We Are Ready To Plant a Food Forest

We are very excited to be in the planning stage of planting a “food forest” here at our Mercy Ministries campus in our little village of Kaya! If you are not quite sure what that is, a food forest is a permaculture garden which basically mimics a forest edge and is planted with many different kinds of edible plants. In a forest, there are layers of plants all growing together: tall trees, small trees, shrubs, herbs, and ground cover. A food forest, or permaculture garden or field, uses farming techniques which are similar to what is seen in a natural forest, but doing so to grow a lot of food in a relatively small area of land.

Steph and I are friends with a couple that run a children’s home about an hour away. We have visited there and were able to see the food forest they recently planted, and they recommended to us J.B., a local Kenyan who has travelled over many parts of the world learning these techniques and teaching them. I have been in contact with J.B. for some time now, and he came out to Mercy Home this past week in order to design a food forest unique to our property and needs. He has planned several phases, and we are anxious to get going on phase 1. This will entail 10 days of J.B. and his team of 4 more workers teaching our team of about 25 Mercy Home staff and teens these techniques, as well as fencing and planting over half an acre.

When J.B. and his team leave at the end of the 10 days, we will have over half an acre planted with a food forest, and we will have a staff trained to maintain it. This will also entail us adding 3 more full-time staff members to help us maintain the food forest and help us teach these techniques to our community.

Since the Bys family moved to the village of Kaya in western Kenya, it has been our prayer that God might transform the community. First and foremost, that God might transform the village members through the Gospel, which was not known here even though there are many churches which claim to be Christian. But we also desire to give our village other opportunities through education, including improved farming techniques that can better support their family’s food needs and help them earn a much needed income.

In a 2019 study, Kenya ranked 8th in the world for having the highest number of people living in extreme poverty. The World Bank defines extreme poverty as having less than $1.90 per person per day. The area in which our village is located, Bungoma County, is ranked 2nd in Kenya for the most people living in extreme poverty. Restrictions stemming from COVID-19 have only compounded the problem. We very much desire to do all we can, not just to focus on temporary poverty relief projects, but to uplift our village with long-lasting solutions.

Please join us in praying for the success of this project, and if you are able, please consider making a donation to help make this plan a reality.

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