The month the heat began. Here in Benin, they don’t say “the hot season” – they say “the heat,” as if the heat is an entity unto itself. It really is. It defines your schedule – work is done in the morning, until around noon, and again in the afternoon, after four or five. But nothing in the middle of the day. Since this is meant to be a work post, here’s what I’ve been doing in my mornings and evenings: Gardening The garden has continued to grow well. I’m really spoiled, gardening in Africa – plants grow at breakneck speed. I’m sure to be disappointed and impatient when I garden back at home. During the month I continued to tend to my bed in the women’s garden, eating my first lettuce, summer squash, and amaranth in early March. I prepared natural insecticides several times out of leaves from the neem tree, hot pepper, and tobacco leaves, and these seemed to work well for keeping bugs at bay. On an organizational level, my counterpart and I established a
