As the frost remained for a long time this year I was careful to keep my cucumber seedlings inside but as the weather appeared to turn dh planted them out, some in the raised bed and a couple in a terracotta pot. When I went out one morning and saw this -
my heart dropped and I just felt deflated, all that work and love we had invested in those plants was wasted. They had just got to the flowering stage and now they were gone. That reaction really got me thinking, if two small cucumber plants failing made me feel like that, how on earth does it feel for those in developing countries who unlike me are not just planting and growing for some fun but are planting for food and a livelihood.
They don't have another area that is flourishing like this one (our potatoes) -
Nor can they just go to the shops and stock up on these -
Please don't allow those in countries far less fortunate than ours to be forgotten. We may not be able to get a plane straight over to Africia and sort their problems out but we do not have to give in and feel helpless.
We can -
- Pray for them and for rain and good conditions for food growth
- Sign the ONE.org petition to put pressure on the EU to ensure they do give the amount of aid they had pledged in 2011. When we can see evidence that this aid helped to enrol more than 9 million children in school and vaccinate more than 5 million and connect 31 million people with clean water, how can we not act?
- Join the cause and tweet, blog or facebook mention about the petition, at the moment just over 80,000 people have signed the petition, lets help get it to the 100,000 target.
Take a look at this and be inspired, real women training real women to farm and become sustainable by themselves, perfect!
