I’ll be going into town tomorrow to buy some supplies to take into the bush with me. Mostly, I’ll be picking up gardening supplies, I think. I had asked a couple of my Iski friends to look after my garden for me while I was gone, so there would be vegetables waiting for my family when we got back. There shouldn’t actually be that much work for me to do when I get there.

HA-HA-HA! I’m such a kidder! That was a good joke, wasn’t it?!

I DID ask some friends to look after things for me while I was gone, and they DID assure me that my garden would be the picture of bountiful harvest when I returned, but since arriving back in country, I have had multiple first-hand reports that the area behind my house resembles something between a “young jungle” and an “old meadow.” “Bountiful harvest” didn’t come up in either conversation.

I can’t totally blame the Iski guys for the beleaguered state of my food plot though. I had done a few things in my garden that the Iski are unfamiliar with, like digging irrigation ditches and planting okra.

Actually, that is probably the main reason that my garden has suffered so. Sure, the abnormally invasive jungle weeds made things difficult, the swarms of devouring insects were irksome, the nutrient depleted soil was a bit of a setback, the endless assaults by village pigs were fairly devastating, and the months of outright neglect were unfortunate.

But in the end, it was probably the okra that did the thing in.

And maybe I’m just being too much of a “glass half empty” sort of guy. I should probably be trying to focus more attention on the things in my garden that HAVE flourished in my absence.

For instance, I’ve heard that my bitterness is in full bloom right now. And my exasperation is already producing its second crop! My indignation has spread more than anyone expected, and my frustration is almost waist high!

Well, that feels better. I guess “keeping on the sunny side of life” really is a better way to live. Now I can put all this behind me and get back to my shopping list: a new spade, seeds, fertilizer, a pig spear…