The leader of the Pentecostal church that owns the ground the garden is built on has tasked a Roma man, Baki, (Roma –pictured above) with setting up and managing the greenhouse using traditional growing methods.
With some help from a Dutch team, the ground inside the greenhouse was successfully leveled, fertilised and prepared for planting. The church leader paid for a new irrigation system; a series of ‘leaky’ pipes laid down the length of thegreenhouse at ½ metre intervals and connected to large, raised water tanks that are fed from the well that is already dug on the grounds. This is a gravity feed system and requires no electricity/pumping system (so no ongoing costs). The ground has been covered in a weed suppressant matting that has planting holes at approx. 1/3 metre intervals down the length of the greenhouse between the irrigation pipes below it.
The Dutch team helped with the first planting in April ’23. The Church leader’s plan was that Baki would teach the Roma children how to grow the crops. He already feeds the children every day before school/kindergarten and has a very will band of youngsters that are being trained in crop husbandry. He also has a group of young adults that help him with the garden and the feeding programme.
The harvest in Aug/Sept 2023 was phenomenal. (Pictures from Baki below.)
Fuel Macedonia is very happy to support this venture where we can.
