Garden to Plate - Rape with Bontele

This is the first of several posts showing you some of the preparation of the food that we grow.

First pick the rape

After washing, cut it up, being very careful to slice only the rape and not your fingers!

Cook with salt and a little water until it is reduced and becoming soft.  This takes longer than you think.

Add tomatoes (and onions) if you want to.  I added only tomatoes this time, but sometimes I use both and sometimes neither.  Cook a bit linger to soften the tomatoes.

Add bontele (pounded ground nuts)

Cook for a further 5 minutes or so, adding water to keep the mixture soft.  Stir until ready or it will stick and burn

Serve with nsima.  It tastes MUCH better than it looks!

Blind Snake

Amos met this one behind the house:

Village Visit

Bridget recently visited Siasinyanga village.  She went with her friend Edna to vista Agnes, Edna's mother.
Here are some pictures:

Morning grooming



Hanging out the washing

Mrs Kelvin cooking porridge

Wide open spaces

Agnes (in the middle) with her friends

Washing pots.  Sand is used as a scourer

Taking the cattle to graze

Going for water

Sunflowers

Chameleon

Kelvin with some of his class of 94 (!!!) pre-grade children

School playing field

Kelvin and Edna

Agnes, Bridget, Edna and one of the grandchildren

Kelvin, Mrs Kelvin and Kelvin Junior

Agnes cooking ochra

Guinea fowl that think they are chickens.  They followed this cockerel around all day long,

The homestead.  The building in the centre is the house, the round building on the right is the kitchen

More wide open spaces

Dawn

Shivering in the dawn as we waited for the transport home

Village Funeral

We went with other members of church to the Pastor's village for the burial of his mother.  She was 86 years old, had 9 children, 47 grandchildren and 72 great grandchildren. We were not told how many great grandchildren, but we know some of them.
To get to the village was a 3 hour journey each way in a crowded, open lorry (called a canter).



Setting out in the cold morning

The burial site was next to a field of sun flowers

A Little Trip Away

We had 2 very restful days in Livingstone:

Woodland kingfisher

Bee eater - ask Amos which one!

The Maramba River which runs into the Zambezi.  Full of crocodiles!

Steam train

Egrets

Egret

We stayed in a very nice tent, but I forgot to put the pictures on the computer, so it will have to wait until next time...

Here's the tent

Inside

Outside.  Handsome man not provided by site.

Evening Light

Baptisms

On Sunday 4th March we had a baptism service at church.  8 adults went through the waters of baptism as a witness that they have found forgiveness through the shed blood of Jesus and are now committed to following him.
Most of them have little experience of deep water and you could see that the prospect of being 'dunked' was terrifying.
Here are some pictures