Defining our core Values, Principles and Activities
Status: 
Step:
1
The key to the ZINDUA DADA CENTER project is the devlopment of local resources without creating dependency on outside assistance that cannot be sustained by the community. What we need right now is support from organizations and individuals who are willing to reach out with encouragement, technical assistance, ideas, material and financial support, as well as a personal visit where possible. Most of all we need the knowledge and hope that people on the other side of the world care about what is happening in our beautiful tiny village in Africa.
The Zindua Dada Center, in implementing community development programs that are people-centred, holistic, integrated, sustainable and impact-driven, believes that every human being has potential that needs to be nurtured, developed and utilized for the good of society. The organization also believes in partnerships and recognises the concepts of transparency, accountability, proper management and prudent utilization of resources. Our core principles include:
"Capacity Building"- the provision of needs-based opportunities that utilize the best tools and strategies for helping poor people acquire skills, knowledge and grow.
"Community-based Approaches"- the poor people's involvement in identifying, planning, implementing and monitoring of interventions.
"Rural Development"- activities that assist poor families and communities to cope with complex challenges such as HIV/AIDS, poverty, etc and to achieve self-sufficiency in their daily lives.
These principles naturally represent a firm and solid foundation upon which any programs focused on empowering the community and enhancing the living standards of its members would be built. From a wider perspective, the project is designed to cover issues such as:
-skill training at different sections ranging from weaving, basketry, dressmaking, craft work and gardening. Plans to introduce poultry, adult literacy, carpentry, computer literacy, etc have been halted due to non-availability of tools, funds, technical support and additional space.
-Education for orphans and vulnerable community children through the LINDI EDUCARE CENTRE which currently has a total of 115 children and is being run by the CBO in partnership with the community.
-Home and community gardens-we need to move from the current system of growing maize/beans and to embrace more varieties of foods including those which are drought/flood-resistant. New seed varieties, tools and training will provide added nutrition and long-term food security.
-income generation skills for young people and the community so they can increase their access to income, basic needs and secure a better standard of living for themselves.
-OVC support and care through a community caregiver support program aimed at strengthening families' capacities to provide orphan care.
-community development through mobilization, sensitization and implementation of various income generation activities for both men and women.
-technical support through monitoring and evaluation of project activities, including training in small business and simple financial management.
All the above activities are directed at addressing the community's long term sustainable development based on the understanding that poor people are hardworking and intelligent but lack the training and immediate resources needed; that people will often gather around their own needs and the community can be mobilised to meet those needs.
WHAT WE NEED
We are calling on enyone and everyone to come and help us implement the various components of the project and to expand its outreach within the community. All the issues outlined above are equally essential for the development of this community and inasmuch as the people are trying their best to put in a lot of effort, poverty and the reccurrent destructive flood disasters continue to diminsh those efforts.Our urgent needs include:
-skill training tools such as sewing machines,carpentry/masonry tools
-agricultural training and support in sustainable agricultural techniques including basic land preparation, crop rotation, water conservation, crop diversification, organic fertilizers and pesticides.
-economic empowerment through income generation activity training, e.g fish ponds, bee keeping, poultry, etc
-education support including the construction of classrooms, books, toys, school uniforms,school equipment and supplies;
-direct support for OVCs in terms of food, shelter, clothing, blankets and medical care;
-linking with local and international organizations and devloping networks for technical support and advice;
-appropriate financial support for program implementation.
Please join the project team in realising their goals, objectives and dreams for this community. You may contribute in any way that is suitable and convenient. We shall appreciate your ideas, celebrate your input and be delighted to welcome you to Budalang,i.
Hai
often times we see our friends pulling through hard times without inspiring them. a word of encouragement is better than none at all.
We pray to the Almighty God that He sees you achieve your goals. You shall surely meet people who shall stand by your side physically as we also pray with you for positive results.
Its good also to seek lasting solutions to the problems, especially having material resource as opposed to too much of financial resource.
We thought to just say a word to you.
Be blessed
--
Framar School of Excellence, Kasama, Zambia
Hi Lilian,
I wanted to wish you a warm welcome to nabuur. I read through the many information you gave on your village and the current problems - there seem to be many... I really liked your text about participation in poverty reduction - I just have a university class related to it, and happy to get some reality-check.
The key to the development of your village probably is the empowerment of the community and the creation of a self-responsability system.
