Strawberry picking

On Saturday morning we went to pick our own strawberries from a large farm tucked away on the outskirts of Ouagadougou.

The kids each brought their own basket and we set off to spend the morning collecting berries from this wonderful little strawberry patch.  My sweet little Marvi-girl.

It was the first time we had been strawberry picking since living in Nebraska many years ago, and the girls were SO excited! Sydaleigh wasted no time finding the best berries and filling her basket fast.

 

Steve had a good time too, but mostly because his friend Jonah came. He liked picking strawberries for a while but then he just wanted to play with his buddy. =)

This man stayed with us the entire time and talked to us about the farm, what is planted, why they only plant strawberries once a year (because that's the way it's always been, he said), how they plant a cabbage on the front of each strawberry path to keep bugs and insects away (not sure why/how that helps but that's what they do.)

He also stood guard and made sure the kids didn't fall into one of these open wells as they were running back and forth. 

They had many many hand dug wells throughout the farm, approximately 16 feet deep, that they would use to water the crops. They tie a rope to a watering can, throw it down into the well and pull it back up over and over and over again to water the fields. Talk about hard work! No state of the art irrigation systems here!

(they did have one lone hand pumped well, and they use it to clean the food because they know the water is clean)

It was not only fun for the kids but also a great opportunity to just meander up and down the paths and quietly observe the life of the farm and the strength of the Burkinabé as they worked together to harvest, water and clean their crops.

I so often feel like I am stepping back in time thousands of years here in Burkina Faso. Mostly because life just continues to exist in this place as it always has. Despite the fact that the rest of the world is progressing and moving forward by leaps and bounds...here in Burkina, you can step back in time and experience a very simple way of life still embraced by millions and millions of people. They have none to very little modern technology in the majority of places throughout the country as well as very simplistic, primitive ways of doing life. I mean, in the 21st century they are still using hand dug wells like we read about in Genesis and throw a bucket to the bottom to fetch water. But it works. And despite it being exhausting work, it's what they know and they are content to carry on in the same ways that they always have. Sure, there are more efficient ways of farming and watering crops, but this gets the job done too....just with a little more back power and sweat!

Speaking of back power....this is how Burkinabé work in the field, they all bend over at the waist with backs as straight as boards.

They will work in the fields like this all day long, bent in half. Needless to say, they have incredibly strong backs here. They are just strong people period.

This gal was plucking her carrots out of the ground and the girls jumped right in to help her. I remember when we first moved here, they might have been a little apprehensive about working alongside a Burkinabé, because it is such a contrast from our life in the U.S....but now, they don't even think twice. They love it. They embrace it. The kids helped her pull carrots for a little while, Marvelly being really excited about getting three at one time and then we bought some from her, straight out of the ground, for a whopping forty cents.

It was a great morning. We stocked up on strawberries, three kilos worth, got some carrots, cauliflower and cabbage....all of it straight out of the ground fresh. No better way to get your veggies!