It’s November ... it doesn’t feel like November. It is warm and sunny and very green. We are soon entering the height of the harvest season. My dad and brother have finished preparing the land for next year’s harvest. The Gumuz have just begun harvesting sorghum and millet. Our daily bread consists of injera made from these two grains mixed together.
Then there is the bean called opa. This will be an easy Gumuz word to remember since our children call Rolf’s dad Opa. It is a pod the length of one’s thumb but double the width. It has 3 large oval plump beans inside. Presently the Gumuz are harvesting these as fresh beans which cook quickly and are eaten with fresh jalapeno peppers mashed on a grinding stone. In another week, they will leave the other beans to dry out. It will take several hours to cook these beans.
Okra season is almost done and most of the okra we get now is quite dry and has bristles on the outside. My Sudanese friends taught me well and so I am buying and drying okra while it is available. It is then ground into a flour, sifted and used as a thickener and flavour enhancer. It is kind of slimy when cooked but tasty.
Today, I heard that sesame is being harvested. This is a new crop being planted by the Gumuz as they have found it to be a cash crop ... they can get a “high” price for it ... up to 35birr a kilo which is about $2. I can only imagine how long it takes to harvest this and thresh it by hand as the seeds are so tiny.
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