For some time now, I’ve dreamed of having a small garden out here in the village. I always come home from our 6 or more weeks out in the village, feeling like I’m about to develop scurvy or something from so long with almost no fresh fruit or veggies. All I want to eat is a gigantic salad!
Anyway, this time around, I finally got around to bringing out some seeds, and a small tomato plant that a friend kindly donated from her garden.
I didn’t get anything done on a garden our first week out here. The first couple of days were busy with cleaning, unpacking and cleaning some more. Then there was lots of rain. And I didn’t manage to ask anyone to come help me. Finally, after a week, and a failed attempt to find someone who would help me, I decided I didn’t want to wait any longer. So one afternoon (cloudy, but not raining) I went out and started pulling weeds in the area where I wanted to put the garden. There were a bunch of kids sitting around watching the kids, and watching me.
Eventually, some of the teenage girls came over and started helping me weed. Then more came. I told them what I was hoping to do (plant a garden) and they started helping. After the weeding was done, one girl took a shovel and started turning all the dirt over. Then we all worked together to break up the muddy clumps and spread it neatly all over. Someone dug some rows while others went down the mountain a short distance to cut some bamboo to build a small fence to keep the pigs out. By dinner time, my garden was made!
The next morning, the kids and I went out and planted our (by now slightly drooping) tomato plant, and a few carrot, cucumber and marigold seeds. I eventually am hoping to plant some potatoes, and maybe some lettuce too? It will be a little tricky to time everything when we are constantly coming and going. I will plant a few more carrot and cucumbers in 6 weeks, right before we leave the village, in hopes that they’ll be ready in about 2 more months when we come back.
No comments:
Post a Comment