We are doing landscaping and maintance jobs that our contacts need done. One of the jobs we are helping with was fertilizing the palm oil trees. Seems like a pretty easy task…right??
Yah… Not so much!
Our contact had hired a man name Joseph who has been fertilizing trees for 30 years. He knew what he was doing and we were there to help him out. Not one of us knew what to expect but we are on the World Race so that means anything could happen!
We learned a lot and so I want to share with you all on how to fertilize palm oil trees so you have the best result possible.
You pile the Americans in the back of a truck that resembles Mator from the adorable movie “Cars.” You hand them gloves and drive down the road and head to the middle of the jungle. Passing out the buckets, you start filling them with black dirt looking stuff. You tell the Americans to grab a handful of the dirt and throw it around the bottom on the trees where the roots are showing. You will keep walking down the rows of trees and when your bucket is empty, come back for more.
We learned that leeches can live out of water. Some of us found this out the hard way, making everyone else stop every 5 minutes to do a leech check We also learned that ‘following the lines of the trees’ is not an easy task when you are not sure what line you are looking at. Best part is that the jungle is a playground for snakes, rats and who knows what else!
Now remembering about the leeches, you hand the Americans Leech repellent. This is a bar of soap that has a smell that the leeches do not like. So before you go out, you will need to lather your feet, shoes, pant legs and arms. (I don’t know if this actually works, but we didn’t get one leech the rest of the time…proof enough.) Now pile the Americans in the Mator truck and drive in the opposite direction deep in the middle of the jungle. Pass out the buckets and gloves and this time hand them either a cup or a long stick with a little scooper taped to it. Today we have bright green or bright blue powder/dirt to throw at the bottom of each tree. Tell them to again follow the ‘lines’ of trees until we are out of the blue/green stuff.
The great part about this day is that we were in the swamp. The weeds/brush were almost taller than us. You couldn’t actually see the ground and if you could it was a giant mud goo mixture that was so thick, if you stopped you might be eaten alive. Jumping from rock to rock was the best way to travel all the while praying to Jesus that you can make it each tree. You are terrified of what may be lurking under your feet. You will see multiple rats (alive and dead) and you know the snakes are out there.
You will be frozen in fear so bring 2 friends with you to help encourage each other or to laugh or to freak out with you. Talk about what meals you would really like at the moment or ask who your favorite actor/actresses are! Also be very grateful for the guys on your team that take the more petrifying path and have you go the easier way. Please note that the actual throwing of the fertilizer is not hard at all…it’s the mystery of the creatures that make this a very interesting adventure.
With the Americans all lathered up in leech soap, gloves and buckets in hand they are now experts. Have them walk up the path to the hill in the jungle. Again use the blue powder/dirt with the cup or stick scooper. Once you are at the trees you would like to fertilizing, have them start walking through the trees until they can’t go anymore.
The area is a lot less muddy and very green, so worrying about leeches isn’t a concern. The greenery means it is spider paradise. Now I have learned that I really don’t mind spiders too much…they are still awful things, and in the last three days I have experienced worse. It is the 40+ spider webs I walked into that covered every part of my body. They are tricky little guys because you really can’t see them coming!
Bring along the 3 out of the 5 puppies that are living on the planation with you. They will go ahead of you and chase away any creatures you do not want to encounter. Maybe bring them starting day 1 is even a better idea.
