Becoming a Gen-Z Urban Farmer!
Yes! Farming can be 😎!
Before I start, let me just put a clause here that you shouldn’t really judge a book by its cover.
My first real foot into agriculture was at Farmz2u when we started the #Farmz2UHitchhiker farming challenge. And although I never thought that my plants would still be alive, we are standing strong after 3 months!
So, I got my first seedlings- Ugwu from a neighborhood plant seller — Mr Gideon for 200 NGN ($0.50) aIong with a mini aloe vera plant for 500 NGN ($1.20) and half a bag of soil for free!
I then found some old buckets at home and I drilled some holes for aeration and for the water to drain when it rains and planted my two Ugwu seedlings. The only advice I got from the Mr Gideon was not to water it too much and this really helped because despite the advice, I kept watering it every day and the ugwu started becoming lighter 🙁, I should have listened to the plant doctor🤦🏾♀️!
Asides from the fact that they were being watered a lot, I felt they needed more space so I stopped watering every day and only watered at night then I transplanted them to a bigger bed.
In my opinion, the Ugwu seeds look like roasted ogbono seeds 😐 but the joy of seeing that I was eating whole leaves without any withered holes from insects like the ones in the market gave me great joy so I went on to plant Oregano. I got some stems from a female mission’s orphanage. Apparently oregano is really good for cramps and it tastes divine when used in your spaghetti.
Farmz2u got all of us tomato and hybrid soko (vegetable) seeds from our partners, Harvest Plus. So we’ve all been motivated to start farming and I hope to document my harvest and make a dish with ingredients from my farm!
One thing I will say though is that it possible to farm organically and eat healthy and my journey to being a farmer has been worthwhile. Looking onwards, I really want to plant rosemary, thyme and green peppers and as for my fears, I don’t want to have to use a pesticide so let’s see how that goes😐 but for now, I’m your neighborhood gen-z urban farmer.
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