UNKNOWN EDIBLE NUTRIENT-RICH LEAVES ABOUND ALL AROUND YOU

Have you noticed  how even our commonly eaten vegetables such as ewedu, ugwu, generally green leaves for  vegetable soups,  have also become relatively costlier?  

For city dwellers, a family of four would likely need at least N500 worth of one of  this vegetables for a meal. If they buy and cook such vegetables 20 days in a month, that is at least N10,000 spent on LEAVES ALONE, not to mention other ingredients that would be needed, so many other more pricey foodstuffs and fruits needed in the household.

As a result, lots of families and individuals except those with 'easy-money' or those who grow most of  their food have felt touched by the huge amount in the budget going into feeding.

These foodstuffs may be cheap in the rural areas they are grown massively but one of the main factors shooting up prices is high cost of transportation.

'The government is to be blamed,' many people would quickly and no doubt rightly point out.'  That is fact but right now I want to direct energy to one of the things people can do to stay healthy and  strong.

Afterwards, we can join in the debates e.g. the President's true certificates  and schooling. Maybe the discoveries will alleviate the current food crises - hmmm...

NUTRITIOUS LEAVES

Back to the matter -  so many leaves abound  all around - some deliberately  planted, some just sprouting by themselves.

During last week I went to get some things, a matter came up  and the vendor became curious about my interest in plants.

I showed her some of my garden pictures and she spotted some leaves - one of which is sweet potato leaves. She said her mother used to pluck the leaves and cook for their family while she was a kid.

I had always perceived  the leaves of sweet potato  were edible/nutritious and already planned to research it. So I went to do some reading and lo and behold  Sweet potato leaves have so much health benefits -

LEAVES OF SWEET POTATO
It can protect the human body from oxidative damage, inflammation, aging, and hypertension due to the presence of various antioxidant compounds.

Regularly eating leaves of sweet potato i.e. daily can help maintain a healthy blood pressure and reduces the risk of having heart attacks.  It can help reduce the growth of cancer cells in the body.

The caveat is to ensure they are naturally grown - no synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides.

COOKING THE LEAVES
Sweet potato leaves can be boiled and eaten like that or as a salad. It can be cooked as vegetable soup like 'efo riro' or as 'egusi soup'.

I included it in fried eggs and also in bean paste for akara before frying.

IS IT ECONOMICAL?
But you may be concerned that  it would be too much to plant  the cuttings of  carb sweet potatoes and not get a harvest of the actual sweet potatoes - carbohydrate root tubers as a result of cutting the leaves.

Not to worry - do you know that sweet potatoes can also be propagated from even stalk of the leaves?

Yes o - When I was preparing the sack of soil to plant bitter-leaves, I looked round my mini-garden for what to use in manuring. I used some stalks and leaves of sweet potato to manure not knowing they would germinate - I thought it was only through the  carb sweet potato cuttings planted in the soil.  See that picture of sack full of  leaves of sweet potato? - they sprouted from the stalk of leaves. You can also have huge number of the leaves  by dumping wastes - peels of sweet potatoes on the soil - they sprout so easily.

If it is the carb sweet potatoes you want to harvest, don't pluck the leaves -ensure you plant the cuttings of the carb sweet potatoes properly, care for them until they mature and  then you dig the soil for harvest.

#leavesofsweetpotato
#sweetpotatoleaves
#nutrientrichleaves
#pureagriculture
#agricutureversusgoodhealth
#minigardenresearch
#growingcornindryseason
#growingcornallyearround
#throughbredseeds
#purebredseeds
#agriculturalmedicine
#gardeningindryseason
#growingcropsindryseason
#growingcropsinsacks
#growingmaizeinsacks
#spaceconstrainedgarden
#gardeningincementedpremises
#gardeninginsacks
#growingplantsinsacks
#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening
#minigardening  #integratedgardening #gardening #gardeninginsmallspaces #integratedgardeninginsmallspaces  #spaceconstrainedurbangardening
#intercroppinginsoilsack.
#growingcornindryseason

GETTING MY SACK-PLANTED TREE CROPS TO FRUITING STAGE

I have been thinking of solutions to get a particular growing mango tree  to fruiting stage   - would be very interesting to see mango fruits on the trees planted  in sacks..

