Farming

This is the season for plowing and planting in Zambia. When I asked my students what they would be doing during the term break, most of them said that they would be working in the fields to plant the maize.

I guess it's only natural that the Zambians would expect us to join in on this activity. We gave it a valiant try during our first year and went in on shares with two other families on a large maize field. The rains were good and the crop was plentiful--but we still didn't make any money. Last year we had a great excuse not to plant because we were in the US on furlough in December. This year I hoped that my chickens and David's huge garden would be enough farming. We also thought we could get away with not planting since we'll be in the US on furlough in April during the harvest.

It was not to be. Our good (and outspoken) friend Mrs. Jope decided that we were going to have a groundnut (peanut) field behind our house. She stopped by on Monday and announced that she had hired a team of oxen to come the next day to plow our field (at our expense, of course) and that she was providing the seeds for us.

The next morning the yoke of oxen arrived along with their handlers and plowed the field. The young girl in the photo is leading the team, one of the guys is prodding the oxen along, and Obrien on the far right is guiding the plow.

So now we are reluctant peanut farmers. Obrien assures us that he will handle the harvesting for us in April while we're in the US. Let's hope it's a good harvest, because I'm thinking it will take a lot of peanuts to cover the $25 it cost us for the plowing. Adventures in farming--Zambian style.