These are cashew apples. The cashew nut that we know and love is inside the green pod at the end. The fruit is super juicy and delicious yuuum...
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Bee Killing or Keeping and Spending the Night with the People of the Forest
Cam comes to visit for a few days... We do some work, borrowing my older brother's bike and riding to a near-by school. We help them Itt a really late start on their tree nursery and I'm so impressed by the students- they've brought in seeds from all kinds of bush trees and are falling over each other to get them planted... the two teachers helping keep it organized and write down exact numbers and varities.
Then we lend the people of Jamagen moral support by drinking attaya in the garden while they attempt to goat-proof the garden fence. The once-lush garden is mostly empty now, with the cabbage and onions all harvested and sold at the market and new garden beds being put off until the rains. But the few peppers and sorrel that were still growing have been relieved of their leaves by all the small ruminants that would brave the barbed wire... and also, my garden, which was late in starting because I got to Jamagen in January, has sadly been ravaged. I got 3 tomatos and 1 nice eggplant, tho! It's so dry here, there's not a bit of green for the goats and cows to eat so really I feel OK about feeding them my eggplant leaves.
That night, we drink my first attempt at cashew apple wine- not too bad. I never knew you could just throw yeast and sugar in water with some fruit for flavor and have something that passes as wine-ish. Maybe I shouldn't go so far as to compare it to wine, but at least it's alcoholic. (:
The next day we bike to a market in a near-by village I've been wanting to try... we buy 30 cashew fruits for our next batch of wine. Nice bike ride, cool market, only a few "toubab!" squawks pointed in our direction. That night we go "swim" in the creek, which is pretty low right now but nice and cool. Then, we do something ground breaking. We spend the night in the forest. We grab the tent another volunteer gave me, buy some firewood and pack a few things to cook. When I tell me host mom and dad where we're going they smile and nod... pause... ask me again what we're doing, then smile and nod again, saying "Ok, until tomorrow morning..." A little puzzled but not the out right shock I was expecting! The next morning when we return tho, everyone we meet all day asks me where I went last night. And for the rest of the week. My host sister greets us with her huge laugh and a "How are the forest people?" instead of "How are the home people?" They ask me if we saw hyenas, which were a problem up to about ten years ago, when finally the forest was depleted enough to run them off for good. I must admit tho, I dreamt about hippos and snakes... Anyway, the forest quiet and lingering smell of campfire smoke was nice.
The next evening, Cam has left. A man from onw of my favorite compounds comes to my door just after sun-down... it's time. I put on my one long sleeve shirt and jeans, two pairs of socks and my tennies, my rubber gloves from my med kit and rush out to meet him. He is wearing flip flops and a tank top, but is grateful when I hand him one of my bee suits. It's my first village honey harvest!
We go not to one of his actual "Kenyan top-bar" hives, the kind that you can harvest and leave in-tact to make more honey, but to a good old log hive, set way up in a tree. As I stand pondering the lack of duct-tape around the openings on my wrists and ankles, Mustafa is up the tree, flashlight under his chin, tying a rope around the log. Then the log is on the ground and the hum of the bees is awesome. He lights dry grass on fire near-by and sets to work, first removing the cover from one end of the log. A piece of wood from the top comes off too and he is grabbing combs and, wiping bees off and throwning them in the bucket- with his bare hands! And he's barefoot! He's quick and gentle with the bees, if unsentimental about raiding this bee-village, taking most of the food they've worked so hard to store up for their up-coming hungry season. He points out the queen cell to me, as I feebly stand by holding my headlamp for him. In minutes he is replaceing the cover, re-tying the robe, shimmying back up the tree and replacing the log. Alright then! My first harvest. The pool of bees left on ground, drowsy from the smoke, have made a cool amoeba-like pattern. There's enough honey and wax left in the hive for many of them to live on, I think, and start over. But man that's got to be frustrating!
We eat beautiful golden honeycomb as we walk back to village and Mustafa laughs at me when I ask how many stings he thinks he got. Lots! Nonnie, my host mom, helps me squish all the honey cells through a strainer, which is great fun. The next day I try honey in cocoa instead of sugar and it's so good! The fam. balks at first when I bring out the honey for our rice porridge (replacing the normal half-kilo of sugar) but they like it. Uuum honey. I will harvest again soon with my host dad.
