My dear friend Lynn Deutsch, who is a Peace Corps member, has written another post about a garden she discovered in Mmathethe, Botswana. You can read her previous post about her horticultural experience in Mmathethe, Botswana here.
I thought you may be interested in looking at some of these garden photos. As I was walking way up to my primary school, I noticed this beautiful garden. I went in, and this woman, Margaret, told me she was from South Africa and came here about a year or so ago when her mother died. The woman doesn’t live close to me, so I don’t know her well…just that when her mom died, she took over her house and felt compelled to keep her mom’s garden going and make it even more beautiful. She spends about 3 hours each day, waking at 5am, to get out before the heat of the day comes. She has several kids, and wants to pass on the art of gardening, and the importance of growing your own veggies to stay healthy.
I tasted some of the grapes, which were really good, and she gave me some chili peppers to spice up my food and keep all germs away. I couldn’t capture this in pictures, but throughout the garden, she made some of those balancing rock formations and flowers were surrounding them…it was just gorgeous. She was determined to make the garden beautiful, and these pictures really don’t show anything, or at least it doesn’t do it justice; but not only are her flower beds unique and beautiful, she’s growing maize, chili peppers, tomatoes, grapes, watermelons are creeping all over the place, and all sorts of stuff. The picture of the grapes is typical of how they are done in the rural villages, as are the flower beds with the beer bottles as borders. She was an amazing woman and thrilled that I wanted to take photos.
Enjoy
Lynn