PREVENT RODENTS FROM EATING YOUR EDIBLE SEEDS AND GROWING CROPS

I planted maize - corn around May in about three sacks. To my surprise they didn't germinate. I thought it was because I planted late -  the rains had already started then in earnest.

I had been doing some activities to meet deadlines online with some research-based write-ups for courses  around March to May.
Though I was  still doing some garden work daily throughout the period, I couldn't get the soil ready for the  sacks to plant the maize.

Unlike vegetables, the soil for planting maize needs good tillage and and manuring different levels of the soil from the base  to the top before planting.

So it was after submitting all the materials to meet the deadlines I was able to tackle that very tasking aspect of the gardening to plant maize. 

When the maize didnt germinate, I later planted cocoyams in those sacks from the remnants left  from the ones for cooking - cocoyam gerninates so easily.

But during last week after meeting another course submission deadline, I used the shovel in scooping soil from two worn-out sacks and poured into a bigger fresh sack.

I manured different levels of the soil with yam peels and plantain peels.(its good to manure with remnants from carb foods if planting a carbodaydrate crop - I planted maize in that sack.

I put the sack in a section of the garden I can easily check on. Thank God I did o because  this Sunday evening as I was passing by, I saw a big rat jumping out of the sack.

It then dawned on me - the crazy rat(s) must have been the one eating the maize seeds I have been planting.

But I go to very great lengths to keep my garden and environs clean! Apart from being somewhat freaky about cleanliness, it is also to prevent invasion of such things as rodents that get attracted to food  lying around in any ptemises.

But no matter how clean your immediate  environment is, since you can't always ensure people in the neighbourhood will keep their environs clean as well, you may still have rodents visiting.

Anyway, I was already prepared. I had bought some rat poisons. So I set poisoned delicacy for the rat(s) in the premises to feast on and thereafter  demise. I will ensure they regret coming into my premises - imagine the hard work I put into that garden!

So this morning (Monday Sept. 11)  I replanted maize in that sack. I will also plant more maize seeds in other sacks I will be  preparing -  I handle what  work I can do per time - it took two days to prepare this latest sack of soil.

I wanted to prepare another  sack with soil this morning but there was extra work - no electricity for days  to pump water. I'd resolved not to buy fuel for the generator.

So I had to fetch water from the well this morning to wet the  garden plants  -  before fetching water I was hoping it would rain - the weather looked cloudy this morning but even as at this afternoon, it is yet to rain, in fact it's sunny. Thankfully when deliberating on fetching water this morning,  I remembered that scripture from the bible that says he that regarded the wind will not sow.

.Since I didn't water the crops yesterday Sunday, ( though I sometimes wet on Sunday evenings), I decided to fetch the water from the well this Monday morning to do my part in keeping the plants in good condition.

No worries -  I only fetched just eight 20-litre paint buckets  - two for use inside and six to wet the garden.

After fetching ONLY  eight big paint buckets  I  became so very tired   though. I initially thought I would collapse and not be able to do anything today.

Since I  am female, I dont have the liberty like some boys of today that can marry a wife to cook free of charge for them🤣 and there are other more pressing needs than paying a cook, before collapsing sha, I gathered the strength to  boil an egg  and ate - egg repairs worn out tissues . So I regained  some strength - seems a solution to tiredness from working real hardwork is food😂

Having regained some strength I then fried another egg. I  still have left  some of this African cake that I baked from powdered corn, millet, guinea corn and soya beans - all flour with vegetable oil, dates and honey. - very nutritious and so filling as a meal.

After eating the African cake  and fried egg for breakfast, my body is  vibrant again from fetching 160 lites of water and doing gardening work/cleaning the environs early in the morning- I can read, write and research - which I already started this morning after bathing  - I fetched the water and didn't collapse o and my brain is still working to discover some natural solutions to most of human health challenges .

In fact I already have energy again to cook  later today with the snake(paste) tomatoes I have been harvesting from the garden - there are vegetables available in the garden.  My people, am I suffering or enjoying life?

MY GARDEN PLANTS HELP KEEP MY EYES INTACT

I have never used eye-glasses in my 50 years  despite  spending hours reading- mostly on computer/phone screen.

Some years ago, I observed as a lady was teaching at a bible study . She had prepared well - I saw her notes.  But she forgot or misplaced her eye-glasses and so was experiencing difficulty reading the bible and  the notes she had made.

It affected her teaching performance  - she seemed clumsy such that one of the supervisors expressed displeasure.

The lady apologised profusely explaining that it was because her eye-glasses were not available.

The Supervisor didn't say anything but  still seemed crossed  as if the lady had taken the opportunity given her to teach with levity.

I started thinking - I don't like this idea of being so dependent on eye-glasses.

But I didn't know then that the solution to having good eyesight even in much latter years could be so simple.

I did try to observe some general rules on eye-health  that are common, one of which was not to over-stretch the eyes, reading  too long on screen or reading  very small prints.

But I have always been the type that read a lot- not just because it's addictive but the career I have gravitated towards has been mainly writing - journalism despite studying agriculture.

Even as an agriculturist/researcher I tend towards agricultural communications hence reason my  Farm Cafe's main activities  can be summarised into communications- information services which will soon  entail training - knowledge sharing.

Long and short of all these is that I spend hours upon hours behind the  computer/phone screen often over-stretching my eyes. For example this weekend I was glued to the computer working to meet the deadline for an application for a course with so much details to compile along. It's a wonder how I dragged my tired body up this morning.

