There is Water at the End of the Tunnel

The garden well is finished! It took over two months to dig 11 meters, but there is water in the well, and the village is happy. While we could have continued to dig further to garuantee that the well will not run dry, rainy season is just days away, and I felt that it was better to get all of the work done before the work force was lost to the fields. Ideally the village said another 3-4 meters would seal the deal, but they were willing to apply for funding to finish the job themselves at a later date. But to put it all in perspective, if the well gets low on water, it would be during this time of year (May, June), and the village will not be gardening during the hottest months of the year anyway. So I'm finishing the job feeling confident that the well will meet the needs of the garden association. I am in the process of contacting projects in the area to apply for a pump as a further water source in the garden. Things look promising, so that means that the village will most likely have two water sources in the garden (as initially planned), one of which is sure not to run dry.

As far as the valley well goes, things are in the works, and I will say no more as not to jinx it - but it looks good.

I have a collection of vegetable and grain seeds that I am planning to plant in the garden during rainy season as an idea garden/test plot. I am looking forward to this - now that the stressful work is finished I am eager to spend the remaing few months farming like a good Dogon. I'll let you know how it grows. In the meantime, please save any seed packets that you don't plan on using - they will be a huge help in getting the garden rolling in September.