Sweet harvest.

After reading the poem The Earth is Ours to Plough, Not to Plunder by Niyi Osundare, I began to think about the earth; how it works, how it gives, and how it rewards those who care for it. The soil is like a patient friend; you give it your time, your sweat, and your seeds, and in return, it gives you life’s sweetness in abundance.

So, last Saturday, I went to the farm to harvest some water yam and plantain. A day earlier, my neighbor had returned from her own farm close to mine and told me that some of my pawpaw were ripe and could get spoilt if I didn’t pluck them quickly.

When I got to the farm, the sight gladdened my heart. The harvest was truly bountiful. A fat, healthy pawpaw, sparking red pepper, water yams and cool green bunch of plantain. I gathered them all, brought them home, and set to work. The plantain I split into pieces and prepared for sale. The yams I washed, set aside some for my own cooking, and kept the rest for the market. I did the same with the pawpaw. I also kept the pepper for use.

I love fruits so much. Pawpaw may not be my favorite, but so long as it’s a fruit, I never joke with it. I’ve often heard of the health benefits fruits bring to the human body, and that only deepens my love for them. So I picked one, peeled it neatly, scraped out the seeds, cut it into smaller pieces, rinsed them, and savored the sweet, succulent flesh.

With each bite, I felt a wave of refreshment flow through me like my body was thanking me for the gift of nature’s sweetness. As I finished, I looked at my baskets of produce and smiled. It wasn’t just a harvest; it was a reminder of how generous the earth can be when you tend it with care.

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@ritaetim.