2.14

Today we went to a garden AND on a hike! This is a picture of a garden we saw on the hike. You can’t really tell because pictures don’t show depth really well, but its almost a shear cliff (the end of the garden in the pic is NOT the actual end, it’s the part that is sloping too steeply to be in the picture). When they make their gardens they have to cut down the trees and weeds with a bush knife. Then they wait for it to dry and set in on fire. The fire doesn’t spread because the rest of the jungle around is too wet. Then they take a huge stake and drive it into the ground, twist it around to turn the soil (every like two inches, its crazy!) and then they take the seeds and plant them. Nowadays sometimes people use a spade if they can find one to turn the ground, but stakes are free because its just a big stick they sharpen. Can you imagine doing this on a sheer slope in the hot tropical sun?! And most people have about 4-5 gardens! They are so amazing and strong!