Bumper crops and big smiles

In each 30-family zone, 1 or 2 families volunteer to host a demonstration farm that demands scarce space and careful attention. Here, farmers gather to see the flourishing result of a demo garden planted by one of their colleagues.

The long growing season is officially over in Kenya, and neatly stored sacks of maize and beans now sit in the corners and closets of UKR families' homes. Food security is already better, and those same families are now busy planting or even weeding their second crop of the year.

Equally remarkable is the diversification of often-tiny farms. The 130 families who joined Family Care last year are now planting new types of veggies, pairing and intercropping, making compost, and adding farm animals into a loop of sustainability.

Figuratively, and literally, families are eating some of their chickens' eggs while lettings others hatch so their flocks will grow.

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  Members of the Mukhonje Cluster group, working on Laurence & Rose’s farm in Ilesi.

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  Laurence in his farm less than a year later, with intercropped vegetables and young banana trees.

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  Maize is peeled and sun-dried

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  After drying on the cob, maize is shelled, and then sun-dried again before storage in sacks.

Plentiful, fresh vegetables are always good for growing children