Stephen is a farmer, a very prosperous one compared to others in the village, and he is very proud of his farms and the vegetables and fruits he grows. All together, he has 7 farms with a total of WELL over 100 acres of land.
Knowing this, and knowing that Stephen spends most of his time going from one farm to another, making sure his workers are doing the work they’re supposed to, we wanted to take an adventure to see and experience life on the farm.
This is the Ghanaian safari as we know it here, and we are quite satisfied with the experience. Funny fact – the first time Stephen saw a giraffe was in the Hogle Zoo… If the Ghanaian we’re living with hasn’t seen that kind of wildlife, why should we? (It doesn’t even exist here)
In order to get to a from the farms before Spencer and Joey needed to go to Asunafo this afternoon, we woke up at 5:30 am and headed to the farms at 6:00.
Emily, Joey, Spencer, Gloria and I all piled into the Rhino with Stephen. It was quite snug there in the back (not that I’d know because I was told I was to sit in the front, but it sure looked tight back there).
And the safari began! We passed right through town and headed past the farthest edge of the village. It was really neat to see the true outskirts of an African village. These women had set up shop under these straw huts.
We then followed a trail through farm after farm and had quite an enjoyable time getting through all the puddles and bumps along the way.
We really felt like we were roughing it here. ;) Once the trail ended, Stephen just kept on going through the brush, bush-whacking his way through with the Rhino.
Hold on tight guys! It’s gonna be a rough ride!
Once there wasn’t enough room to bush-whack with the Rhino we got out and bush-whacked as we walked.
Okay, so Stephen was really the only one doing any whacking – he was the only one with a machete.
But we had fun anyway.
We walked… and walked… and walked… (anyone feel like their singing that pioneer song from primary? “The pioneer children sang as they walked, and walked, and walked, and walked”… anyway…) Just when I thought we were in the middle of nowhere and that we were completely out of reach of any civilization the phone rings. That’s right, both Gloria AND Stephen received phone calls! I couldn’t believe it! Pretty sweet range of cell phone service!
Can you see them both on the phone?
We got to be good friends with the bushes and the trees and they seemed to be rather fond of us too.
Along our walk we happened upon this wall of dirt. It honestly looked like someone had just piled mud up to make a wall. It’s not a wall though! It’s a fallen tree – we’re looking at the roots. I found it so fascinating that I made Spencer stand by it so I could document the evidence.
We also learned much about the farms and how people keep track of whose land is whose. Instead of using fences to mark their boundary lines, they have boundary trees. So if you want to make sure people know where your land starts, you plant this tree and your territory is marked.
At last, we made it to Stephen’s first farm!
You could almost instantly tell a difference in the quality of farm land when you walked onto his property. He makes sure his farms are well taken care of and it pays off. In the next couple years, Stephen will be the largest producer of cocoa beans in the whole area.
When the family’s farm land was divided up among all the brothers and sisters of Stephen’s family (there were 12 of them, but only 11 living), he said his brothers all took the very best, most fertile parts of the land – so when Stephen was left with the property that included the house that they all grew up in, he told them that he didn’t want them trying to come in and take the house away.
He has since left the house and everything EXACTLY as his parents left it. He has wanted to preserve the memories they had there and also help to remind him where he really came from.
Here is the house.
This is where they all slept – the house only goes out a few more feet from the bed here. It’s incredibly small and almost impossible to imagine so many children growing up there with their parents.
When Stephen was young and lived out here, he said that they would arise at 5am every morning and walk with their father (barefoot) all the way to the village so they could attend school. The kids who lived in the village would make fun of them for not wearing shoes and for living out in the bush. They called them “villagers”, which is quite derogatory here, but Stephen just laughs about it now because all those people that laughed at him then are now envious of the possessions and life that he now leads. Him and his brothers and sisters have accomplished so much, and they are proud of where their lives began. It is really incredible and very humbling to witness.
After walking through this property we were off again to head to Stephen's "far away farm". The farm is about 8 miles from his home in Abomosu and is the farthest away of all his farms.
So we walked... and walked... like little pioneer children again... and just when I thought there was no sign of civilization ever to be found - except for the ants crawling up the legs of my pants and biting me - THIS jumped out at me! No lie - I about had a heart attack!
I know it's just a goat, and a little baby goat at that, but when you're searching your pant leg for the little tiny creatures like ants and then have something jump right out in front of your face, pretty sure I wouldn't have been the only one to jump and scream like I did. The others had a good laugh at it at least :)
It was then that we realized why there would be a goat there in the first place. We had made it to the far away farm!!!
Because most of the workers have to walk from Abomosu to get to this farm, Stephen has set up and built a place for them to stay while working there. It's a great little place out in the middle of the bush.
He's even built himself a little room of his own that only he is allowed to stay in when he comes for an extended, overnight visit.
We had fun going around this farm. It is over 60 acres of land! I can't believe it! Stephen showed us the first well that he had dug there. This one has since caved in and he is now waiting for the dry season to come around so he can install this pump into the new well he has dug.
We also made many friends.
Joey caught this little chick. Isn't he cute? (referring to the chick)
The grasshopper just loved Stephen's hat. We told Stephen that he just wanted to be his friend and his reply was, "NO, You cannot be my friend!" as he took off his hat and whacked it with his machete, about slicing his hat in half.
Stephen then decided that we needed to take a venture through the "real" forest. And I thought we were bush-whacking through the farms. Nope! Out came the machete and he literally cut us a path through the forest.
It was so fun!
Here's Spencer and I. I couldn't believe how dense the forest was. So many trees and vines! I loved it!
Spencer especially had to duck in many of the areas.
But we made it through! And when we came out and headed back to the main part of the farm, Spencer picked me this pretty little flower! What a sweetheart! I love him!
Stephen also decided we needed a little treat - so he cut us one of the sugarcane stalks that he's placed randomly throughout the farm to catch the grass cutters (gross rodent things that slightly resemble extremely large rats).
Gloria had a fun time with it!
And just couldn't wait until we got home to eat it.
So 2 farms down and 5 more to go... we headed back to the Rhino before reaching the next ones.
After the 3rd farm I was quite exhausted and grateful to be back in the Rhino. When everyone got out to go to the 4th farm I decided that I would be the one to stay and drive the Rhino up the road to meet everyone when they were done with the walk-through.
I felt so powerful behind the wheel!
The fifth farm was the citrus farm. All the oranges you could ever want or ask for! Now, most of the oranges will probably not be completely ripe for another month, but there were these really cool hybrid oranges that have finished! They aren't orange though. They are green! And if they turn orange then they have become TOO ripe! Crazy huh? It was kinda weird to eat a green orange, but it was delicious!
And then back into the Rhino we climbed!
It was about 11:30 by this time and the guys needed to get back, so we skipped the last 2 farms and headed on home. I was tired and exhausted, but so grateful that we got to spend that time having Stephen show us around! What a great man!
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