Millennium Malawian Goat

We saw quite a few fine specimens on our recent trip to Malawi, including this handsome fellow:

He was hanging out near the maize storage facility in the Millennium Village of Mwandama. I blogged about that here, though it might appear my goat fetish is being replaced by simians.

We were also in the Millennium Village of Gumulira, where select households were given goats to try to recruit them to be goat lovers. I blogged about that here, including video footage of baby goats bonking heads under hanging tobacco.

On the homefront, no update on our own goat situation. We were thinking of moving to a friend’s house on the outskirts of Nairobi because they have goats, but a few nights ago they were violently burgularized, so now we’re thinking otherwise. Until that time comes, we’ll live out our goat dreams vicariously through others.

Oh, I did add some goat manure to our garden this morning, if that counts for anything?

Goat Poop for Goat Fodder

So we don’t have our goat, but I did go out and get a hoe and a sack of goat shit a few days ago. We staked a plot in our backyard. Here’s the before shot.

It took quite a bit of work to hack through the hard ground. We removed the top layer of grass and a lot of rocks and roots, digging and sifting almost a foot down. Then mixed in the manure. Happiness is a plot of tilled soil:

Yesterday we planted the seeds: carrots, onions, bell peppers, jalapenos, arugula, chives, swiss chard, squash, eggplant, etc. Just in time for the beginning of rainy season. Got our first big rain last night that soaked it nice and good. Stay tuned.