Cam comes to visit for a few days... We do some work, borrowing my older brother's bike and riding to a near-by school. We help them Itt a really late start on their tree nursery and I'm so impressed by the students- they've brought in seeds from all kinds of bush trees and are falling over each other to get them planted... the two teachers helping keep it organized and write down exact numbers and varities.
Then we lend the people of Jamagen moral support by drinking attaya in the garden while they attempt to goat-proof the garden fence. The once-lush garden is mostly empty now, with the cabbage and onions all harvested and sold at the market and new garden beds being put off until the rains. But the few peppers and sorrel that were still growing have been relieved of their leaves by all the small ruminants that would brave the barbed wire... and also, my garden, which was late in starting because I got to Jamagen in January, has sadly been ravaged. I got 3 tomatos and 1 nice eggplant, tho! It's so dry here, there's not a bit of green for the goats and cows to eat so really I feel OK about feeding them my eggplant leaves.
That night, we drink my first attempt at cashew apple wine- not too bad. I never knew you could just throw yeast and sugar in water with some fruit for flavor and have something that passes as wine-ish. Maybe I shouldn't go so far as to compare it to wine, but at least it's alcoholic. (:
The next day we bike to a market in a near-by village I've been wanting to try... we buy 30 cashew fruits for our next batch of wine. Nice bike ride, cool market, only a few "toubab!" squawks pointed in our direction. That night we go "swim" in the creek, which is pretty low right now but nice and cool. Then, we do something ground breaking. We spend the night in the forest. We grab the tent another volunteer gave me, buy some firewood and pack a few things to cook. When I tell me host mom and dad where we're going they smile and nod... pause... ask me again what we're doing, then smile and nod again, saying "Ok, until tomorrow morning..." A little puzzled but not the out right shock I was expecting! The next morning when we return tho, everyone we meet all day asks me where I went last night. And for the rest of the week. My host sister greets us with her huge laugh and a "How are the forest people?" instead of "How are the home people?" They ask me if we saw hyenas, which were a problem up to about ten years ago, when finally the forest was depleted enough to run them off for good. I must admit tho, I dreamt about hippos and snakes... Anyway, the forest quiet and lingering smell of campfire smoke was nice.
The next evening, Cam has left. A man from onw of my favorite compounds comes to my door just after sun-down... it's time. I put on my one long sleeve shirt and jeans, two pairs of socks and my tennies, my rubber gloves from my med kit and rush out to meet him. He is wearing flip flops and a tank top, but is grateful when I hand him one of my bee suits. It's my first village honey harvest!
We go not to one of his actual "Kenyan top-bar" hives, the kind that you can harvest and leave in-tact to make more honey, but to a good old log hive, set way up in a tree. As I stand pondering the lack of duct-tape around the openings on my wrists and ankles, Mustafa is up the tree, flashlight under his chin, tying a rope around the log. Then the log is on the ground and the hum of the bees is awesome. He lights dry grass on fire near-by and sets to work, first removing the cover from one end of the log. A piece of wood from the top comes off too and he is grabbing combs and, wiping bees off and throwning them in the bucket- with his bare hands! And he's barefoot! He's quick and gentle with the bees, if unsentimental about raiding this bee-village, taking most of the food they've worked so hard to store up for their up-coming hungry season. He points out the queen cell to me, as I feebly stand by holding my headlamp for him. In minutes he is replaceing the cover, re-tying the robe, shimmying back up the tree and replacing the log. Alright then! My first harvest. The pool of bees left on ground, drowsy from the smoke, have made a cool amoeba-like pattern. There's enough honey and wax left in the hive for many of them to live on, I think, and start over. But man that's got to be frustrating!
We eat beautiful golden honeycomb as we walk back to village and Mustafa laughs at me when I ask how many stings he thinks he got. Lots! Nonnie, my host mom, helps me squish all the honey cells through a strainer, which is great fun. The next day I try honey in cocoa instead of sugar and it's so good! The fam. balks at first when I bring out the honey for our rice porridge (replacing the normal half-kilo of sugar) but they like it. Uuum honey. I will harvest again soon with my host dad.
