The Labasa Hospital Garden

Sorry for not fully updating the last post.  This one will be much better. 

My main project is the Labasa Hospital Garden.  When I arrived at my site I was asked to do all sorts of things: monitor school canteens, start school, hospital, and health center gardens, promote gardening to villages and so forth.  I was excited, but had no direction.  I started doing a little bit of everything and got no where.  This lasted for two months, two very long and frustrating 'I really don't like it here' months. 

Then, one day I was called by the Labasa Hospital Dietitian and was asked if I had any experience with constructing nursery's.  I lied and said 'yes'.  I needed to get involved with something and this project seemed like an opportunity that I didn't want to escape me.  She was thrilled and asked me to come by sometime that week so we could discuss their ideas.

I went in and was told that the Minister of Health is requiring all Hospitals to have gardens.  She said that she wanted to start a garden, but didn't have any gardening experience, neither did any of the laborers. I told her I had some experience working on farms and said I could help with anything they needed.She asked me to start that month with the outside garden and as planning began with the nursery she would contact me. 

So my work with the outside garden started and we immediately started planting bele (a type of spinach leaf), eggplant, papaya trees and banana trees. I used down time to talk with the gardener about crop rotation, seasonal planting, organics, fertilizers, pesticides, trellising and all that stuff.  He's a really smart guy and picked it up pretty fast. 

In  late September I was asked to help plan the nursery garden.  They had a general idea of the size and structure but were unsure how to fill up the space.  I casually started offering different ideas about garden boxes, composting, maximizing space and how we should plant and they loved it all.  I was excited but very nervous because I had never done something.

But I just ran with it, did lots of research and proposed plans that I was confident would work, but not positive.  It was (and still is) important for me to make things as sustainable as possible so I made sure the gardener, carpenter and labor adviser knew exactly what we were doing and why we were doing it the entire step of the way.  I usually had the right ideas, but had, and still have no idea about carpentry, so a lot of my sizes and calculations were waay off.  They got a good laugh about it though and  things were adjusted as we went along.

At the start of November we were ready to begin.  All the materials were bought, tractors were rented and soil was brought it.  It seemed like magic because a lot of things here don't happen as scheduled. This is what the garden looked like before we began.

After the first week it looked like this

By the end of November we completed half the boxes and started putting up the surrounding structure

December went a little slower because people were  ready for vacation and we had a couple weeks of rain.  But we started sewing the shading cloth and put a few pieces on top so we could start germinating seeds before the holidays.

chandrika, manikam and eroni discussing filling the bed boxes

the hospitals administrative officer and i (he's very excited about the project)

chandrika and i on the first day of planting

And then January was soooo slow!  Most people didn't come back from holiday until the 20th and no real work started until the beginning of February.  But we finished the shading cloth covering and transplanted cabbage and lettuce. 

Within the first week of Feb we finished the outer structure (fencing, shading and doors), built a tool shed and moved around the boxes so we could build more than we originally planned. Here's what everything looks like as of now

We still have to finish up making the second row of boxes, building the compost bin and planting the rest of our crops. Currently we have two types of cabbages growing, lettuce and tomato. All are very delicate plants and couldn't normally be planted in the hot rainy season.
Soon we'll plant long bean and passion fruit to grow along the fences.

Why does the Labasa Hospital need a garden?

to provide local and fresh foods to patients and staff. 

to help the government save money. 

to promote gardening and show people how beneficial it is

because over 80% of the Fijian population is obese

almost 100% of the population (from a national survey) doesn't eat a single serving of fruit in a recorded week

and because its fun!

how much did it cost:

$20,000 Fijian Dollars which is around $10,000 US dollars.  The money was donated by Australian AID.

Challenges/funny stories 

I have had the most difficulty explaining composting.  Just this week I was told that they found two perfect crates for the compost bin, "we won't have to build a compost bin!" they said.  Yesterday I went to see these 'bins' and they turned out to be old rusty bathtubs taken from the wards.  I laughed so hard and tried to explain why they won't work.  I'm not sure if they fully understood, but hopefully when its up and running I can teach it rather than explain it. 

there were days when i thought that nothing would work out, but everything turned out okay. the outside garden ended up saving the hospital/government over $2,000 in the last two quarters and the nursery will be completed by April (hopefully). i'm really lucky to have fallen into this position, the opportunity to learn this was amazing and invaluable.

and while all this is happening i can't help but think about the future. i really want to continue doing gardening/farming, maybe do an apprenticeship on a farm or get a permaculture certificate...who knows though. i'm always getting the itch to go travel again, so maybe that will happen first.

random stuff about my life:

i have a new focus on life in Fiji: enjoy this experience, no expectations, just enjoy whatever i come across in my time here and try my best.

i'm reading Shantaram and absolutely love it. next stop india?

my kitten was murdered,  the neighbor boys threw him into the nearby pond. needless to say i was very upset. animal cruelty is rampant here.

i finally succumbed to the heat and bought my first fan 

i'm going to new zealand in April!

i had my first traditional fijian massage and was sore for a week

i'm going to a Ramayan this saturday and get to wear a sari for the first time!!!! i'll try to take photos

hope you are all super!

all my love
Monica