Thrift Ensures Security in Honduras

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Brooke Edwards

Following a recent Heifer Study Tour to Honduras, Virginia Tech students were given an assignment: Choose one photograph from the trip and explain why you chose it and which of Heifer’s 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development it embodies. Over the course of this week, we’ll share these images and words to give you a look at how much of an impact seeing Heifer’s work in the field can have. Read other posts in the series here.

Nate Foust-Meyer, Crops, Soils & Environmental Sciences, VA Tech: The difference between ingenuity and necessity became blurry during my time in Honduras. The bio-digester we helped install was built gracefully. Pieced together with old tires, pvc , plastic sleeves, and a coke bottle it was effective, rustic and beautiful. It was seldom clean cut, but always worked and always used materials efficiently. In this image a heifer is feeding on corn stalks. The red apparatus in front of it is used to remove the outer fruit from the coffee beans. Since the picture was taken in March, the end of the coffee season and therefore the time when income begins to shrink, families whose only source of income or sustenance is coffee will likely begin to grow hungry–but others, like the one that this cow belongs to will do better. The education, training, and sense of empowerment that comes with a heifer project also brings a sense of security; knowing that their food is available and not unaffordable has freed the people in this community from the bondage of worry and fear. The sense of constant thrift and inventiveness is necessary to the people of rural Honduras. They use the supplies they have to feed those they love as best they can. It is their thrift that ensures their security.

Rial Tombes, Enviromental Policy & Planning, VA Tech: This picture was taken on the first day that we arrived in Trinidad de Copan. It was Tuesday evening, around 5:00, and one of the first things we did was walk down the dirt road from our hostel to visit the town boot maker. The Boot shop was small. A few people in our group decided to buy a pair. Those not getting their feet sized were milling around outside. It started to drizzle. We were still getting used to our surroundings and because of that felt like it was ok to look over walls into people’s backyard and look at their chickens, goats, pigs, etc.

In the distance, the group started to see a man riding down the road atop his horse carrying a bundle of corn. I can only imagine that he was on his way home from a long day of work in the fields. This man provided us all with a reminder that we were in Honduras, where having goats in your backyard, riding to and from work on horseback, and waking up to the crowing of multiple town rooster was normal. After our long journey from Tegucigalpa to Trinidad, it was this moment where I understood that I was not in Virginia anymore. I believe the CAFS cornerstone, Food Security and Food Sovereignty is showcased beautifully in this picture. This man is living his life with the hope of providing for his family and contributing to a strong local economy. Also the Heifer cornerstone, Sustainability and Self Reliance, is represented here because somebody had to harvest to corn and bring it to market or to the family table.

VA Tech Students Transformed by Trip to Honduras

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Brooke Edwards

Following a recent Heifer Study Tour to Honduras, Virginia Tech students were given two assignments. First, sum up the experience in just one word:

Second, choose one photograph from the trip and explain why you chose it and which of Heifer’s 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development it embodies. Over the course of this week, we’ll share these images and words to give you a look at how much of an impact seeing Heifer’s work in the field can have. Here is the first installment:

S. Abbott, Human Nutrition, Foods & Exercise; VA Tech: Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to the country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bonds. –Thomas Jefferson

This photograph was taken on the last day we worked in the Copantle community in Honduras. I like the way it captures Angelina and Michelle working alongside each other in Angelina’s garden. This image speaks to the Heifer Cornerstone, Sustainability & Self-Reliance. In the classes I have taken for the Civic Agriculture and Food Systems minor at Virginia Tech, we have had a lot of discussions about how “sustainable” agriculture should be defined, about the threefold social, ecological and economic components. Sustainable agriculture enables citizens to meet present-day needs without degrading the resources left for future generations. The agroecological principles we saw being put to use in Angelina’s garden and fields are sustainability and ecological stewardship in action. After our first day of work in Copantle, Angelina gave us a tour of her land and it was incredible to see the principles of ecological agriculture I have learned about being used in this Honduran community. The steep slopes that overlook Angelina’s community are planted with pineapple, banana, plantain, coffee bushes. The biodiversity here is intentional and incredible to see. Every plant chosen is there for a reason, which Angelina shared with us: the pineapple, for instance, provides natural terracing on the slope. This photo also embodies Food Security/Food Sovereignty, a core value of the Civic Agriculture and Food Systems minor. Food security essentially means knowing where your next meal is coming from. Food sovereignty refers to having access to food that is healthy and culturally appropriate, and that is produced in environmentally and socially responsible ways. A community with food sovereignty also has the ability to define their own food system. From what I saw in Copantle and heard from Angelina about her vision for continuing to build upon the resources that they have, I would say that this community is definitely on the right track for achieving food sovereignty. Heifer International’s mission is “to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the Earth.” Seeing the civic agriculture in the Copantle community, thanks in no small part to Angelina’s tireless efforts, has allowed me to understand why “caring for the Earth” is a vital part of Heifer’s mission statement. Hunger and poverty cannot be eliminated if we do not take care of the Earth. Healthy communities are built upon healthy soils.