I don´t know if this helps, but there is a great website about community empowerment giving you toolkits and different modules about how to empower a community. http://www.scn.org/cmp/modules/a-mod.htm
Could you maybe tell us a bit more about what kind of activities are actually going on in the community? Are there already some basic structures of community organisation to face floods (early warning system or similar). How is the situation right now - do people have houses? Are they doing farming, what kind of farming?
Since the problems seem so many, I think you have to prioritize different projects and then define tasks people could help with.
There are a lot of resources of examples how to mitigate risk of floods, I attach some intersting ones. This gives already an idea about different possibilities.
COMMUNITY VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION TO THE IMPACTS OF
CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND EXTREMES ON SIMIYU WETLANDS: The
Case of Simiyu Wetlands, Lake Victoria Basin
http://www.newater.uos.de/caiwa/data/papers%20session/D3/Madaka_Paper_Ca...
http://www.adaptationlearning.net/resources/tools.php
Associated Programme for flood management http://www.apfm.info/capacity_building.htm
On the long run for funds:
http://blogs.up.ac.za/index.php/2009/04/24/2009-grant-competition-climat...
Hope this helps as a first step of ideas. Looking forward to hearing from you,
Maria
Hi Maria,
Many thanks for the wonderful feedback I really appreciate the way you have underscored the main issues in our village. Indeed the key to development of this community is empowerment to achieve self-reliance. This is what we have been striving to facilitate all along but I believe the toolkits will be very helpful in enhancing these effort. It is true that our community has very many problems and I fully agree with you that there should be a way to prioritize them otherwise it becomes difficult for someone to know exactly where to begin. First I will answer your questions:
(a) The organization has been involved in many activities in the past 4 years. We started with skill training (dressmaking/cookery) for young girls then the women and men came in with mat weaving and basketry which are common within the area and do not pay much. But all along the community does a lot of farm activities, especially planting maize, beans, sweet potatoes. Unfortunately the weather conditions often turn against them and crops are destroyed by floods, which could mean no farming for a whole 1 or 2 years for fear of losing the crop again. Even when there are no floods, the heavy rains are capable of causing destruction because the soil has poor absorption of water and gets clogged very easily. Still farming remains the main activity, both for individual families or community groups. During the period between January to April people are very busy with farming and have no time for other activities. Otherwise we have tried basketry and made a lot of progress except for being interrupted severally by flooding and also not being able to find any suitable market outside the region.We are also trying to introduce new activities such as beadwork/jewelry, soap making, tie & dye but people have been busy on the farms and not able to meet regularly.
(b) Basic structures of community organization to face floods do not exist, not only at community level but even at government level because when floods strike they find everyone flatfooted (including government). For the community it is a bit tricky because having experienced flooding for decades one would expect the people to know when they are likely to occur. unfortunately the rains that cause flooding in Budalang'i originate from another region in the upper reaches and have nothing to do with Budalang'i itself. There are no early warning systems and the community has no information regarding climate change impacts, etc. They are never sure when heavy rains will turn to floods and this is why it is important for them to be equipped with adequate preparedness and capacity to cope with the disaster.
(c) Housing is of poor quality, mainly small grass thatched huts made of mud and thin poles which easily cave in as soon as the waters hit. These houses are not raised and cannot withstand any single serious flood, so people are forced to live in temporary tarpaulins in crowded camps without adequate privacy or sanitation. The picture attached can give you an idea of the housing situation.
(d) This year there has been a lot of farming activity across tha community, but the heavy rains which have been witnwssed for the past 4 weeks have destroyed almost 75% of the crops and left people wondering what to do next. This happens all the time which makes me wonder if there is a way that farming could be done during the dry months in order to avoid the rains? What do you think? Could the flood /rain waters be harvested and used later for irrigation? The farms are generally very small and not difficult to manage if all goes well.
Generally, it is important to find ways of helping the community to enhance their preparedness through training for hazard monitoring, information disemmination and effective response measure which can reduce losses of lives and property. The people also lack training in matters such as evacuation, first aid, stockpiling and general prevention measures. Noone cares about what happens after the floods when the camps are closed down and people return to their 'homes', i.e no recording of damage and post-disaster needs. We would like to be in a position to train local village volunteers in disaster preparedness concepts and techniques; to mobilize funds to create and maintain a system for needs-based community infrastructure rehabilitation, e.g tree planting, sand harvesting (desilting)and improved housing, among others.I hope that this makes sense, otherwise I will appreciate your further feedback.
