gardening begins

Sept03- We have been given space in two community gardens near home and today will begin clearing the plots and turning over the soil in preparation for planting. We plan to plant carrots, lettuce, cabbage, potatoes, beets, maize, sugar peas, and onions. We’re a bit behind in planting, given our late arrival in Zombodze, but as long as we get seeds in the ground before the rains we’ll be fine. If all goes well, we’ll be eating our own veggies in December.

The reason we’re planting in 2 separate gardens is simple: we want a participatory presence in both places. One garden is run by an OVC group (Orphans and Vulnerable Children), and we hope to work with them on various projects. The other garden is the large "bomake," or mothers, garden—a community garden that our own make (pronounced mah-gay) belongs to, along with many others. At both gardens the main challenge is water. Both rely upon open trenches that carry water from a stream 1.5km away, and the trenches are full of sediment and their walls have eroded in a few critical areas (a few rainy season floods). So not much water reaches the garden reservoirs. The bomake garden actually has underground piping to deliver water to spigots in all parts of the garden… but the reservoir that feeds these pipes is all-but dry most of the time. This is an issue that we hope to work on during our time here, and being active members of these gardens marks the beginning of our involvement.
When those small reservoirs are dry, everyone must either haul water to their plots by hand or else coax a trickle down the trenches with a shovel or a hoe until enough water gathers in the pit to fill a bucket or two (this second option only applies to the OVC garden). These water difficulties have diminished overall participation in the gardens, thereby keeping affordable and healthy food from many kitchen tables in Zombodze.

As we have recently witnessed first-hand, there is nothing quite so desperate as a family lacking in food and water. Here, the two necessities seem to go hand-in-hand: without an adequate supply of water, how can one grow food? By comparison, washing clothes or dishes or even bathing in clean water seems a luxury: one bucket bath could water perhaps 5 rows of carrots. I’m thankful that our homestead has the means for its own water tap and well—we never go without water or its benefits. But I think that our work in the gardens will give us some real-life appreciation for what water scarcity means for small-scale food production.

As I write this, I keep thinking of the little misters in the produce sections of grocery stores back home. And I cannot help but consider the comparative extravagance of it: our grocery stores continuously water crops after they’re picked, usually with a little thunder-and-rain soundtrack. Why do they do this? Maybe it’s aesthetic-- moist produce does look tastier. Or maybe wet produce doesn’t spoil as quickly… I don’t know. If anyone knows, please tell me. But I was always convinced they did this little misting routine because wet produce weighs more (and therefore sells for more) than dry produce, and the trickery of it always bothered me a little. Now, thinking about it with the Zombodze gardens in mind, it bothers me for other reasons.