Our Mantra: Diversity Is A Key to Sustainability Growing a diverse set of crops is important as PHF moves towards the goal of self-sustainability. It’s a modern version of "Don’t Put All of Your Eggs in One Basket". This issue came home to roost (so to speak) last year when there...
Written by Gordon Clark, H4H Horticultural Consultant An experienced county agricultural agent who mentored me many years ago had a saying: “ you can’t be a good farmer if you don’t get your butt off the tractor seat to walk your fields and look at your crops.” Wise advice! On my...
Written by Gordon Clark, H4H Horticultural Consultant The road to self sustainability is not an expressway. In a developing country such as Haiti, this road to success is similar to the roads in that country. It has detours, bridges out, burning tires in the street, flooding and all manner of barriers...
Written by Gordon Clark: H4H Horticultural Consultant Prologue: Care of newly planted trees requires a certain balance. To grow and prosper, there needs to be a balance between the part above ground and the part below ground. Trees that put on a lot of growth in one season need decent growing conditions...
Written by Gordon Clark, Horticultural Consultant “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” Ralph Waldo Emerson. You know, I would be much happier writing about sand dams...
Written by: Gordon Clark, H4H Horticultural Consultant During the summer season we raise vegetables on 3 acres in New England. On Mother’s Day it snowed and the temperature dipped to 28 degrees. Today, the temperature was 88 degrees and humid. A month ago we had too much water, the past...
Written by: Gordon Clark, H4H Horticultural Consultant Climate change is already having an effect on farmers throughout the developed and developing world. In some areas we are seeing massive flooding and in SW Haiti farmers are suffering through a prolonged drought. The PHF team dug a well at Farm...
Written by Gordon Clark, H4H Horticultural Consultant It has been my experience in working with certain NGOs and missionary groups in third world countries that they take advantage of the workers. That is why I have appreciated being part of Harvesting 4 Haiti, because it is Haitian founded and is...
Written by: Gordon Clark, H4H Horticultural Consultant Are you feeling overwhelmed with all that’s going on throughout the world? I am and its not the first time. Years ago I escorted a team of 5 doctors to Kenya to do a medical clinic at an orphanage; kind of an outreach to...
Written by: Gordon Clark, Horticultural Consultant As you are probably aware there is concern about diseases resistant to antibiotics. A result of this is the exploration of plants as medicine. I’ve been reading lots of scientific research using different parts of plants to kill diseases in the laboratory. Years ago I worked...
Written by: Gordon Clark, H4H Horticultural Consultant Haiti imports rice, vegetable oils, wheat, cane sugar, milk, chicken, fuel and more. What happens when foods and fuel stop coming? Its hard not to notice that there are looming shortages of vegetables and meats in the US. Meat packing plants have closed because...