In Context: Seasonal Eats

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Falguni Vyas

Editor’s note: In Context is a new series designed to inform and educate you on Heifer’s work in each country we have a presence. Every two weeks we’ll tackle a different country and examine unique situations related to hunger and poverty, how Heifer works to address them as well as take some time to explore local culture and traditions.

Photo by Ketowna09 courtesy of Creative Commons

No matter where you live, you can do your part to improve the food system (and your well-being in the process).

This video from www.eatrealeatlocal.ca illustrates what’s happening to the food system in Canada.

An easy way to pitch in and start fixing the problem is to eat local. When you eat local you eat with the seasons; you eat your fruits and vegetables the way they were meant to be eaten.

Benefits include:

Flavor: Fruits and veggies right after they’repicked during their growing season taste fresher and have a lot more flavor.

Environment: When grown in their ideal season,plants are naturally stronger and more resistant to pests and disease so thatthey require fewer pesticides and fertilizers

Nutrition: Certain fruits and vegetables canonly be grown during certain seasons. When you buy them off-season, you’relikely purchasing food that was picked weeks or months, earlier. Since producestarts to lose nutrients shortly after they have been picked meaning out ofseason has lower nutritional values.

And don’t forget,when you eat with the seasons, you keep wealth in your community.

While specific cropsand harvest dates vary by region, here is a sampling of fruits and veggies youcan expect to find at the market this spring.

Apricots
Asparagus
Beets
Cherries
Fava Beans
Greens
Lemons
Mint
Peas
Strawberries
Turnips

To find out what’s in store for you this spring, check out Locavore on iTunes. It’s an app that tells you what fruits and veggies are available in yourarea.

Definition: Sustainability

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Brooke Edwards

Here at Heifer, we have a set of fundamental principles to guide our work, called the 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development. One of these Cornerstones is Sustainability and Self-Reliance, and for our project participants, the focus is two-fold: one is for families to continue to thrive after direct support from Heifer has ended; the other is to use their resources in a way that will not deplete or permanently damage those resources, so they and their successors can continue to benefit.

But what does sustainability really mean? As a writer, reader and skimmer of various texts, I know how easy it is to get caught up on certain words.

To say the least, sustainability is a hot-topic, jargoney word (in fact, it was on Advertising Age’s top list of “Jargoniest Jargon” Words of 2010. Here on Heifer Blog, we’ve even got two categories dedicated to it: sustainability and sustainable agriculture.

Introducing … The Lexicon of Sustainability from the lexicon of sustainability on Vimeo.

In an effort to help make sustainability a more digestible–and livable–concept, Douglas Gayeton and Laura Howard Gayeton embarked on a three-year journey across the United States to dissect and define the myriad of terms that shape what sustainability means, resulting in the Lexicon of Sustainability.

From the website:

The Lexicon project is based on a simple premise: people can’t be expected to live more sustainable lives if they don’t even know the most basic terms and principles that define sustainability.

It’s a pretty impressive project. Watch the above video to learn more about it, and check out this page to get their full, artful glossary of terms, which includes several we like to use here at Heifer (biodiversity, CSA, food security, to name a few). Their blog includes terms that aren’t included yet in the gallery, like food sovereignty, another Heifer favorite.

This Town Grows Its Own Food

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Brooke Edwards

For your morning inspiration, I point you to this story about the town of Todmorden, West Yorkshire, that is striving to become self-sufficient in food by the year 2018. They already have loads of vegetable and fruit plots around town, and residents are free to be a part of the give-and-take.

