Hey everyone,

Well, back in September my intention was to stop blogging for a while. After joining the Peace Corps and preparing to relocate to West Africa as an Agroforestry/Environment volunteer, I wasn’t sure if there would be sufficient internet access or relevent material to sustain my blog. However, although blogging from rural Ghana can’t be the same as blogging from a nice, comfortable chair with a piping hot cup of coffee (can you tell what little luxuries I’m missing?), after being in the country for five months it’s surprised me how often something would come up and I’d want to share it with a community of science-minded people. That’s a more polished way of saying I would learn something science related and think “That’s so COOL!” But, one of the consequences of being a Peace Corps volunteer in a very rural site (I live in the far west of the primarily agricultural Brong-Ahofa region, near the border with Cote d’Ivoire) is that my opportunities to talk about those cool things are limited.

Nature Network, are you willing to indulge me?

I thought that try to pop back in from time to time, and report back a little bit about the agriculture, ecology, conservation, and economics of Ghana. Although this won’t be a “Peace Corps Blog” (which is a genre all its own), a little background may help. As a Peace Corps volunteer I’m placed in a small village in Ghana with some limited language and technical training and tasked with helping the community develop environment and economic projects during a two-year period. There is no strong organizational structure, I go weeks without seeing non-Ghanaians, and it’s as complete an immersion into the culture and life of the community as possible for an American.

In broad strokes, I’m working with my community to develop a couple agricultural income projects (a mushroom production cooperative and introduction of profitable tree species), and on a secondary basis work further with interested farmers on soil fertility issues. Although only in their earliest stages, and with no guarantee of success, these projects are true collaborations with my Ghanaian hosts and friends. A final disclaimer: I have no particular expertise in any of these topics (my background was in environmental toxicology), but I try to pay attention, learn what I can, and thought that the experience of applied environmental work might be a suitable topic for a science blog.