Usually, after gardening , doing mini-researches and other activities, it's back to reading, studying one way  or another with heavy demands on the eyes. I used to experience some discomforts.

But over the years through the mini-researches I discovered that no matter how much screen time I have, as long as I include certain leafy vegetables or plant leaves in my diet , my eyes stay intact - no discomfort or weakening.

In addition to some natural oils and spices good for the eyes, my eyes have been functioning relatively well - I read well no matter how stretched except when I break the nutrition codes.

I am not going to mention those leaves for obvious reasons - this field of medicine is highly specialised and delicate.  These findings have taken years and years of studies and researching.

So do be careful about being told that some specific  leaves are good for the eyes or an ailment and just going ahead to using them arbitrarily - there  are intricacies and deep knowledge surrounding their usage.

I will just say if you grow edible leaves i.e. leafy vegetables  in safe,  organic ways they are good for the well-being of the body.

Please...In the pictures, you may see me pointing, I am pointing at the garden and no particular leaves, so don't think it's any leaf I seem to be pointing at😁

#eyehealth
#goodeyesight
#gardeningforhealth

LEAVES OF TREE CROPS ARE ASSETS...though managing them can be such hard work

In one of the online international conferences I participated in, one of the key points I got was that 'households that have trees of economic value tend to be resilient  during economic hardships.'

This is one of the findings of researchers on the global lockdown due to Covid19 in different developing countries including Nigeria.

But due to my current space constraints and cemented premises, I have been growing trees in sacks ...mango, almond, pawpaw etc

Sighsss... as the trees grow from seedling into trees, they are outgrowing the sacks.  They may not grow to fruiting stage but do you know virtually all fruit trees have beneficial leaves?  So you can't completely lose out if you grow trees even in small containers like sacks.

I saw a fellow herbalist on Instagram who has produced tea bags from leaves of Bush mango (Ogbono) and African Cherry (Agbalumo) .

So I am encouraged to plant more trees in sacks - I have recently also planted Soursop and African Cherry  (Agbalumo) and  even Pomegranate but not sure that could germinate because the pomegranate was bought in a supermarket and I don't think it's organic.

But there is only one tree planted directly in the ground soil in my premises - Neem tree (Dongoyaro). Not wanting it to  threaten built structures, I have tried so hard to get it killed - I have called an artisan about three or four times to cut and wipe it out competely and rubbed engine oil to the part we were unable to uproot. 

But it takes only some weeks and a little rain, this tree would sprout again from that point and grow back to tree size in few months.

So I watch it regularly and  when it's blooming, I would weaken it's growth so it wont become massive, by cutting off it's parts.

I have to do this regularly -  calling an Artisan to come on time isn't always possible. So I now cut off the tree parts by myself regularly using cutlass.  Do not worry o, I do this  sort of work not because I am forced to but because I can and I don't mind doing such. Even when the chips are down, I have a caring, supportive family but I choose to be up and doing.

I  found out that to truly enjoy life, you have to be hard working as well but when there are truly smarter options, you can of course  explore it to achieve your aims. But having a lazy attitude to life would eventually entrap the person - so try to do as much as you can.

After cutting the Neem leaves, I dry these leaves which have several uses  such as:-

 

1 - the leaves can be burnt in a metallic bowl to drive away mosquitoes and other insects - unlike manufactured insecticides  that pollute the air due to chemical elements, Dongoyaro leaves purify the air -e.g. get rid of bacteria.

2 - I use small quantities in compounding  two of the body cosmetics I make for furure commercialisation and  which I currently use for a smooth, clear skin - hence  I don't need heavy makeup to hide anything.

3 - I make the leaves into herbal concoction for health-related purposes  which I won't detail yet until I get certified as a herbal medicine practitioner.

4. Neem leaves are also well used on farms and gardens to prevent or curtail insect attacks.

A pity that the space issue is preventing me from allowing the tree grow massive to fruiting stage - the green fruits of Neem tree contain Neem oil which is like agricultural liquid  gold because it is very pricey.

Recently I noticed that whenever I have been doing lots of physical exertion in the garden, my body starts craving for good food -  for someone who used to have loss of appetite on some days, that is really good.

After working real hard in the garden, these last days, it was as though my body was warning me that if you dare not eat and eat well, I will protest o! - .so I knew bread and butter or any mede-mede (junkie) food will not revitalise my body - it must be nutritiously healthy food if I still want to use this body to do other things later in the day such as reading/researching, writing and processing ingredients I use for tests of the home-made beauty products.

So this Monday morning like last week, I peeled beans and soaked,  went to continue  the gardening work and cleaning the environment.

I plucked pepper leaves from the garden, squeezed it , also squeezed scent leaves - basil.

After blending the beans, I added the juice of these healthy leaves, added other ingredients and made moin-moin this time around.

After early morning farm or garden work, a breakfast of herbs-garnished moiin-moim and corn pap  sweetened with honey is the real deal - it kept my brain tuned to reading frequency.

Garden herbs can help not just to prepare/ eat simple meals  but to medicate for healthy body.

 

Being so intentionally active is one of the ways I keep this  50 year old  body strongly intact.

#treeleaves
#fruittreeleaves
#planttrees
#planttreesforresilience
#gardeningincementedpremises
#spaceconstrainedgardening
#pureagriculture
#gardenherbsforhealthybody
#treesofeconomicvalue
#cookwithgardenherbs
#simplehealthycooking
#nutritionwithgardenherbs