Seeds Sown

So I didn’t get everything done that I wanted to today, but not bad. I did not do laundry which means I have to bring dirty clothes to Conakry and wash there first thing. Which isn’t so bad, but it would have been nice to have clean clothes.

I did not want to work today, which is part of the reason (no, pretty much WHY) I did not get everything done that I would have in a perfect world.

There were a TON of petites here in the afternoon and BOY were they getting on my nerves. I kept telling them to go away and shutting my door and everything and they just WOULD NOT STOP annoying me. So finally I went outside to work on my garden, thinking that they would probably help me. And most of them did (and received bon-bons, even though most of them tried to act like I hadn’t already given them one and cop a second but I wouldn’t let them). The others, I said, “either help or leave” and they left. So I re-dug 2 more of the beds, threw out a bunch more stones and garbage and put on the gliricidia leaves as organic fertilizer. That leaves just one bed undone (of 6). I did not get around to cow poo or getting compost from the nasty garbage pile by my house, but I’ll do that when I get back first thing before I transplent my seedlings. I also need to go en brousse and find some Neem to use as a pesticide because there are bugs in the dirt and termites. Termites being the really malicious thing.

Which brings me to seedlings! I planted seeds in about 70 or so sachets, 2 seeds each. Here’s what I planted: Local: cucumber, corn (it’s like cow corn, not sweet corn), tomato, grapefruit, bell pepper. Shoot I forgot to plant the piment! I’ll try to do that in the morning before I leave. Then I planted a bunch of stuff sent from the States, which I am told won’t grow well because the seeds aren’t adapted to Africa, but I thought it was worth a shot: sweet corn, lettuce, zucchini, butterstick hybrid zucchini, tomato, bush beans, garden beans, scarlet runner, sunflowers, cucumber and sugar pea. Then it was getting dark so I did a few sachets with Moringa seeds but not as many as I would have liked. I did 3 sachets of most with 2 seeds each, a couple I only did one or two and then I did 6 or so of each corn since you have to plant them in rows of 3 (so, 4 plants, 3 rows of each). It has been raining pretty consistently although it did not rain yesterday and hasn’t rained today either (but could overnight). I told my friend Ousmane that if it doesn’t rain while I’m gone to come by every day and check the sachets and if they are dry, water them. He said he would. I am buying him shoes in Conakry so he better!!

When I get home in 2 weeks I have to finish fertilizing (and I’m hoping to get chicken poo in Conakry to put in the holes when I transplant the seedlings), put organic pesticide on, plant flower seeds along my walkway (dad and Marci sent a TON), fill more sachets and start planting more tree seeds. Especially Moringa. I have decided that is going to be my biggest project, getting Moringa trees planted all around town. It appears to have been my predecessor’s biggest project to put gliricidia in all the living fences, and she succeeded pretty well with that, and my goal will be Moringa. In living fences and just in public places, and show people how to use it, especially at the Centre de Sante so that they can prescribe it to pregnant women and infants.

All in all, I wish I could have planted more seeds today. Like filled all the sachets rather than just over half. Le sigh. This means I have to work super hard as soon as I get back.