how and why i live like i do

my lifestyle, how and a bit of why

I try to plant all the fruits and vegetables that I will need to eat in my backyard. I’ve recently begun to harvest cucumber, kale, spinach, lettuce and okra. Soon I’ll have pumpkin, peanuts, long bean and hopefully carrots, tomato, and basil in December. I have a large mango tree in my backyard and papayas grow all around. There’s a lemon tree down the street that I pick lemons from and also use the leaves to make tea. The foods that I do not grow that I eat on a regular basis are rice, oatmeal, wheat, spices, garlic, and onion.

I love growing my own food. I love trying to be completely self sustaining.  I love thinking about what I’m going to have for dinner that night and know that all I have to do is walk into my yard and harvest whatever is ready or what needs to be eaten. I feel the best when i'm in tune with the surrounding environment and eating what is available in my yard is one of my favorite ways to do that.

I also feel that its really important for me to live how my surrounding community lives. My specific neighborhood is very educated but the people I work with in the public health sector don’t have much. So I don’t have refrigerator, I don’t have chairs (everyone sits on the floor in fiji), I have a mattress on the floor instead of a bed, I have a two burner stove (a lot of people here cook over fire, but its just me and I don’t have enough time with all my other chores, someday though), no t.v., and I take and wait for the bus instead of hiring taxi’s.

The hardest part is not having a refrigerator because I have to be very accurate with how much I cook, I have to cook every night, I can only buy cheese or milk if I’m going to finish it all in that day, and nothing cold (like ice cubes or beverages) for the hot season. But I’m learning so much more about cooking, food, myself and how the majority of the world lives. One of the reasons I joined peace corps to have the experience living this way.  If I bought a western style life I would never get the chance to learn these lessons that I think are really important that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

The most wonderful thing about gardening in Fiji is that it is summer all year long. I’ve already gotten a good feel for how long things take to grow and when I mess up I don’t have to wait for another year to replant, I just plant. After this I definitely want to go to a place with seasons though, I want a cycle, I also want to do this with a community rather than just myself.


Why garden? (worldwide)
-a source of local and organic food
- it saves money (transportation, market prices, other things you end up buying while on your trip to town/ the store)
-helps you eat a balanced diet
-its fun to watch things change and grow
-reduces waste (the food from your garden does not come in a plastic bag)
-harvest dinner parties… if too many vegetables are growing at one time and you’re worried you won’t be able to eat them all, no worries, it’s the perfect excuse to throw a party!
-is water efficient (planting a garden will end up using about the same amount of water as a lawn/grass, but produces a garden produces an economic reward)
-gardening is meditative and can be considered exercise.

The above list is all the reasons for gardening that I talk to the locals about when I go on my visits. If I go to villages I usually tell them that gardening can also be a great source of income and they can not only plant gardens for themselves which will save money, but they can also plant gardens to sell at the market which generates money. This is important for them because they can then use the money to buy other items like soaps and shoes or pay school fees for their children.

I also compost and reuse recycled material as much as possible. I used my first batch of compost today and i was so excited!  The neighbors think I’m a bit strange, but I’m okay with that. They always ask questions though and I really hope that if they see some young foreign girl come into their country and be almost completely self sufficient it’ll motivate them to do the same things as well.


Pictures

Starter pots from recycled materials

Compost, my bin was made out of wood scraps that i found and my covering is made out of palm and banana leaves.

cucumber, yum

AND! i'm the first official member of the Slow Food movement in fiji.  I'm going to start a group, hopefully of locals and not just other peace corps volunteers, but either way it'll be great.  i have ideas to have local food/harvest parties once a month and start a booth at the local market to give away free fruits and vegetables so people can try new foods that they can grow in their backyard and learn different ways to prepare them. maybe even start an earth market. no action yet this all just happened yesterday, i'll keep you updated!


Love and miss you all dearly
monica