Easter

Happy Easter! Just another day on the FOB, the only thing different was a larger group at church this morning (just like home) and the Easter decorations in the DFAC. They did serve more choices for dinner tonight along with some Easter cakes and chocolates. Made up for a bad lunch, today was the first time I've had a corndog and chili for Easter lunch.

This afternoon the Agribusiness Development Team (ADT) held an open house on base to show us what they are about. This is a Army National Guard team from Indiana.

Their mission here is to improve the agricultural business in the province. They are doing some testing to see what will grow in the soils here and how to make it grow better, both agricultural products and forestry. Also, they are working with the livestock to help the Afghani's improve their herds/flocks. They also want to start an ag education system similar to the FFA program we have in the states to start educating the younger Afghanis.

They are just getting set up and will be making contacts with the local governments and begin their outreach to the local communities. They will be going out into the villages and working with the farmers and ranchers, both the well established farms and the small ones.

There are a couple orchards on the FOB, but they are in disrepair and are not real productive. They are mostly orange trees and olive trees. The ADT is using the orchards to do some of their testing and they are clearing out some areas of trees to create test plots. The pictures below are of the olive orchard and a lone spring flower I saw in the orchard. The flower picture is blurry, I'm still learning how to use my camera, it's the best I got of the flower.