June 2009 arrived as did the rainy season and myself .. to a very hot and humid Gambia, with a plethora of biting insects and flooded roads. But all was not doom and gloom .. the garden had not really suffered after 7 months without any rainfall and was again springing into strong growth ..
and it was the Cashew Nut season again.

Not only am I lucky enough to have two mature Cashew Trees in my fence line .. but there are numerous Cashew orchards in the neighbourhood. So many in fact, that although the locals spend a lot of time picking up the fallen fruit .. they cannot keep up with the bountiful harvest. The nuts are removed for cleaning, roasting and later selling on the markets, but the fruit is often discarded.

The above collection of ripe fruit is the proceeds of a few minutes collecting on our way to
Dawda Kunda. Perfectly safe to eat, both red and yellow are succulently sweet, whilst leaving a slightly furry feeling on the tongue, which soon disappears. The nuts however, when freshly picked are NOT safe !! Un-roasted nuts contain anacardic acid, so strong, that to this day .. many of the girls who had been given tribal markings ( usually with a razor blade on their cheeks and breasts ) when babies, will rub raw Cashew Nuts on these unwanted ( in 'modern fashion' thinking ) 'scars'. The acid burns and forms a scab .. which, when removed, often takes the markings away with it ... Ouch !!

Many local girl's expressions, when observing visiting European tourists adorned with tattoos and various piercings, are ones of incredulity. I often wonder which society has developed the most ?



March 2009: Immature Cashew Nuts, which grow hanging down beneath their developing fruit.

In the garden, Babucar's labours had preserved most of the trees and bushes, with only two failures of Papaya trees, which we will just have to accept will not grow successfully in our type of soil.
The well had been problem-free and had delivered enough water throughout the dry season and the fish-netted fencing had been very successful at keeping out 4-legged pests. The Guava trees were nicely in flower and were beginning to show signs of producing a very good fruit harvest.

Morro, Babucar's gardening friend and assistant on my last visit, had helped out for a short while, but had been 'commandered' by his father to help out in the family business of charcoal making .. far away in the bush. So, sadly .. the extra attention given to watering the market garden crops in the fruit cage had ceased and once again it had produced little of any consequence. One day it will !!

Shortly before my arrival and after the third heavy rainstorm .. the local farmers' signal that the ground should be prepared for planting .. Babucar had ploughed the crop area. Remembering how successful having the furrows across the slope of the land was, in avoiding losing the topsoil in heavy rain .. he had planted Cassava, Maize and as a trial alternative .. Okra.

After a week or two the Cassava and Okra were doing well, but as in previous years, the amount of germinated Maize was sparse .. again, largely due to our pesky 'friends' the Ground Hornbills !!
They must have learned to keep watch where Babucar was planting and were no longer confused by last year's method of general surface raking, to disguise the whereabouts of the tasty Maize seeds.

Just after a rain shower, the Cassava was bursting into growth in the wet soil

The experimental Okra plants in the foreground

Alongside the line of flowering Guava trees .. the foliage was beautifully lush and green