A lot goes wrong as it so often does when it's the first time you do something, a lot of things did not work out as i had planned with my first maize crop; i always assumed people in rural areas were hungry for work and a reason to make some money - i was to learn otherwise. My maize crop was almost late getting planted because i did not have enough hands to assist with the planting, when the planting season starts in Nanda every one is at it, the same goes for clearing, weeding and harvesting season.
And to each family or individual their farms come first. So i found myself with maize seeds,10acres of cleared land and no planters, i had to wait until those willing to work for money finished the work on their own farms before they could help me. And most of those who later offered their assistance did so because i was acquainted with them. And so it was no surprise that i struggled through the weeding season, see weeding doesn't pay as much as planting and yet it is just as tiring which means very few people will leave their comfort zones to work for the meager money offered. I ended up paying more than was the market price partly because i was new to the area but mainly because i couldn't find labourers and they knew it, if i did not pay what they asked my crop would not survive, i struggled through phase one and barely made it through phase two of weeding, as is now in retrospect evidenced with the yields.
Harvest was nothing compared to planting or weeding, harvest was the most trying of times for me, every one was busy in their fields, and everyone had a bit of money from the sales, no one was willing to work for money - strange i thought, but this is true. I tried to persuade, coarse and finally just paid a bit more to have the youth in the community help me. Last in, last out was my case, my farm had been one of the last to be planted and it would also become one of the last to be harvested, and by this time the rains had began to fall. I needed the sun to dry the harvest and its seemed my luck was out - i struggled through drying the maize so as to preserve and allow the cost to rise a bit, for i couldn't sell at the current low price which was just pitiful considering what i had spent not mentioning the disappointing yield.
I stored the maize anyhow hoping the sun would shine bright for at least a week straight, but as i waiting the maize not properly dried begun to moist and turn yellow - which is a sign of ferment - for i had made a mistake of not storing the maize on its cobs , but i was thinking about the storage space and everyone seemed to agree it would shine soon and told me the rains were early and so i had done away with the maize cobs a little too prematurely.
But like i said before i did not do too badly with the maize that my grandma did not receive a bag of posho, with the high food prices, she is grateful not to buy this main part of her meal and to tell her i grew it myself! That's go to get her smiling.
