Still dry season in September! Pictured is my trash pit prior to being overwhelmed with grass, and my work-in-progress duck pen.
Obligatory Mr. Business size update.
The third phase of my garden, the first two being “abandoned garden plot” and “traditional vegetable garden + failed potato planting” This one is a a permagarden, which means you can hypothetically grow all year round with minimum effort. Each corner has a water catchment ditch, each side has a berm, adn then there are two double dug beds in the middle.
Tuswa! Aka fried termites. At first I thought I was living a nightmare when I found them crawling over every surface of my house. Then I realized how delicious they were and can’t wait for them to come back. Favorite Zambian food by far!
A sign in Ikelenge that confused me for about 15 minutes.
Birthday dinner, aka what I eat every night. Pasta, greens, soya, butter, salt, and some variation of cream sauce that we don’t need to go into here.
My finished duck pen, and my very unfinished sorghum plot.
An HIV education sign at a local secondary school that saddened my sex-positive soul.
Termite mounds are nature’s ultimate playground! They remind me of the movie “castle in the sky” but less sad and with fewer robots. You’d better believe I’d be climbing all over these if I were a kid.
My friend Pethias’s garden by the stream. Most people have their vegetable gardens behind their homes a ways, along this stream. This maize is super cool because it’s a local variety and he planted it from seeds harvested last season. This is amazing, as hybrid (and single use) seeds are often hawked at farmers as being better when (in my observations) they suck. The cobs on this stalk were HUGE and the maize was the healthiest I’d seen in my community at that point.
I’m very lucky to live in such a generous community. These are all gifts from various farmers for me simply hanging out with them in their fields. So yummy!
These shelves have been with me since I moved to Ikelenge District and I only just put them up in October. They’re awesome.
Shelves and a standing table! Game changer for me. I’m also painting all my stuff blue because reasons.
Blue paint, as it turns out, is hard to wash off but easily spread.
Ducks! Also, as you can see, rainy season bringing things to life. I remember seeing this and being overwhelmed by the color and now (well into rainy season) it’s barely green at all!
Just two ducks checking out the view. Jujubee (left) and RuPaul (right)
Sorghum! It’s good! Sorghum is easier to grow than maize, more nutritious, requires virtually no processing and looks cooler! It used to be the traditional carb in northwestern province until colonists decided to introduce maize and ruin everything.
Permagarden starting to show a little life, just in the wrong places. Also, the beginning of the end to my fence.
Beginning of season verses the end of hot season
Gilpin, my camper from TREE, leading our environmental club in making DIY water filters. He is the best, I swear.
Jujubee’s first eggs! They look like dinosaur eggs and the yolks are massive. I’m a fan.
Ikelenge road in rainy season: get used to getting out and pushing! While the dirt road beats potholes in dry season, it’s very hard to get anywhere in rainy season via motorized vehicle. Nice views though!
George and Kelsi complaining about music with me.
Rhymes With Zambia 