I have planted  mango, almond, bush mango, pawpaw and one other tree with big leaves, all in sacks. I have three mango seedlings.

One of the mango crops has passed the seedling stage to tree stage. The challenge is that apart from its root threatening to burst the sack, the mango tree appear too slim - it's now almost two and half  years old.

The root obviously need bigger soil mass for expansion. I planted the local variety of tree crops
because they easily germinate. The trees would likely need to grow tall and sturdy to start fruiting. - -

I have thought of transplanring the mango tree into  a large drum . Pending the time I get such drum I decided to put a tyre or is tire on the sack to hedge the soil from falling apart when the sack tears completely -  It was quite a challenge as the sack couldn't be carried up to put the tyre from the base.

Apart from being too heavy to carry, the sack is also torn and would likely tear completely if carried.

So I had to put the tyre from the top of the growing tree to the base around the sack - so the soil can still be hedged together if the sack tears completely. It was well worth it - didn't  know I could do it alone until I made the effort.

OTHER ACTIVITIES
I needed to get some soil to fill up a sack. The shovel came in handy -  - no garden tool could have done it faster  - of the ones I have - I then planted pepper and vegs.

OTHER GIST
By the time I rounded up the tasking work in the garden, I was so tired and famished that I could barely stand straight.

I dont even know which was more  whether the hunger or the tiredness. How I longed to reward my tired body with pounded yam and garden-rich vegetable soup o but I suspected I might pass out due to hunger or tiredness or both before I finish preparing the meal.

So I rewarded my worn-out body with boiled yam and fried egg garnished with garden condiment. By the time the meal was ready I could barely stand straight - I ate sha and my body recouped some energy  - so I write.

As revitalising as gardening is, it's when one consistently does the tasking aspects that the body protests. Thank God the hunger of today though intense  just pinched me but didn't actually slap me before I finished today's gardening and cooking to eat😀.

#treesinsacks
#plantingtreesinsacks
#mangotreeinsacks
#pureagriculture
#agricutureversusgoodhealth
#minigardenresearch
#purebredseeds
#agriculturalmedicine
#gardeningindryseason
#growingcropsindryseason
#spaceconstrainedgarden
#gardeningincementedpremises
#gardeninginsacks
#growingplantsinsacks
#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening
#minigardening  #integratedgardening #gardening #gardeninginsmallspaces #integratedgardeninginsmallspaces

TACKLING NSECT ATTACK IN YOUR GARDEN

...quickly harvested and cooked my beans just in case

Wherever crops are grown, just as humans want to eat or use the crops,  other creatures also seek to eat. 
Afew days after celebrating the growth of beans in my mini-garden, I noticed insects have started swarming the beans.

Since I do organic growing of crops, I can't use chemical pesticides  - too many foodstuffs  in the open market grown  in large commercial quantities are produced with use of chemicals.

When you hear of people slumping and dying not long after, there is every  likelihood that the food they have been taking over time have toxins as a result of use of chemicals in growing, processing and preserving food .

Not all sudden deaths, if any are  due to witchcraft of village people  - let's focus on ensuring the food we grow and eat are healthy .So I needed to look for an organic solution to the insect attack.

I already noticed that the crops planted close to the Neem (Dongoyaro) tree hardly get insects infestation. The reason is simple- Neem leaves as well as the oil repel insects so can be used in production of organic pesticides.

Since I have a small garden, I decided not to produce organic pesticide but just plucked the stalks of Neem with the leaves and use them to wipe or whip the pods of beans.

I have a growing mango tree having insect attack as it's  planted in a sack somewhat far from the Neem tree in the premises. So I also did same with the mango leaves. I then left the stalks of neem leaves hanging on branches of the mango tree.

Some days later I noticed the insect infestations seem to have reduced on the mango tree and to some extent on the bean plant- you may already know that insects love beans so very much.

So, just in case the insects dare the Neem, I harvested most of the bean pods - they were still green - fortunately green beans are edible. In our clime the reason beans are allowed to dry before being sold for consumption is simple  - there is comparative advantage in sunlight and it is more commercially viable for large scale commercial farmers and merchants  to distribute beans in dried form  so the shelf-life can be prolonged -  no need for refrigeration

The advantage of growing in small quantities is that you can harvest and cook your beans while they are still fresh- so the beans I harvested, I boiled and added pepper and oil  - fried a bit and  added salt. I then made corn pap and had garden grown beans and pap for breakfast that morning.

