Farming God’s Way

Farming God’s Way is a Biblically based approach to conservation farming, which is promoted in Africa as a form of climate smart agriculture that both restores degraded land and increases crop yields. As well as reducing drudgery and labor for smallholder farmers by up to 50%, this farming method nourishes the soil and enables it to retain water much better, which means it’s particularly useful in dry areas. A new approach to farming is transforming how agriculture is practised among Christian communities, helping to restore degraded land, protect the environment and increase crop yields sometimes significantly, by three, five or even ten times. Farming God's Way teaches that God is the Master Farmer and calls upon us to be faithful stewards of the land.

Gulu, Uganda

July 2024

Last week, Moes traveled to Kati Kati, a village in eastern Uganda where he and his pastor met with local leaders and church clergy. Moes was thrilled to introduce his knowledge of Farming God’s Way to this new region of Uganda. The villagers in Kati Kati have been struggling with low crop yields for many years. Moes guided them through Scripture, emphasizing that the Lord has gifted us with the land and that we are to be good stewards of these gifts. During their field layout Moes demonstrated that we use what God had given our hands. During the outreach, individuals dedicated their lives to the Lord, learned about His saving grace, and began to break the yoke of poverty through the restoration of their land and FGW.

Kaberamaido, Uganda

July 2024

The beans, maize, and squash are thrive in northern Uganda at the FGW farm, despite challenging dry conditions and low crop yields elsewhere. Moe has attracted considerable local interest in his successful vegetable utilizing the FGW tools and methods. By sharing Farming God’s Way practices, Moe demonstrates their ability to overcome poverty in the region. He is actively spreading this ministry tool to surrounding villages near the Kaberamaido district, receiving acceptance and excitement for community development.

Jinja, Uganda

January-February 2024

What an impactful month it has been dedicated to serving the Lord and His people both spiritually and physically. This past January and February I traveled back to Uganda for our annual Infield Mentoring Farming God’s Way in the heart of Jinja. Led by Klint Ostermann and Grant Dryden. This year we had brothers and sisters from Kenya, South Africa, the DRC, Sudan and the USA. Joining hands to share this agriculture ministry tool in four districts in Jinja. Farming God’s Way continues to break the yoke of poverty and the dependency syndrome that cripples the african continent. During this training each team members received feedback on their sessions taught. Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. We are men and women in a broken world of sin. Having these FGW sessions allows for each educator to reflect on their calling to ministry sharpening each other as we grow together. Each farmer teaches differently but our message is the same. We must seek God and God alone as we give ourselves to him He will give himself to us in relationship.
As February unfolded we moved from our IFM to the Jinja Regional FGW training. Anticipating a turnout of 30 farmers. We were pleasantly surprised to welcome 42 from various regions of Uganda North, South, East, and West God Is Good. Furthermore we had the opportunity to showcase our demonstration garden at the new Hangout location in Jinja where visitors can see the growth taking place while working in a calm and peaceful environment.

Adjumani, Uganda

December 2023

Klint Ostliter visited with Rev Anthony in Adjumani district that is bordered by Mayo district to the north, South Sudan to the northeast. Rev Anthony has been sharing his FGW garden the the region, teaching the word of the Lord to the neighboring villages. You can see that being a good steward of time and resources his garden is growing bountifully. Agriculture is the backbone to life in Uganda as we share we grow, as we grow we share.

Frankfort, Indiana

September 2023

As the Fall season arrives it’s time to begin building the compost pile for next years inputs. We are building a 2x2x2m pile using 10cm of woody material the woody material helps to encourage the fungal growth in the pile because it breaks down very slowly and keeps the pile aerated, 10cm of dry material the dry material adds bulk and carbon to the compost and should also make up 22.5% of the compost volume, 20cm of green material green leaves are a great source of sugars, which are necessary for good quality compost. The green component should make up 45% of your pile and should be used within 3-4 days, otherwise the sugars will convert into starch. Nitrogen is the essential fuel of the compost pile and gets the bacteria going. The most readily available nitrogen component is manure and should make up 10% of the pile witch is your manure, 15 gallons of water per level. As we build the pile it begins to settle in you will make between 9-11 levels before you reach you 2m height.

Once we have our compost pile built we will let this cook for three days. The compost gets hot very quickly because of all the bacterial activity. The ideal temperature of the compost should be maintained between 55C to 68C, 135-150°F to kill all seeds and unwanted pathogens. If you don’t turn your compost, the temperature can easily reach well over 70C, 158°F, which is too hot and kills off the desirable microbes, as well as burning up and wasting carbon. The most accurate way to determine the temperature is by using a temperature probe. Turn the pile before the temperature reaches 68C. After inserting it for a few minutes, see if you can hold on to it for 5 seconds. If you can, the temperature is less than 68, if not it’s ready for another turn. A really simple turning cycle is to turn the compost pile every 3 days for the first 3 turns and every 10 days for the next 2 or 3 turns. The temperature goes down after each turn and rises again until the next turn. This cycle will continue until all the nitrogen in the pile has been utilized. If you followed the guideline ingredient volumes of 15 bags of fresh manure, then the compost will get hot enough for adequate decomposition and also will be maturing and cooling after 6-8 weeks.

Whitestown, Indiana

August 2023

This past week was our annual Farming God’s Way seminar in Indiana. Wednesday started off with NETCap bringing together agriculture workers from the USA and those working internationally in agriculture, or those who have an interest in conservation agriculture and sustainable agriculture. Thursday- Saturday was our Farming God’s Way session where we learned how the scriptures are God’s living word for us to abide in having a covenantal relationship. In this session we covered the six biblical key: Acknowledge God and God alone, Consider your ways, Understanding God's all-sufficiency, What you sow you will reap, Bring the tithes and offerings to God, Stake your claim. Along with our three management keys: Biblical, Management, Technology. Each lesson builds on the foundation of permeance just as our Lord gave when instructing the building of the tabernacle. FGW is a high standard Biblical agriculture tool that yields higher profits and yields compared to traditional farming practices.

We had individuals from all over the USA, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio, Carolinas, Idaho, Haiti, Philippines, Liberia. Saturday- Monday, and Tuesday we had our vegetable training and practical. You can see how laying out your land with permanence: permanent pegs, row layout, crop layout.

Frankfort, Indiana

May-Sept 2023

It is currently the time of year when the weather in Central Indiana has reached an average soil temperature of 55 degrees. This marks the inaugural year of planting our Strawberry Popcorn using a combination of planting stations and furrows following the principles of Farming God's Way, a biblical teaching tool. As part of our ongoing experimentation we are implementing two distinct planting methods: furrows and planting stations. Both techniques utilize the same inputs, specifically rabbit manure that has undergone decomposition courtesy of the earth's redworms. The purpose of this comparative study is to assess the potential variations in yield between the two approaches.

Boapea, Liberia

This past month we held a Farming Gods Way seminar in village of Boapea, Liberia. What an amazing turnout we had for this training, two different villages came together to learn this new method of farming to a high standard focused on the Lord and his will on breaking the yoke of poverty.

Papaya, Ganta Liberia

Solar Dryer, Ganta Liberia