May 23, 2014 was Labour day. I woke up at 5:15 a.m. and I was outside by 5:30. I took the usual tools from the garage – fork, spade (at least I think it is a spade), machete and gloves. I wanted to continue the extension of the ‘farm’ but what I saw I had not planned for. The ‘field’ needed to be cleared. Weeds were now growing and crowding my new shoots. I decided to remove the weeds before I extend the area. That was hard. Kneeling over the shoots and being careful not to step on them took some doing. I also realized that the gungo seeds were also now showing results. They too were a victim of ‘group planting’ and was now growing in the cantaloupe and pumpkin clusters.
I spent two hours kneeling and removing the weeds. As I did this, I learnt my fist lesson of the day….The rain is as good for the weeds as it is good for the seeds. In all the excitement about my growing shoots, I had never thought about the weeds. I somehow did not think this through and felt that once the seeds were planted and they started growing, I would just need to sit back and wait on the results. The weeds were a rude awakening as the shoots needed the right environment to survive. The rain was doing great things for the seedlings; they had grown another couple of inches and looked very healthy….and so had the weeds. It was also here that I received my second lesson for the day…Tilling the soil makes it easier to remove the weeds. In the areas which were not forked, attempts to remove weeds proved more difficult. It was only when I used the fork to turn over the soil that I was able to remove some of them, especially the roots.
I also worked on the planned expansion. By 8 a.m. I concluded that people who stole from farmers deserved no mercy. In my little patch in the comfort of my back yard, I suffered through mosquito bites and uncomfortable positioning in order to create an environment for my ‘farm’ to succeed. By the time I tried to straighten myself, I felt like I needed someone to stand on my back as I lay flat, just to remove the kinks. It was here that I learnt the third lesson of the day…Farming is back-breaking work. It made me think about the people who make their living from farming; daily they till the soil in the hot sun, bending their backs to do the planting. How then can we abuse the people who make such a sacrifice?
I had a wedding to attend later that day and when I looked at my hand at 9 a.m. I realized I was in trouble. I had come in for breakfast and tried washing my hands. The soup seemed to have cleaned it but it still looked dirty. My nails looked like I hadn’t cared for them in months. It was at that point that I learnt my fourth lesson for the day…Dirt stains your hands and nails. I had to soak my hands and brush them vigorously with soap and water before I saw any success. In the end, they were still a little yellow but they were presentable.
Posh Farming 