Gardening

1-2% of Americans are farmers.
Tanzanians? 80%
Tanzanians in Songea? Everybody here farms. Even the dentist who lives at our community center has an acre of beans and corn.

We didn’t want to feel left out, so although Courtney and I have never grown a thing in our lives, we decided to give it a try here.

In November, we prepared the ground, first breaking it up and then shaping it into 10 rows. The rains are so intense here that our rows had to be built into mounds to avoid flooding the crops.

Once we knew the rainy season had arrived, in mid-December - we planted the seeds. Carrots, cabbage, and greens.

But then we went on vacation, leaving our garden unattended. By the time we returned, the whole thing was covered in weeds, but no evidence of anything we had planted. Where were the carrots? We chalked it up to our first time, and gave up on the garden.

But at the start of February, I took one last look at the garden and saw something coming out of the ground that looked like the leaves of a carrot plant. It was tiny, but I wanted to know, so I pulled it up, and although the root was only an inch long and white, it smelled like a carrot! So exciting!

Now, as you can see, we’re got carrot fever.