28/01/2025 The past week, together with my wife, I was in South Africa with my daughter, her husband and our two grandchildren. We had a wonderful time while preparing for my visit to Zambia. On the left a picture while we are on a game drive in Pilanesberg. We are actually in a big ancient vulcano about 25 km wide. The mountains in the distance was the edge of that vulcano

We were very lucky to run into a big herd of elephants with several young animals and even a rhino

31/01/2025 After arriving in Lusaka I was greeted by my friends at the airport Dawson Lupili and Nicolas Chisha. Just like last year I am staying at the house of Dawson and his wife Severine. The plan was to stay there for a couple of days atter the necessary preparations were done for our trip. However we then heard that the bridge on the one road connecting Lusaka and Chipata was severely damaged by the flood. So at this moment we are still waiting for the temporary restoration of the bridge to be finished.

2/02/2025 One of the goals this year is to setup an effective irrigation system so that the water that is captured in the resevoirs that were built last year can be used very economically. Through my research I found out that there is indeed a very good method that was discovered around 2000 years ago by a chinese scientist called Fan Shengzi. The method uses clay pots and buries these beside the plant. The water in the pot can be absorbed by the plants root system through capillary action but - when setup correctly - does not spill into the soil thus creating a very effecive irrigation system

This is the reservoir while it was being built last year. tt can contain around 40.000 litres of water. It is placed in such a way that it captures the rainwater from the slightly sloping terrain during a heavy shower. Now in February 2025 it is completely full. All who helped building it were very happy but also surprised it actually works :)

02/02/2025 In Zambia so far we have not been able to find the clay pots. Also I am expecting them to be quite expensive. So while still in the Netherlands and preparing for this trip I was thinking about an alternative method using the same principle, whereby the clay pots can be replaced by something else. I came up with the bottle and brick system. Bricks are readily available over here and very cheap. Many villages even make them themselves. Of course finding the right kind of brick and the connection pieces took us several days. However after several days of testing we now have a system that seems to work. Of course this needs to be confirmed by testing it in our organic garden near Chipata.

Today we finally travelled to Chipata. We left around 5 in the morning so we would arrive in daylight. Compared to last year everything was green. Also the rivers were no longer dry. On the picture you see the Lyangwa river. As we approached Katete we could see the beautiful Katete mountains, As you can see we passed through some beautiful scenery. After about 8 hours we arrived in Chipata and were warmly welcomed by the family Chanda.

As soon as we arrived in the garden we wanted to test the new irrigation system. We started by placing several systems in the soil near growing plants. Shema helped put the systens together so we could also test them when we planted new crops such as tomatoes and new fruit trees. So far the tests are very hopeful. The water bottles empty very slowly with an average of about 300ml every day. We expect more water use as the plants grow. Ideally should only have to resupply the water that is used by the plants. Of course there is always some water loss

20/02/2025 Mrs. Phiri arrived early in the morning and we set out to go to her workshop. Her workshop is situated in the middle of the farmland that she owns together with her husband. When we arrived we her husband welcomed us. She surprised us very much because already she had made several example vases according to the design that we discussed when we met earlier. To say they looked beautiful is really an understatement. They are just so nice! Of course we bought them all. She also expressed that she would be interested to work with a pottery wheel but had no way to get one. We promised to try and help her get this. The only way to make that happen would be for us to make one ourselves, so the following days we did research to understand how to do this (To be continued)..... Update: it was not possible to make a pottery wheel. A local shop offered to help us with the bearings and central axel but could not finish it in time. This was due to the power cuts in Chipata. We will purchase pots from Mrs. Phiri even though she makes them the traditional way.

Once a year the Ngoni people from Zambia, Malawie, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Swaziland come together in Chipata to celebrate their common origin. It is a beautiful event that ensures peace between these nations. All the Ngoni chiefs and the paramount chief come to this event that lasts a full week. We were very fortunate to be invited and accompany Chief Mishoro and his wife to this event. Regretfully chief Mishoro was taken to the hospital because of his health. So now we had the honor to accompanie his brother. We left early also to watch the arrival of high level guest which included even the president of Zambia. While wating for his arrival we met two former government officials one of them being the former minister of agriculture. We could share about our project and both of them were very excited and promised to visit us at our Mishoro center.

