Day 3 – new goat pen

Today we spent the day working on the RAISE farm which is adjacent to the CSI Guesthouse where we are staying and with whom we are partnering. RAISE stands for Restore Agriculture Invest in Sustainable Enterprise. They hold classes on organic farming and the 193 acres will eventually house a beautiful new community center, a large fishing pond which will also serve as a water supply for the crops, and a new athletic field for the community. In addition, several plots of land are leased to neighbors for farming. There is a large goat pen with quite a number of goats but they are overcrowded and not producing enough offspring. Therefore, we have been charged with fencing in a larger area for the goats to graze.

So today, we dug post holes and positioned cut trees in the holes by “jamming” small rocks around the base with the surrounding clay. It was hard work but an ingenious way to get the job done! We finished a full side plus about halfway up a second side before quitting time. We had a free evening tonight to recuperate from our first full day of hard labor! We ended up sorting and reorganizing the CSI storage area in the office and packing up school supplies for several area schools.

Time for rest and rejuvenation so we can string some barbed wire tomorrow!