Mango Mania

Mango Count: 50! Ive consumed 50+ mangoes fresh off of the trees in vil. This number means something when I add in that it was in one months time. Excessive, I know. To redeem myself just a bit, they are bush mangoes that are most likely a fraction of the size of any imported mangoes youre going to find on the states side. I could go on a Forest Gump rant about the ways Ive seen this versatile fruit prepared.
Now that we have eaten our way through the bush mangoes, hope has been bridged with the next fruiting grafted variety, which is twice as big.
Ive passed out 2555 tree sacks and counting for people around my village (Heh, "my village people") to start their own tree nurseries. Most people  Everyone wants to grow mango and cashew trees. Trees are wonderful. The reason Im in Africa, even. I just wish that the landscape had a chance of lush and diverse succession. The land is now only sparsely sprinkled with fruit, Baobob, and the introduced Neem trees. Its a big wish of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Tomorrow a group of agfos (agroforestry volunteers- n., a treeloving person of a sustainable-thinking mind and farm-worked body. Also see: treewhisperer) are travelling into the Gambia for cashew transformation training. Because nothing seems to be well-organized, I dont know what the itenerary holds, but my hopes are high and my mind receptive. Update coming soon!