Kind regards,
Lillian.
Hi Lilian,
Sorry for being a bit slow in responding, I am quite busy with exams.
Thanks for all the information you provided. If I understood right, there are for the moment three major issues that could be discussed:
1. How to organise the community to be better prepared for floods.
2. How to find methods and ways to adopt farming techniques and times to the climatic situation.
3. How to find ways to generate alternative income.
You have already done a great job to set up different projects in the community. I am really impressed by the variety of activities going on there, and it is such a shame that all comes to a halt when the water is coming. Since I am not a specialist in any of these fields, and that there are no active other neighbors yet, I would suggest, that you set up discussion tasks for the three main issues - or any other you think about. And then we could try to find other mieghbours interested in helping you.
As for the agricultural issue for example, there is Ken Hagesheimer, who is an expert in irrigation systems, and certainly could advise you. We are just setting up a drip irrigation system for dry periods in Wakitaka village on Nabuur.
What do you think about this way of moving forward? I think to make people discuss your issues, and to find ressources and ideas that could help you, we should specify a bit more, what expertise you are looking for. If you need any help with setting up the tasks etc let me know.
talk to you soon,
Maria
Hi Lillian,
I have been following the discussion between you and Maria. You pointed out that both the government and residents are flatfooted when floods strike because the heavy rains are taking place farther away. Are there any research institutions in that region that are better able to predict floods ahead of time? It seems to me that if you want an early warning system, you first need to find an expert or group of experts who monitor that region (or COULD monitor that region) who can warn the community ahead of time when the floods are going to come.
Stacie
Hi Stacy, Lilian and Ken,
I have been doing some research on what is going on in Budalangi as flood mitigation projects. Actually the issue is quite topical and lots of organisations and newspaper reported about the floods. There are also specific projects going on for mitigating floods and droughts in the region. The lead organisation is UNEP in Nairobi that has a targeted project on the situation in Budalang´i.
http://www.unep.org/Search.asp?cx=007059379654755265211%3Ajkngxjgnyii&cof=FORID%3A11&q=Budalangi&sa=Go+!#1146
I couldn´t find more about the project for the moment, but one could contact them if there is interest in it.
Here is also an answer that an UNEP officer gave to a question related to Budalang´i:
"I am disturbed by the comments made frequently at the international forums that "Kenya and other African countries are water scarce", what does this mean?
Does this water they are talking about include water that goes underground? What would you suggest of run offs that ends up causing massive floods like recently in Uganda and Budalangi in kenya? Between construction of dykes and construction of dams including underground dams and tree planting on the highlands, which one is the permanent solution to the flooding problem?
Thanks for now,
Duncan
Duncan Mboyah (from Kenya)
Dear Duncan,
Thanks for your question. Water scarcity is said to occur when the amount of water withdrawn from lakes, rivers or groundwater is so great that water supplies are no longer adequate to satisfy all human or ecosystem requirements, resulting in increased competition between water users demands. Typically an area is experiencing water stress when annual water supplies drop below 1,700 m3 per person. When annual water supplies drop below 1,000 m3 per person, the population faces water scarcity. You may refer to a UNEP publication Vital Water Graphics available on our website at: http://www.unep.org/dewa/assessments/ecosystems/water/vitalwater/
Regarding harvesting water there are various methods and combinations depending on the situation and the environment this may include any of the examples you have mentioned. Water harvesting is a proven technology to increase food security in drought prone areas. Erosion control and recharge of ground water are additional advantages of water harvesting techniques. Water harvesting practices can benefit communities in many ways: When water is captured on-site, less rainwater becomes runoff – or storm water – that carries pollutants into waterways and also causes flooding; In areas where surface or ground-water is contaminated, rainwater may be the cleanest source of water. Rainwater can be captured, stored, and easily treated to be suitable for drinking; It augments available water supplies. This is crucial for areas with dropping water tables; Simple landscape features, such as berms, check dams, and basins can slow and infiltrate water on sloped land, which reduces erosion and increases soil moisture to establish or enhance vegetation. To be effective, water harvesting could be coupled with water conservation such as planting trees, installing water-efficient appliances, and recycling water. These approaches aren't a panacea for water scarcity. But they offer proof that each of us can take practical steps prevent a worse situation.
I hope this will be useful."
