The Jungle!

My holiday vacation was a good break from the village. Minus the malaria (of which I’m pretty well recovered now), it was a great time with friends at the lake. But too much time in the city leaves me yearning to return to my quiet village, my Malawian friends, and of course my boys. Once I felt well enough to travel (trust me, there are circumstances that make an automatic no-travel day), I left Lilongwe with much anticipation of arriving home and seeing 6 foot tall corn stalks, pumpkins as big as my head, and lettuce ready for making delicious salads.  Boy, did nature have a different plan in mind!

Outside of Lilongwe I was picked up by an awesome lady who lives in Blantyre who gave me a lift a few weeks prior. I was able to meet her sister, who was arriving the same day when she picked me up before. It’s fun when those rides come full circle meeting again and you feel you’ve made a friend instead of simply getting a free ride. 

Once to made it to Bwanje I was welcomed home by my friends saying “Ndikusowani!  Munachokera kuti?” After saying they’ve missed me and ask me “where are you coming from?”, I can’t help but smile feeling like I am truly home. Peter, Chule, and Jackson’s greetings standardly consist of jumping all over me and howling. Talk about a homecoming! My house was in one piece which is always a settling relief to find the doors and windows in the same condition in which I left them. The moment of truth and much awaited anticipation….

My kitchen surrounding by jungle

Instead of arriving home to bumper crops I returned to a jungle. Literally. The day I spent at home between Christmas and New Years I did some weeding that hardly put a dent in what sprang forth during my absence. No longer could I see my trenches and sprouting veggies, rather just grasses and plants as tall as me! It reminded me of being younger when our family would go up to Vail for a summer weekend break only to find it over taken by the hibernating roots of weeds. Only there, we had the luxury of using a lawnmower. But here I knew that I would have to do it all by hand.

Rightfully so, I was a bit freaked out with the grasses after having killed my third snake in 8 months just before heading up to Nkhata Bay. So instead of battling the yard on my own I chatted with my neighbor to have someone come by and I would pay them to weed. The following day a man showed up and let’s just say he didn’t do the best job...nor did he finish it. He wanted me to pay him in full, but I’ve learned the hard way here that you pay for jobs upon completion. Needless to say he didn’t return the next day…

My garden was in there...somewhere

A few days passed where I willingly hoped that some magical juju would come my way and weed my garden for me. I was still not feeling back no normal thus I was putting off the daunting task hoping it would take care of it self. But alas, my curiosity got the best of me with the fantastical images of tassels on the corn stalks and delicious carrots waiting to be picked.

So, to put it out there, my gardening skills are, well, not that great. This is the biggest area I’ve ever planted goodies and majority of it all I just had to tell myself “well, we’ll see how it goes!” Therefore, I was completely ignorant on what was a sprout and what was a weed. Let’s just say I’d like to think I’m an expert now, having learned too late that I was pulling up an onion sprout thinking it was grass... Life happens.

Sad looking garden...maybe I should have
left the weeds!

It took me a total of four afternoons to clear out the garden from unwanted foliage. Part of me wished I had left some weeds to help make my garden appear more impressive. My fantasized cornucopia of vegetables was reduced to about seven mini stalks of corn and a handful of carrot sprouts. The pumpkin, on the other hand, had a heyday and overtaken a corner of the garden along with the tomato plants. I had some surprises as three tree seeds I’d planted were doing quite well. Unfortunately I don’t know the name for two of them, but the third being moringa is very exciting :)

I was disappointed, to say the least. With all the back bruising work I’d done to get the garden started, all the digging and sweating to contribute, I was hoping for more evident gratification. The greatest thing that came out of a partial failed crop was an humbling lesson. I realized that the ridges Malawians make for their crops have a purpose. Where my beds were (in theory) supposed to create a better surface area for the crops to grow,  it instead created a perfect situation for soil erosion. Instead of water settling on top, it runs down into the ditches. This is probably what my counterpart was trying to say when he came over one day and said, “You did it wrong.” Thanks….  Although the ridges they use here have the same problem with the soil washing down, I can easily say their crops are more successful (simply upon observation) or else the seeds I bought at the store were not the best. Needless to say I’ll be changing my tactics for next year.

However, I don’t give up that easily… The morning following day four of weeding it was cloudy and cool. I decided it was time to replant my garden. Afterall, what good would the seeds do if they were floating around the house until next year? I transplanted the tomato plants, having three different varieties, replanted some corn, carrots, onions, lettuce, cabbage, and cauliflower. As I began to clean up the yard  more (as I became more certain that there were no snakes around), I found at least seven more tomato plants. Looks like I know what I’ll be eating here in the coming months!

So I’ve learned that books don’t always know the best way to plant a garden. That, or else I had some crazy idea of how I thought all of this was supposed to go… I also learned it’s important to look to those who do this for their livelihood for tips and strategies on planting. After all, who am I to step in and say they’re doing it wrong? So here’s to hoping these crops come up! At least I’ll have a lot of tomatoes and pumpkin ;) Send any recipe’s you have involving any of these veggies!

Friends in the garden :)

My make-shift drying line for rainy season