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Macadamia Farming
My farming journey into macadamia nut growing began with my mother. She thought it would be a good idea for us to broaden our income source. Once we agreed, we got the tree seedlings from our agricultural research institute KARI(Kenya Agricultural Research Institute) then but now known as KALRO(Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization). It is while we were here that we were told that they have two varieties of macadamia tree. one One produces smooth nuts while the other rough. We decided to try each. We bought half and half. We got 70 seedlings.
A macadamia tree
Growing the macadamia trees from nuts is possible, but it takes at least 8 years for the tree to start producing any fruit. Also the yield may be little as it inherently passes on the genes that affect production(heterozygous). Grafting is the preferred method of propagation as you can select the best qualities.
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Avocado Farming
Avocado is a versatile fruit that can be eaten as a savoury, sweet or even plain. Either way they always taste good. Avocados are also healthy as they are a source of fat especially the mono-unsaturated fat. They also offer a good dose of other vitamins and minerals like vitamin E, C and K. They also contain magnesium and potassium.
Avocados are also thought to be healthy as they are offer benefits with weight loss, diabetes management, reducing cardiovascular problems and are also thought to reduce risk of cancer.
An Avocado tree
There are several varieties of avocado like hass, fuerte and the kienyeji/local. The first two despite being smaller in size than the kienyeji one usually taste better due to the higher fat content. The kienyeji one also is usually a purple hue when ripe.
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Potato Farming
Who doesn't love potatoes? Mashed, boiled, fried baked, name it! Having a love for the tuber, I decided to try my hand at growing them.
Potatoes are usually grown from tubers. When exposed to sunlight the potatoes start to change to a greenish colour and the eyes of the potatoes begin to grow shoots. Planting usually stars with land preparation. This involves ploughing the land then breaking up the soil slumps to a fine tilth.
Harvested Potatoes
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Keeping Indigenous chicken
I tried my hand at chicken farming because of my love for eggs and love for its meat. It also helped that we had chicken growing up and during the holidays , I would go visit my grand mum and play with the chicken.
The chicken I decided to keep was the indigenous chicken and not the broiler or layer type. This was specifically because I love the flavour of indigenous chicken. I find broilers and the ex-layers to be rather bland and require a heavy hand while seasoning for any semblance of taste. I believe in rearing something that I would consume.
chicken in their coop
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