Janet (the chief's wife) was supposed to come and teach me how to put in a garden today, but Skita came by mid-morning to tell that Janet had hurt her back and couldn't come. Skita wondered if she and Auntie Sarah could help me. So, within just a few minutes, school was out for the day, and everybody was in the yard working. Skita and I weeded on the west side of the house while Auntie Sarah and Benjamin worked on breaking new ground on the north side (they quickly found a snake). It didn't take long for us to gather an audience, but thankfully, they were a hard working audience! All of the school kids are enjoying a four week break from school right now, so Wendy and Harris (both girls about Sarah's age) worked with us and younger siblings helped carry away the weeds.
The ground has a covering of what looks like clover with a web of strong roots. To get ride of it, you hold up the clover with one hand and hack at the roots with your bush knife. It rolls back little by little, and when you have a big mass, you take it out to the burn pile. After we had a sufficient space cleared, Skita and Auntie Sarah began planning where to plant everything. We bought some seeds in Honiara, and the Lee family left some seeds in the house. We decided that it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and plant the old seeds, too. So, on the west side of the house, we planted watermelon, cucumber, pumpkin, and green beans. On the north side, we planted umalau and obikola (which Skita called our "Christmas pudding" since it will be ripe in time to make lelenga for Christmas). It was really hard work to dig those big holes! As I was digging, some ladies were sitting down the hill on the beach watching me. I think they were tickled that I was digging with a big ol' !
pick ax, because they just laughed, and I waved at them.
We paused for lunch and shared our potato soup (made from umalau and obikola) with our helpers. After lunch, we grated old coconut husks (making our own mulch) to mix with some rich bush soil that Skita and Harris carter to the house. We mixed the two together and place them in some planters (again, thank you to the Lee family) so we could start the tomatoes and two different kids of leafy cabbage and transplant them later. Sarah and I are a little sunburned, and I know I will be sore tomorrow, but we have really enjoyed working with our neighbors today. They have given us their whole day and worked REALLY hard to help us out.
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