September | 2014 | Tomato Treks Through Tanzania

Wikendi njema!

September 28 2014

I’ve been asked several times what I do on the weekends here. My typical routine is to do laundry, go to the market, and do some work. However, there are a few more exciting things to do here also.

Here are some pics of some things you can do on the weekend here:

You can do laundry. Handwashing clothes really makes you appreciate washing machines!

You can work in the lab!

You can watch the vervet monkeys!

You can go hiking in the Uluguru Mountains!

And see the different crops that grow there

You can go fabric shopping!

You can go to the Maasai market. This picture was taken because this guy pointed at me and said “Picha” because he wanted a picture of me!

You can eat delicious food at the Maasai market.

You can go on a daylong safari at Mkumi National Park

Where you can climb baobab trees!

And see herds of elephants!

And see big monitor lizards (which are also on campus)!

After this week of work, I only have five more weeks in Tanzania. We finished up our soils work in the villages this week, and we only have final visits and evaluations left to complete in the villages. I did some screenhouse and lab work, taking down one assay and inoculating another. The next five weeks will be busy, but I’ve made my list of things to get done and I’m ready to start checking them off.

As always, pics from this week.

Harvest season is done in the villages, so people are now building/fixing houses. Here are some bricks being made.

Doing some soils work with farmers

Nyama choma!

After a hot day in the field, I think an entire watermelon is an acceptable lunch.

There are some new monkeys hanging around the guest house and yesterday, I saw a baby monkey. The younger ones are pretty curious when you go out to watch them, so here are some monkey pictures. And if you hadn’t guessed yet, yes, I do love monkeys!

Week 20: Ramping Up

September 20 2014

This week, I spent a bit of time preparing for next week, which should be pretty busy as we complete village visits for the last portion of my project. I cleaned up lab stuff, entered data, took down an assay, and prepped for next week’s work.

Pics from this week below!

Tacks are why you should always wear shoes! Also, the bottom of my shoe looks like conidiophores or sporangiophores (perfect shoes for a plant pathologist!).

Priming the meters for next week’s work!

And then calibrating them all, also!

Bags are packed and ready for next week!

Plumeria (my favorite flower scent!)

Something in Zingiberaceae

Jackfruit (or breadfruit?)
These fruits are huge!

An arrangement I made from weeds growing along the roadside

An arrangement I made from weedy flowers growing along the road

Week 19: Lab Days

September 13 2014September 13, 2014

This week was a busy one in the lab. Last weekend, I started prepping for some DNA extractions (I had help on Saturday, Asante Babu and Patroba!) and did three days of extractions. Luckily, there were no power cuts and everything went smoothly. I took down three screenhouse assays, setup what should be my last screenhouse assay (!), and inoculated some tomatoes with bacteria.

This weekend should be a bit more relaxing: some data entry, a little writing, some monkey watching (they’re right outside my bedroom now!), and some shopping.

Pics from this week below!

The mountains were particularly beautiful this week.

DNA extraction marathon!

Root knot nematodes and eggs

View from the lab this week: horses and goats

Some lovely daisy like flower, maybe a Gerbera sp.?

A little laptop surgery, it just needed the dust cleaned out the the fan.

Chakula kizuri!

September 6 2014September 6, 2014

This week’s post is about Tanzanian food because I am often asked what I eat here. The diet here consists of lots of fresh fruits and veggies, some meat (beef, chicken and goat are popular), and lots of carbs (rice, ugali, potatoes and more)! Here are some pics of good food (chakula kizuri!).

A typical lunch plate: pilau (seasoned rice), a tomato/veggie stew, beans, greens, and beef (which I ate before I took the picture).

Eating tomatoes while rating tomatoes

Chicken mambo yote (everything): Chicken, chips, veggies, in a flavorful sauce

Chipsi miskaki, chips and marinated beef

Chai (tea), sweet potato, and cassava

Nyama choma (roasted meat)

Mahindi choma (roasted corn)

Chipsi! I have never eaten so many friend potatoes in my life, but they are really good here.

Chipsi! I have never eaten so many fried potatoes in my life, but they are really good here.

Pilau, seasoned rice with veggies and beef

Goat meat, ugali, greens and cabbage

I make a lot of tomato soup and here it’s accompanied by sweet potato

Cabbage and noodles

Week 18: Field Days

September 6 2014September 6, 2014

This week was a busy week in the field. We visited three villages in three days to gather farmers’ feedback on the tomato variety trials and also to make final evaluations of the variety trials. For the rest of the week, I kept busy in the lab and screenhouse: taking down assays, setting up assays and prepping for more assays.

Pics from this week!