Permaculture advocate in Zimbabwe - too little/too much rain

Rufaro, a very cheap hose may not be good value, they can perish in the sun.
If mai Kumbi saves time with a better hose, are there other tasks she can do to put the time in?
- till the soil
- check for bugs
- repair fence
Do you boil the peanuts before roasting to remove toxicity?

I had no idea that peanuts are toxic. I will have to look this up. Peanut butter can only be made out of roasted nuts, boiled nuts cannot make peanut butter even if you roast them afterwards.

Mai Kumbi is not my employee that I can give her tasks directly, I do not pay her any work she is doing now, it's because she has bought into the idea and she determines her daily tasks towards the project's goals on her own. I  have to come with a way to sell my ideas. All I have is my family's house and a potential of a stable income if we are willing to put in the work required. I am using this as 'bait', (I don't know a better word), to get labor towards my project, so far the value of the house has gotten me some attention, then the promise of an income, that is slowly coming into being, is what I am building.

When I had reached a limit with her family and had asked them to leave, they offered to pay rentals and I refused. I know that if we work on the land we are going to earn a living there. My terms with them were to make the land productive, in a way that is friendly to the environment, so that the house is not in itself the heart of the place, but a supporting structure. The time they felt threatened to leave is the time when I truly got their attention. So I made a deal with mai Kumbi to become productive, using the way I had been pushing for, for all this time. I told her everything is in her hands, and if they are not productive they needed to go, because it wouldn't be fair to me or my siblings and also they would earn some income of their own through this. This is how I have been getting the revenue and products from the plot in the past weeks without me asking, and now mai Kumbi is slowly shifting her attention from her flower business, which at the moment is her main source of income, and she is diverting it to the plot and this is after she started making a little money out of the plot. We increased beds and she has been watering with no complaints, but I know how hard it can be, watering most of the beds with a bucket and this is going to be even harder now that we are going into the hot season. Watering only is taking a huge chunk of time and I might risk burn out and I cannot get to this point.

I ended up borrowing $40, which was able to buy the cheapest hose which was $30 and the other $10 is for buying cow manure, to feed these beds. I know for sure that if mai Kumbi tastes what we can get out of our garden, she is going to be working with me fully in this project and this is my goal. I am hoping that the hose pipe will serve at least upto when we can buy a more permanent hose. If I wait for when I feel confident that we can make enough to pay back bigger amounts and still remain with a little something for our pockets, it might still be a couple of more years, and I am not sure I can sustain this longer. We will certainly go for the pricier hose pipes once we prove we can pay back any loan we get, I know for sure it will take a while for us to produce enough to cover our basics, so I can't even talk about being able to wait until our project can afford  hose pipe without getting a loan.

If you keep the hose outside of direct sunlight, it will last longer. This may mean coiling it up after use and putting it somewhere, or putting up a shade barrier (maybe later even planting something like a climbing vine) for where it's kept. But shading it from direct sun will make a big difference.

Today has been one of the most dangerous times of my life. I tried to cut a banana trunk that was too close to the power cables that bring power from the mains to the house and it leaned onto the cables. There is no insulation as the cable enters the house it's degraded to an extent that the copper is bare. What I can say now is I am so glad to be writing this thread without any harm and I am partially glad none of my family members were around. I am cutting trunks that are  close to the house, there is one which has a bunch of bananas forming, it will be going too. I need to record in this thread that I have managed to have the cables replaced with properly insulated ones. Apparently the power utility guys will only provide their labor, but everything that is needed for the replacement of these cables is on individuals.

Are you aware of this group?
https://afs-forum.org/
"Africa Food Systems Forum is the world's premier forum for African agriculture and food systems"
I wonder if it would be useful to you?

I will take a look.

So I gave Apo money and he had hinted that he would be traveling to Harare on Tuesday. Late evening on Monday he called to tell me he could not  travel because he had some processing of nuts to do. Now that he had the money I was now at his mercy for him to follow through with what he had promised or not. At the back of my mind I was aware that if it were up to him he would have gone to buy more nuts. I was a little worried but I trusted he would be the better judge of his situation.

