September 27th – School and local corn harvesting

Flexibility of the school system

My assignment changed for the week as the headmaster shuffled staff to support the students.  I taught the three forms of math and got one class of ICT in for the week.  We started school without a science teacher so the headmaster needed to make some adjustments in the schedule.  I’m told that we will have a science teacher next week so I’ll likely start ICT form 1 and 2 and my original schedule of form 1 math.

It was nice to be able to see all three forms and get to know the students a little better.  There are over 60 students crammed into the form 2 room.  This makes teaching difficult but it should become easier when we move to the new school building and larger classrooms.

Harvest time

This is the start of harvest time in the region.  Of course food has been continually harvested throughout the last several months: yams as already mentioned, along with okra, tomatoes, peppers, onions and other crops have been continuously harvested for several months.   The corn, millet, and peanuts are the major stable crops that are being harvested now.  I’ve been watching the corn crop with some interest.  Corn is planted in hills with one or two plants per hill. Generally, it appears that each stalk produces one ear of corn.  (I’m going to see if I can get a grant to pay for soil testing – it appears that there is some fertility problem and there is certainly little organic material and worms in the soil near the house.)

A type of field corn is grown in this area for its storage ability.  It is chewy when boiled or roasted and generally converted into flour as needed.  People are going through the last of their stores of corn from last year to make room for the crop this year.

Harvesting corn

As most things about farming in the area the harvesting is a manual operation.  The mature ears of corn are taken from the stalk and thrown into a pile in the field.  After the corn is harvested the stalk is broken in half to show it has been harvested.

Corn in the field

Corn stalks broken to show already harvested





The women or children typically collect and carry the corn to be shucked in the house courtyard or under a shade tree.  As with almost everything the load is balanced and carried on the head.  Children and adults carry a significant amount of weight on their heads.  They have excellent balance and I suppose that their neck and spinal muscles have adjusted to support it.

Out in the field working

Children carrying corn



As the corn is shucked the particularly large ears of corn are placed in a pile and the husks are only pulled back, not completely removed.  The husks on these will be twisted and tied into loops so they can be strung on a line and hung to dry for use as seed corn for next year.  The other corn is placed in the sun to dry.  We are still having rains so the work to make sure the corn is properly dry before storage is complicated.

Novice shucking corn

Expert shucking corn

Full ears to be saved for next year planting

Corn sun drying in the home courtyard



I’m presuming that the corn will be removed from the cob at some point after the corn has dried, but I’ve not seen that part yet.

Gleaning for the pigs

A second pass is made through the field for the immature ears of corn.  These are collected and feed to the hogs.

Immature ears harvested for the pigs 

Pigs having a snack






























Until next week


I’m healthy and doing fine.  I miss my family and friends of course – but I’m settling in and adjusting to the daily challenges.  One of the challenges is getting a good enough connection to save and publish this post.

All the best until next week.


Love always – John


Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 20, 2014 at 1:36 PM

    Dear John,
    We hope you are doing well and have a good Thanksgiving. We are with Dan and
    Laura this week. We are having a good time visiting together. We hope you are
    In good health and enjoying your family there. God bless and keep you safe.
    Sincerely,
    Ruth Venn and family

    ReplyDelete

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