ECHO was a very interesting place. I was amazed by all of the things they had there that made food, cooked food, and even cleaned water. I realized how much i took turning on my stove to cook meals forgranted. People make these complex machines that cook their food because they don't have automatic stoves like many Americans do. They had many different types of stoves that were build and our guide explained each one and how each part of them had a purpose. I recall one stove that trapped the smoke so that it would become hotter and cook better. All of these machines were hand made and I was very impressed. There were workers cutting melons as we were walking by and our guide explained that some of them were engineers and doctors and this amazed me because they were so smart and instead of doing something that made a lot of money, they were doing something to help others and our environment.
A sign that caught my eye was about Urban Gardens. It explained that they were used in crowded cities that had limited space for gardening so they would use rooftops and "above ground" gardens. Some examples are, high density household gardens, roadside nurseries, and refugee camp nutrition gardens.
I do not have much experience with gardening. When i was younger I would help my mom gardening, but it would always be flowers, not food. I think that I could grow my own food, but it would take practice. I would like to try and grow my own food some day. The people that have to grow their own food are very emperienced and maybe one day I can learn from someone that grows their own food day by day.
The ECHO field trip really taught me a lot about how people grow their own food and how they cook it. The Treadle Pump was also very remarkable. When pressurized, they can lift5-7m cubed of water every hour from water sources that are 7m deep. They are also a lot cheaper than motor pumps and they can be made locally. Our guide had someone from class use this pump and it seemed very effective and not that tiring to use. Another thing that caught my eye was the Morina, knw as "The Miracle Tree". This tree is ECHO's most popular plant and is very nutritious.
0 comments:
Post a Comment