Beloved reader, greetings to you wherever you are. It is always a pleasure to share with you stories concerning what is happening in our Tree of Life project and how different people are doing their part to contribute to the success of the institution. Since the year began, we have been following the macadamia nut process from the harvesting stage. I am hoping that by now you have a slight idea about what happens, when and why. However, if you have not been following this blog, I would recommend that you check the blogs that we posted before. The macadamia season has come to an end, and we are now down to the final stage of the process – preparing to transport them to South Africa.
Although we have been doing this work for a long time now, there is always that sense of achievement when this time comes around because the feeling is that we have finished what we started. We always look back at the long hours invested, the level of caution employed, the solemnness with which we took our work and have a sense of pride that all our efforts were not in futility. So these days we are packing the nuts into bags, weighing and putting them in the cooler room. When we went to the farm, we found the Operations Manager himself getting his hands dirty with work and we knew that the level of importance of this stage is high. The cooler room serves as a storage too as we wait for the right time to transport them to South Africa. We keep them there because for them to be fresh, there is a certain degree of temperature they should be kept in.
Since the season is over, does it mean that work has stopped? Well, it only means that work has begun again. A new season is starting, and the first stage is pruning. Old branches have to be taken down in order to allow the trees to breathe and grow new fresh ones in preparation for flowering. Watering is an all year-round activity since water is a fundamental necessity for trees. So as pruning continues, watering also continues concurrently.
Our macadamia project contributes immensely to the sustainability of the college, and we want to make sure that it records the utmost success possible. Once everything has been completed on our side, we will transport them to our partners across the border where they will be processed then shipped to the United States of America. Over the months we have laboured day and night to make sure that we produce quality nuts for the world. As we will be seeing the products being rolled out, we will know in our hearts that it all started in our farm right here in Swaziland. There is so much to be thankful for, but above everything, we really are blessed to have this project going on that helps us effectively carry out our mission of “equipping women and men for excellent service in the kingdom of God.” Be blessed, till next time.