WELCOME TO MY FARM
My cousin who lives here in Port Harcourt helped us get the land. There is no much land to farm on here since it is a city, and when you eventually find some, renting it costs a lot. We are lucky to have gotten this one for free. A friend of my in-laws (my cousin's husband) owns the land, and he has asked them to keep farming on it until he is ready to develop it. Fortunately, the land is so big that they ca not farm it alone; we were eventually invited to join.
By "we", I mean my siblings and I, but it is more or less just me; I guess none of them really enjoy farm work, coupled with the fact that they are not always around. We started last year, and we have already harvested the crops from the farm. First, we harvested our first cucumbers as well as corn. Since cassava stays for at least a year before harvest, we recently harvested our first cassava from the farm. We have been eating garri made from the cassava we have harvested from the farm all this while.
My first cultivation for the year; the corns are seriously been attacked by caterpillars.
We recently planted cassava and corn, and that is what we are currently working on. While some parts of the farm have grown a bit, we have just recently dug some. We normally hire labourers to help with the digging while we continue with the maintenance of the farm ourselves. Now, this is where my siblings come in. Since I do most of the farm work, we have agreed that the both of them will provide whatever finance is needed to run the farm. In turn, the farm is wholly for consumption purposes. Even if we eventually sell some of the produce, we still use the money we make to run the house.
My hoe and I 😅
My work on the farm today was weeding. The corn is doing quite well; the only problem we have is caterpillars - they are eating them up really badly. To control them, I had to spray insecticide on the crops yesterday. Going back today, I began a manual weeding process; I really do not like using chemicals for weeding. Doing it manually allows me to support the crops with soil as I weed. I left home as early as 6:30 a.m., and since the farm was only a 5-minute walk from home, I began working by 6:40. Eventually, I was able to cover one-third of the farm. I never expected I could cover that much.
Cassava is the main deal here, but it takes too much time to mature completely - a whole year. The only good thing about it is that it doesn't require much. A one-time weeding is enough for your cassava farm, coupled with the fact that it's virtually pest- and insect-free. The most interesting thing is how much it produces; most of our sales from farm produce come from cassava, after we've made garri and flour for consumption from it.
The last set I cultivated. I added a little bit of cucumber this time.
Since we started farming, over sixty percent of our food has been taken care of. At least that is enough consolation for the labour. I knew it would be of help to the household, but I never really realised how helpful it would be. I am ever so happy to have engaged in it.
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