Hitting The Road To Meet More Farmers

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We had one last farmer to see in Karatu before we headed out to the next village. Here, we met a young man, in his mid-20’s. He is married with two children. He farms maize and beans. Here, most farmers grow at least two different crops. This allows them to make as much money as they can despite the challenges they face. Maize is popular here because you can sell it and eat it as it is, or you can take the kernels off the cob, dry them, and then take them to the milling station and have corn flour made.

Once you have the flour, you can make Ugali (Oo-gal-lee) with it. It is a very cheap food that fills you and gives you energy. When it is served on a plate, it looks like a giant blob of mashed potatoes. It has no taste. You eat it with your right hand by rolling it into a small ball, then you make an indent with your thumb and you scoop up vegetables, fish, of beef with it and put it all in your mouth. It is an acquired taste. I am not a fan, but it is very popular with the locals.

Also in the food department, this trip I was introduced to Mtori (Mm-tore-ree). It is a soup that you take at breakfast. It is made with beef broth and bananas. It is a specialty of the Arusha region since they have so many bananas up here. You basically make the beef broth and cut up a bunch of beef into small pieces. You then cook the bananas in water until they become mushy and you mix all the ingredients. While it sounds like an unlikely combination of ingredients, it was quite good. The soup has the consistency of a cream soup. I had it every morning while in Arusha.

Back to my story… We finished up in Karatu and drove down the mountains into a valley. The temperatures were warmer. We stayed in a tow called Mto Wa Mbu (Mm-toe-wah-mm-boo)… In English it means. “Mosquito River”. There weren’t a great deal of mosquitos and apparently, there are six rivers that flow into the area, so this area has a great deal of water for farmers to irrigate their crops.

We met with a new batch of government officials who had everything organized for us. Over the next three days we saw twelve potential candidates for the show.

One farmer we visited had the coolest farm, not far from town. He is 27 years old and was given the land by his father. This young man grows a variety of fruit & vegetables. He grows bananas, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, beans, and other crops. What made his farm different than the others we has seen up to that point was that his farm was on a hill so the plots were tiered and he was making the most of the land that that he had. He also had a gorgeous grove of banana trees. It was great to be there on an afternoon when the sun was shining through the huge banana leaves.

The next farmer grew mainly tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and bananas. His land was located near the previous farmer so we has to walk through more banana trees to get there. Pretty impressive. This guy also had a water source nearby, making the crops healthy, green, and plentiful.

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Photos

Locals Reading Our Products In Mto Wa Mbu
Whenever we get to a location, we hand out the Femina magazines we publish. This is one way of tgetting our messages out there

More Reading
The locals love the magazines and at times, there are people swarming us to get them.

The Interview Process In Mto Wa Mbu
We do not have offices when on the road. We have to use whatever is available.,, In this case, the hood of the truck.

Local Farmer Spreading His Rice
The farmers spreadthe rice out over tarpd to allow it to dry in the sun. There acan be 5 or 6 different tarps spread in one place. Everyone respects eachther's property.

Local Woman Separting the Good From The Bad
Women stand over a bucket and continuously do this to separte the garins from the non-grains... Can you tell I am not a farmer?

The Stream Running Throough His Farm
This stream starts in the mountains behind his farm. It is what makes hi farm and crops better than others.

Farm Hand Harvesting Sweet Potatoes
Most farmers use a hand hoe to do all there work. There are a few tractors around. One guy will own it and rent it out to other farmers. In this guys's case, his plots are so remote, he must resort on the hoe to get his work done. That is why these guys are in great shape and I look like I do.