Jamagen at work
So... it's been awhile. After In Service Training last month, which was about a week of cool hands-on honey harvesting and tree grafting work, 'development' things in Jamagen have been moving fast. Well... fast relative to Jamagen's average speed. which, if you compare their style of dress, architecture, occupations and diets to that of their culture 400 years ago... well, it's not fast.
A while ago, I visited to main Department of Forestry in Banjul, to say hi and talk to them about a reforestation with native tree species project I wanted to start. I didn't get to finish my second sentence about the project idea, but their agenda for the meeting worked out for me too- they were looking for villages to participate in a wood lot project! Great I said, we've already started out tree nursery, the only problem is fencing. We can't afford barbed wire and after the rains end and animals are hungry again, the baby trees will be eaten or trampled. So we've started some live fencing species this year, and by next year they should...Great! they interrupt We'll GIVE you fencing, not just barbed wire but chain link! (Is that really neccessary?) And then we'll give you baby mangos, cashews, gmelinas (fast growing, used for timber)! Awesome.
Back in village, everyone is excited. Paradoxically, we have to CUT 400 fence poles before they give us the fence, which means trimming the branches off the few large trees dotting the fields. Sigh. Also, since they're giving us seedlings, enthusiasm for our nursery has trickled down a bit. But, not to look a gift horse in the mouth- the two-hectare wood lot will surely save a lot of Jamagen's pitiful "bush" from certain death by cooking fire. At the next meeting, it is decided that Sundays will be work days and the fence posts will be collected by everyone. Also, there's still motivation for planting our live fence because after a live fence grows in, the chain link can be moved to another project area or sold. Another idea is thrown out- we can plant corn inbetween the baby seedlings as a community crop! I wonder who will weed and harvest, and then who will help eat the corn? But I save my question for next time. (Family, remember that cartoon "who will help me sow my corn? no one. who will help me eat my corn? everyone! hahaha!) OK, pretty good.
Sunday comes and sure enough, all the men bring their axes and donkey carts, the women bring their hoes, and candy (?). The young men scoot up these huge trees with bare feet and hands, hacking off all branches except the main top branch. When the branches crack, I wince a little (yes, I want to hug the trees) but they hoot and laugh "AH! What is this?!" Others load the poles onto carts and take them to the fence site where the older men are digging post holes and packing dirt around the new posts. The women are clearing the land of what little greenery came back after the Great Bush Fire of Steph's 24th Birthday. They are also fighting over minties and who was late and has to pay the 5 delassi late fee. About half gets done, the rest saved for the next Sunday. Two other villages near by are also participating and I go once a week to check on them... their progress is about the same as Jamagen, sweet!
So, in the next 3 weeks or so before the rains set in, we will ideally have our fence and seedlings! In addition to the seedlings they give us, we'll plant our nursery seedlings at the end of the rains, and go ahead with our sisal-and-lime live fence idea.
In other work-related news, the Gambia-wide All-School Tree Nursery Competition, which was off to a rough start, is definitely underway. On June 4, I go on trek with a representative from the Dept. of Forestry and one from Ed. Dept to judge all the schools in the North Bank. It's taken several trips to the area offices in Kerewam, by me and Rachel, an ed. volunteer, but finally all is organized and ready. We'll judge the schools on how many tree seedlings have at least germinated, and how many varieties they have, as well as how many students participated. Then, in September we do another judging trek to see how well the tree seedlings were actually outplanted, then give prizes based on that. Good deal!
I have written a project idea proposal with the help of my Ag-Fo boss, Rod, on a small piolet project for reforestation with native trees in my district. The thing is, there are lots of government and NGO-sponsered wood lots, like the one Jamagen is doing, which promote monoculture lots of mangos and cashews. Ok, so bi-culture lots. And other fast-growing species, acaias and gmelina, are promoted but are their branches or even trunks are lopped often and never manage re-create a forest habitat. I'm hoping to address that... there's been some talk about travel agencies interested in "carbon offsetting"- they'd advertise their travel package as "green" and tourists would pay someone like me to facilitate a reforestation project that they could use to feel better about their travel. Trees during the rainy season can take in a ton of carbon I guess (literally a ton), which would theorectically offset the carbon put out by the flights. So, I'm looking- we'll see!
