The Color of Cassia

There is no bloom like the eternal bloom of Zimbabwe's cassia tree. The bright yellow seemed to follow me everywhere during my years in Harare, though few locals could actually tell me the name of these gold treasures.

Known throughout Zimbabwe from the northern banks of the Zambezi to the Limpopo River of the south, researching information on this tree can seem confusing...Confusing, that is, until it becomes clear that there are two very distinct types of cassia that grow throughout the country.  The ornamental varieties found in cities and in yards grow into large trees that tower along-side other ornamental beauties.  But the critically endangered native cassia, known as a small tree or bush, normally occurs in Zimbabwe in the bush and Save Lowveld on river-bank sand dunes and islands.  While the habitat of the native cassia is under attack from the over-cultivation of its habitat, it remains an easy plant to identify and thus save if the inhabitants of these areas became educated about its fragility.  It's not hard to spot these showy, flowering plants, which brighten the country with flecks of cheery yellow year round.

A harvest celebration under blossoming cassia trees? What could be better?!

African Sweet Potatoes

Perhaps I'm inspired by the plethora of root vegetables always around US groceries at this time of year. Or maybe it's the chilly weather that makes it feel like the season.  Or perhaps I'm just craving one of our favorite dishes from our Zim days....  'Tis almost the season to start harvesting these terrific tubers once again!

Meet a vegetable that is out of control in Zimbabwe: the sweet potato.  This crazy plant could just about save the whole country... for a few months anyway.  These giants can grow to well over a foot long and are abundant beyond belief.  Last year our first harvest tackled about a twelfth of the sweet potatoes plants growing in our garden... and we filled a large laundry basket!  My housekeeper, Ziwone, taught me the key to keeping these veggies fresh for a long time: never wash them!  Keeping the dirt on their outsides makes them last in a dark pantry forever....

 
It is a terribly arduous task. Digging up sweet potatoes is no joke and usually requires a long pick-axe or hoe.  Here Jonas tells Kurt where he should be searching for these goodies.  You can tell sweating Kurt appreciates it.


The easy part is replanting sweet potatoes, though.  After the potatoes are dug from the ground, the greens -no matter how torn- are simply covered with a little dirt and watered; they will grow a whole new (always larger) crop the next year!


(Above) my sister Caryn eats a plain, boiled sweet potato during our harvest celebration.  Typical Shona eating involves few ingredients.  Cook a potato.  Eat a potato.

The sweet potato of Zimbabwe is different than any other potato I've ever eaten; it is like no American potato, for sure.  Full of excessive starch and rock-hard white flesh inside, this potato took my child from loving to hating "sweet potatoes" in one taste. I admit that I hated them at first, too.  Even when cooked until they are almost liquid, they maintain a dry, chalk-like texture that can be hard to swallow. Then we realized we just needed some great recipes that did not treat them quite like the potatoes we were used to, and boy did we grow to love these monsters.  Below is one of our favorite recipes, which we often made over the campfire (not required) when our ZESA/electricity went out:   (Check out how you can make them in America, too!)

African Sweet Potato Pancakes

3 eggs

½ cup millk

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 ¼ cup flour

2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon dried thyme

12 oz of finely shredded African sweet potatoes

2 onions, sliced very thinly or finely chopped

Salt and pepper to taste (~3/4 tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper)

Mix all ingredients together well.  Place in a hot shovel, skillet, or pan that is greased with either butter or oil. Allow first side to brown before flipping.  Brown second side.  Eat as a savory pancake: plain (my favorite!) or topped with sour cream (creme fraiche in Africa) or plain yogurt. 

Note: Give it a try even if you can't get African sweet potatoes... This recipe is great when you use American sweet potatoes and leave out the thyme, or when you replace the African sweet potatoes with a starchy white potato (Idaho or Russet) instead!

Yum!

Broom Cluster Fig

Want to see a crazy tree?  Done!  Meet the strange broom cluster fig.

Known for its dense, spreading crown, the broom cluster fig tree offers popular puddles of cool shade for animals and people alike, from the northern-most tip of Africa all the way down to the Cape of South Africa.  But the best part of this fast-growing African tree is its crazy look.  Though they seem like warts, these fig clusters not only grow on the tree´s upheld arms- they actually grow on the roots sometimes, too!  

Some indigenous African people have long-held beliefs in the magical powers of this tree, and use it in religious ceremonies and celebrations. Its notoriously soft white wood is often used for making drums, and its inner-bark is a popular rope-making material. The milky sap is also known to treat throat ailments and boils.  But everyone´s favorite?  

Its fruit!  The figs are ripe and ready when they turn an orangish-red!

So many figs, but no fig newtons.  Sigh....

Best Creature in Africa: The Baobab

I am ashamed to admit this: when we first arrived in Africa, not only did I have no appreciation for the fat trees that showed up on every artists' canvas, but I thought they were down right ugly.  Then I came face to face with one.  And I was never the same again.

I have mentioned them in tiny ways before.  But when I close my eyes and think of Africa, the bright sun and the baobabs are what spread across my eyes.  

I call it a blessing to have crossed paths with these incredible giants.  My pictures will do no justice; Oh, promise me you'll google them. You'll be so happy you did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

  

Hunting the Hupu

 

If for no other reason, our gardener thought I was crazy because of my stalkerish tendencies with one particular animal in our garden.  Meet the shyest bird alive... my African favorite, the hupu.  It took two years and this is it.

Four pictures.

These were the best pictures I got of this elusive, crazy creature that was always tauntingly sitting just outside our kitchen window.  Google this bird or click here to see what is also known as the "hoopoe."  It may be the national bird of Isreal, but this guy will always look like Zimbabwe to me.

Burning Days

As we are busy settling into Spain after a marvelous, too-short summer in the US, I am none-the-less thinking of Zimbabwe constantly.  Though there's a lot I miss, here is one thing I don't... Late July and August means burning, burning, burning and smoke, smoke, smoke.  As fields get cleared for new crops, the end of winter and early spring means Zim is full of farmers setting fire to the brush that has not received rain in six months.  I don't miss this, Zim!