I absolutely love this idea, and I’m interested to see what comes of it. I’ve been on my friendhbors (you know, friends who happen to be neighbors) to start something like this small-scale. Just imagine a whole town working to grow their own food! What a great example of food sovereignty.

Heifer Works for Human Rights

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Kelly MacNeil

Heifer International is observing International Human Rights Day today with a message to all our supporters: be grateful.

At this moment, you probably aren’t worrying that your property will be taken away, or that someone will intimidate or detain a family member. That’s just as it should be! But there are many people in the world who don’t have that same assurance. Their freedom and safety are threatened, and their health is endangered.

Heifer believes that every person has the right to sufficient food. Heifer also believes that every human being has the right to dignity and self-reliance. That’s why we work with marginalized communities like that of Mandira Bote.

Heifer’s Cornerstones, including Sharing and Caring, Genuine Need and Justice, and Full Participation, emphasize the need for humans to treat each other fairly and respect each other’s worth.

The UN says that with events like the Arab Spring, it’s been “a year like no other for human rights.” Still, there’s still plenty of work to be done, and a long way to go before every person has the opportunity for a healthy, happy life.

Take a look here at some of the projects Heifer is undertaking to improve the prospects of various communities.

Boycott National Fast Food Day!

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Brooke Edwards

Today is National Fast Food Day in the United States, apparently. And I want you to boycott it in favor of real food. Why do I care? First, I have a personal interest in the health of our nation’s people. Second, fast food is practically the antithesis of food sovereignty, sustainable food sources, self-reliance and caring for the Earth.

Watch this video for a visual representation on how processed foods have changed American’s health:

Here are some alarming figures:

There are more than 300,000 fast food restaurants in the United States.
In 1970, U.S. consumers spent $6 billion on fast food. That’s less than the $4.8 billion sold by farmers in the United States to local markets today. In 2000, U.S. consumers spent $110 billion.

These are not reasons to celebrate fast food, if you ask me. These are reasons to become more educated about processed foods and, if you haven’t already, make an effort to increase the amount of real, whole foods in your diet.

Here are a couple of resources for you:

Bruce Bradley is a former marketing executive from food giants like General Mills, Pillsbury and Nabisco. Visit his blog, and read this interview Grist did with him about his past and current relationship with processed and real foods.

Once you’re convinced that you shouldn’t be buying, eating or feeding processed foods, head over to the Real Food Challenge and help shift $1 billion to real food by 2020. Also check out Slow Food USA and these articles by Grist and Constant Chatter to learn more about Real Food.

This Week in Food: Food on the Move

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Heifer International

This October, we’re hosting a series of posts by Heifer Senior Coordinator of School Programs Kim Machnik. You can read our introductory post here, and check back Monday afternoons for more.

Haveyou been hearing a lot about food recently? I don’t just mean here on theHeifer blog, where we’ve been highlighting food issues and resources throughoutthe month. It used to be that most food conversations ran along a fewconsistent lines: great recipes or restaurants, what to eat to lose weight, andoccasionally the plight of those without enough to eat. Recently, though, thereseems to have been a shift in the collective consciousness. Suddenly, peopleseem to be talking a LOT more about where food comes from, who grows it, whatit does to our bodies, and our right to healthy, safe foods. A movement isafoot, populated by the likes of MichaelPollan, AliceWaters, Anna Lappé,and many more.

Communitiesare declaring food sovereignty, Wal-Mart is participating in UC Berkeley’sEdible Education class, Heifer has launched the Seeds of Changeinitiative to reinvent the food systems of the Arkansas Delta and SouthernAppalachia, and there is a huge push to require labelingof genetically modified foods. People are asking big questions. Who has theright to decide what foods are available to us? What kinds of farming are safe,healthy, just, and sustainable? What is a fair price to pay for food we canfeel good about? What is the government’s role in ensuring our food security?

That’swhy today is such a zeitgeist. It’s Food Day, a celebration of eating real anda call to action for Americans to scrutinize our food systems. Visit their website for Food Day events in yourcity, or find your own way to make today about healthy, sustainable food. Ifyou’re ready to really revolutionize the way your community eats, take a lookat Heifer’s Farmto Plate action idea.

