The Hungry Feed Themselves? My E.C.H.O. Tour:

This morning I went on a tour of the Global Demonstration Farm in North Fort Myers, FL.  ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) is an organization set up to equip people with the agricultural education and skills, even provide the seeds, to teach hungry people in need how to feed themselves.


I went out of curiosity after being told about their 40 acre farm by a friend of mine.  I went on a tour of the land where I was shown the different techniques used around the world in different agricultural climates. 

They have a pond where they use the ducks "out put" to feed the algae in the water which feeds the Tilapia that is harvested every year.  From this small pond came over 40 lb. of meat last year.


It the rainforest area there are purple yams which are a vine and climb up high on the palm trees to reach the sun which saves on rainforest clearing and energy.  These nine reams produced 500 lb. of yams at harvest time.  This is a great idea for a starch food in a rainforest area.

And my favorite was the Moringa Tree.  Moringa Leaves are loaded with essential disease-preventing nutrients and I found it fascinating since this simple tree could potentially have a huge impact on malnourishment on a worldwide scale.  On top of that, it can be used to help clean water by being placed in a bottle or filter system but even on its own reduces bacteria by 80-99.5%.  The impurities attach to the leaf and (especially when used in combination with a bio-sand filter or the bottle-in-the-sun technique) can purify water completely.  Its not only antibacterial, this miracle tree is antiviral, anticancer, anti-fungal and grows almost anywhere at a rate of one foot/year!   

Pretty cool, right?  Heres a little information about the Moringa, for comparison's sake:


Vitamin A, which acts as a shield against eye disease, skin disease, heart ailments, diarrhea, and many other diseases. Provides over 3X that of carrots.
Vitamin C, fighting a host of illnesses including colds and flu.  Over 6X that of oranges.
Calcium, which builds strong bones and teeth, and helps prevent osteoporosis.  Contains almost 4X as much as cows milk.
Potassium, essential for the functioning of the brain and nerves.  It has about 3X as much as bananas.
Proteins, the basic building blocks of all our body cells.  Moringa leaves have twice as much as cows milk.


(Trees for Life International, 2007).
Retrieved from http://www.treesforlife.org/our-work/our-initiatives/moringa/nutritional-information/nutritional-information

And one last little idea I want to share with you is that of the middle-of-nowhere hand washing station.  Its an empty bottle hanging from a string, filled with water.  A hole has been punched in the upper portion of the handle.  Another string is tied from the lower portion of the handle to a stick on the ground.  The stick works as a lever when stepped on to tip the bottle and out comes the water- hands free!  Of course, a bar of soap or small bottle of liquid soap can hang from yet another string and Whaa-Laa!!  Prevent diseases, stay neat and clean and save water...everyone wins.


Everyday 25,000 children see their last day due to starvation and preventable illness.  There is no reason for this.  How can we make a difference?  So thats all for now.  Visit www.ECHOnet.org to learn more about Agricultural Development for the far corners of the world.  I hope you are all enjoying your summer.  Thank you for reading my blog!  If you have a thought, leave a comment.  :)


~Stephanie

1 COMMENT-

Glad you got to go there Steph. Right in your own backyard!!! I've heard of the amazing Moringa tree before. Can't remember where.