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…..

Andrew: The Gardener - It is Official!

Yesterday, my dream came TRUE! Of course in my "big plans" for House #12 we would not have started working on the garden until next month when my supplies arrived from Chicago, but other plans have been set in motion.

Andrew came by to bring more plants - and he checked out my seedlings and indeed, these ol tattered seed found in yellowed packets at the market are actually growing! In less then three days time they have germinated and sprouted!  No one can believe it, let alone me!

Andrew's Shovel

We got into a bit of a conversation and Andrew realized I had big plans. I asked if he had any friends that he could recommend to assist me in the garden because this was too much for me and I did not have the sustenance to always be out in the sun. Andrew immediately looked offended and said he is a gardener, he enjoys and loves the garden and wanted me to hire him. Well after much discussion which involved translation using Mamie as an in between we did a round Robin of discussion as Mamie understands me but not Andrew and Andrew understands Mamie but not me, it was decided that Andrew wanted to work on his days off and after hours to be my gardener. We settled on a fee and plans and the fact that I don't believe in working on Sunday and he should not either and after a gentleman's handshake Andrew spoke, "We are friends now. So if you see me on the street you will greet me, and if I see you on the street I will greet you." Indeed! Indeed we are and indeed we will!

Andrew, our Gardener and his good work of the day!

Andrew was all so excited that he spent the day in the garden, and insists he will come before work and after work every day to water the plants and seeds and as I type this now in the early hour Andrew is in the backyard watering the plants. I feel a camaraderie already with Andrew since he brings a positive, happy energy to the garden because like me he actually enjoys the work.

Last evening at the end of the day, after Andrew left, Vamsi returned from work and noticed the small flowers planted in the front of the house and started to take photos, out of nowhere a fresh, cleaned Andrew came darting out and insisted that he be in the picture to show that this was his good work. For sure he deserves all the credit...because I tell you this his tools are not the best (yes we will work on getting better tools) and the ground oh gosh one step away from cement!

Another great day in Monrovia!

Andrew: The Gardener

As I was making breakfast this morning, I saw out the big window of the kitchen a compound worker, needlessly CHOPPING the limited shrubs and flora in the back garden ! YIKES! NO! I raced to put on clothes and figure out which key and double doors and then quietly approached the kind fellow dressed in the heat a full thick cotton coverall - just looking at him made me HOT.

So this fellow turns to me, he seems quite lovely, he is too thin,  so black his skin, and his eyes are so light - and he has an assuredly air of kindness around him. "Umm, why thank you for kindly tending to the bushes."

Well turns out he is a groundskeeper, his name is Andrew, and his smile is BIG and warm. Hoping that we can salvage what's left of the shrubs before Andrew ScissorHands gets hold of them I ask that we stop cutting off the tops and sides of the shrubs and for now let's just trim the front side only: In hopes that the more shrub grows up and to the sides the more we can protect the yard from the heat and reflection of the wall. Andrew seems to understand and not understand - so I reiterate without a long winded explanation of "why." And he replies oh - don't cut the tops. YES YES! Indeed! Fabulous! My stomach growls, I return to the kitchen to finish making breakfast - only to start thinking and again I rush outside to the front where it seems Andrew has already forgotten our conversation and has reverted to decapitating all the shrubs without prejudice. After reminding him of our conversation - I then proceed to ask how is it that I can procure more shrubs for the perimeter of the yard. Well - seems Andrew is the man to ask only he states that he would bring cuttings and plant them from bushes around the compound - fair enough fair enough - I say to myself and to Andrew maybe three yes? Here, here and here as I point to desert like ground - and what would be a fair price? a $1 per cutting?  Apparently very fair as Andrew came back in less then thirty minutes three big holes had been dug, with his gosh awful broken shovel, and there I had three new plantings! Only here a couple of days and indeed we have progress! So excited for three more but insisted not to worry about it today...Andrew would not have it and immediately returned with FOUR cuttings! YES! We were going to make a good team!