Planting the Orchard

This past week has been filled with new experiences and a lot of change. During the first part of the week David, Mauro, and I hacked away with machetes to try and finish the last parts that needed to be cleared so that we could plant the lemon orchard. In the middle of the week we got 900 trees to plant. After unloading them from the truck we started planting, and planting, and planting... During the first couple of days we spent most of our time perfecting the art of planting straight rows of lemon trees. The process ended up being as follows: put up a string line to ensure straight rows, dig holes for the plants with a post-hole digger, and then stick the little lemon saplings into the holes. Although this process seems slightly simple we had several complications that prevented it from being anything but simple. Because the land that we cleared still has hundreds of stumps and small trees setting up a string line can end up taking quite a long time. Also, because there is still clumps of brush which made digging the holes rather difficult. But despite the difficulties we kept on working and by the end of the week we successfully planted around 550 plants that will be used to teach agricultural techniques to students at the trade school. Although the orchard looks nothing like the one's in the US it is a giant step for AMOR projects!
Over this week our group has also experienced some change. My good friend and fellow worker Mauro finished up his last week with us because he will be attending mechanic school. I was pretty sad to see him leave because we had gone through a lot together in the last 3 months that I have been in Peru. Another change is that there are less of us at the house because laura, kristin, and emily are in Constitution which leaves the 4 amigos (kaitlin, tara, david, and I ) at home. Although there are not as many of us at home we are getting geared up to have the meiers come and stay at the house and help with the bee program. Also, kaitlin and tara's families are coming for Thanksgiving so we will have a full house! Please pray for our new fundraising campaign which will be happening over the next couple of months. If we can accomplish our goals for the project it will be a HUGE advancement for the project. Thank you for all your comments and for keeping in touch with me. May God bless you in this coming week!