If you harvest your matured beans while still green, even the pods are edible. So I cooked the beans with the pods- the pods are indeed edible but I don't really like the taste so I removed them- but the beans sweet o - I didn't even add onions and my garden beans still so very tasty. Henceforth, grow beans I must..

OTHER ACTIVITIES
I also planted yam during last week after doing tillage of the soil - packed out the soil with a shovel, put in a bucket, poured  the soil into a new sack and added organic manure - tillage is about the most tasking aspect of gardening.

This morning, I did similar tillage of
another sack of soil, manured and planted Okro. In farming -  do the best possible you can and trust the process that God - the Creator has put in place.

If there are issues, find out and rectify because the natural  growth process by the Creator is actually infallible- problems that emanate are directly or indirectly related to humans.

OTHER GIST
But am wondering o - when I was doing the tillage last week, even though I had taken fruit in the morning, can you guess what happened?  I was given a very hard slap - my entire body shook!. Really? Yes o - Hunger slapped me very hard!  I ran  all the way from the garden to the kitchen - you won't believe it- even though I was very tired, I pounded yam and ate with Okro soup! I tell these things because I used to be someone that I could work all day and not really eat, maybe just a snack and drink or even  nothing. .  But the more I get involved with farming through gardening work, the more  mean hunger is to my body - it's as though my body is saying - 'if you work this hard and don't eat, I will deal mercilessly with you.'

Even this morning, after taking tea, while doing the tillage, thankfully it was not a hard slap that hunger gave me just a  wicked  bite of my tummy - so I quickly went to boil egg and then rounded up the work in the garden.

Thank God for the  boiled egg I tool immediately I finished.  So I am able to write without hunger slapping me but hust sending reminders to my body.

I will go to garden to look for vegetables and cook the egusi soup and herring- shawa fish I bought. If not for fear of  what hunger  would do, I won't bother to cook, I would   spend more time doing reading on some  herbs and writing .

To cook is not easy o but since farm ing and eating -well are 5 and 6, dare  I not eat well after doing farm work in the garden? Not even tiredness from farm work can stop me. 

#dealingwithinsects
#dealingwithinsectattacks
#organicpesticide #minigarden
#neemleaves
#minigardencare

EVEN BEANS AGREE TO GROW IN SACK IN MY MINI-GARDEN

Imagine my excitement when I saw the pods of beans emerging from the bean plant grown in sack in my mini-garden.

I still do a lot of testing to see which plants can grow well and why not if they don't grow.   I planted the Cowpea or is it soya beans (not precisely sure now because I sprinkled both seeds in some sacks ) just to test o- I knew the plant would likely  emerge but didn't expect they would grow to pod forming stage.

The bean plants in about two other sacks grew to some extent and dried off.

By the way the maize - corn seeds I replanted after I saw a rat feasting on the seeds are yet to sprout - but I am no longer seeing any rat in my garden. Hope they are really gone and not just hiding because they found out I still have sone rat poison?

Surely the rats couldn't possibly have read my Social Media posts and fled?- not possible. But maybe the rat(s) that ate the poisoned delicacy  communicated to their counterparts what happened to them before they died.

Meanwhile I am ensuring that the surrounding area of my premises is kept clean just as I always keep within the premises clean.

But sighs....not everyone sees the need to keep their premises and the environs clean. Whether gardening or not, the cleanliness of people's immediate surroundings may be a reflection of the people.

Understandably not everyone would be able to engage in gardening, but at least keep your environment clean and uncluttered.

If you do decide to grow some plants, please ensure they are well-tended by doung it yourself or paying people to do it.

No point in growing plants and allowing them to grow so wild and untended that these  constitute nuisance in the environment .

This Nigeria self - it's becoming more and more obvious that the  issues of the country are what is called 'afowofa' - problems the person(s) caused by themselves.

