Finishing the Project

The timeline for construction and purchasing of materials has come to a close this Nov 13th. The funds are officially spent and I recently turned in the final project.

Completed Items:

-All 23 brick ovens are built and fully functioning

-The house for the community brick oven is up and looking nice, near the school

-Community trees at the church were planted (over 100 lapacho trees)

what does this tree look like? It can come in orange, pink and yellow

Heres the tree it will be and the church yard with the little plants.

-Personal family trees to the best of my knowledge were also planted (10-50 per family)

-Worm tank (leftover brick and cement) was constructed and worms (californian short worms great for manure) were brought from nearby town.

A view of the brick tank and its top-to keep chickens and rain out

-16 Bee hive brood boxes (op. for starting beekeeping) were purchased and bees are in the process of being captured or transfered to these boxes working with interested bee farmers.

Heres one of the brood boxes all set up with a hive captured under some shade. Farmers were investigating it in the Day Camp on Soil Renewal that we did this November.

-Oven cooking classes- We did one big cooking class together- how to do cake in the oven, then family by family we had personal classes.

Hope to get a few more photos of cooking in action!

Project Changes:

Why did we decide to build a worm tank and buy modern langstroth brood bee boxes?

There was leftover money from the fall of the price in cement and bricks locally to allow for other expenditures. Leftover bricks and cement easily makes a nice worm tank since worms cant get out and chickens cant get in. Lombriculture is something the local engineer of soil renewal recommended the town and many farmers were interested. It will improve the garden crops, trees and citric trees of the area. Ideally, the community will use the manure of the tank for their gardens and when there are enough worms, they can produce their own worms in their own closer to home worm tank. So far the worms seem happy and are fast producers.

As for the brood boxes (location of most brood- baby bees), there is great interest in converting over to modern hives in town in order to produce better honey, so we decided to use the rest of the funds on the boxes. Many farmers see the benefits of beekeeping but now want to try using modern hives in addition to kenyan top hives that are a bit more messy to use with less production. The brood boxes should give the beekeepers the start up capital to work bees, sell honey and benefit from their produce so that they can make their own supers and buy their own bee equipment in the future.

The project continues:

Hopefully the community will continue using their brick ovens and try new healthier ways to eat.

They do have various trained brick layers to fix brick ovens and maintain them and if other members of the community want brick ovens, they can also make them.

Ideally the community will use their knowledge to continue planting to have trees for fire wood and for various other important needs.

The school and community will learn with time how to take advantage of the community brick oven cooking together, especially the children if they get the garden going with their new running water.

Sorry to have not posted in a while, but I hope to continue blogging in order to clear up questions and insight interest in how the project is going.

closing in on the community project

The community fogon at the elementary school is built and the house for it is enclosed and has its roof, doors and windows and is just missing a few touches!
So what does this mean? It means all of the basic components of the project are complete. What does that mean? It means its time for an in-project celebration! We bought some meat and supplies with the womens committes funds and will have a party with some tunes at the community shed/tinglado!
Then what? Cant just party and let it go! We will continue with meetings and do some cooking classes together and with the kids at the school for healthier recipes and proper use of fogones. Baked empanadas are a current favorite, much less oil and much cheaper.
Then? I was hoping for a solicitude for seeds to have arrived but unfortunately it hasnt. The majority are planting their own, bought or found.
Ha upei? And Then? Yeah, some prices went up and some went down so there is leftover funds. Not much, but enough to do a few things. We made a worm growing tank for compost for community gardens. A local engineer will donate the worms or we will buy them from German town nearby. We made the tank out of the leftover bricks and cement. There are still funds and I believe I will work with the agricultural committee to get those interested in a modern bee hive. A lot of people are lacking that startup infrastructure and the more bees, the more honey theyll have and then the more hives and tools they can buy for themselves. A local cooperative will also supply more advanced tech classes on beekeeping for those interested. Should be fun!
All for now, what a hoot!
-DeGrush

Fogon Progress Update

We have finished all of the members fogons, all 22 fogons and they are all working wonderfully. Many have been using the ovens and trying new recipes and notice the diference on their impact on health. We have enjoyed the end of a cold winter sitting around the brick ovens without all the smoke of floor fires.
The community and especially the parent's school commission has been working to create the school kitchen house. It will be about 3meters by 3meters plenty enough for instruction and for the fogon space. The basic frame is already set and the wood is all there. Once that is set the bricklayer will make the community fogon and then we are set for construction!
Hope to keep writing more updates!
All for now!
-Laura

