Time to get in the garden!

Being down with malaise for the past couple of days is frustrating – I hate even a day going by without fully engaging it – the good news is my spirit is better today even if my body is not, so I will attempt to do some gardening today as Andrew, the gardener has gotten ahead of me and I don’t want to slow down the progress.

As an aside as much as I enjoy Mamie’s cooking,  I don’t appreciate the house smelling like fried fish – This is surely NOT going to work for me – Mamie and I will have to work out some means to cook her style whilst living without a household of fish smell – I am simmering lavender on the stove this morning hoping to over whelm the fish with a calming breeze of southern France -  we shall see.

All the compound staff seem to be in good spirits today – noticed all of them enjoying each other’s company this morning – like any job/office culture it seemed a little bit of normalcy to witness – but also once again made me feel like an intruder , in their day, a spy upon their freedom to do their work and be left alone – it will take some time for staff to trust that I am not an overseer or that I even worry that they are eating lunch, talking, or even goofing off – we all take breaks eh?  Communication between me and the locals is frustrating me – not only are the words different but my color gives way to suspicion, and I think the fact that I am younger than most of those living in this compound lends to an air of “richness.” The fact that I don’t go to work and can lay in bed when I am ill – is very suspect.  I am uncomfortable when I catch them staring/looking/peeking at me and then avert their eyes not because  I don’t like being spied upon but because I instinctively misunderstand their curiosity for spying – and am not worried that they are looking at me and hope they don’t get frustrated with me entranced by them and their lovely good spirits. I have yet to meet one Liberian who comes across as mean or uncompromisable – of course – again – the communication barrier may just be the great denier of my constructed reality - time will tell. So as I breathe in this fresh scent of lavender I am revived and will head to the garden for an hour or so before the sun drains me of all my energy…

Tomato and Basil Seedlings form old yellowed seed packets bought at the supermarket.

…Well seems less than two hours in the garden is like a day of work when you suffering from malaise and haven’t acclimated to the heat, humidity, and dust. But our little garden is coming along and I am quite happy – an outsider might find our rudimentary pile of stones and tiny seedlings in cut plastic water bottles disturbing I feel quite ahead of schedule considering I didn’t even think I would have a seed in my hand for another month let a dozen seedlings to play with! So the squash are coming up just fine – I have decided to plant one directly into the ground – an experiment – to see if that little fellow might be able to handle the hard ground tamped over time, by rain, wind, and disrespect . And so I hope the little guy has the strength to lead others into the ground – a day or two will tell if they can survive or will need western style intervention due to their weak genetic mutations brought on by the industrial need to produce. Good luck little guy.

Come on Squash Seedling! Make us all proud! 

And then as luck would have it I noticed a compound worker across the way strafing the grass with a long machete, whacking and beating the defenseless grass trying too cool the hard hot ground in the open area across the way. And so I politely asked what they were going to do with the grass and I was told “throw it all away.” Jeepers!  May I have some? – Apparently I could have it all! Serendipitously, I realized the chicks and chickens that roam the compound “fertilize” this area and thus why it is so green and thus why the grass is quick to grow! AH HA! Bonus Fertilizer as I gather the strafed grass I can smell the rich incense of chicken droppings – I am giddy! My garden now has fertilizer!

Burial Mound? No Chicken feces and dried grass covered garden bed.

And now – I love the chickens and hope to invite them to my yard daily  - I will look for them and train them with grains and bread in hopes they will learn to gather in my yard and walk amongst my plants! I had been so worried they would eat my seeds I forgot about the very importance of their biology – the creation of fertilizer! Dear God Thank you for creating a perfect world and apologies that it takes me so long to see it ! Of course, now I worry what kind of disease will I gather from this dust these droppings – again only time will tell. A day or two should surely provide symptoms in the error of my ways.  Or affirm that I need to gather all the strafed grass and accompanying droppings for every square inch of our temporary land and help the soil to be naturally reborn.

This is a good day = if only there was a shower to delouse me on the outside of the house like beach houses  back home…..