the farm life

This summer I spent a lot of time driving through Ohio and Indiana, and all acres and acres of farms along the side. I thought it might be fun to live on a vegetable farm after passing through so many. This weekend I got a small taste of what a vegetable farm is like, and I think that was enough for me! I worked with the older girls in the shamba (garden) harvesting corn this weekend. Let me tell you, it was quite the process! We each took a row and plucked each ear of corn from the stalk, there were usually 2 or 3 ears and then when we finished plucking them off we had to shuck them all. Then we tied them all together to hang out to dry. The first day we had to carry them in a sac on our back to the other side of the farm (the girls gave me all the light loads :) ) but the 2nd day we luckily had a donkey to help us. There were ants and bugs crawling all over the stalks, so naturally they began to crawl all over me too! I was so itchy!

They use the corn at this time to grind down and make corn meal and different dishes out so it has to be very dry. They will also sell some of it since there is so much. This was a 2-day process with about 20 girls altogether. It was difficult work for sure, but more than that-- it was time consuming! We did not nearly do as big of fields as I see in Ohio, but to do it all by hand is crazy! If the girls did not do it, 2 men who work in the shamba would have been responsible for doing it all by hand. It would take forever, I was in awe the whole time. My friend Jackie lives on a corn farm so I can’t wait to hear from her the way they harvest the corn, I am sure it much more efficient!
The reward at the end of the day for each girl (besides great satisfaction of course) was a baridi (cold) Coke, what a treat! Coke here is so good because they use pure sugar mmmm mmmm…. Nothing better!
It was a great experience, but I think I will cross off living on a farm on my to-do list in life. Especially if I have to harvest it all by hand!