Drip, drip, drip

Our greenhouse has been finished in record time and has caused great excitement among the staff and, I suspect, our neighbours. We are now in plotting and scheming mode as we make decisions about what to grow in it. There are a number of possibilities so it should be an interesting discussion. The drip irrigation is amazing. I've seen videos and read books about drip irrigation but never seen it in action. Jackson, (the engineer who supervised the construction of the greenhouse), reckons that turning the drip on for three minutes in the morning and three minutes in the evening will water the crops in the greenhouse sufficiently.

As I type I can hear the gentle patter of rain on the roof. As it's 11:20 pm this is typically good timing and I hope it continues for some time. Having previously reported my hopes that the rains had started, only to have them dashed on the rocks of further drought, I am really hoping that this is the start of a prolonged wet spell. This is the second night we have had rain, accompanied by a great fireworks show in the sky. I can almost hear our vegetables growing.

Our friends from Cisco and salesforce.com are setting off on their journey home tomorrow. They will be taking the same route as the previous team, spending the night at a safari lodge to break up the trip back to Nairobi. They have given 110% and we will be sad to see them go. Thank you Mike, Sally and Chris.

Having had two teams stay at the visitors centre now we have been encouraged by the lack of teething problems and impressed by the way the solar power system has performed. It is always a worry establishing new systems. We are determined to develop sustainable approaches to solving everyday problems and have made a major investment in solar power on our compound. If you can't make solar work where we are it won't work anywhere.

The visitors centre has vacancies for a little while now, giving us a chance to reflect on how we manage it and to design the hotel and tourism curriculum for our young people – using the visitors centre as a training 'hotel'. Anybody who would like to offer their services as volunteers for our project or use our place as a base for tourism should email me at terrymkenya@googlemail.com. Book early to avoid disappointment!