One thing has always been true and sure for me: I was born into a family and tribe that has farming as their major occupation. Everybody in the entire state learned to grow their own food. And like we all know, farming encompasses both gardening and homesteading. Foraging was left to adventurous herbalists who searched deep into the heart of the forest for roots, leaves, and stems of different species of plants to be used as herbal drugs. There are a lot of things to be harvested and picked from the wild as well.
We children often go foraging, basically for fruits. My state has a moderately thick forest with lots of wild fruits and trees. Whenever we have exhausted the fruits closer to the village, everyone heads into the forest to harvest free fruits.
We have equally met with several wild vegetables, which are now a part of our meal in Benue State. I can remember a popular "Okoho" soup eaten by the people of my tribe. The ingredient for this soup is prepared from a wild-growing tree in the forest called "Cissus populnea." To date, I have never brought myself to eat this soup with my family and traditional people; it is terribly slimy, and oh my God, I can't just eat it. Although there are some other wild trees like "Cola laurifolia," called "Udu" in our local language, in which we prepare the leaves as food. I love this particular one so much when cooked.
Via foraging, my people have discovered lots of other vegetables and trees and fruit trees, which we often eat, but often times I wonder how they recognized a tree that won't be poisonous to our system from any wild trees that will possibly cause harm.
Homesteading and foraging are a part and parcel of me no matter what, and even though I no longer visit the wild for food, the passion for homesteading has remained strong ever since. With every time, day, and season, we are always growing our own food and vegetables. My garden is ever full of fresh and nutrient-rich veggies. