An update on the harvest from Dumisani in the Honde Valley

The winter rains set upon us on the night of the 6th and day time on the 7th of July. Temperatures dropped to around three degrees celsius as it showered on and off during the day. It seems to be getting colder and colder in the morning and at night. We had to cover the already up rooted sugar beans with plastics to keep it dry. The overview harvest process involves uprooting the plants, spreading them on polyplastic to continue drying, pounding then dried pods with sticks to extract the beans, winnowing to remove chaff and dirt, drying the extracted beans so they can achieve a moisture content of 15% then finally packing.

To date we have managed to extract approximately 150 kgs of sugar beans and they are now drying to achieve the right moisture content. During the harvest process the beans have high moisture content and it drops off drastically during the drying process. In ten days time we should be done. Hopefully the rains don’t pour again anytime soon and slow down the harvesting process.

In other news, we are planning to start land preparation for the first batch of cabbages soon after we finish the harvesting. Land preparation will consist of ploughing, and making and watering vegetable beds.

Pictures are of the house construction and the crop in May. More photos will follow soon!