Sorghum Harvest

While it's not autumn, harvest is here. Which means everyone is happy and the food is plentiful. Well, it's not a bumper crop by any means, but there will be food on the table. 

While visiting an MCC worker this past weekend I woke up Saturday morning to find Maurice and his wife hard at work harvesting their sorghum. I couldn't resist but to join in the action cause 1. we don't grow sorghum at home in Canada and 2 I didnt find the combine anywhere so there was lots of  work to be done!

To harvest sorghum all you need is a sharp knife and a basket.

Each head is cut off and throw it in the basket to be taken to the house to be dried.

Nicely demonstrated below is Maurice's wife cutting the heads off and placing in the locally made basket. 

The heads that Maurice's wife are cutting are closer to what the harvest should be like. The heads I am cutting are very small. This is mostly as a result of excess rains this season. 

Once our baskets are full, Timo (Maurice's son) takes them to the house for drying. 

Right behind us a neighbour comes and collects the stalks to feed his cattle

Timo dumped the sorghum heads into an old house where they are protected from the monkeys and will sit for a couple of days to dry. 

Once dried, they will be thrashed by hand, then on a windy day the chaff will be cleaned out of the seed. The seeds will then be ground into a flour and eaten in ugali and uji (their version of porridge).