A woman transplanting seedlings into her plot at Ndiawara Garden.
The new year is upon us, and winter has sunk its cruel claws thoroughly into our lives here in America. But while most of us are bundling up against freezing temperature, snow, and bitter winds, over in Senegal it’s the most pleasant time of the year. Senegal is also in the northern hemisphere so its “winter” is the same time of the year as ours, but over there winter is know as the cool dry season. The rains have finished and won’t return until May or June, and the intense heat of the hot dry season is still months away.
This winter garden in the community of Ouro Madiaw (in the Podor region) is enjoying highs in the low-90s ˚F (32 ˚C) and thriving!
Capitalizing on the mild temperatures, this is the time of year when most gardening activities take place. Our women’s gardens are taking full advantage of the season planting just about every vegetable you can think of. Lettuce, and daikon radishes are very popular during this time because they grow quickly facilitating multiple harvests before the heat makes these more delicate crops too difficult to grow. This is also the best time of year to plant papayas, bananas, and cassava roots which will be important boosts in income and nutrition at the end of the rainy season when the gardens are much less productive.
We are constantly getting updates from our technicians on the ground in Senegal and during this season the pictures we get are incredible. Giant basins filled with lettuce going to market, 50 lb. sacks filled with radishes, or eggplants, or peppers, and piles upon piles of onions.
Sometimes its hard to believe the production numbers in our reports. How can one garden produce thousands of pounds of produce month after month? And then you see a picture of a single papaya tree yielding 150 pounds of fruit. The women we work with are incredible farmers!
Our new gardens from last year are working through their first seasons and its fascinating to watch their humble beginnings knowing what their plots will look like in just a few short years.
The Ndiawara Garden is our largest with 300 members!
Our partner community of Ndiawara had a larger than average gardening group so we decided to make a larger garden there so that all of their 300 members could have a plot. Now it looks like a full-blown farm. We can’t wait to see the incredible harvests this large group will be able to achieve. Hats off to all of their hard work! Now put that hat back on before you get frostbite!