--------
I totally agree with Ken that the community could most likely respond to the threat by adapting farming and non-farming income generating activities. The flood prevention itself is a huge project that only the government and the UN could handle. However, I also saw that the UNEP have an environmental education programme (http://www.unep.org/Training/), so maybe this would be an idea to think about organisations that could give a basic training to the community how to respond when the flood is coming.
Looking forward to hear your reactions, Lilian,
best,
Maria
Hi Lilian,
How are you? Do you have any news from Budalang´i? Could you give us some more information and answers to the farming questions and the other questions we asked. Do you have any questions, needs, ideas? I think people would like to help you, but without interaction, this seems difficult
best,
Maria
Hello Stacie, Maria, Ken,
My very sincere apologies for the breakdown of communication .I do not know what is happening but this is the third time that I am replying to this discussion and I am really surprised that nothing is appearing online. We have a lot of problems with internet at the moment but still it indeed doesn’t look very nice when everyone is so willing to help and yet no feedback is forthcoming from this end .I am sorry and I hope this will finally get through.
To answer your questions: the weather forecast from the national meteorological office is the initial and only information available. It is broadcast on radio or television which some people in the villages either do not have access to or just don’t understand well. What the community requires is perhaps a locally-based flood forecasting warning system that is simple in design and operation, cheap, and easy to sustain. This would enable the people to be better equipped to protect life and property by achieving a high level of community preparedness through timely flood information and warnings. I have read about flood monitoring systems in other countries that involve use of monitoring instruments such as rain gauges installed at strategic locations, flood markers and river assessment levels among others. I do not know if these can work in our situation because the rains that cause flooding originate from a different region upstream and it would be difficult for the local people to monitor. This is why they need a really localized weather system which can enable them to observe the changing conditions where possible.
One of the factors that contribute to the intensity of floods relates to changes in land use such as deforestation which has been taking place in the L. Victoria basin over a long period of time. The community has to remedy this situation by engaging in extensive forestation activity, especially planting trees that can help drain the water without destroying the environment. Desilting the mouth of the river and construction of flood retention reservoirs is another measure to reverse the flooding trend, but reservoirs are costly to construct and maintain. However, activities such as sand harvesting can assist in widening the carrying capacity of the river as well as generate income for the community groups. This activity is being done on a very small scale because people lack equipment and find it quite risky. Learning new skills such as fish farming and harvesting can also reduce the people’s vulnerability and increase their production of food and income to feed their families. Training in this kind of skill would go a long way in improving the coping capacity of the community as well as exploiting the positive effects of excess waters. What about water harvesting at farm level? The region has two extremes of climate-long dry periods followed by short periods of heavy rains that always cause havoc. Farming is almost impossible during the long rains because the crops are washed away, so the water that is harvested would be useful for irrigation. Ken’s method sounds very ideal as it would provide farmers with the opportunity to plant crops during the drier months without worrying about losing them to the rains. I have requested for the DVDs and hope to share the information with the community as soon as it is available and give feedback. Is there a way to find suitable crops that are either drought resistant or flood resistant? How about some training in climate change adaptation and impacts, networking with opportunities to discuss community flood mitigation with experts through workshops, etc?
All in all, while the government focuses on disaster management policy formulation, community based approaches which tend to be small-scale, location-specific and which operate in isolation to wider national initiatives fail to be considered in wider development planning. As community members are the first responders to disaster and may be able to cope under normal circumstances, at times of extreme crisis they need access to external resources and expertise. What we are requesting for are ideas that will lead to increase in local awareness and information on climate change impacts, rehabilitation of damaged environment and infrastructure, improved housing, sanitation and catchment conservation, flood forecasting and preparedness through early warning. Generally to shift the focus to include the causes of vulnerability and how these can be mitigated at community level.
I hope that this makes some sense and look forward to your feedback
Sincere thanks,
Lillian.
Hi Lilian,
Thanks a lot for these information. Thinking about what you have written, we maybe should collect some ideas on how to start to involve the community and to make them more aware and prepared. It' s a huge task and one should think about single small steps to achieve this goal.
You said only few people have radio and understand it. Would it then maybe be possible to create a kind of weather-radio forecast team of people who have access and who could inform the community when the situation becomes difficult?
You also mentioned that the main floods come from another area. How far is this away? Would it maybe be an idea to set up some communication link with the upper villages to know when the water there starts raising?
Concerning the training, we should try to contact the UNEP in Nairobi, as I said in my previous comment they have training programmes and are the main international actor involved in this issue. Are you in Nairobi and could contact them. Or do you want us to do it?
