The Garden: The Prep...

I'm finally going to blog about my garden in Zomba, Malawi. It's been my (Josh's) main pastime over the last months, so I'll blog about it in a few parts.

So, having no job, no prospects of work and alot of time on my hands, I thought, "Hey, let's start a garden!" Almost every inch of Malawian soil is used for maize, cassava or veggies and so our empty lot felt like wasted arable land. So after gathering a variety of garden tools from the local market with help of Medson, my fruit seller friend, I was ready to set out and start hoeing!

Empty grass field which was to be a garden

The farming tools here are very primitive, a steel blade on a wooden stick. But it works for Malawians, and almost everyone owns one. Even large farm estates, use cheap labourers with these hoes. Even along the street or in town, you find these labourers with their hoe over their shoulder looking for work. Nope...I didn't need any help! I was going to do this myself, I have lots of time and I could use the workout. Little by little, bit by bit, hoe swing by hoe swing in the Malawian heat...whew 

Little by little, one hoe swing at a time

I started smallish, not really sure how big I wanted to make this garden, hoeing, hoeing, hoeing....taking out one weed at a time out of the coarse, dry, hard earth. What I would give for a rota-tiller (what my dad used in our garden growing up). Man, I now have more respect for the Malawian labourers, this is hard work!

Very glad to stop and pose for the camera!

 Most rural and poor Malawians would work this land in their bare-feet, in fact, it is common to see people walking about their day in bare feet given the expense of shoes. And although I now walk in the garden with bare-feet (shoes get way to muddy), I was glad to be using shoes as I hoed given the spiders, biting ants and venemous snakes that enjoy their home in the tall grasses. Our security guards killed this green mamba (highly poisonous) right next to where I was hoeing. They had killed a black mamba the day before. Thanks security!

A dead green mamba

Well after a couple of hours of hoeing, dirty and sweaty, people began to come and watch me work. A tall white (mzungu) dude hoeing is something people rarely see. By this time I was exhausted but tried to put on a good show, Canadians can work the land too, you know. Either seeing my pathetic attempts to swing the hoe or by wanting to earn some money working, a couple of guys grabbed their hoes and started swinging. I was glad for the help! 

Trying to keep up with the locals as a neighbour watches on...

Day two arrived and I went back out there to start hoeing on my own again. This time the neighbourhood kids came, about five of them with a wheelbarrow and their father's hoes, and helped clear the brush and hoe as well. Our nighttime security guard chipped in with his panga knife (machete knife) to clear debris and vines off the surrounding trees and walls.

Enjoying some Sobo between working

Neighbourhood kid

So, within a few days of starting, with the help of the whole neighbourhood it seemed, my garden started to take shape with plots of soil ready for seeding, a heck of alot bigger (23 or so plots) than I expected, but hey, how much work could it be....

Basic imprint of the garden

So why have a garden anyways????

Vegetables are very inexpensive in Malawi, so why start a garden here (also given I have no prior gardening knowledge besides the chores my parents gave me as a kid to weed and shovel). Well...here are some reasons I can think of:

- No job, lots of time. Why not?

- Everyone here in Malawi uses every bit of land they have to grow maize, pumpkins, cassava and other veggies for their livelihood and for food. Our lot being empty seemed kinda a waste, was being eyed by the neighbours, and frankly, I wanted to experience what typical Malawians experience.

- At first, I partnered with a local seller in the market, thinking it could be an additional source of revenue for him, saying if he helped me with it, we'd split the harvest (I later learned that these "great" ideas had to have come from him...as I will explain in another blog)

- Fresh veggies. Yes!

- Something wholesome about gardening, reminds me of my grandmother's garden, of a slower pace of life, of appreciating where your food comes from.

Stay tuned for the next phase...