permaculture advocate in Zimbabwe - too little/too much rain

My mornings were now starting with a walk to the gate to check on our friendly dog outside, and his reaction was never disappointing. He would stand on his two hind legs with the two front ones pressed on the gate while his tail wagged. He would bounce up and down, making high-pitched playful barks, as I drew near to greet him. I didn't know that his presence was growing on me until yesterday, when I did not see him. My heart sank, and I was left with a hollow feeling. This dog did not leave on its own accord. We had heard whistles in the night, but we were too scared to go out. We had not found the dog's owner yet, and we were still waiting for the SPCA people to come. I felt angry towards whoever had taken it. The character of a person who sneaks in the night to steal a dog is questionable, and it's making me wonder if he will take good care of the dog.

As evening was drawing, I found out who had taken the dog. My plan is to actively look for the real owner and bring him to the dog thief to get his dog. In as much as it was a stray dog, it looked like the owner had taken good care of it before, so I will see if he wants his dog back.

I met with the man who has been said to be having "our" dog, and when I asked him about it, he just asked me who had told me he had the dog. I choked in my statement, his friend is the one who told me that he had it, and the tone the man used made me not to be sure whether it was a good idea to say out his friend's name. I cannot report him because it's not even my dog. SPCA people never showed up.

It has taken a while, but I have managed to get someone to adjust the chickens' cage so that it can open at the bottom. The cost was so much more than I would have ever imagined, but I think it is worth it, the weeds in our yard are growing really fast, it will be straining to keep the weeds in control. If the chicken tractor works this could be an initial solution to the weeding problem. The job will take a day, I am anxious to see the finished job.

I am relieved that I found the lost dog. It has a proper home now, until it finds it's original owner.

We have started selling the few beetroot plants that successfully grew. It would have been a really good flow of income, just after the onion sales, we would have had beetroot sales as we waited for the beans. The bean plants have an insect that's eating the flowers and my aunt said it greatly affects the yield. We might have lovely plants to look at, but they might not give us any pods if we are not careful, so I have to work on this.
The chicken tractor is almost finished. There was no power at the welder's place, so its taking too long to finish, I like how it is coming out though. Kumbi is almost finished with the second weeding round. The weeds are coming out very fast, if this tractor works, I will invest in more of these for next season, so that we can reduce the labor required for weeding

We successfully hosted our uncles, it was so much work to just get our things in place, but it was worth it. A lot of things still need to be worked on at our house, but we have managed to present our home as a place not too far from a modern interior look. I hope we were able to show that we have a stable lifestyle.

We took them to the field and the bean plants took their attention. So I was right, there is not much I can say with regards to regeneration that can be understood, unless I have tangible proof that it works.   So I have a lot of planning to do for the coming year.

The chicken tractor went to the plot today. It's too big to fit into the rows now, because of the wheels. It's embarrassing really. It never occurred to me that wheels that will be on the cage can eat up so much space to cause the cage not to fit in.
First, delays to this experiment were because of no power which dragged the modification of the cage. Now it's an over sight on my part to a very important detail. What I am feeling does not matter right now, what I am learning is that it's okay to fail and keep trying. It's just I was so invested in this a 100%.

I was taking pictures of the keyhole garden in the afternoon. This is one space I am also determined to see developing into a productive area. It's been hard, and I have not been talking about my trials here, because I thought I was going to wait until I start winning. The cage thing has just made me want to be honest, about this. I divided the garden into 4 portions to make filling up of the garden practical. I have filled up 3 sections, two of them have potatoes growing in them, the other one has pumpkin, and the fourth one has a tomato plant that just grew on it's own and I kept it. The last section is the one I still need to fill up. I planted four pumpkin seeds so that even if something eats up the pumpkin plant as it grows, there is an increased chance that one of the plants, can make it past the vulnerable phase. One is already dead, I still have 3.

