Raising the Dead

When I first arrived to Saint Louis, I became the 4th Urban Agriculture Volunteer to serve in the city. In my service, like other generations, I've been granted a piece of land, located behind the municipal office of aggriculture to call my own. The space's purpose is to be used as a demonstration plot. A place where the volunteer can experiment new methods, gain better understanding of those methods and eventually have them on display for the public's interest. Inviting Senegalese to come and visit,to ask questions, to conduct trainings and to promote participation from the local community are all goals of the operation. Unfortuately, in my situation, there was a considerable gap of 7 months between the preceeding volunteer and myself. To the dismay of our project's intent, the garden was left unattentended and spent those days leading up to my installation, litterally rotting. When I first layed eyes on it, it was as if I had inherited perditition. I was now assigned the responsibility to raise the dead, to transform brimstone into a healthy, workable soil. And so, with the fresh eyes of an untrained farmer, collecting and composting dead fish, I've begun to confront the challenge. These photos were taken roughly December 2009!

The greener photo was taken March 2011! With time, hardwork and fishguts, life is rightfully restored!