BIG RAINS AND BIG RESULTS

We have had a second set of big winter rains in the last 

10 days and the result is a property that is bursting 

with life. The first safflower has bloomed, and the 

transplanted leucaena seedlings are doing fine in their 

little houses of sawed off Ouelmas bottles.

The pioneer plants have taken control of the compacted, degraded areas, as well as sneaking in some of the garden beds. This is Pasture Goatsbeard. 

 Starwort, another pioneer plant, has the most sensuous,  delicate 

foliage-it is beautiful.

Kaoutar harvested all of the fava bean pods from the courtyard 

zeitoun bed, and they are being set aside for planting this fall.

The fava beans are also showing up regularly in Kaoutar's omelettes.

Hidden by the rest of the lush foliage in the north bamboo 

bed, we discovered some chickpea plants that are producing.

All four of the okra seeds I planted a week ago are 

up and looking good.

Both of the palo verde trees are sparkling in the sunshine and the pomegranate tree has beautiful, tiny leaves forming. In the background can be seen the pioneer plants that are covering the degraded portions of the property.

The big surprise of the day was the potato crop. The plants were 

incredibly lush and beautiful but then they started to wilt before producing any blossoms. I did not expect to find any potatoes but yesterday we uncovered 26 from 6 plants. Kaoutar harvested some fava beans to accompany them and they made a fine dinner last night.

In the expectation that we will soon have a small crew of men on site,

Kaoutar and I dedicated half of the day to covering up the spaces created by the bamboo slats in the toilet structure with palm fronds. We also sharpened up some broom handles to use as posts, and put up a fence of recycled earthquake bamboo fencing as a further privacy area. Then I could not control myself, and we gathered up the rest of the dried palm fronds and decorated the area. It was great fun!