The thought of my niece, the one I tried doing online lessons with and failed, is gnawing at me. Like I mentioned earlier, I feel like an opportunity to change her life is slipping away. I decided to visit the donors to find out if they are open to giving a child a second chance to sit for her exams if she fails the first time. They said it is not possible, but my niece will be helped to start a business to help herself earn an income. I found children actually applying for grants for them to get some money to start something up as they wait for their results. It's a relief to know that the organisation stays in the children's lives even after they are done with school, but I know starting a business is more than just money, so I am excited but I am not any less worried. What I am doing in case she gets a grant is to find out how she can grow in the business world, which I am learning as well, without losing money that is meant to be her seed in business.
Organising the trip to my niece's province has had me face a number of challenges that I have. To begin with, it took me over a month to put down words to be able to talk to the donor, and to be honest I was just lucky that the person I talked to seems to be a genuinely kind person. I mumbled and stuttered through my chat with him, requesting an appointment. Then secondly the happened meeting time coincided with a time that a serial killer was in Guruve. I was keeping away from social media or news, for  reasons  I mentioned in my earlier posts. When I got to Guruve I dropped off from the bus where I was told to, which was just before the township. There was some tall grass along the road's sides, and there were not as many people around. Still, the thought of the serial killer had not crossed my mind. I am naturally a very anxious and timid person in a new environment, so I am not counting this as abnormal feelings in this case. I saw a young boy and asked for directions to the school I wanted to go to, and he showed me. I walked a few steps from him, and I heard a voice from behind me calling out to me. When I looked back, there was a man making a sign for me to stop. He was coming out of the tall grass. Every sketchy detail of the serial killer that was scattered in my brain gathered and became very clear. It was now the focal thought. I went towards the shops and tried to blend in, but he came for me. I did not say anything to anyone, I couldn't. I just walked so closely to some woman, but this did not worry the guy. He continued to chat with me.

Everyone else went their way, and it was just the two of us now. I was so tense I could feel how stiff my body was. Just after we entered the school gate, the men looked at me straight in the face and said firmly, "I am Moses Mangeza", and his tone was as if I was meant to know the name. I literally shivered because the one name from Guruve that was so famous was the serial killers name, and I didn't know it. There was no one anywhere near us it was a school holiday. I just asked softly if I was supposed to know the name. He did not give me a straight answer. He was too drunk. It was such a relief when a group of girls came out from a block of classrooms. He walked me until I got to the men I was supposed to meet. It turned out that this guy walked me all the way so that I could pay him a dollar for his kindness. Instead of being grateful I was so angry at him for making me go through what I went through, and secondly I had absolutely no money to spare, so I didn't see why I had to pay for a service I didn't request for or needed.

Results for my homeschooled child are out.  It's a nail biting time to wait for her to send the results. Other children have shared their results and I am concerned that maybe the reason why she has not send hers yet, is because she is not happy with them. I don't think I should ask her, but I have to wait for her to tell me what she got. When she is ready, at least for today. Tomorrow going onwards I will ask her.

The worry I had about my niece, the one who had a scholarship was right. She did not make it, meaning she has lost her scholarship, and she was crushed. She wants to rewrite, and though I want it for her, I want her to first know that school is important but her failure now does not define who she is. She is  now working as a maid, a job she talked to me about and she will be at this for a month. I might be doing another year of homeschooling with her, and I want it specifically for this one, because I feel like it will give me time with her time that I think as a child she deserves. I was convinced I am the one who wanted school for her ( mostly to buy time before she transitions to an independent adult), and she seemed like she was excited about school mostly for me. I was actually surprised she wants to go back to school to be honest.

I don't know how sustainable doing a second year of homeschooling is, I need to think this through. I am already working on the economic aspect of my plot project,  as this year's main goal, which I will share in detail in some threads to come, if it works, it might cover my second year of homeschooling.

The one  I taught still has not taken her results, she will also help me to see if I can consider taking my niece in for some classes.

