Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Bula!

Im just in the internet Cafe in Labasa and bumbed into Leavi (Crimestopper) outside so he came in with me. We decided it would be fun to give a small insight from the garden on whats growing, what sort of stuff will soon be ready to eat and some depth into the culture of growing plants the Fijian way… So this blog will be a direct blog from Leavi with me just typing it in here…

Bula Sia.

Before you plant anything you must ask the owner of the land if you can use the land to plant. On Vorovoro the owner of the land is Tui Mali, so we ask him before we plant. Once you have got this permission to plant you can continue planting for a long time. When the first harvest is ready we will take it to the landowner to try first before anyone else because it his land. So on Vorovoro the first harvest was taken to Tui Mali to try before anyone else. At this point he will bless the food.

Fiji is different now, it used to start the dry season in March, but now the rains carry on longer, we don’t know how long the rains will continue for. I still plant crops in line with how the seasons used to be. So during the dry season I will plant Cabbage, Raddish, Horseraddish, Fijian Herbs like Bele, Pumpkin, Cucumber, Long Green Beans, French Beans, Butter Beans, Quarando, Tomato, Onions, Watermelon, Lettuce, Chilie, Peanuts.

On Vororvoro some plants are ready to harvest now like Papaya, Casava, Uvi, Comalla (sweet potato) and Banana. On Vorovoro we have 3 types of banana, 1 is long and thin and sweet, 1 is long and fat which in fiji we call Vudi, and 1 is short and big which we call Paka.

The soil on Vorovoro is different to mainland Fiji. It is soil but mixed with a lot of sand. This can be good because it mixes very well to make a good consistency of soil, but when it is very hot and not much rain it can be bad because the sand gets very hot and can burn the plants.

The garden is like my Family, I get up every morning to see the garden and look after it just like my family and every afternoon I say Goodbye to the garden.

Moce for now,

Leavi (Crimestopper)