which is a nice thought as we squeeze and our sweat together). All's well that ends well.

Evaluating Conservation Agriculture

This past week was a big event for the MCC Nicaragua effort with Conservation Agriculture with partner ADENOCH in northern Chinandega. The previous week, part of the evaluation team was carrying out the same study across the border with MCC partner CODESO in Honduras. It would be a long week away from family, which wasn't easy.  At the same time it was an important evaluation since conservation agriculture has been a significant part of MCC Nicaragua's work in the last few years. Chris Woodring, our fearless evaluation leader, will be putting together the official report.  Here's my little picture and caption report.

Focus groups.  Over three days our team carried out a total of 8 focus group meetings within four of the five municipalities that ADENOCH works in.  We were gathering data on food consumption, fields, practices, and harvests and perceptions and ideas around advantages and disadvantages of the conservation agriculture approach. (thanks to Chris for sharing some of these pictures)

Field visits. The participating farmers' fields were mapped out and then we selected at random the fields that would be visited. There are around 200 participating farmers in ADENOCH's project, so we wouldn't come close to getting to all of them.  I think our total was around 50, which exceeded what the evaluation framework called for. We saw quite a variety of quality in these fields - some great plots and some terrible ones as well.  The conservation ag concept is basically three principles which are applied and adapted according to the resources of the region: soil moisture through ground cover, minimal soil disturbance (no till), and crop rotation.  Here that has meant ground cover through leftover crop residue of corn, sesame, or something else; digging 15 cm x 15 cm x 15 cm holes that are carefully spaced and filling them with manure; and rotating corn and bean crops (and anything else if they have it).  I should also mention that it was a beautiful place for hiking around these communities, and I am also completely amazed by the strength of these farmers to farm the kinds of terrain that they are working with.

One of ADENOCH's staff, Pascual (who is technically with Fundación Cristiana), in front of his own plot (across the road).

 Other ADENOCH/Fundación Crisitiana staff, Heydy and Olvin at the top of a steep conventional method plot.

Great rains were falling the days that we were in the area.  We would slip under the nearest roof to wait out the heaviest rain.

As a side note, gold is actually a significant export in Nicaragua and it's not unusual to see a mortar and pestle that folks will use to sort through soil from nearby mines.

Here's the part of the team that was staying at the hotel during the Nicaragua side of the evaluation: Denis, from another organization in Nicaragua called CEPAD; Chris, evaluation leader from Kentucky; myself; Adolfo, coordinator of the CODESO organization in Honduras.  These folks, plus the ADENOCH staff on the evaluation team, were great to work with.  Lots of learning!

Findings. We'll have a better sense for some of this after the "data-crunching" stage and the final report is completed.  At the moment it seems that the bright side is that significantly more is being grown within the conservation ag. plots compared to an equivalent size of a conventional ag. plot. The CA plots are doing better with the low amount of rain (although they still need something) which is also really important in this area. The unfortunate side is that these conservation ag. plots are still quite small and are requiring more work than would permit a farmer to expand this practice into their entire field. In order to make a high-yield-with-little-rain method work in a farmer's full field, it looks like some more thinking and re-thinking lies ahead. Green cover crops? A role for conventional fertilizers already in use? Maybe even herbicide at times?  We'll see...

Team Meetings + Fun Day

The Nicaragua/Costa Rica team has made it a tradition to all come together in Managua for a few meeting days and conclude with a fun day escape to somewhere else.  Here's a photo recap from our 2 meetings days and our follow up fun day.

 Rebekah thought it would be fun to make mini-pizzas for the first evening's supper together.  (Our ovens only fit this size anyway.)

 The crusts were actually a nan recipe.

Yum.

A great team to work with! Coming from Nicaragua, Colombia, Kansas, New Mexico, Pennsylvania/Virginia.

Fun day at the Laguna de Apoyo! Here's Rebekah swimming Silas out to the floating deck in the lake.

We rented kayaks, and the kids are with adults on their laps.  This worked well except...

...the waves were picking up in the afternoon and Dency and Genesis tipped over!  We were all a little startled, but were glad that everyone was fine.


Here's the group shot at the end of the day. For those who read about Granada a few weeks ago, that's the Volcan Mombacho way in the distance. It was a beautiful day and a great way to wrap up our days together as a team.