The festive season has come and gone, but the memories will continue to linger. I hope you made the most of the holiday.
Personally, I did enjoy the holiday, although I stressed myself out at some point. Imagine traveling to my hometown thinking that I'd use the holidays to chill and rest more, since I hadn't fully recovered, but nope. I ended up moving around and visiting folks than usual, plus engaging in farm work.
I visited one of my big uncles, who's also our traditional ruler. He celebrated his anniversary on the throne and equally conferred chieftaincy titles on some individuals. I couldn't attend due to some exigencies, so I decided to pay him a visit afterwards.
I also reconnected with another uncle I hadn't seen in years, and checked in on my aunt, my mom's only sister, who's been recovering from illness. I was happy to see that her health has incredibly improved from the last time I visited.
A day after New Year's, I jumped into farm work - harvesting cassava with a close family friend, mom's "nwunye dị" (a woman married into the same kindred as my mom). We worked a small plot in our backyard that was cultivated during the last planting season. Some of the cassava tubers have already started decaying, so harvesting them all was pertinent.
The harvesting process was easy and fast because it rained the previous day, making the soil as good as soft.
And the yield turned out to be much more than we expected. It was a great yield, with big cassava tubers - the kind of yield farmers wish for.
Look how big this one is
Harvesting done, we had our breakfast. Soon afterwards, we began the first stage of the processes of turning the cassava into garri, which involves peeling, washing them to remove dirt.
This is the most stressful part of the process, I tell you. Being that it was just me and my mom alone made it more stressful.
By the time we finished with the peeling the cassava and washing, night was already upon us. That nonwithstanding, the process has to be completed, if we must get garri. Hehehe.
Next was grinding, and fortunately, the woman who helped with the harvesting has a grinding machine, else we would have waited till the next day for when mobile grinders would come around.
Grinding ongoing.
Grinding done.
With the grinding done, I made my way home, exhausted and famished. Mom had already made dinner so I showered, ate and rested my tired body.
By the way, the next process would be pressing the cassava paste to remove water, and then frying, all of which would be handled by the woman.
I must say that my mom, in fact my family is blessed to have such a wonderful woman. She loves my mom dearly and treats her like her own mother, same way mom treats her like a daughter. She's always great help, running errands for my mom, including gardening activities around the house.
That's a bit of how my holiday went. Hopefully, I'll share more.
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