So... it's been awhile. After In Service Training last month, which was about a week of cool hands-on honey harvesting and tree grafting work, 'development' things in Jamagen have been moving fast. Well... fast relative to Jamagen's average speed. which, if you compare their style of dress, architecture, occupations and diets to that of their culture 400 years ago... well, it's not fast.
A while ago, I visited to main Department of Forestry in Banjul, to say hi and talk to them about a reforestation with native tree species project I wanted to start. I didn't get to finish my second sentence about the project idea, but their agenda for the meeting worked out for me too- they were looking for villages to participate in a wood lot project! Great I said, we've already started out tree nursery, the only problem is fencing. We can't afford barbed wire and after the rains end and animals are hungry again, the baby trees will be eaten or trampled. So we've started some live fencing species this year, and by next year they should...Great! they interrupt We'll GIVE you fencing, not just barbed wire but chain link! (Is that really neccessary?) And then we'll give you baby mangos, cashews, gmelinas (fast growing, used for timber)! Awesome.
Back in village, everyone is excited. Paradoxically, we have to CUT 400 fence poles before they give us the fence, which means trimming the branches off the few large trees dotting the fields. Sigh. Also, since they're giving us seedlings, enthusiasm for our nursery has trickled down a bit. But, not to look a gift horse in the mouth- the two-hectare wood lot will surely save a lot of Jamagen's pitiful "bush" from certain death by cooking fire. At the next meeting, it is decided that Sundays will be work days and the fence posts will be collected by everyone. Also, there's still motivation for planting our live fence because after a live fence grows in, the chain link can be moved to another project area or sold. Another idea is thrown out- we can plant corn inbetween the baby seedlings as a community crop! I wonder who will weed and harvest, and then who will help eat the corn? But I save my question for next time. (Family, remember that cartoon "who will help me sow my corn? no one. who will help me eat my corn? everyone! hahaha!) OK, pretty good.
Sunday comes and sure enough, all the men bring their axes and donkey carts, the women bring their hoes, and candy (?). The young men scoot up these huge trees with bare feet and hands, hacking off all branches except the main top branch. When the branches crack, I wince a little (yes, I want to hug the trees) but they hoot and laugh "AH! What is this?!" Others load the poles onto carts and take them to the fence site where the older men are digging post holes and packing dirt around the new posts. The women are clearing the land of what little greenery came back after the Great Bush Fire of Steph's 24th Birthday. They are also fighting over minties and who was late and has to pay the 5 delassi late fee. About half gets done, the rest saved for the next Sunday. Two other villages near by are also participating and I go once a week to check on them... their progress is about the same as Jamagen, sweet!
So, in the next 3 weeks or so before the rains set in, we will ideally have our fence and seedlings! In addition to the seedlings they give us, we'll plant our nursery seedlings at the end of the rains, and go ahead with our sisal-and-lime live fence idea.
In other work-related news, the Gambia-wide All-School Tree Nursery Competition, which was off to a rough start, is definitely underway. On June 4, I go on trek with a representative from the Dept. of Forestry and one from Ed. Dept to judge all the schools in the North Bank. It's taken several trips to the area offices in Kerewam, by me and Rachel, an ed. volunteer, but finally all is organized and ready. We'll judge the schools on how many tree seedlings have at least germinated, and how many varieties they have, as well as how many students participated. Then, in September we do another judging trek to see how well the tree seedlings were actually outplanted, then give prizes based on that. Good deal!
I have written a project idea proposal with the help of my Ag-Fo boss, Rod, on a small piolet project for reforestation with native trees in my district. The thing is, there are lots of government and NGO-sponsered wood lots, like the one Jamagen is doing, which promote monoculture lots of mangos and cashews. Ok, so bi-culture lots. And other fast-growing species, acaias and gmelina, are promoted but are their branches or even trunks are lopped often and never manage re-create a forest habitat. I'm hoping to address that... there's been some talk about travel agencies interested in "carbon offsetting"- they'd advertise their travel package as "green" and tourists would pay someone like me to facilitate a reforestation project that they could use to feel better about their travel. Trees during the rainy season can take in a ton of carbon I guess (literally a ton), which would theorectically offset the carbon put out by the flights. So, I'm looking- we'll see!
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