How to Make an Organic Slurry with Goat Dung, Pt.I

In our organic vegetable gardens we are working to ‘legitimate’ fertilizers that are non-chemical.  By that I mean, through formal extension staff as well as by word-of-mouth, villagers have learned and/or been taught to buy chemical fertilizers in place of using animal dung.  It is seen as the ‘modern’ way to grow vegetables.   It is seen as an entry to the 21st Century…

Our farmers can make a slurry of goat dung, together with a little soil that contains goat urine to which water is added.  This is easy because most of our contracting farmers have a goat or two, or can acquire a bit of dung from a neighbour.  So it can cost nothing.

Here are pictures of the slurry being used on young plants:

Two of the women coming to work in their gardens, with goat dung in the buckets that they have on their heads.

Our farmers come about 5pm daily, to tend to watering, etc.

Hum. One of the ladies is 'caught' using a chemical fertilizer on the amaranth... what, is a mystery. Was sold by a local merchant. Another case of thinking that doing modern gardening means using commercial fertilizers and other costly inputs.

A bit of water has been added to the manure and soil to make a loose slurry. The slurry is applied to each plant with the brush - made of rice stocks - that she is holding in her right hand. Her boy is following along to add a bit of water to each of the plants on which the slurry has been sprinkled.

The garden, above, contains a mixture of tomatoes, sukuma wiki, and spinach.

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