We have sold the last bit of beetroots we did not do to bad

I am excited. Snowballing or branching of things, is something I have been seeing but it was still restricted to my circle of influence. Today, I can see the project is branching or snowballing into something that is growing out of my circle of influence. If I am able to describe clearly what I am seeing, it is probably the beginning of something big.
I've been putting off updating my thread, because I was trying to figure out how to write progress in a way that is not confusing, or that doesn't seem like I am digressing from the main goal. There are more things other than the plot to talk about now, and all of these things have come into existence because of the decision to start building a regenerative homestead. Initially, everything was centered on just permaculture. The need to grow at the plot has resulted in some connections and activities. Again, because of a driving force that gets its life from the plot, I started working with mai Kumbi because I saw some of her qualities and knew she was the right person to help me develop my vision. But before I could get her full commitment, she had to understand the vision first, and this led to years of building a relationship that allows us to understand each other. So essentially, from her side, I am sure that she just needed a place to stay, and she had to tolerate my ideas in exchange. Now, after seeing the benefits, she is staying at the plot for productivity as well, which happens to be regenerative.

Then, I started working with the peanut butter making business guy, whose name is Apo, with the intention to start an income-generating project to sponsor the activities at the plot. The partnership we had encouraged a regenerative business relationship, with profit is a pillar of things, but also with honesty, integrity, productivity, empathy and protecting the environment as pillars that are equally important in business. From his side, initially, I think it was about getting an easy loan from my friend (I can't borrow money yet because the cash flow in my projects  doesn't allow me to). Again, we had to work for years to build an understanding of the value system we wanted, which is so different from how the business world is. I went to see both mai Kumbi and Apo today. I feel like each one of them should start writing their own threads because their stories are beautiful ones, and they are directly connected to the plot and a regenerative lifestyle. I am literally branching the thread, and I will keep this one for my own journey.

For both of them, I will start sharing the experience I had with them today. The two titles I am thinking of are, "I am a mother," and "What it takes to build a legacy." I chose these  because these are the things that define them. The sponsoring value system for both of them will be based on regenerative principles.

My story with Apo started when I was drawn to the quality of his product, when he was working with my mother. Then I got to know him and his life, and I liked him even more it's not every day I see a man stay with his daughter without a woman figure, especially given what I know our culture to be. Then how he has stayed consistent with his business. Renting at the same place for years reflected how steady he is. He has rentals, school fees, his sustenance, and a business to care for financially,and he has survived, where  most small and big businesses have come and gone.

We became really close business wise, then he had a financial crisis, which nearly made him close his business, and I had a friend who could help him. During the period, my friend lent him money and grew in honesty and faithfulness. He had a brief break financially, but a bad farming season brought him back to needing financial  assistance. The price of nuts hiked. Again, I was lucky my sister pitched in, but it was not enough for him to buy nuts that can last him until April, when farmers harvest some of their nuts. I couldn't go to my friend the one who helped him first because he was disappointed by other people, so even though Apo was honest and faithful, he was now being affected by other people's actions.

I have been working with him so that we can see if we can get around this financial hurdle, even if we fail to get anyone to lend us some money. He works alone, mostly that is buying materials, producing  and then selling the product. I decided to be part of the sales side, not just for him but also as a way for me to earn an income. He usually leaves his peanut butter with vendors in the streets, and then he follows them up, collecting money from any sales made. It takes time for him to collect all his revenue, and he has many vendors who fail to pay him back. Some of his money is lost this way. I also decided to buy cases of peanut butter with cash so that as long as it's sales he makes with me, his capital will not be held in stock for long. What we needed was time for me to build my clients so that we can maximise on volumes with the hope that living expenses will not overtake  business growth. But our growth is proving to be a little slower than life's events. My market has grown,  and as of today, I am looking at the last bottl,  which I will not be able to replac  because Apo has no stock. Life's challenges might be bigger than us.

