Greetings everyone!
I grew up in a home—I mean a family—and that's my family, that is into crop farming. And although it's done on a large scale, it's basically at a subsistence level where we get our food and source our living expenses. So, all of us in the house were into farming, and sometimes, some of us were forced to go to the farm against our wishes. At one point or the other, we grew to love farming to the extent that little spaces in our compound were used for planting crops either by our parents or siblings, and we derived so much joy watching, watering, and weeding the garden.
Around October 2024, when I travelled home, I visited the site where my parents are working on our family house, and to my surprise, the little space that was left was already occupied by cassava plants. The place was small, and I knew that even though my parents love to utilise every common space in a compound for their planting, that little garden must not have been planted by them.
Yes, my thoughts were correct, and when I asked my siblings, Juliet—one of my sisters—said the cassava plants were hers. I laughed because this was the same person who never liked going to the farm; she would always frown her face whenever it was farm time.
I didn't need to ask her what prompted her, seeing that it's only one type of plant that is there, and the cassava plant is one of the major crops we grow on our farms due to how profitable it is. Yes, she planted the cassava just to get money at the end of the season when the cassavas mature and are harvested.
Interestingly, she has not been finding it difficult to clear grasses because she visits the site on a regular basis—maybe when she wants to get something from the site or wants to supply the workers with petrol to pump water—or sometimes, she could just call any of my brothers who knows how to ride a motorcycle to take her there in the evening, and she gets the chance to weed the place and water the ground too.
It is from this farming culture that it becomes impossible for us to have our compound void of gardens where common vegetables that are easily plucked for food are grown. That lifestyle lives in us.
Thanks for reading.
This is my entry to Hive Garden prompt
Photos used are mine