Hmmmm....what will I do with the small  quantity of beans to be harvested from the sack harvest? Shebi something similar is used as fried rice ingredients and in salads? Maybe I will use it to cook/garnish local fried rice or local salad

My people most of those ingredients used in these dishes are highly commercialised because their market demand are high. So they are more often than not grown with fertilizers,  pesticides, herbicides and preserved also with some effective but harmful elements - please let's encourage commercial farmers to do organic farming and preservation  to help our populace in living healthy and long.

#cowoea #soyabeans #growingbeansinsacks #spaceconstrainedgardening #gardeninginsmallspaces
#gardeninginsacks
#pureagriculture
#agricutureversusgoodhealth
#minigardenresearch
#growingcornindryseason
#growingcornallyearround
#throughbredseeds
#purebredseeds
#agriculturalmedicine
#gardeningindryseason
#growingcropsindryseason
#growingcropsinsacks
#growingmaizeinsacks
#spaceconstrainedgarden
#gardeningincementedpremises
#gardeninginsacks
#growingplantsinsacks
#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening
#minigardening  #integratedgardening #gardening #gardeninginsmallspaces #integratedgardeninginsmallspaces  #spaceconstrainedurbangardening
#intercroppinginsoilsack.
#growingcornindryseason

YOUR GARDEN - YOUR BODY REPLENISHING CENTRE

Apart from having serious menstrual pains, a lady also used to feel empty and weak after her menstrual period.

She went to a  pharmacy and explained that dilemma to the pharmacist on duty. The pharmacist said  she needed to be taking blood tonic after the menstrual flow to replenish her body. 

The pharmacist recommended a particular brand of manufactured  blood tonic in a bottle.  The blood tonic was good, served it's purpose of helping her regain  some strength after her menstrual flow..

But it so happened  that some months later when the blood tonic finished , due to her schedule,  she was unable to go to that pharmacy. Coupled with the fact that she still used to experience pains during the days of menstrual flow, so the period of menstruatuon used to  slow down her work pace and much work would be awaiting her attention afterwards.
 
She  couldn't find that particular brand of blood tonic in nearby pharmacies.

Being a curious scientist, she had been checking even before then the composition of the blood  tonic and noticed that among other elements it contained iron.

From her other studies she knew that many leaves, if not all,  contain iron and some leaves have higher concentration.

Iron is a vital nutrient for blood. So she sought out those leaves- starting with the first one - bitter leaves. She began to eat the leaves raw towards the end of her menstrual period. 

Bitter leaves  is too bitter for many people to eat raw though. She also discovered that by boiling  leaves called blood leaves  which have a reddish juice and sweetening it with natural sweeteners- fruit juice, honey or dates- her body became  very well-replenished.

The benefits of those two leaves mentioned  go beyond getting rid of menstrual pains before, during and after the menstrual flows  - they also help in other functioning of the body for both males and females.

In fact blood leaves have about exactly same effects  as blood tonic - to reduce the drowsihess drinking the juice causes, especially if taken in the morning, you may boil with lemon grass . Then ensure you eat well - just as you should eat well  when you take  manufactured blood tonic.

As for the male folks, since you don't do menstruation😂 if you don't want female folks becoming stronger than you physically,  you may also take blood leaves juice and lemon grass.

When you see a woman carrying shovel 'upandan' to scoop sand to fill sacks for gardening, don't wonder too much. Find out what she's been taking -   the secret(s) may be  in that garden. I remember the bible says, the life of a thing is in the blood .

You see these blood leaves ehnn! The rate they grow is amazing! Even if the stalk just drops on the ground and there is little soil, it would likely sprout just like the one in picture.

By the way ladies don't  always wait till after menstrual flow to give your body healthy boost

#bloodleaves
#bodyreplenishing
#bodyboost
#pureagriculture
#agricutureversusgoodhealth
#minigardenresearch
#purebredseeds
#agriculturalmedicine
#gardeningindryseason
#growingcropsindryseason
#spaceconstrainedgarden
#gardeningincementedpremises
#gardeninginsacks
#growingplantsinsacks
#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening
#minigardening  #integratedgardening #gardening #gardeninginsmallspaces #integratedgardeninginsmallspaces  #spaceconstrainedurbangardening
#intercroppinginsoilsack.
#growingcornindryseaso

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