Thismovement is in a position to change the way the US and the world think aboutand engage with food. As it gains momentum, we all have the opportunity todecide what kind of food world we want, and be part of the change that makes itso.

World Food Day: Food Prices–From Crisis to Stability

Posted on October 16, 2011 by Brooke Edwards

Today is Blog Action Day 2011. It is also World Food Day. This year’s theme for Blog Action Day is Food. Bloggers all over the world are writing about this one theme, from their own unique perspective. To find out more, visit the Blog Action Day website. Read more of our Blog Action Day posts on Heifer Blog here.

Happy World Food Day, everyone.

When you have plenty, food is something to celebrate. For those who lack enough, however, it can be a daily struggle. Food security is defined by the World Health Organization as existing “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.” Before Heifer enters the picture, our project participants are food insecure. When you’re food insecure, you might have enough food to feed your family breakfast and lunch, but not dinner. You might have enough food for your children, but not yourself. You might have enough food five days a week, but not seven; or during the harvest months, but not the thin months.

Food insecurity is scary, and there are many factors that contribute to the situation. A significant factor that has been getting a lot of attention lately is the rising cost of food. That’s the theme for this year’s World Food Day: Food Prices–From Crisis to Stability. Today we are called to “look seriously at what causes swings in food prices, and do what needs to be done to reduce their impact on the weakest members of global society.”

Those weakest members of society? Those are Heifer’s participants. At least, that’s one way to describe them before they receive their gifts of training and livestock. Our work can play a big role in helping families protect themselves against the negative impacts of volatile food prices. Because when you’re empowered to grow much of the food your family needs, you’re way less reliant on the global–and even local–food economy. That’s just as true here in the United States, but it’s strikingly more significant in developing countries, which account for 98 percent of the world’s 925 million hungry people in 2010.

What do you think? What else can be done to reduce the impact of rising food costs on the poor and hungry?

Today is also Blog Action Day, which has the appropriate theme of Food this year. Stay tuned here on Heifer Blog for a series of posts by some of our own Heifer staff with their thoughts on food.

Allin Kausay

Posted on August 20, 2011 by Brooke Edwards

Good Living. That’s what Allin Kausay means. It’s the name of a Heifer Peru project in the Cusco region of Peru. This project, which is only about five months in, plans to contribute to improved food systems and living conditions for 1,540 families. Heifer does this by helping them plan the management of their resources, implement agroecology, link to local markets, and involve them in processes that impact local and regional policies for rural families.

Friday morning we visited Dolores Delgado on her farm in the Huachanccay community about an hour from Cusco. Dolores’ farm is small, but very well organized and well-kept. In just the short five-month life of the project’s activities, the practical benefits of agroecological production are clear. In the next four or five years, Dolores intends to be a certified agroecological producer. She is already one of the biggest sellers of guinea pigs in the areal. Right now, she gets about $8 per guinea pig. Once she’s certified, she’ll get nearly $15 per. To earn even higher an income, Dolores will be able to sell an organic breeding male guinea pig for $36 each.

Have a look at her farm:

Heifer Peru and Headquarters staff arrive at Dolores’ farm.

Common on Heifer participants’ farms are project-related murals,
painted with colored clays. A plastered building for guinea pigs is a big deal here.

Cuy Breeding “Happy Little Farm”
A sign welcomes us into Delores’ guinea pig room.

We must step in ash before entering the guinea pig house so we don’t bring in contaminants.

Wire on the ceiling helps keep rats and weasels away from the guinea pigs.

Dolores shows us her guinea pig cages, which her son helped her build.
There are metal pans under all of the cages to allow for the collection of manure.

The pipes in the back allow Dolores to capture urine, which is high in nitrogen.

Dolores shows us a breakdown of her guinea pig production in terms of inputs, costs and profits.

Dolores shows us the nutritional breakdown of guinea pigs, which are highly nutritious.

Dolores grows fodder for her guinea pigs. She has a basket of ryegrass and barley.

Dolores also makes regular feed for her animals.

In addition to saving money by growing and processing fodder and food for her guinea pigs,
Dolores also cuts costs by making her own medecine. She keeps her animals very healthy,
so they don’t often require medecine at all. What she’s holding is a salve for grass cuts they sometimes get.