Almost Done Making Fogones

Before I head out for a vacation birthday trip, I wanted to update folks back home how the project is going. The bricklayers have had great success in effeciently making quality brick ovens. They have made two fogones per day this past week and a half and each fogon has turned out well. I have been visiting and helping the work also, making sure things go smoothly. All the materials such as brick and cement have arrived so they can finish and work continually. By Tuesday there should be 21 fogones set. Then the two bricklayers will do their family fogones by wednesday or thursday. The womens groups funds and community funds will go towards building the school fogon shelter. Extra bricks and materials might upon group consensus go towards building a community worm manure tank to be used for gardens and fields. Other extra funds due to dropped prices will have to be discussed. There might be interest in making cement top latrines for more higiene, equipment for planting more trees or similar community health oriented goals. I will notify any changes and take more photos of the results! All for now! Suertemante- Good Luck

fundraiser night

St Johns Festival or San Juan Ara is big in Paraguay and there are certain traditional games always played. We did a fundraiser to increase the funds that the womens group has by celebrating San Juan Ara. Ara in Guarani means time or sky. We covered entradas or entry tickets and with the tickets did a raffle for a huge chipa (traditional cheesy cornbread) which my neighbor mom called a tractor wheel it was so huge! They also sold 40 chipa inside the community and got a good profit from that.
The first important element of San Juan partys are the Kamba, or dressed up ghostlike backfield spooky characters kind of like halloween. This year the Kamba were quite clever and dressed up as Laura, Matt (the last volunteer) and other local community members. Its a way to make silly comments on people without them knowing who is inside the costume. I turned out to be a very large man and a short skirt and they said that my purpose in the community was to sell soap and that I dont know how to dance. Matt was called a crazy beekeeper.
Here are some photos of the Kamba
On the side is Kamba Matt in shrubs and I in a skirt dancing
Then theres the game of run and get a twig through a small ring

Then they set things on fire, footballs, hay, fake people dollies

Then theres the game of find the hidden Beer in the ground

then theres the slippery log to climb, covered in pig fat and soap. Its got chipa, candy and sugar cane whisky on top, worth ruining your clothes for apparently.
Kamba Laura in her short skirt proved the best at climbing the pole and getting everything down.
Then one of the other activities is heraokai or nameburn game. If you dont pay 1mil when called a doll will burn in your name. We loaded it with small explosives. Everyone practiced how to say Degrush especially for this game. Its usually a blast.
It was a fun night and got us some more funds to better pay our brick layer and any small thing for the project to turn out well.

Project Update- Construction Begins!

Our materials have arrived and the families worked hard to distribute them. We did a lottery and started working this last week, rain and all, with various families and two brick layers. The results have all been great, each fogon or brick oven coming out very well. The families seem real happy and excited and have tried all sorts of dishes in the oven already. It also has been real nice to see quick results this week since its been real cold down in the 40s and the oven heats up the kitchen real well without the smoke.
Here are some photos of the construction process_
First we had to make the mix_ Sand, red dirt, molasses and a bit of cement for the chimney. The kids had some fun preparing that up.

then the brick layers took some measurements, took out some kitchen wall boards for the chimney and began! First they worked together and then split up to make the other fogones by themselves.
Here laying out the basic form

Here they are putting in the ashpit

Here they are setting in the metal oven and placing the iron plate for boiling and frying.


Here they are working on the chimney, nice and chilly in the rain!


Here we are drinking mate and trying it out already. As it begins to dry the smoke is already circulating well and going outside the chimney instead of inside. People are real happy and warming up!
Here we have tried out the oven and within 20 minutes the oven was real hot and within 30 minutes we made traditional chipa almidon, or corn bread with cheese and mandioca casssava starch

Here is another fogon done at a diferent house there are a total of 5 fogones already made and when more bricks are ready we will continue with the lottery to construct fogones for those who have paid up to the committee monthly cuota, have the molasses made and the workers ready.

Metal Oven and Plancha Iron Board

We hired a company in San Lorenzo near the capital Asuncion to bring us fogon brick oven making parts.

They came today and made it to Caazapa. Soon a smaller truck will bring them all the way down the dirt road to the community shed in Ytororo.

But the materials look good and the project is on its way! Here are some photos of the parts Im talking about.

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Plancha means iron for ironing or in this case for cooking!

Horno means oven, in this case a metal casing that fits inside the set bricks to keep the oven form. Cookies and pizzas here we come! Not to meantion maybe something healthy!