I've always lived in the city right from birth I didn't even know what a farm looked like, all I knew were tall buildings, industries, churches, the airport, etc not until I visited my grandma in the village as a teenager, I lived a triangle lifestyle as a child if I wasn't at home, I was either at the church or school, the best my agriculture class was able to do was get us accustomed with different types of fruits and food, but identifying their tree source was a problem, I would always wonder what an apple tree looked like, or how rice a regular meal we are was cultivated. I could only imagine from the pictures in my textbook or at best a movie, news, or documentary from TV.
According to my mum, most of the food we ate was mostly cultivated in the northern region of Nigeria foods like rice, yam, potatoes, etc and fruits too while palm fruits were more dominant In the southern part of my country, I don't know about others, but for me, I think it gets boring not knowing your food source especially when one start hearing stories of how harsh chemicals are used in preserving these food items, and worst still they become harmful to our system, the reason we gave diverse sicknesses ravaging both the young and old in this present time, Every now and then we keep hearing high cases of cancers, diabetes, etc in the pursuit of wealth, most people neglect their health, not caring about their food source and when it is time to retire and enjoy the fruit of all their labour, sickness as a result of bad lifestyle and wrong food choice and source begins to show face.
You can imagine my excitement when I finally visited my grandmom in the village, she had fruit trees from mango, guava, oranges, star apple, pineapple, pears, etc right in her very compound not forgetting the leafy green vegetable, pumpkin, scent leaves, etc and other veggies common for making our local soup all right inside her compound, it felt like I was in paradise, which had my parent heaved a sigh of relief as they saw how comfortable and happy I was navigating the village with my grandma as she showed me off as her first grandchild to her friends and neighbors whom I also noticed had gardens and farm just like my grandma. I took the opportunity to ask about each plant I saw and some already bared fruit, so I didn't need to ask, above all it was one of the best times of my life, first finally knowing my origin and also getting enlightened with food sources.
It was the first time I saw very old women who were still energetic enough to ride their bicycles and motorcycles, they never played with farm days, and though they lacked most of the modern amenities like stable electricity and more modernized house structure, they still a very healthy life, they aged well, full of strength and looked fresh compared to city peeps who were barely 50 and had already become regular customers in the hospital due to the lack of access to fresh foods and fruits, all we could get were costly preserved foodstuff. Right then and there, I knew what we were missing in the city.
Fast forward to the present time, inflation has gotten worse than ever before, even affording a one-time family meal has become a herculean task, without being told, I'mt city residents have started adopting the rural ways, going back to our roots, by mum now has a section she set aside as a little in our compound, where the planted maize, pumpkin, potato, tomato, pepper, scent leaves, etc, just look right behind me in the picture above, by the time of harvest, we would spend less on these goof items, veggies like waterless have already started entering the pot of soup and we don't need to worry about the high cost of buying them, I've also noticed out compound feeling cooler since her plants start growing, it had been a wise and helpful decision, deciding to own a little home garden, without fear of harmful chemicals on our vegetables, we can't cultivate all we eat but the little we can do goes a long way, more than we can imagine, I hope we can all adopt this system to planting what we eat right next to us, healthy and fresh.
This post is inspired by thee #Mayinleo monthly topics, get inspired with daily writing topics, you can also be a part, check out the [announcement post] (https://inleo.io/@leogrowth/may-inleo-monthly-prompts)for more details.
All image used in this post are mine.
Thank you for reading❤❤
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
The rate of inflation nowadays is crazy. All our vegetables and fruits are full of chemicals; you'd hardly find anything organic to eat, and it's slowly killing us. This is so sad but that's the reality
It's sadly the truth, the reason why home gardening should be encouraged by everyone, no matter how little
I totally agree!
If I had my way, I'll buy my foodstuffs from the villas and have them sent over to me. They are always natural and that's why the people in the village look healthy.
#dreemerforlife
Your mum made the right decision to own a small garden in your compound, the benefits of this is enormous. City residents think that they're enjoying life while it's the other way round. No matter how small it is, one should endeavor to have a home garden.
#dreemerforlife
The food really looks delicious 😋😋
#dreemerforlife#