Apo's daughter fineshed her ordinary level,  and she is now proceeding to A-level. Apo is now holding on to every dollar he has until he finds a school for his chil,  and he hers the money needed. The dependability we had created in our customers' eyes  is at risk,  and it scares me  because this is one business that would have cushioned us in terms of earning our income. Apo,  at some point, came looking for financial help through me, but now it's his business that could potentially stabilise me financially to carry on with my plot project. The plot has not reached a stage where it can borrow money because the flow of cash is still very little, but Apo's business has. It has given us, my sister and I, a very flexible job. I am stuck now as to what to do to keep things running. It is critical for me to be the one who helps him to get financial assistance. The reason is he will, in return, keep investing in creating a regenerative business. For example, because nuts are expensive peanut butter producers have reduced the size of a bottle, that goes for $3. Apo has made an exception for us.  Above focusing on profit only, he is also looking at the relationship part of things, he gives us the big bottles at the old prize and we get to maintain a fixed prize of the product that we are selling. Then, the big containers are also difficult to find and they are costly, but he went to the capital city and took his time to search for a cheaper source for the bottles for us, using his own money this in turn is helping us to maintain a stable price.

Because I was there for him, he was open to listening to a couple of my proposals. Huge profit margins are not too much of a priority anymore when he is working with me. Then, giving him cash when I get his product and traveling to his workshop for the peanut butter makes our arrangement economically beneficial for both parties. We take away the time he has to spend delivering peanut butter in the streets , and his money is not locked up in stock. We have invested in growing nuts, he grew nuts in his home area, and I found an uncle who grew close to a hectare of nuts, and these will be mature after April. This was our way of trying to have control of the cost of the major input. We have a long way to go until we build a steady and stable business, and I am afraid that right now, I am stuck, but as usual, I am not one to give up my journey with Apo will be through his eyes when he starts giving input for a thread I will open for him.

As for mai Kumbi, I have talked about her a lot in my threads. The new mai Kumbi I will be talking about is one who will correct me if I say fertilizer instead of chicken manure as feed for plants. She is open to ideas, and she is unafraid to try a few ideas of her own. She is starting her baby steps towards relying on the plot for sustenance.

In terms of activities to keep things going, I feel like we have developed some kind of system, and she is now able to run things on her own without my presence. I went to the plot only twice during this rainy season, and I like what she is doing with the place. My work is to build the capacity  our plot has to keep up with the demands she will have. I have managed to break through, but I have to buy tools and continue trying ideas out to increase our income. The beans are a hit, and the demand is already there.

This year, the rain is too much, and I could not buy chicken manure to put in the field to counter the excess water.  So there is a really big part that has very short maize plants, and our field this year is opposite to almost everyone else's field that is fed with fertilizer. The maize plants in other fields are extremely tall and green, and it looks like most will have a bumper harvest. The new mai Kumbi is not disheartened by this she just told me it will be fine, we will harvest something, no matter how small and it is a learning point, next season, we will have our manure ready. I feel like regeneration and her life's path are at a point where they meet, she is not doing anything for regeneration as such, she is just trying to survive, regeneration is meeting her where she is and from it, she is beginning to get benefits that are not being offered by the normal ordinary life. She is willing to fail and grow in this with me, and I like it. Again, like Apo, she will tell her journey through her eyes in her own thread.

The chillies survived and the banana plants look healthy.

My niece whom I took for classes last year failed short with a grade in all the subjects she wrote, for her to pass. I wanted to take in the other one for this year, but because of these results I am taking a step back for now, I wouldn't want to mess things up. What I can help her with, is for us to work together with her other relatives to see if it possible to have some classes paid for her, since she wants to rewrite even though she lost her scholarship.

I am so distracted today. I had a discussion last night with Tari the one who had her first sitting,  she still wants to do maths with me, but I don't know if it's something I can do given the current circumstances. I had a whole plan painted in my head of how to deal with these girls.

I wanted them to come home, the one who is getting funding to do projects would start doing practicals on  how to handle her business, through our peanut butter project while at the same time  I will help her with her school. She has not been exposed to any business, and now she is going to get money to start one. I felt like she would be disadvantaged already. So currently we (my sister and I), are learning business as well, and for the things that we have already learnt, she is was not going to have to experience them, she could have learnt from our mistakes. Also, the product she would be buying and selling is a product we have a market for, going to lose her capital in the process, rather she was going to actually get some profit.

