Farmer Zach

When in Malawi, do as the Malawians do. Thus, as the rainy season bears down upon us, I'm diving into the small-scale farming gig. Near our house is an open area where Bay and I do our daily walking. When we arrived it was completely covered in scrub, dead bushes and grass, and dried corn stalks. In the last few weeks it has undergone a massive transformation.

                                   

You can see what it once looked like and, on the left, what it looks like after locals have cleared the brush, burned it, and cultivated the soil. The entire walking area is about a square mile and every passing day it becomes more and more prepared ground. Now, a little personal touch:

                                    

This is my own personal plot of six rows, each about 20 feet across. Rather than the local field corn I will be planting a sweet corn variety, though, I've been told I will be lucky if I actually get any of it. Apparently theft is common. I've heard locals don't like sweet corn. Too mushy.

I have been waiting for a big rain to plant and, sure enough, this morning we were absolutely dumped upon. Mid-February in Corvallis kind of rain. So, it's off to the field to plant. Just this morning I noticed all the land in the background was being prepared, so it's not quite the quaint little rectangle, rather one in what will soon be a big field of corn.