Ken, do you have ideas for the kind of crops that would better be adapted to the climatic conditions in the village?
That's for now, I continue researching and thinking about other ideas.
best,
maria
Hi Maria,
Thanks for your feedback. Indeed the key to development or reduction of vulnerability of the community is empowerment of the people and creation of self-reliance. The community empowerment toolkits you forwarded earlier could be very useful if effectively applied and this is something that I think must be done one way or the other.While in the village a few days ago I came across an organization that is being established by some community leaders with a focus on addressing issues of flood mitigation and creating community awareness at different levels. I have quickly established communication with them with a view to getting to know what the organization is intending to achieve and in what areas of interest we can work together. I also learnt that there are plans to set up a local radio station which many people believe will enhance community interest in radio usage and at the same time be a good channel for information dissemination for the community.All these are efforts aimed at providing additional forums for community participation and better understanding of the effects of climate change , etc.I will keep close track on further developments in this respect and provide the necessary feedback.
All said and done what the people require is training on various issues of disaster management- from preparedness, response to recovery. I will try to contact UNEP in Nairobi and will let you know their reaction. In the meantime matters to do with sanitation, hygiene, food security, safe drinking water, etc remain huge challenges even when floods are not present and the community must work hard to address them in their daily lives. I am looking forward to farming ideas from Ken and at the same time encouraging community members to think more of reviving the traditional foods and plants which are good for nutrition as well as resistant to some of the harsh weather conditions. This is going to take some hard work because the indigenous knowledge has been almost 'lost' with many years of farming inactivity.Nonetheless people need to change a lot of their farming and feeding habits if they have to mitigate against food security.
I am glad that you are very committed to helping us find solutions and wish you all the very best of God's blessings.If I stumble upon any useful information, I will not hesitate to pass the same over for you and other Neighbours to develop any further ideas and /or research. Again thanks.
Sincerely,
Lillian.
MariaZ contacted me. I want to help with farming. This is unique situation because of the flooding. I am wondering how deep the flood waters are? How long does the water stay? What months are there floods? What months are there rains?
The village cannot do anything about the floods. What we have to do is learn to farm with them. Raised beds are one way of doing that but how high would they have to be? Apparently the village is on the flood plain of a river[s]. AFter I have more info I will do some research on solutions.
You can use bucket drip irrigation during the dry season. How far is the village from the river[s]?
Hello,
It would be very absurd not to take this piece of information very seriously, often people think for the betterment of their projects without having to consider issues that may be very as these, they would rather have it their way. But for real, God should guide you to bring hope to this community.
My sincere prayer is that the almight, who knows no boundaries may answer your prayers speedily,
I wish you all the best.
Moses
--
Serere Village!
I hate to be pessimistic but there is little the villagers can do about the flooding except listen to the radio and know when one is coming. The terrible flooding in Honduras with Hurricane Mitch was due to the government allowing a timber company to remove the trees from the mountains. Normally it would take weeks/months for that water to get down to the river. That time is took a few hours and took everything to the ocean.
There is no farming method that can survive a large flood. In the meantime begin using organic,no-till in permanent beds using bucket drip irrigation during the dry season. They can grow food during the dry season if they are willing to carry 5 gallons of water per day for each 100 feet row of vegetables. It works.
The easiest, fastest way to increase income in a farming community is as above. The farmers/gardeners do not have to buy anything from anybody. [seed]? All they need as tools is a machete/cutlass. I can mail you a farming dvd if I have not already.
Here is what others have said:
Tue, Dec 30, 2008
Dear Ken,
Thank you for all the DVD’s you sent me. Thank you for all the info. I am applying it in my own vegetable patch. It is working. Got half a pocket of potatoes off a square metre. So would imagine about 10 pounds per square yard. This off previously dead low, carbon soil. Sure next crop will be better. Got yams coming up on same spot already. Want to plant herbs and spices. I will send photos.
