A [failed] Dimba Story

So, remember when I had great hopes of having a badass garden and I would eat salad every day?

Well the chickens ate most of my vegetables just as they began sprouting.

However, my neighbor so kindly dug around in my garden when I was in Germany for the Christmas holiday (she also dug up some of my seeds that I planted for my natural medicine garden that I planted a few days before I left – but I was not discouraged, still grateful for her enthusiasm) and planted ground nuts, maize for popcorn and sweet potatoes.

My garden was lush and green (although filled with items I didn’t necessarily care very much for) and I recently harvested. I learned how to pick groundnuts (it’s ridiculous – you just lift the plant out of the ground and there are hundreds of peanuts growing on the roots – it’s amazing) and a student from my class helped me harvest sweet potatoes (because when I tried to pick them like groundnuts, it did not work so well…you have to use a hoe and dig around a little) plus, I was able to salvage three small tomatoes from my original garden and there is currently a pumpkin growing – it’s really cute, the only thing left in my little dimba. I want it to grow nice and big so I can carve it. We’ll see though. The maize for the popcorn would have been nice if Freddy did not steal it while I was away one weekend. He denied, as he always does, but he is not good at hiding his guilt.

So that was my garden experience – far from my dreams of a lush vegetable jungle, but quite fun anyway. 

So…I’m thinking of raising chickens instead.