Let's Build Gonave, Haiti!

We have finished the design of the first phase of the pollinator garden.  This is a very rough draft of the plan, but gives an idea of the flow of the park.  The number of plants listed is incorrect but were placed on the page to identify where exactly they will go. See the plans here: http://gardenplanner.almanac.com/garden-plan.aspx?p=694060 If we are able to get approval of the grant we applied for, this would be the first phase of the project.  As you can see, most of the infrastructure such as compost bin, greenhouse, storage shed, and water features are built in this phase.  This is due to the chance that we wouldn't get approved for additional phases.  Also if we had to build the next phases over a longer term due to financing, we would have all of the required facilities to move forward. Let's hope we get the grant!  Go Gonave!

When visiting La Gonave later this year, we will be discussing with the Mayor of Anse-a-Galets many things from housing to jobs.  We are wanting to build a greenhouse and a pollinator garden.  The greenhouse will not only have seedlings and starter plants for vegetables which farmers can then grow on their property, but it will also have flowers and wild plants for bees and for reforestation. So what will the pollinator garden look like, and what is its purpose?  The pollinator garden will be on about 1 acre of land, and contain many flowers that will help honeybees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other bees.  The land will also contain a 12' x 32' hoop-style greenhouse.  The greenhouse will also contain at least two honeybee hives which will aid the greenhouse and nearby pollinator garden. The garden will help with reforestation efforts in a controlled environment.  In this garden various trees will be grown.  Moringa, various banana, palm, bambo...

Day three of the Bidens Pilosa.  So when we replanted the seeds of the Bidens Pilosa, we didn't expect them to germinate so quickly.  So I will do more updates on this plant due to how quickly they grow.  As mentioned we added more seeds and slightly covered them on March 16th.  Below is a picture of what those seeds have done. Now keep in mind this is only day 3 as there was no activity before.  The fact that this plant can sprout in less than a week will make it the perfect plant to start with some ground cover in areas of La Gonave that has no vegetation. Also future plans of constructing roads will need plants like this that can be planted along the roadway and ditches.  These plants will pull out any pollution that is in the soil.  As a result the runoff water is cleaner as it enters waterways.  Due to the plant absorbing pollution, any plants that are along the roadway should not be eaten.  The Bidens, while very healthy to eat ...

Large Scale Aquaphonics could work for Gonave due to having fish farms along with vegetable grow beds.  Below is a YouTube Video that talks about how someone did a small scale DIY system. This is something that can easily be built on several acres, even if you have to build several medium sized greenhouses.  The fish farm could have Tilapia, and possibly shrimp.   Given the small amount of space needed to grow a large amount of food, this could be a very attractive option for Gonave.