A Traveller’s Eye, A Thinker’s Heart
I like to tell stories. I like to take photos.
And I like to share them. Enjoy.
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HOWELL NEWCOMB (1825-1889)
My second great grandfatherHowell Newcomb was born on October 6, 1825, in Adams, Ohio, to Jane Dubois, age 37, and Joseph Newcomb, age 40. He was the youngest of eight children. Howell is a peculiar name but there appears to be a reason. Jane Dubois’s sister, Leah, married Charles Howell. Their son Sheppard Howell was
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LABORATORY SMILES IN MAPUTO
It’s hard to put a spin on a visit to a soil lab and make it interesting. So I won’t try. I visited the labs of IIAM, Mozambique’s agricultural research institute, to learn of their efforts to map levels of salinity in soil in the country. I saw lots of technicians in lab coats measuring
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FARMER TRAINING IN MOZAMBIQUE
It takes a lot of smarts to be a farmer. There’s so much you need to know. What to plant, when to plant, how to fertilise, how to irrigate. The farmers of Moamba in Mozambique have been passing on local knowledge about how to tend their crops for generations. But the climate is changing faster
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THE GOLD MEDALIST OF KWENENG
The rains in the Kweneng District of southern Botswana start in November. Until then farmers’ fields are pretty much barren. But when the rains come, farmers start to sow. I came to the farm of Mrs Rebaone Seabelo to see her innovation for making biochar. As we walked to her compound I asked if she
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THE MELON JUICE MAKER OF MOLEPOLOLE
I met a remarkable woman turning cooling melons into something extraordinary. Her juice is a symbol of innovation, resilience, and local pride. Watching her grow her business with traditional crops and modern know-how left me hopeful for what small-scale farmers can achieve, even in the face of climate change.
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SMILES FROM THE POOREST OF THE POOR
I travelled to four countries in West Africa … four which are listed among the 20 ‘poorest’ nations in the world by various economic indicies. I have travelled to many ‘poor’ countries in my life but never this poor. I saw major cities that had not been electrified. I saw towns without mains water or
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RISE AND SHINE WITH COWPEA FLOUR
The members of the Rise and Shine multipurpose cooperative in a village near Buchanan, Liberia have been growing cowpeas for as long as they can remember. They eat the peas and the greens and may also use it to feed their livestock. But they have never used cowpeas as a substitute for wheat flour. Most wheat
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IRON-TOLERANT RICE FOR LIBERIA
There are two types of rice. I’m not talking of basmati and jasmine and brown rice. There are two species of rice. The one most of us eat is Asian rice. The other is African rice. They’re both rice, but quite different genetically. In West Africa they plant both, but the African is the local.
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MULTIPLYING COWPEA SEEDS IN LIBERIA
You may not think you know what cowpeas are but by another name they may sound familiar. It’s thought the slave ships that departed from West Africa for three centuries carried not only slaves but also cowpea seeds. Some say the slaves brought that which is dearest to them and hid cowpea seeds in their
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