By RICHARD SITLER
Indiana Correspondent

HA NKALIMENG, Lesotho, Africa — In about four hours, a group of 17 Peace Corps volunteers and African nationals built a Keyhole Garden that is expected grow enough food to feed a family of eight.

Nick Hopchack, Merrill Nosler and Oscar Sinclair, who volunteered in the Peace Corps in 2008, directed more recent volunteers on the specialized techniques of building a raised garden. These gardens were originally designed to be easily maintained by people afflicted with HIV/AIDS. Because the garden is raised, people tending it do not have to bend over, movement that becomes difficult for people who are suffering the affects of immune deficiency.

Lesotho is a country about the size of Maryland that is surrounded by the nation of South Africa. Lesotho, a mostly rural and agrarian country, is located at 3,500 feet above sea level and is aptly called the Kingdom in the Sky. A beautiful country, it sometimes resembles the Swiss Alps with cows and sheep grazing in bucolic mountainous landscapes complete with large bells around their necks. Livestock is watched by African men who are most likely wrapped in thick woolen blankets.

Despite the scenery and warm and friendly population, Lesotho is troubled by the continuing high rate of HIV/AIDS – the same issue that plagues many of the countries in southern Africa. It is apparent to visitors that the population is mostly young due to the shortened life expectancy caused by the ravages of AIDS.

Lesotho, like many developing countries, relies on subsistence farming to feed its population. However, feeding its population when short-handed on labor has been a difficult puzzle to solve.
“The Keyhole Garden is the new, sexy garden technique in Lesotho.” Said Sinclair, who is a Community Health and Economic Development (CHED) volunteer.

Fellow CHED Volunteer Merrill Nosler wrote Homestead Gardening, A Manual for Program Managers, Implementers and Practitioners. The manual is a guide of sustainable techniques that use appropriate technology.

“The Keyhole Garden method was developed for HIV/AIDS sufferers who don’t have a lot of energy to bend over,” explained Sinclair, who grew up in Ann Arbor, Mich. and Bloomington, Ind. “It is built up to about waist level and has a basket in the center with thatch where you pour water - to water the garden. The layers are made - initially a layer of aloe - to enrich the soil and help retain the moisture. Then layers of manure and ash and dirt.”

Although the initial creation of the Keyhole Garden is labor intensive because of the need to move and stack rocks and also adding the layers, the maintenance of the garden is easier. Water and compost is added to the center basket to soak into the garden. The garden can be planted, maintained and harvested without bending.

The Homestead Gardening manual gives five attributes of the Keyhole Garden that makes it beneficial:

•Enrichment - Layers of organic materials break down over time to become humus, adding nutrients to the soil. The use of natural fertilizers, such as manure and compost, helps feed the plants with vital nutrients.

•Moisture retention in arid or semi-arid climate - Layers of organic material soak up and retain moisture, acting as a sponge. Greater retention means the garden requires water less frequently and in smaller quantities.

•Labor saving - Households affected by chronic illness and HIV, and households headed by children or the elderly, often have limited labor capacity. Keyhole Gardens reduce the labor required to produce food for the household. The slow breakdown of organic material reduces the need for added inputs (such as costly fertilizer). The central basket allows for use of gray water leftover from washing dishes or clothes and bathing, reducing the need to collect water for irrigation. The layer-based design also helps retain moisture, reducing the amount of water that needs to be collected to irrigate the garden.

•Reducing dependence on external inputs - One of the keys to success is using locally available resources for construction and maintenance. All materials used in the construction of the Keyhole Garden should be sourced from the community or surrounding area. Different livelihood zones may have different materials available.

For example, access to stone may be difficult in urban settings, but old tires may be readily available to construct the outer wall.
Likewise, cardboard and paper may be easily available to urban populations to build up the first layer, but less readily available in isolated rural communities. Using locally available resources decreases the cost of constructing a keyhole garden and reduces dependence on outside materials that have to be purchased or transported long distances.

•Year-round vegetable production - The stones lining the garden retain heat from the sun and keep the soil from freezing during winter months in Lesotho. Keeping the soil warm encourages root growth and, when combined with a cover at night, will help prevent frost from damaging the vegetables. Frost covers are removed during the day to allow the plants and soil to absorb sunlight and replaced at night to trap heat.

The volunteers spent the day carrying rocks, carting wheelbarrows of dirt, ash and manure. When the garden was complete they gathered around and listened as they were explained the benefits of what they constructed.

They were also told how to best implement Keyhole Gardens in their communities and within their projects. Then the volunteers and African nationals gathered around and planted the seeds that will add to the feeding of the extended host family of Merrill Nosler, as well as planting the seed of education in sustainable, appropriate agriculture technology that this newest group of Lesotho Peace Corps volunteers will teach their counterparts.