John's Next Step

Near the end of the two years of service Peace Corps holds the COS (Close of Service) conference. While other training might be at places with few niceties – the COS conference tends to be at a nice place. We still have two people to a room, but in Ghana and in the Eastern Caribbean both places had a nice pool. Well the pool was nice by Ghana standards, and I thought I had a picture of the Ghana pool... Center for the Ghana COS (Obviously in the southern half of the country) OK, the pool was bigger at this hotel There are several reasons for the conference. Of course there is paperwork that has to be completed before you can leave a Federal agency. One of the major documents is the Description of Service (DOS) that is held by the Peace Corps for something like 50 years. This is the document that describes what we did and is useful for people looking for work in the Federal Government (and for other reasons).  So a one to two page essay with a bit of standard ve...

People need to more resilient in the face of climate change. I’ve talked about reducing the chance of flooding and the damaged it can cause.  I’ve also talked about ways to increase food production.  Resiliency requires food preservation and storage. If an island is hit by a major hurricane the food system will be disrupted between 6 months and a year. I think it is prudent for families under such threats to save up at least a 3 month supply of food. Water filtration or other water purification methods is also a good idea. You don’t have to be a prepper or a Mormon to stockpile some food and water. And you don’t have to live on an island to benefit from stocking basic foods routinely used. I don’t recommend buying expensive long shelf life disaster food from some website. People can buy extra when things are on sale with the goal of an extra week, then extra month, then extra three months of food.  Longer is better. Food preservation When I had a large gar...

I understand that raising animals for food is a horrible idea for some people. And it does take some linguist gymnastics to say that one will raise an animal humanely so it can be slaughtered for food. Factory farming, that brings low cost meat with high costs to animals, people, environment, and food safety has no defense and I would prefer it eliminated. Still, I think animals have a place in the food system in some situations. A well balanced ecosystem has plants, animals, and fungi – a well balanced farm can utilize a similar balance. I am not an expert in this area as demonstrated by my trial project in Ghana. The people in my part of Ghana were generally protein deficient and so adding meat to the diet was one avenue to improve the situation. Despite the heat they did raise rabbits. One of the building for rabbits These did get a bit of sunlight if they wanted The method generally used in the Upper West where the temperature can get above 115 F was a colony m...

In this new climate we need to protect and improve our soil to grow sufficient crops.  However, good land doesn't do much good without good seeds.  We must protect and improve the seeds we need to grow those crops in this changing climate to survive and thrive. As a gardener I’ve long been interested in growing the best vegetables possible. Before high school I had a good size garden. With paper route money I subscribed to Organic Gardening and Farming for ways to improve my garden. I tried the hybrid seeds and plants sold in the mass market and generally didn’t find them significant better, and commonly not as tasty, as heritage/heirloom varieties. I hope he had good yam cuttings for his garden with the work he is doing These varieties allowed me to save seeds that were true. I could select the plants that did well in my microclimate and select for taste, color, early production, whatever. I wanted plants that didn’t require the chemicals or coddling sometimes ...