The productivity continues

At the weekend, my friend Moses, a VSO volunteer from Zimbabwe, helped me plant a vegetable patch in my garden. I was very grateful for his help as his hoe was a much better tool than the measly spade I had intended to use. Although perhaps it had more to do with his ability than the tools! After digging for half an hour or so, I was soon (self-) appointed chief drink maker and brick mover! We spent a pleasant afternoon digging, picking out bits of brick, levelling the ground and finally planting the vegetable seeds; tomato, pepper, carrot and aubergine. Progress reports to follow!

 Then we sat on my porch and watched the sun going down whilst eating pineapple (and for one of us, a celebratory glass of wine!).

When Patrick (my night guard) arrived for work, he was very impressed with the vegetable patch and he even asked to take over caring for the plants. As we are now leaving the rain season, he has been watering the crops every day which saves me a job!

Hole in the wall update:
At 6am on Sunday morning (!!), a worker turned up to make cement bricks which will be used to rebuild my wall. In five hours, this is what he produced:

I have no idea how long it will take for the bricks to dry before they can be used but until then, the hole remains! However, the tree has been removed and in its place I have a mound of smoking soil (which can be seen in the first sunset picture above if you look closely). The wood is being burnt underneath this mound to create charcoal. Very useful stuff although the constant smell of burning is beginning to grate on me!