Coming along great

 Yesterday we spent an hour in the garden , then went out on food deliveries to one of the orphanages for disables kids and to the seniors home .  

We had a guest at the farm so she joined in the fun.  The seniors weer especially happy to see her 

One of the young girls at the orphanage learning to sew 

Everything was carefully weighed and recorded as we brought the food to the kitchen .. They Kitchen staff was very excited about all the tomatoes.  It has been a bad year here for tomatoes and the price of them now is almost as much as they are in the winter so they have not had many.   Fortunately although our individual plant yield is down a bit, we have more plants this year so we have been able to maintain a great harvest.  We have even had others come out to the farm to see why we have been able to produce so much this year when many crops are failing... But I think we all have a pretty good  idea why ..

the boys out irrigating the fields 

the sheep barn is coming along great.  We have a large form that we fill with straw and clay, then as it dries we move the form along .. It makes a very solid and very warm in the winter and cool in the summer barn. 

Over the last few weeks I have shared a lot of different needs on the blog, and we have been doing great meeting them.  I thought it would be good to give a little recap where we stand right now with some of those needs .. 

 Preschool 

We are still working on raising funds to open the preschool.  The older students are in school now so the little ones are either left alone or will be going to the orphanages .  We can make it possible for them to stay at home as soon as we get the preschool up and running ..   We have $700 raised so far, and will hear this week about a possible Rotary grant for $1500 US.  if  you are interested in this you can follow this link  Making a difference to read more

 Tuition Assistance 

Sibera and Aizada on the first day of school .  All our kids have started back to school now tuition's are covered for all but one.  I have spread out payments so they could all start on time, but still have to come up with $500 to finish payments.  Also Bekah is back to school for her final year now .  She is  looking for $5500  more for her tuition if someone wants to help her out


Living expenses 

We found an apartment for Kolya very close to the University and in a good area.  He has three room mates that will share the apartment with him .   We looked for room mates based on their character and potential, not based on their ability to pay, so I could be into a bit of a jack pot there unless someone would like to help with a small monthly sponsorship to help them out ..    They are all great kids 

New Pig 

Our neighbor came over to the farm the other day, and said that they needed some money quick and asked if we would buy a pregnant pig from her.  So it is now at the farm.  We were able to offer the equivalent to the value of the meat purchased out of our food budget.  She is due in November , so once the piglets are weened, we will likely eat her unless we are able to  find someone that would like to buy her for us , or from us .. she was $250 

 Winter Coal 

Every year we purchase about 44 tons of coal  for distribution to families in need  Last year we paid  $80 a ton .. right now we can get it for just $50 a ton, so we have started our winter coal drive early.  Its hard to think about winter heat when it is so hot, but not many are and thats  why it is so cheep right now  so far we have 14 tons sponsored  so just 30 tons to go . 
Honey 

We still have about 50 Liters of honey that we would like to deliver to the different orphanages that we work with.  The cost of the honey is $10 a liter  it comes in 1/2 Lt. 1 Lt and 5 Lt jugs .  We will deliver it to orphanages as the donations come in for this.