Contributed by the Garden Team.

The commercial garden is small. One eighth of a hectare to be exact. Each bed is 7 x 1 meters and there are roughly 120 beds.  In the centre of the garden is a water tap and a large water tank for our drip irrigation demonstration. In the corner of the garden is our classroom that hosts apprentices and coordinators being trained at the centre. The garden is bordered by various tree species with trunks and branches as windbreaks and leaves for fertilizer. In the garden bees buzz, worms wriggle, and ants scurry about doing their work for the day.  Weaving between the rows is the Garden Team; Enoch, Joseph and Sam. Today is “veg box” day and the harvest is underway. Veg Box Day is every Friday. We prepare baskets with a variety of fresh, organic produce for customers in Lilongwe. They are signed up for a 6 week subscription, every week receiving a basket different than the last as the garden moves through its successions.

Joseph is timekeeper, calling out the time on his watch, insuring the boxes are delivered on time to the drop off points in town. Beds of lettuce are sheared, washed, dried, and packed. Buckets of beets, radish, green beans, and eggplants are next with even more vegetables following behind those. Joining the Garden Team are teams from our other demonstrations.  Maureen, Rhoda, and Cecilia join from the Memo Team packing the baskets with prideful eyes as each bunch of parsley finds its proper place. Dan, Mike, and Green from our Implementation Team wield long sticks to knock down lemons from the heights of our lemon tree and Osward, our day guard, is harvesting oregano and mint.  Friday mornings the staff comes together around the harvest.  Friday mornings our teams become one.

Enoch, Maureen, and Sam harvesting lettuce for the veg boxes.

Sam, Dan, Mike, Enoch, Green and Joseph sorting the harvest for the veg boxes.

If you would like to be a part of “veg box” day you can email us at garden@kusamala.org and we would love to supply a basket of fresh vegetables from the Kusamala Team.