Then, selling peanut butter involves walking a lot, so I thought she could get my other niece that I home schooled to work with her and they could share profits. In turn, Prisca was going to help Tari with her school as they played together. That way, it was going to help keep the two girls out of rushed marriages while they worked on school and income generation. Now I am thinking it is wise for Tari to continue as a maid. She is already earning an income and then she can negotiate to do some lessons as she works. She can earn money and go to school.

As for Prisca, I will try to comfort her so that she is not crushed and remains with no way out. The pass rate for the nation was 35%, and she tried, and to be honest, it is not the end of the world. Of course, I am going to do this some other day, for now I am cracking my head, wondering how we could have done things differently. For the two girls, what I did not want is most likely what will happen to them. Getting into marriage, not because of love, but as a way out of a problem.

We have cleared one side of the keyhole garden, which had potatoes on it, and we harvested a few potatoes enough for one meal. We actually had a full meal from mostly the banana corner, which is where the keyhole garden is. We had some bananas, pumpkin leaves, and potatoes. Then, to add to this, we also added beetroots, which we got from the field.

I sowed onion seeds, where the potatoes were. I still have seed we got from the field, and if they germinate well, I can have onion seedlings for the field, without having to buy the seeds or seedlings, when the time to plant the seedlings comes.

My sister forgot that we don't throw bones or anything from fish in the keyhole composting area. So she  threw away fish bones in the keyhole garden, and the dogs destroyed some plants as the dug threw the compost. I was a little mad because   one of the pumpkin plants was destroyed. I am focusing most of my energy on the pumpkins this year, these are from the seeds that were sent to me, and it means so much to me to successfully grow the pumpkins and start adopting them in our daily diet. We know of pumpkins, and they are usually grown in  rural homes. I have tried growing pumpkins with very little luck in past years. We just never used to eat much of them. Already this year, we are enjoying pumpkin leaves, and I like that the whole plant is almost edible. It's good to have resources in abundance. The level of disappointment I had was not much because I have 2 more plants that are still looking good. I want to imagine that if it was just one plant, this incident would have led to hurtful words being said.

My thoughts keep looping back to the results my niece got, (I call these two my daughters but I keep thinking it will be confusing if I write daughter, but I think I should just call them what I call them in real life). The distraction I have is persistent and I have to actively snap out of my thoughts.

When the results came out, I showed my sisters and both their responses were surprising. The sister I stay with who saw all the hard work I and especially my daughter put in her school, and how she greatly improved in her studies from how she was when we started, gave a response that indirectly implied she was not in support with me in helping my daughter. For example, when my other sister asked for the pass rate, she was quick to say children passed so much at a national level this year, the pass rate is 97%, and yet we looked and saw that the pass rate was 35%. What was she saying by this. A few days ago she is the one who was commenting on how maths came with a twist that had kids getting Us (which is the lowest level) and her daughter failed but with a better grade than this and she was competing with people who understood concepts from as early as form 1 and she only had me and a year to do these subjects and she was 2 grades higher than most of these students.

Then my other sister said learning concepts is not too important than learning the trick to answering an exam. It could be my disappointment or defensiveness and hurt are the ones that are making me look more into what my sisters are trying to say. I just don't get some things. I might ask them when I am bold enough to. Should I be afraid of helping these little ones?

I am pausing but still it does not stop these ideas from racing through my head. Tari asked if she could come and be taught a subject by me and then do 2 of the other subjects, with the help of other teachers. I am definitely now afraid of teaching her but I still want to help her. I asked her, if she could go to school where she is working, so that she can go to school and earn money and she said its not possible because she is needed full time at her job. I asked if we can have Prisca to join her, as a stay in maid so that they can help each other with work and also with school, and they get to split the salary. We can figure out how to cover the extra food cost together with the girls, for their employer. That way they can be doing school, earning an income, helping each other and staying away from the thought of getting married as they bond and understand that they need each other. Tari has help that could come from CAMFED financially and she could use part of this money to pay for her fees and then my sister can help with the balance. The salary they get, no matter how small, they can save this and when the year ends, they will have capital to start a small business together. Hopefully I would have proven I can build a small business successfully, they can come and stay with me for a few months and practice, then they can try whatever business they want afterwards, and anywhere they want to.  Again its thoughts...