Help expand "Young Smart Farmers" organic gardens

The rains have arrived and we are ready to collect the water for our gardens and children's home, thanks to your gift of the Rainwater Catchment system.

The water flows from the roof gutters on the offices into pipes that send the water into the biochar/sand filter and then into the holding tanks.

We still need to add small pumps to circulate the water and send it over to the fields and children's homes. 

With close to 50 people on our campus, we are very aware of water needs.

April and May were hot - over 100 degrees F, 40 degrees C - and the local water supply was diverted to the city.  As our nearby lake dried up, our water table lowered and our wells went dry.

We had a few short rainfalls that collected in the Catchment tanks. We gravity-fed water through a long (very long) hose to the children's water tanks when we ran out just before the summer rains started.  The tanks filling from the roof of each dorm also provided emergency water (photo below).

We continue to have a steady supply of vegetables, and some fruit, from our fields and trellises set up around the campus.

The children have been joined by relatives from their home villages on weekends -  a few people from a village join us on Saturdays, on a rotating basis, to help us do maintenance and keep the fields thriving. The visitors keep the children on their toes and everyone enjoys getting together.

We just celebrated our 16th Anniversary and were joined by several of our graduates. 

Nit was back from Europe with a completed MA in Social Work. 

Wipope came down from the mountains to tell us about his cafe and coffee roasting business. 

Naan and Jiew took a short break from nursing school.

Foo, New, and Joy were able to get off for the evening from their jobs as a chef, manager of a large Chinese restaurant, and hotel receptionist. 

Tawatchai and Jambo stopped by from their senior year at vocational high school in mechanics and computers.

We thank you for making this all possible!

Best wishes to you,

Dana, Michael, Evelind, and the Warm Heart Family

The PM2.5 levels are in the red zones every day.  The children are on their summer break before school starts in mid-May and most have headed for mountain villages with cleaner air.  Our staff and a small group of students are here helping to keep the vegetables watered, repairing the dorms, and getting the gutters in for water collection when the rains start.

Before they left, the children cleaned out the dorms and collected mounds of dried leaves for mulch and compost (photo below)

The Rainwater Catchment system is almost finished.  The catchment basins have been painted with sealant, the safety fencing has been completed, and netting has been put over the gutters to keep the leaves out.  The underground pipes are in place,  The final step is repairing the old gutters and adding new ones to channel the rain off the roofs.

Relatives came down from the mountain for a day to catch up with our staff and set expectations for the next school year.  They pitched in to help build the drying shed for the boys' clothes.  Once the rains come, drying clothes requires a well-covered area to let in the sun and keep out the rain. We finished the girls' renovation last year, but waited for the dry weather and funds to finish the boys'.

Thank you for your enduring support.  This program is feeding the children and teaching them sustainable farming methods that they can share in their communities.

Best wishes for a wonderful spring season!

Evelind, Dana, Michaela, and the Warm Heart Family.