The Day's Grind: Harvesting And Processing Cassava For Garri.

A popular saying in my place goes thus "Aka àjà àjà na ebute ọnụ mmanụ mmanụ" - Sandy or dirt filled hands (toils) often bring forth oily mouth - a mouthwatering meal). This simply means that the reward of hard work or smart work is success and prosperity.

So today, I got my hands dirty again. Oh, how glad I was because I got the reward that comes from doing so. I'll tell you about it later on. Hehehe.

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I visited my sister's home over the weekend and last night, she announced that we'll be going to harvest cassava from her farm at the neighboring village.

Morning came and we - my sister, niece, cousin and myself headed to the farm.

On our way to the farm

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The farm was actually cultivated during the previous year's planting season. She had planted maize and cassava, and since after she harvested the maize and the last weeding done, she hadn't gone there again. She was only waiting for the cassava plants to mature so they can be harvested.

She was excited and filled with high hopes that the cassava would have a good yield, and we would be getting a bountiful harvest, owing to the effort and resources she had put into cultivating and tending them.

However, her excitement was cut short and hopes dashed when we got to the farm
and she saw that the cassava plants had already been harvested. In fact, 70% of the cassava in that farm were gone. Unfortunately, she had no inkling as to who would be so heartless as to harvest cassava they hadn't planted, reaping where they they hadn't sown. The painful part was that whoever harvested them targeted the big stems with good yield.

Seeing my sister, almost broken and tearing up while recalling how she toiled during the cultivation of that farm got to me. I couldn't help but feel livid, and wished that the culprit be caught in not so a distant time.

People still act recklessly and inconsiderate forgetting that Karma is real.

Without a choice, we went around the farm, harvesting the remaining cassava we could find.

My cousin at work

Me, trying to pull the cassava tuber out

Finally, it's out. A big one at that.

Another big harvest

My niece, gathering the cassava tubers that were harvested

My tired is tired. 😫

And then water did it's magic. Ah! refreshing. 😀

And here we have a cute visitor - End Band Net-wing insect.

Some wild berries, not edible, . Search revealed the name as likely to be fruits from a Spindle tree. I'm not sure if that's exactly what they're called, though.

We spent much time at the farm, scanning through to ensure that we harvested enough of the remaining cassava. Afterwards, we headed home.

If exhaustion has a face, then it'll be mine. 😂

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Saw this goatie foraging and having a time of her life. 😂

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Don't forget to smile or laugh away the stress. 😂

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Getting home, we plunged into peeling the cassava tubers in readiness for grinding. They're to be used for garri production.

But first, we needed to quench our appetite before brunch was ready. So I quickly peeled pawpaw and served. How I love fruits. 😋

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Peeling the cassava tubers

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And here's the real deal, the oily treat I talked about - Boiled yam with fresh palm oil sauce. Yum yum. If this isn't oily enough, I wonder what is. Lol.

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Ready to be ground

Grinding cassava here is often easy because some boys usually move around the village with their grinding machine. So all you need do is be on the lookout for them. Alternatively, you can put a tuber of cassava on a stick and hang it outside, just by the the entrance of your compound as a say of notifying them that you need their service.

Village life is so simple. 😉

And here they are.

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And that's a wrap. Hope your day was as productive as mine? I'd love to know.

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Author's Photos

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Still the #threadsaddict 😂

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