Retrospect 2013: Gardening and Re-landscaping

In January, when I returned to Haiti, I also moved into another house.  I've had a blast this year re-landscaping and gardening.  The house sits on some old garden land, and the difference between the earth here and the earth around the guest house where I used to live is HUGE. For the first time I was able to grow salad greens!!

amaranth, kale, mustard, beet greens, swiss chard, basil, dill

Of course, our salads are more of the rogue desert type, not sweet and delicate like the tenderfoot greens you buy pre-washed in the grocery store.

In the words of our friendly intern Elysha,

"It's a little...<clears roughage out of throat>...uh, it's a little...chewy."

(disclaimer: I don't actually remember the adjective she used, but it was something along those lines.)

I love working outside and working with the earth, so it was fun to do some relandscaping...

This is the front of the house....its the closest I have to a "before" picture, although I had already started working.

New, raised, stone lined flower beds going in...

...the angle from the western corner.

 Freshly planted....

...and several weeks later.

Thony was a huge help.  We traded English lessons for yard work.

Woudji tagged along one day for wheelbarrow rides.

We built a stone walkway.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the finished walkway.  We filled in all the cracks with white beach sand....it looks really pretty, but requires constant upkeep.

The left side of the house got a makeover as well.

The pumpkin vines grew even more luscious until the drought really hit hard.  But the aesthetics changed anyway when we put in a rainwater catchment cistern this summer.

Hand dug by some local guys in some of the meanest earth you ever did see, it holds somewhere around 4500 gallons.

I also got a new fence and a new gate. 

This is taken from the outside of the property looking in.

The old fencing was made out of tree branches (see photo below, for example).  They can make a pretty good fence, until they rot out and the goats push through.  Goats (for those of you who may not know), are incorrigibly destructive.  They will push, climb, and/or leap their way through to eat all the vegetables and trees into which you have put hours of back-breaking labor planting and watering.  I have given many a rock-hurling chase to recalcitrant and unrepentant goats.  The new wire fencing has put a (relieving) end to that.

Although gardening is always full of discouragement here on the Plateau, I had far more success this year while the rain was falling than I've ever had.  Even when the rain stopped falling, I was surprised at what didn't die for a while.

You can see: pumpkins, melons, and sunflowers in the background.

Foreground: basil, kale, dill, mustard, and amaranth (as well as a plant called "fèy van" on the far right side that is used as a tea for gassy pain...it smells delicious...kind of like oregano.)

 Sunflowers just make my heart happy...

on my desk, with purple Thai basil

Ani got a sunflower and a personal sized yellow watermelon for her birthday, along with a hand selected sachet of seeds for her to plant.