Jungle Farming

Jungle Farm

I spent the second half of March on an organic farm in Malaysia with Team Pneuma and Team Raised. I have to say this farm was quite a bit different than the farm I was raised on. Although we couldn’t directly see the fruits of our labor, we know God used our hard work to spread the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven. We were also blessed to meet some friends along the way that we were able to share our faith with. So here is a typical day on an organic farm in the jungle of Malaysia.

7:30- wake up and read/pray; Listen to People Get Ready by Misty Edwards.

We would dress in our work clothes, which by the way was pretty much the same clothes we wore everyday, because we had no way to wash them. When we tried washing, it usually smelled worse afterwards and would take days to dry due to the moisture in the air. We smelled like a bunch of rotten onions. So what did I learn from this: hmmmmm Thank you Lord for washing machines!
8:00- Off to work in our super cool van, which was a mix of a clown car and the mystery machine from scooby- doo.

 

8:30-5:00 Work; We worked alongside a group of amazingly hard working men.

Things we did: Cut down roughly an acre or more of trees, Satan vines(made this up, but you get the point), and grass. All with machetes that couldn’t cut through hot butter. We beat the trees until they gave up and fell down. Then we took the trees that we beat down and put them in a pile along with the grass and Satan vines. Then we took the pile that we made and usually moved it from one spot to another. It was like moving furniture for an Ill-content, OCD, perfectionist. You don’t understand why, but you don’t ask questions because in our case we didn’t speak the same language so we couldn’t understand the answer anyway. We did all this while fighting off jungle creatures and burning leaches off our skin.
 

Last day of work: This was the best day because it brought me back to childhood memories in that I was able to till a field with an actual tractor. I also had the privilege to turn Allan into a real farm boy. He’s a natural, so it wasn’t hard. He already had the look, he just needed the skills to back it up. Now he has both and he may be unstoppable if he chooses to pursue a future in organic farming.
 

Lunch: Tuna and crackers was the main part of my diet, I usually ate it twice a day. Mmmmmmm; like my dad use to say, “eat to you bust”.

Back at home: when we got back home we would settle in and take turns taking a bucket shower out of something that resembled a horse trough. I hear mud baths are expensive, but they were free on the organic farm.
After this experience, I don’t feel called to do organic jungle farming.