A Day in The Life of Mkulima.

Day 1. Planting 6:00 Gumboots ready, close family members wake up, Chai number 1, a prayer from Mom. Expecting lots of guess. Assign responsibilities. Mom follow up na wamatha wa planting, bro team ya furrows and irrigation. Help; kitchen na food kuwa constantly ready; Lots of chai and Githeri presumably.

7:00 Calls, Calls, Calls Endless Calls. First guy ni msee wa tractor; booked earlier. Then Agrovet; seeds and boda guy ku pick diesel ya irrigation and the seeds.

7:30 Team starts arriving. The tractor guy is on the farm taking measurements while tuna nego prices. Hapa unaacha apime juu already ushapima na google map, want a lower figure juu wao upima mostly na steps. Agreed, obviously he got less figure and vumbi is up, signaling a new start.

8:30 Team Furrows Tea number 2 ya team furrows already happened. Again hapa ni round of nego, identify the most experience and respected among them m'assign ku lead the rest, nego na yeye and agree then yeye ndio utalipa agawe kwa rest. There are over 12 young energetic men and allowing them all wakuwe na opinion is easy way to invite to chaos. Pea leader kamba he start sub diving vile furrows zitakuwa and the rest follow behind. Another round of vumbi.

9:30 Planting Planting is mostly women part and hii ni sector unaachia Mother, juu most ukuwa her friends and her agemates and no men wins kwa women argument. So Mom will give the best bargain.

Furrows not yet done so the idea is planting happening same time, like wana follow behind.

12:30 Every Tree kwa farm ni campsite, Help and few wamama, will be walking to and fro na cups na plates in each camp. A little smoke here and there in men's camps, I know unajua what I mean. Who am I to judge 🤣. 3/4 of the farm is almost ready.

Good time ya ku inspect quality ya furrows and ku sikia kama kuna any grievances. Juu mostly wataitisha ka advance to send back home for lunch. Give some cash kwa leader to share juu yeye ndio anajua their mahesabu, note the balance.

13:30 Resume Furrows and Planting Time fiti sa ku make sure irrigation systems ziko up and running. Might need to visit few neighbors and ask for extra irrigation pipes get extra hand ya ku beba and start arranging the pipes kwa firm. The two guys responsible for irrigation should be ready.

14:00 Irrigation Nego' na the two guys on terms. They will be last team to exit the farm. A little hiccups here and then, some pipes leaking. Finally up and running. All the teams are now on schedule with good passing.

15:30 Teams Exiting Furrows done, following by team planting. They now meet homestead. Tea number 4. Do a little inspection hapa na pale. Time to thank them and pay balance to the leader. Some change missing here and there; Men lets meet kwa kamnyweso, Women of course sending some food stuff and balancing off. Call it a day for the two teams.

Oh! ni time to refill the diesel tanks, ukuwa na timer to avoid machine kuzima juu luck of fuel, always a bad idea inaeza choma the electric motor. Irrigation still happening.

Time to start looking for batteries and Torch

19:00 Short Break Team irrigation takes a short break, tea number 4 with tu accompaniment, remember ile story ya smoke? Ama tuache hio story.

Torch tied kwa kichwa and resume, got like 4 hours to go. I chip in, help in currying pipes when changing irrigation channel. ITS NOT EASY. Oh! I come with a Bluetooth speaker; SHOW OFF. It helps though. Mtetemeko hapa, baridi kule. Foots of Mt Kilimanjaro can punish you na baridi.

22:00 Last Light Goes off Had earlier went for the last plate, its dark for help to do that. And we have all sort of scare stories of wild animal. "Juzi ndovu zilikuwa kwa akina Kabiru". We boarder Tsavo Park and this stories are common. Farm and wildlife conflict.

00:00 Tongue out, My Friend, City Life is good. Farming is not for everyone. Took shower in the farm, same irrigation water. Walking to switch off the diesel engine, last team payment already made. Very quiet, starry sky, few lights here and there kwa home wenye wako na solar. Na hivo ndio day one imeisha. Its such Moments of life I misses Dad, continue RIP. Wish he was here to see the city farmer put into action zile tips alinifunza in my childhood.