PLENTY BELIZE

Gardens Project Manager, Abib Palma, demonstrates how to create a simple pole and string trellis for beans.

Plenty Belize held three days of organic gardening workshops in January that were attended by 29 teachers from schools in the Toledo District of Belize. The workshops offered hands-on instruction about making compost and the art of planting seeds and seedlings. Additional topics included fertilization and non-toxic pest control by employing local plants such as jack beans, jicama beans and madre de cacao. There were detailed discussions about incorporating gardening activities with classroom curricula, especially science and math. On the final day the group visited the school gardens of ten different schools so the teachers could get a sense of what the other schools were doing.

Teachers learn how to make seedling pots from recycled bottles and cans.

In January, Plenty Belize had an information booth at the Toledo Community College Career Day Exposition where students could learn more about what Plenty Belize does.

In February, Plenty Belize and Maya Mountain Research Farm held a 4-day workshop about installing and maintaining photovoltaic electric-generating systems. Participants will assist in setting up a system in the "off-the-grid" village of San Benito Poite which will power a village computer lab.