Rufaro Makamure

Someone was interested in understanding what it is I am trying to achieve at the plot, with the aid of a map.  I hope what I have drawn paints a picture of this. The satellite map of the real plot is meant to help with a better visual of what is exactly on the ground.

The design is big on water harvesting. All the beds will be raised, with the pathways lower than the surrounding surface allowing as much water to sit on the pathways as much as possible when it rains, reducing runoff.

Water flows from the house going towards the outside kitchen, water pits and fruit trees. The water that collects where the vegetable beds are, will be redirected back to the water harvesting pits, to keep water from leaving our yard and also to avoid drowning vegetables within this area. I intend to have alternating vegetable beds and fruit trees, I just put two sections because that's what my space allowed me, but they will be more. Grass will grow around the vegetable beds area, both the trees and the grass roots can help draw back water towards the surface from underground. So far on the alternating vegetable beds and trees, I have one section of vegetable beds and  one water harvesting pit and some grass. From these I have to grow my capacity and increase these sections. I hope to visit a place in Zvishavane, where there is a well known man who was really good at harvesting water who was called Zephaniah Phiri to learn more on this and this is something I will work towards doing before the end of 2027. This might lead to some changes in my plan, but so far this is what I have in mind.

All along, I thought mai Kumbi was the one mulching the beans area. It wasn't, it's her son. He increased the number of mulched beds in my presence yesterday, so it's work in progress. Today, when we got to the plot, mai Kumbi's daughter was weeding the bean area. She's staying with her parents for some time, but she is married. This made me light up. Seeing these guys, being able to help their mother out, feels good, especially knowing that they have that opportunity to help out. I believe in most cases, that opportunity to be useful is not available and it strains guardians and makes the other family members seem like they are lazy and insensitive, for example when there are no jobs available.

The leaves of the kale I have been working on are growing fast, the effort is paying off.

I have included a picture of the banana plants at the plot.

The bottle gourd and the long Thai bean plants are withstanding the high temperatures. The bottle gourd has started flowering, the flowers are not lasting in this heat. The flowers that I saw for the first time in the morning were already drying up at around 9 am. I have been hand fertilizing the other flowers, and I threw a sack to help ease the heat on the fertilized female flowers.

The water melon has also started to flower. The one I transplanted did not make it, the one that is growing is one that I left growing in a pot.

Yes there are banana trees at the plot. I will send the job that we needed the boiler maker for.

I was told today that the pegs that mark our yard are wrong. The 6 plots which our plot is a part of, have borders that are mixed up. I have been hearing of houses that are being demolished especiallyin the capital city, because people would have been given stands in the wrong places, it's something that is becoming common. I never in my wildest dreams thought this issue would affect us. The frustrating thing is it's the authorities that give out stands and I don't think they answer to anything when people start demolishing their houses. For now with our plots, its just talk that people are having. There is nothing yet that is being done with regards to correcting the plot borders. I will focus on my progress within the yard and deal with these issues as they come. This is something I am going to intentionally block out of my head and wait to deal with it when the time comes.

In Apo's business, he is working hard to keep his business afloat. I can now see how stressed he is, so I am doing the one last thing I can, reaching out to his family. After this I will know we have tried all we could and if it doesn't work I will know it wasn't time. His hard work and passion is rare I really wish it goes well for him. The boiler maker never showed up.

I have planted two more trees, guava trees. These will surely make a difference in the future. I have included the bed that has been mulched from the beans section, it's still just one from yesterday.

Mai Kumbi started putting mulch in her bean beds. Kumbi has also been putting a lot of mulch in the older kale beds. This time individuals are doing what benefits them in their beds, so it's encouraging seeing that they are putting mulch. It means for all the years that passed and we would use mulch, enough time has passed to show the benefits of mulching, such that it is something that does not need some convincing anymore. I can concentrate on intercropping, experimenting with things until I get a combination that works for us. The beetroots I planted together with kale were eaten by chickens and some were covered by sand when it rained.

Today I failed to take any pictures, before I finished my planed job for the day I had shortness of breath and I had to go home. I am finding a couple of home remedies and if it persists I will see what I can do then.

I was pulling out some beetroots and there were worms on the roots, this is a win for me. The keyhole garden has so many garden worms.

The new project behind the house is shaping up. The number of bags with things growing in them is increasing. I have added potatoes to the mix and I picked up a cow peas plant that was growing on its own close to the banana tree, and transplanted this into one of the bags, I will watch if it grows, we can eat the leaves as we wait for the sweet potatoes.

I am getting some of the trees I will be planting at the plot from this corner.

I got a peach tree from the keyhole garden and my sister planted it at the plot. Its very hot these days, I hope the tree will survive. We surrounded it with mulberry tree branches.

I have included the rest of the spaces, Kumbi, my sister's and mine. We will be looking at the changes as we go. My sister is having problems with germination, but she is not giving up. Our soil is sandy, it needs a lot of patience.