Your advise is so simple. People do not believe me when I tell them. I am so excited about growing things now. This coming from a commercial plum farmer. May you be blessed this holy season a thousand times more than you blessed me with you help.Jeremy Karsen, middagkrans@mwebbiz.co.za
Project room: Kyomya, Uganda
We have been working on improving farming techniques for almost a year. Unfortunately, the farmers are planting small plots of land that only feed their family. There is no other choice but to try new techniques to improve the output of their plot. Ken Hargesheimer suggested the "no till" farming techniques as well as the "drip system". Both have proven effective at increasing production by at least 5 fold. The time is now for Kyomya to become a model agricultural village. [nabuur.com]
Hi Ken, Maria,
I am willing to lead the community in trying the drip irrigation method so that it is possible to do some farming during the drier months when there is no threat of flooding or crops being washed away by excessive rain waters. I sent a request for the DVD to Ken sometime back and I believe that he may have acted upon the request among many others. We are prepared to put any new ideas in practice in order to find some sustainable solutions to some of the problems facing the community. We are also hoping that at least this year the rains in the upper reaches will not be too heavy and the flooding will be less intensive or not at all. Just a thought , based on the fact that the country is experiencing many unpredictable weather changes.
Looking forwrd to your usual useful input,
Lillian.
GARDENS/MINI-FARMS NETWORK
USA, México, Rep Dominicana, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Haití,
Honduras, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, England, Nicaragua, India, Uzbekistan
Workshops [urban & rural] in organic, no-till, permanent-bed, gardening, mini-farming, mini-ranching,
with bucket drip irrigation, worldwide, in English & Español
Bucket Drip Irrigation
The bucket must be suspended at least l meter above the ground. A tube is connected to the dripline and the other end is placed in the bucket to siphon the water out. Assuming the bucket is 20 liters, fill it twice for each row of vegetables. The dripline can be moved to another row for irrigating. Each row of vegetables is irrigated every other day. Plant a row of vegetables on each side of the dripline and use 40 liters of water.
Bucket Kits
The key to the simple drip irrigation system that we use is the gravity fed "bucket kit". The bucket kit consists of four 8m lines [or two of 50 ft or one of 100’] of drip tape connected to a bucket suspended 1m above the vegetable bed. Water is poured into the bucket and is evenly distributed to 100 watering points. By filling the bucket twice a day, a small kitchen garden can be watered. Studies in Kenya have shown that two of these kits can provide the water needed to produce enough vegetables to feed a family of seven during the dry season. These bucket kits are available in most countries (US$15), save water, save labor, and are easy to use. Go to Chapinlivingwaters.org.
Using sleeves
Farmers in Honduras invented a VERY cheap drip irrigation system. They buy the regular black poly hose. Then they punch holes in it where they want them with a nail or ice pick. A hot nail is best. Then take short sections [5 inches] of the same hose, cut it lengthwise to form a sleeve, and place a sleeve over each hole. This sleeve applies pressure to the hole, only letting a little water out, like a drip. This technology is quite cheap, VERY simple to do. Maintenance is also simple, because if a hole plugs up, you can often unplug it merely by taking the sleeve off and then replacing it.
Using screws
Farmers in Nicaragua are using cheap round tubing and wood screws. We tried it with great success. The screw is inserted completely into the tubing, every 12 inches, so that it protrudes through the opposite side. It is then backed off to allow water to drip through that side. The flow is set by screwing it in or out as needed. This even allows for variations in pressure due to terrain.
Pin holes for drip
I am wondering if a dripline could be made by using a hot pin or very small hot nail, etc. to punch holes in the poly tubing. I mean really tiny holes.
DIY drip kit:
Roger Pigott [San Diego workshop] decided to use two bucket drip systems on a bed in the garden but he did not want to siphon the water. Kits from Echonet.org are $25 each. He went to the hardware store and purchased: 100' of ½" black poly tubing; a post to hang buckets on; a faucet rosette washer and nut; ¾" ring washers; ¾" swivel tubing adapter; union - ¾" pipe threads and garden hose threads. One for each bucket. He drilled a 3/4 inch hole in the bottom of the buckets and installed the fittings. He then connected the tubing from the buckets to a header. He has five driplines connected to the header using tees and ells. He used wood screws for the drip outlets. There is about 60' of dripline. He planted seed in the five rows and laid the dripline over the seed. Very original thinking!
Buy enough hose to connect the drip line to the top of the bucket to siphon out the water. It takes about 1-2 hours for the bucket to empty. The dripline can be moved to another row of vegetables or plant a row of vegetables on each side of the dripline. Use more water. If one is willing to carry the water, one line will irrigate several rows during the day.
Plant green manure/cover crops to cut and leave on top of the soil to improve the soil. This is a MUST. Also, can be intercropped with the food crop.
Ken Hargesheimer
minifarms@gmail.com