Food security and variety

Our progress with planting our root crops is progressing well. We now have approximately 7000 taro planted and about 3000 cassava planted. Most of these are for market but some are for our food supply. Until they are ready to harvest we have been eating a lot of rice. Occasionally we receive a donation of some root crops from one of Arthur’s relatives, which is always much appreciated. This past week Arthur’s brother-in-law Tavutu brought us some yams. They were the biggest yams I’ve ever seen. Taste wise they were very similar to potatoes but a bit coarser, not at all like the yams we get in Canada.

Traditional Fijian diet includes root crops, fish, coconut milk, and wild greens. While good, this diet is a bit monotonous when you’re used to a greater variety of foods. Naively I thought by now I would have lots of fresh vegetables after all we have lots of lands to grow them in. I’m now on my third attempt to grow a vegetable garden. The first attempt involved starting plants in a nursery. We were still in the process of building our road and we hadn’t dug garden beds yet but I was trying to get a good start on my plants before putting them into the ground. Unfortunately the nursery was plastered flat by TC Winston. Only one watermelon plant survived. The next attempt was to sow my seeds directly into garden beds. The seeds all germinated well but were quickly eaten by slugs, snails and beetles including the one watermelon plant that had survived TC Winston. Beans and corn seem to be the most pest resistant so we’re planting lots of those. We’ve also had success growing pumpkin. I’m now back to starting plants in a nursery so that I can control some of the pests. I’m hoping to get them in the ground before I head back to Canada in June. Then it will be Arthur’s responsibility to keep them alive until I get back.

For now whenever I head to town I try to pick up some fresh vegetables. I’ve discovered okra and cucumbers keep the best without refrigeration. Due to the lack of fresh vegetables and refrigeration, I’m learning how to cook many different meals using tinned foods. I can cook a pretty good tinned fish curry, as well as dhal soup and you’d be surprized how good spaghetti is with tinned corned beef. I’m also experimenting with different kinds of quick breads that can be cooked on the stove top.  Dinner tonight is a “Manhattan style” clam chowder using tinned tomatoes and corn and fresh water clams.

We received our first 20 chicks this week. We would have lost our deposit had we cancelled our order. These chicks are meat birds; we’re still waiting for the 30 layer chicks. The eggs come from New Zealand, are hatched in Nausori (near Suva) and then transported to Labasa for pick up. There’s a very high demand for them and we may not have received any if we delayed our order. I have to say that the chicks are the cutest little things and so far have provided hours of entertainment (in a TV and DVD free world). Currently we have them in one of our packing bins with water, feed, and a small hurricane lamp at night for warmth. When they are about 2-3 weeks old we’ll move them into a larger cage. Our goal is to free range them within a fenced area near our house. Hopefully we’ll have chickens to eat when our kids come to visit at Christmas.

The bee boxes and bee colonies are on order and we should be receiving them either this week or next. Poor Arthur will have his hands full with the dog, cat, chicks, bees and vegetable garden on top of his regular root crop planting while I’m in Canada.

And not forgetting some good news – we’ve had enough rain to fill our water tank and we now have running water in the kitchen and for laundry.