Wednesday, August 3, 2011

How to Build a Fence in Haiti (Stacey)

Now that the land dispute has been settled it's time to build a fence.

Step 1: Put on some sunscreen so that you don't look like this... my first blistered sunburn... it was still burned underneath the part that peeled... eww!


Step 2: Find a Live Wood Tree & Cut Branches for Fence Posts

Live Wood is a great example of how crazy fruitful this island is. You really can cut down branches, plant them in the ground, and within days they are budding – ready to become a new tree. It makes me think about the current state of Haiti and wonder how a country with such fertile land has become almost entirely dependent on food imports. But that is an entirely different blog post, or novel… and I am by no means a socio-political enviro-economic expert so it would turn into an uninformed rant.




Step 3: “Plant” Fence Posts.
With your machete clean the small branches off your “post”and shape the end into a point. Then stick it in the ground. Tree planted.

Live Wood planted three days earlier...


Live Wood planted eight weeks earlier...
Pretty Nifty!


Step 4: Run Barbed-Wire
Self-explanatory. And I wasn’t there that day…

Step 5: Harvest Some Cactus… Cacti…
It really is everywhere so you don’t have to look far. In fact, it’s a nice break to look for it rather than just look out for it! The cacti here are another chop-down-and-plant crop. As long as there is still milk in the cactus you can replant it, but be careful - the milk stains clothes and apparently it really hurts if you get it in your eye.
This one's good!


I didn't want to push my luck with the machete so Rob did all the knife-wielding.

The best/least prickly way to drag the cactus around is with a hooked stick.


... or you can put a tarp in the back of the van and haul them around that way...


Step 6:

Plant the cactus in the ground to stop animals from going under the barbed-wire... those silly goats!!


And voila! Fence complete!

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