A Day at the farm!

After a breakfast of fried plantains, french fries and delicious Cameroon coffee, we headed out to a farm owned by a friend of Farmer Tantoh. Farmer knows so much about agriculture and plants and he shared his knowledge with us! We saw Cassava plants, avocado plants (called “pear” in Cameroon), palm trees, pineapple, mango and papaya trees and much more. We even got to suck on deliciously sweet sugar cane. One of Farmer’s sayings is “Everything you need, you can get from the earth.”
Palm trees are located throughout the farm. In addition to the nuts, that can be eaten and also pressed for oil, the trees can be tapped, yielding 5 liters of juice every day for a month. If the juice sits around, it ferments and becomes palm wine. There are also grubs in every palm tree; in the larva stage, they are considered a delicacy when they are fried up. They have lots of protein and health benefits. Farmer Tantoh is currently doing research on how to breed these grubs so they can be sold.

The vision for this farm is to house an Eco-Lodge, where people can come to learn about gardening and agriculture. We visited a fish pond on the farm where we used a machete to clear some grass around the pond.

We also saw a man making a medicinal mixture to treat typhoid, a disease people get from drinking unclean water. It consists of a plant pounded into a paste, mixed with one raw egg and Guinness beer.
For lunch we pulled up the roots of the cassava plant, and peeled and boiled it over a wood fire. We made an orange sauce out of the oil from the nuts of the palm tree mixed with spices. Delicious!!

Cameroon is known for the beautiful dresses worn by women as well as the fabric used to make these dresses. We went to the shops and each bought some fabric. Which one do you like best?

For dinner, we had a delicious tomato fish stew with rice that we helped prepare, preceded by fried grubs as an appetizer. Farmer fried them in oil with sliced onion, parsley and spices and, although we were hesitant at first, we ate them and actually enjoyed them!
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To end our wonderful day, Farmer and his wife Quinta surprised us with beautiful Cameroon dresses that we will wear when we go to church with his family on Sunday!