For the past few years, our local director, Mbarouk, has been telling me about a small island off of Pemba called Kokota. Kokota is one of those places where you have to ask – how did people ever come to settle here in the first place. Although the land is fertile and the fishing is good, Kokota faces one major problem. They have no fresh water.

Over the next few years we plan to expand our programming to develop new and innovative climate-change proof technologies. We’re planning on rolling out a whole host of new initiatives such as beekeeping, alternative energy, earth block building and fuel-efficient cook stove production. In light of our new initiatives, I thought I’d head over to Kokota and see things for myself.

Fishermen off of Kokota Islet

Approaching Kokota

When we first arrived we were greeted by a gang of kids. Not in school I asked? No school here, came the reply. No water, no school and no medical dispensary. This island population of 500 was truly the forgotten. Government, development groups and NGOs had completely missed this isolated islet.  As we walked up from the shore I quickly noticed the desperation. A pot was placed on a thatch roof to collect water.  A single gutter stood alone outside a hut.  All the wells that Kokota Islander have dug to date have turned up brackish seawater, unfit for drinking. I was told that people would make daily trips to Wete, Pemba, almost 4 hours away by wooden boat in order to collect water.

The Kokota Islet Welcoming Comittee

Rainwater Harvesting

More Rainwater Harvesting

I was told that the one person in town that could read and write would hold classroom sessions under a baobab tree. An effort was made to construct a school and the community had purchased bricks and assembled walls, but ran out of cash before they could put a roof on the structure. We talked to a group of women and quickly realized that trees, agroforestry and charcoal substitutes were far from people’s mind.

The Tree Serves as Kokota's Public School

And Here are the Students

As we left the island, I knew we’d found a new community to partner with. Trees and agroforestry will come in time but before that, we’ll put a metal roof on the school, collect rainwater and build storage tanks in order to store the thousands of liters of fresh water that fall from the sky during the rainy season. If people are going to plant trees and care for their environment, they’re going to need some drinking water first.  Kokota, Community Forests International will be back.

-Jeff Schnurr

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I’ve been working these past few weeks in CFI’s Native Plant Nursery and Food Forest Garden, bundling them up for the winter. Luckily for us, it has been a warm fall, so we’ve had a little more extra time to get things ready for the snow….

A Snowy Nursery

Food Forest Garden?

A Food Forest is a garden that is constructed in the image of nature. We see that nature provides for itself and does not need watering, fertilization, or even weeding. Yet, nature is productive and resilient when it is not disturbed. How can we bring these same principles into our gardens? We create the same necessary ecological functions we see in nature and bring them into the food forest.

Echinacea - Food Forest Garden

We started with the soil, 3 years ago. We added layers and layers of organic material – converting a lawn into a forest.

Food Forest Garden - The Beginning

Starting with brown grassy soil in 2009 – we now have black loamy soil and our plants are thriving!! We bring in wood chips and straw every year to continue to build soil, while adding plants that: attract beneficial insects, repel pests, create natural mulch, accumulate necessary nutrients, create wildlife habitat, and provide food and medicine. As years pass, our Food Forest garden will need less outside input because nature does the work for us!

Native Forest Garden - Summer 2011

Native Forest Garden - Mulched for the Winter

What we can create out of our Food Forest:

Native Forest Garden - Summer 2011

Sage Tea

Oswega Tea

Oregano Spice

Thyme Spice

Lemon Balm Tea

Apple Sauce, Apple Pie or just plain Apples

Daylily Fritters

Gooseberry Jam

Current Jam

Blackberries

Native Forest Garden - Mulched for the Winter

Yarrow Tea

Wild Ginger Candies

Northern Bayberry Leaf Spice

Morel Mushrooms

Highbush Cranberries

Fiddleheads

Rose Petals

Rose Hip Jelly

Wild Cherries

Elderberry Wine

Morel Mushroom

Elder Flower Tea

Elderberry Syrup

Elderberry Jam

Red Clover Tea

Witch Hazel Decoction

Wild Raisins

And coming soon: Native edible nuts!

Our Native Plant Nursery

Every year in Canada, CFI aims to plant thousands of trees in the Maritimes to restore biodiversity in the Acadian Forest. With many nurseries focusing on softwood trees, we saw a need to use under represented Acadian Forest species in our projects. So we collected seeds for stratification and planted trees in beds to use in our restoration projects for the summer of 2012.

Native Plant Nursery

Next year we hope to provide: Eastern White Cedar, Sugar Maple, Red Oak, Ironwood (Hop Hornbeam), White Ash, White Pine, and Red Spruce; as well as introduce shrubs and understory herbs into the nursery.

The chosen trees are long lived, slow growing, shade tolerant trees that are needed to restore the biodiversity of our forests so they can overcome the effects of climate change. Since the effects of climate change on the Acadian Forest are unknown, the best practice is to restore diversity by planting a variety of native softwoods, hardwoods, shrubs, and herbs in our backyards and on our woodlots.

Biological diversity includes a variety of plants, genetics, habitats, soils, and even tree ages. With diversity we create forest resilience that can withstand environmental stress and climate variability. We carry these ethics with us in our international projects, in hopes that by promoting community involvement and sharing knowledge globally, we can together make a difference.

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