the past couple weeks have been good.  We have been doing a good bit of work up at the farm in La Muralla.  We have been clearing these tall grasses and planting velvet bean.  Velvet bean is a very aggressive legume that helps put nutrients in the soil.  we are also hoping that it beats out the invasive grasses that have taken over.  it is kind of like a battle, using different qualities that plants have to use them against each other, or with each other.  Also last week there was a death in the La Muralla community.  A father and his son where walking down the trail and the father had a loaded shotgun.  He slipped and the gun fired and it peppered the son.  It wasn´t serious though, certainly nothing fatal.  They took him to the hospital and things seemed to be okay, but the doctors would not release him because they wanted to observe him.  After a few days he caught pneumonia and died.  We went to the funeral then next day; it was really sad to see.  It was a good reminder for me that even though I come from such a different walk in life, from the US, they come from farming the hills for generations, there are certain things that are so common to all of humanity, and in the end these things are so much greater than any difference. 

Larry and I recently got back from Nicaragua.  There we visited a demonstration farm called Rancho Ebenezer.  they emphasize small livestock,  goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits and vermiculture (worms).  It was pretty amazing.  Their thing is to help campasinos to use a mere 1.2 acres (3/4 of a manzana)  to grow all the forage necessary to take care of a bunch of these animals that will suit much of their dietary and all of their financial needs over.  the program as been sucessful in 9 communities throughout Nicaragua. 

While there, my heart was stirred by the Nicaraguan people and there history, so I did a little research.  Early in the 20th century, after the Nicaragua gained independance from Spain, seeking to secure economic interests in the country,  the US landed a bunch of marines.  Resisting this invasion, Sandino, organized a small militia to fight the marines.  He traveled through the mountains, using guerilla tactics, was not able to be caught by the invaders.  After time, recognizing that he would not defeat them, and with his arms in short supply, he sought aslyum in mexico for a time, where he had somewhat of a spìritual transformation.  While in Nicaragua, things came to an agreement, Sacasa was elected president democratically, and the US pulled the marines out.  But not without establishing a National Guard, funded and armed by the US.  at its head was general Samoza.  Sandino returned proclaiming some of his new religious beliefs, that of the Spirit of Light and Truth which is Love, and to negotiate with Sacasa, the new presedent.  They agreed that Sandino and his group would get land in a northern region to practice their cooperative land ownership intentions.  At the end of the meal with the president, and perhaps unbeknownst to him, Samoza, intervened, capturing and executing Sandino in Managua.  Two years latter Samoza, backed by the US, overthrew the governement and established himself dictator.  A tyranny that would last 40 years.  Samoza and his sons ruled oppressivly, ending up with over half of the farmable land, and controlling most of aspects of the economy.  Father Samoza´s reign ended when a 27 year old poet shot him dead on the street.  The national guard then shot the poet over 50 times.  After his death, his son came to power as president, the other son being the head of the national guard.  Things came to a head when in 1972 when an earthquake destroyed much of Managua, the capital city.  Samoza intercepeted much of the international aid, and sold it to the suffering people on the streets.  The cruelty had gone too far, and adopting the name of their national hero sandino, the sandanistas came to power.  Samoza jr fled to Miami, and then to South America where he was executed by leftists.  The sandanistas very much cruel also, faced more military struggle as the US launched a contra war against them from Honduras and Costa Rica, which fueled a terrible civil war that lasted about a decade.  in the late 80s they came to a cease fire, had an election and suprisingly the sandinistas where voted out of office.  since then there has been peace, but certainly not prosperity in Nicaragua. 

im just writing this off hand, so if any of the info is wrong let me know!