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It’s been raining so much that no one can bring us a truck of soil to continue planting all these sed trees. We’ll plant what we can with the remaining soil, but until we receive more soil, the large bed of Sed trees can't be transplanted. Gentle hands will have to pull them all apart if they get too big.
On a nearby mountain are Acacia trees. Although they are considered invasive, they’re actually valuable because they grow fast and make great fuel for cooking. The Acacia tree also essentially becomes a placeholder and is prioritized for use, allowing other trees that offer fruits and crops to stay alive and avoid being cut down. Acacia trees also make great stakes for marking and supporting newly planted seedlings.
We cut these branches and turned them into 3 feet long stakes. Then our team painted them different colors so we could differentiate between each tree. Each of these colored stakes is being planted next to a new seedling of cacao, breadnut, or kenep fruit. We’re planting nearly 400 trees on Tisonson's land, and the colored stakes will allow us to track and prove tree survival. In combination with the stake color, the tree's size and species will provide enough data to improve the location services of our tree tracking service. Now we can determine each tree's growth over time along with its carn absorption data.
Five hundred trees went to Kouray with Leader Benal, and the video below shows an excited group of people calling out the tree species they want, hoping to get the best trees first. Leader Benal will keep track of every tree given and be sure to get each tree tracked, so the landowners can get continual support to ensure the trees they take home will survive.
Rosnie and Marie Maude are back from their training and making valuable breadfruit pastries at our nursery home in La Sikri. This is a major milestone for our work, and now people from surrounding locales are pouring in to taste our konparet. So far, no one has gone home disappointed.
One of our missions is always to inform, so we're making sure the nutritional value is shared. This week we are experimenting with pricing materials per konparet. Next week, we’ll present the konparet in schools and share the importance of breadfruit and other nutritious foods.
How many trees are below?
Each indigenous "Sed" tree (Cedrela odorata) will need to be planted and cared for through the hot summer months to make it through the fall rainy season. Our team will have to regularly water the seedlings and mulch the soil to keep these seedlings alive.
Planting sed trees on mountainsides brings an extra challenge for workers who carry the water up to high altitudes. But the high altitudes are where trees are needed the most to stop erosion and mudslides while also filtering water to the water table and springs.
Adding 800 new seedlings to a mountainside costs $360 to water through the summer and allows farmers to maintain a 90% seedling survival rate. Without water, more than 80% will die.
Thanks to our monthly supporters, we'll most likely be able to water a third of these trees in the coming months. Caring for the other two-thirds will have to come from new monthly donors. So currently, we need an additional $240 in monthly donations to guarantee the survival of these trees. This could come from 12 donors giving $20 each or 24 donors giving $10 each.
Every additional dollar we that comes in monthly increases our survival rate. So on this Earth Day, please consider donating monthly to invest in the hard work Haitian farmers and landowners have started.
“I like trees, I like shade. I am thankful for this tree project I found.
"I was planting Sed last year and now I have fruit trees. I am especially thankful because these trees will be what’s here to represent me when I’m gone.
”I’m Lexi Augustine second section commune Saint Louis-de-sud, la hatte”
Lexi lives on his land with his wife He’s working hard to keep his trees alive. His children no longer live with him, but when he’s gone, he wants the community to use his trees for shade and food.
Our team is digging holes ahead of time. Once planted, they add mulch on top and rocks to hold the soil and water together. This land has good soil, so today, we planted 400 trees. Tomorrow we'll hire someone to keep the seedlings alive and watered.
Marie Maude and Rosnie went back to Jeremie for a seminar on making komparet (breadfruit). Recipes aren’t enough to make the perfect komparet. Witnessing the process is essential to learning how to make a good komparet, and being able to visit the factory will make them master komparet makers in no time.
Claude, one of our tree trackers, has found a valuable Sed tree native to Haiti. Claude will photograph the tree in a tree tracking app that geotags and timestamps it. Once the tree is geotagged, it's uploaded to a world map for anyone to see. The farmer whose land the sed tree grows on will also be able to see the tree on the world map, and Claude will explain how his trees are helping with reforestation projects and self-sustainability. We're also working on a sponsorship program to show the farmers that donors and people worldwide want to support their work in growing the trees. Currently, we pay 2-15 cents for every ecologically valuable tree planted and provide education on how to keep the free alive.
The Haiti Tree Project is a 501c-3 charitable organization, registered in the state of North Carolina, USA.
Tax ID: EIN: 46-1012434
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