Another way to improve the soil and feed the plants is by making Bocashi. It is a system that originates from Japan and it uses fermentation to process kitchen and garden waste. The key is to ensure the right kind of bacteria are active in the system. Bocashi starters which contain these microbes are commercially available but not here in Chipata :) We made the starter ourselves by mixing wheat flour, water and a little bit of sugar. It is similar to making sourdough bread. Already in a day the microbes started processing the wheat flour and a sour smell was noticeable. By adding more flour and water enough starter can be obtained in about 4 days. The next step is layering the food and garden waste (small pieces are best) with the processed wheat mixture. Every 5 centimeter layer of waste is sprinkled with the starter. The first time we tried to make the starter it did not work. Apparently the flour that we used contained preservatives that prevented the bacteria to grow. The next attempt with natural flour succeeded. In two weeks time we could already distract one litre of fluid from the Bocashi. When this is diluted a 100 times, it can be used as a biological fertiliser to improve both the soil and feed the plants. The results are very good with plants noticeably growing faster. After three weeks the fully fermented Bocashi is put on the compost heap where it further decomposes with the compost.

01/03/2025 Last year we planned to establish an organic garden in Gundani village and during the past year everyone involved with this worked very hard to make that happen. The location for the new garden is very good as it is located down in a valley with a small stream from the Boze mountain passing by. Over the years these type of streams have brought very fertile soil and therefore the soil in the garden is very good and almost black. When I arrived the villagers were eager and proud to show us the results of their hard work. Indeed the garden is very beautiful and productive. One problem that Gundani faces is drought. The Mboze mountain often blocks the rains from the north causing long dry periods even in the rainy season. Therefore during the spring of 2024 we decided to build a reservoir near the stream to capture the water. The good news is that the reservoir is working and filled with water. We still needed to install a system that separates the mud from the water during heavy rains. Furthermore during the dry season we need to extend one of the walls that captures the water so that no water is lost. In this wall we will also make a bypass that can be opened once the reservoir is full.

08/03/2025 Today we visited the farm of Shema. Besides taking care of our organic garden, he also has his own farm. His farmland is also located below a mountain and a beautiful stream is wandering through his fields. At one place in this stream he wants put a reservoir so he can grow two crops a year. When we arrived and studied the situation we came to the conclusion that a small dam would be much more suitable. We found a good location and calculated that this dam would hold about 100.000 litres of water and would cost considerably less than a reservoir. There are both risks and opportunities. The main risk is flooding which could slide away fertile land. A big opportunity is irrigation, by carefully controlling the water level in the dam and allowing it to flow into the contour lines of the land. More research is needed but this is a very good location to build our first dam!

The water reservoir is about 30 meters from the garden, so it is quite an effort to carry two buckets of water up and down everytime. So we decided to give a handpump which will pump the water over this distance. The pump is operated like a bicycle with two feet. The villagers did not expect it and were very happy.

On the picture with the reservoir you can see the system that we installed to seperate the mud from the water. The first barrier of wooden planks stops the riversand that is carried along. Once the water rises it enters in the area between the two wooden barriers. There it has time to settle down and now only the clean water will pass the second barrier and enter the reservoir. The system can be adjusted by varying the height of the wooden barriers simply by adding or removing planks.That is anyhow the idea!

The evening after we installed the barriers there was a very heavy rain. Even during this rainstorm headman Gundani went to see if everything was working according to plan. The seperation of the riversand and water worked very well, so that is very good news. However the earthen walls that we placed to extend the concrete arms to capture the water were completely washed away. So we decided to lengthen the concrete walls themselves with about 10 meter each in order to capture all the water that is coming down. In one of the walls we will also place a large bypass that we can open and close. As we speak these concrete extentions are being build, so pictures will follow soon.