Homesteading: Planting on Fertile Grounds

Homesteading is a usual thing for some of us. As typical Nigerians, we do not depend on other people to supply what we need at home.

I am a school administrator and I love to lay my hands on anything productive. I don't like to be idle.

An idle hand is the devil's workshop.

So, around my home, I have a variety of crops that I planted and I observe to see how they apply to my daily life.

I would like to start by introducing you to the kind of subsistent farming I do around my home. I don't have to go to the agricultural ministry to get my seedlings. What I do is simply get them from whatever produce I get from the market.

I live in a new home with land not frequently used like in the urban areas. This place first seemed isolated but since we moved in, we have taken the opportunity to plant all sorts of plants so that we don't have to travel a long distance to get what we could just ha e from our backyards.

In the bid to stay safe from reptiles, especially snakes, we had to plant some anti-snake flowers so that snakes, especially the black African cobra, would stay away from our premises.

Datura stramonium (Thornapple)

This we planted at six different points around the building. In less than four weeks, the plants hand-grown so colourful, and our assurance is certified that snakes would not come seeking a place to stay around here.

Ocimum gratissimum (scent leaf)

This plant serves a lot of purposes. It could be a recipe for pepper soup or used as a vegetable for native African soup.

I planted this particularly as food because I cannot afford to pay a high price to get a handful of it from the market when I can have it here.

A neighbor who came for the seeds also mentioned that this plant could serve as a male repellant. That had made me more confident in the pursuit of snakes from here.

Nchanwun as it is popularly called among the Igbo-speaking ethnic group in Nigeria, the plant is good for medicinal purposes too.

Here in Lagos, because of the scarcity of the plant, it is expensive in the market. Hence, the need to have it around my compound to make some extra income. That's good, right.

Cucumber

My kids can save their pocket money just to have cucumber slice in their rice. So, I thought it could be wise to have a farm for it.

I know cucumbers needed a lot of water grow and become productive, so I took some of the seedlings that had been dried in the dry season and planted quite a number of it.

They could not survive because it was my first time trying this plant. After which I had to see how it is done via YouTube and Google then I followed suit.

This is my backyard. A large expanse of land lying fallow. Now, I have a plantation for cucumber. With the stakes, and rope to hold the nodes, my cucumbers are doing very well.

Water supply isn't a problem here. The swamp here is not acidic enough to cause any harm to the plant.

I can tell you that anything grown here turns greenish. The soil is so fertile that manure of fertilizers may not be needed to have a bountiful harvest.

Blessing In Disguise

Some plants are blessing in disguise. When you do not plant some crops but see them grow around you, they might have come through pollination by wind or animals.

The above plants were not planted but here they are growing very well.

The red-patched spinach is very common around here. Else where they are used to decorate around the home but do you know they can make a very delicious pot of vegetable sauce?

Talinum fruticosum (Waterleaf)

Besides the red-patched spinach is the water leaf. This plant is quite edible as much as it cures ulcer. You can find it around west Africa and Mexico and other parts of the world.

Our vegetable soup in eastern Nigeria is incomplete without this plant.

For infant and children, the juice from water leaf cam be used to flush their bowels.

I has the intention to rear local breeds of fowl but for the fear of attracting snakes, I dropped it off.

This wooden cage is what I have been using to house my fowls but they kept missing. It is wise I watch and see that I have enough control over the premises before I would.venture in to rearing fowls again.

Trying out layers or broilers here will be too expensive for me. It's better a stay with the local ones that will fend for themselves while I provide the space where they would breed.

Oh! Let's talk about sugarcane. My wards want it planted. I was left with no other option than to plant it. This one is just by the window of my bedroom and it's doing great.

Pumpkin

Ugwu as we often call it here is the most prominent vegetable in Nigeria. I have about six ridges of this plant and I am glad it's doing well.

Locally, we believe that is plant could either be a male or female.

The male would just grow broad leaves, useful food while the female would grow seeds and must not be cut for food when it is growing seeds else it does.

Some weeks ago, my wife bought yams for food for the house. I asked that the head be cut out and kept for replanting. Now, this is the result.

The top image is a breed of white water yam. This yam not popular among people. Buy for those who knows it's quality, there is no going back from planting it.

Water yam is not prepared like the other breed of yam. The Ijebu ethnic group love this species of yam so much. At least, it is used to prepare one of their favorite delicacy called Ikokore.

Beside the cucumber farm is where I planted just two plantain suckers. Plantain can replace one stem with more than five. With two stems, I have a forest of plantain just like that.

The new ones I transplanted to the front of the house have always been eaten up by some goats from nowhere. I have nonetheless decided to plant other crops that goats or rodents will not feast on,especially when. anyone is not at home.

Dear friends, here is where I would like to draw the curtain of my homesteading adventures until when I come your ways with my next agenda.

I hope you all love what you have seen, kindly keep checking this blog for exciting posts.

• All images used in this publication are mine.

First Published Here