He called me today and he went to look for things to upgrade his system. Coincidentally my sister called me saying one of her friends who is a well known motivational speaker needed guests on his talk show and it's in Harare where Apo is. I really need us to have one customer who buys peanut butter in bulk and I feel that this talk show host knows people and making a connection with him might open some doors for us. If there is someone who buys food monthly in bulk, be it for an orphanage or a school or anything like that we want to get someone like that for the peanut butter sells. This will allow me to convince Apo to look at his business economics beyond just profit because his business will be able to afford. I have butterflies in my stomach, I might be creating my dream from when I started working, what I thought working meant, that is, being the change. In my lifetime, I will be able to witness positive change.

When I talked to Apo he was willing to go for the interview, even though he had arrived in Harare early morning with an agenda to look for components, he was willing to spare some of his time for an interview. I just hope that all the pieces come together and we can create a system that does reward hardwork. I cannot call Apo to ask if he went through with the interview, I have been calling him in the past days, I am short of being a very desperate someone, so I am toning it down on the calls. All I can do is to cross my fingers and hope that he went through with the interview. I already spoke with my sister, that I need her to talk to her friend to help us find a big customer for our peanut butter, we really need this.

Apo called me....!, in a bus, and he is now traveling back.He went for the interview. I am so happy he called, I didnt have to call, it means so much...He traveled 270 something km to go and look for upgrade things, that's all he went for, and he is coming back..!!! I pray to God things work.

I am glad I trusted Apo's decision making of processing his peanuts before he left for Harare. He should have fitted the motors he bought, yesterday and tomorrow he had planned to go and buy more peanuts in a different place called Gokwe. Right now he is still working on having the motors installed, it's taking more tie than we had anticipated. The reason is because he was looking for a welder who could be trusted,  so that he can make a stand for the motors. One guy had promised him yesterday but did not turn up, and he is afraid of just getting anyone because a lot of people claim to be skilled in something and they mess things up.

He got contacts for someone who was highly being recommended by his colleagues and he was unreachable, he looked for where the guy stays and found his place, only to find out that he had been arrested for public drinking. Apo knows things, and he knew that he could get him out if he tells the police that he wants to give him a job, so he went and got him out. The guy was pleasantly surprised to be released and seeing a complete stranger rescuing him was even more confusing. I hope the motors will be installed today. I was now starting to feel uncertain of my persistence to have him buy motors before going to buys his raw material. He seems excited so that's a relief and I still believe upgrading his process is necessary for his growth. I am crossing my fingers it makes his life easier.

I am finding every step of putting motors for the peanut butter making project interesting. It is easy to share ideas and overlook the ideas of people we feel like we are helping. Even though Apo's choice would have been to buy raw materials, everything that has to do with his sytem upgrade, he knew, and he is putting more than enough effort to see this through. I cannot help but think of big organizations helping people. Maybe most projects do not succeed because they are usually imposed on people, which is a mistake I nearly did. The first proposal for Apo's system was to buy a line of new machines from the start of his production process to the end. I feel this is ultimately where we need to be, but I think this upgrade which is coming in small steps is helping Apo mentally grow into a space where he actually sees his business ready for technology which helps it produce smarter. All the hiccups that were unforeseen have solutions that are being made easier because he wants this progress and he is the one who knows his environment. He is the one looking for his own solutions.

I am happy his business got someone out of jail.

My siblings have been more than nice to me, allowing me to use our properties to develop my things. To keep them with this mindset, I want them to get something out of their properties. I believe an income is somewhere in the pipeline. For now, I will be devoting my time to creating a beautiful home and growing food for them at home to cut on expenses. I have been home alone, and I was meant to be alone for a little longer, but things changed, and my sisters are coming back home today.

I have been working on both the inside and the outside yard. There is a pile of broken tiles that I have been moving, and I am using these to form a platform for putting some plants. I have also been cleaning an old chicken run, and I am filling up all the bottles I have been keeping with water. We only have at most two days of running water, and we have to store the water we use for the week somewhere. We have containers enough for us to fetch water for the week, but this is without adding the garden and pot plants I am  starting. So that is why I am adding these bottles as storage.

I had hoped that by the time my sisters came, the spinach in the keyhole garden would have grown, and this would have added the beauty of the place. I guess I have to work with what I have. If I win their hearts with the house maintenance, it will buy me some time with the plot. They do not know they are investing, and I really hope their property and their willingness to allow me to explore how taking care of the earth and people, can become productive, will pay off one day. In my head, I have so much hope.

Home maintenance mattered at a different level yesterday, I put my all in fixing the house and I used every second I had before the girls came and they were delayed which was a really good thing for me. The re-purposed water bottles and the little nursery I made might be of very little significance to the girls and they are the things I am most proud of from yesterday's cleaning. I went an extra mile, and I made sure that I cleaned my hair, picked out nice clothes ( I picked black as the safest color and wore a long skirt to cover my dirty winter shoes) and made sure I was smelling nice. I even had time to make a facial mask and I put so much lotion, to moisturize my skin. They got home and I had cooked a hot tasty dinner for them.

It paid off, they commented on how clean I looked, how good I was smelling and how nice the house looked. They were very impressed. I will see today how they feel about the outside. I wanted them to know that, I do like looking good and presentable and I acknowledge how important it is. It's just that when these come before things I feel are major priorities, it's not worth it, to major on looks.

I had moved into my sister's room, a day after she left. I saw a rat go into my room and there was no way I was going to sleep in there, alone. So I took everything I needed and moved to my sister's bedroom. I did not ask her and she does not like people messing with her room. Yesterday, in all the fixing of the house, I had to move back to my room, leaving no trace of me having used her room and I succeeded. She has no idea I slept in her room. As for the rat I made sure the door to my room was open for most of the day and my other sister shared the room with me, so last night was not too scary. I didn't hear a thing the whole night, I think the rat is gone.

PS: They total amount of extra water storage I got from the bottles is 125l. It can take care of the plants I have for the week.

The motor is now working. I had the honors to meet the man who did the stand and aligned the gears. He was in South Africa for a very long time and he only has three weeks since he came back home, after he felt unsafe because of some people who are chasing foreigners out of their country. He was working with his son, for the first time and he was training him his trade. Witnessing this was an amazing feeling.

On my way back home, I  saw a vendor whose stuff was being taken by the city council police and he went under the car as a way to protest. ( I talked about how a lot of people are selling in streets because of lack of jobs, in my earlier posts). There were about six people who dragged him from under the car and he was hand cuffed and literally thrown into the back of the car. It's  not a scene I could take a picture of because how everything happened is not something I think leaves someone with a sense of dignity. There are laws to mantain order, it's just so hard to know when we are taking things too far sometimes.

I had two extreme experiences today, the first one had so much hope, and the second one makes you continuously question yourself if we are doing enough to leave the world a little better.

Mai Kumbi has come through for me. When she saw my sisters she was out to please them. She sent vegetables and eggs for them and the girls are excited. There is less pressure to convince them that we need a little more time to start breaking even at the plot.

I am giving the girls time to bond and create memories, we went for ice-cream, taking walks, using home grown products for our meals,and we even experimented making banana ice-cream, which we all enjoyed. All these things are things we might have found hard to do had we all been busy with the rat race. There is an alternative life, which needs a couple of sacrifices, that we can create for ourselves and those within our circle of influence and I will take every chance to sell this lifestyle. So far its going great. In the mix I am working on gardening so that it is a part of everything and the stereotype of gardening being a low class activity can be removed.

A disappointment I had was that yesterday it was very hot and I was so overwhelmed with trying to have the house in good shape before leaving, as I was organising to get the girls out for ice-cream, I forgot to water the seedlings. My work for the past 3 weeks was destroyed.

The motor that was put on the roaster is working but is heating up. Apo is still working on the system. I am getting worried now.
The motor can handle big loads and cannot handle small ones and it can roast nuts, but heats up fast. Apo is almost done qith roasting the nuts he had, and it is clearly a convenient set up. We need to work on the system to make it work smoothly. This is something that should be done without affecting production too much.

Apo was able to get the electrician he wanted but couldn't get because he had jobs. He was partially available today and the short time he looked at the motors he was able to note some things that the other electrician couldn't see. We are yet to see how things go after he gets more time working on the motors.

Apo is strangely calm and hopeful.

The running motor is functioning better. It can now run lower loads. It still heats up, and fixing these issues will be on going. The other motor is still being looked at, before it is mounted. Apo is putting a pause on this so that he can go and buy nuts.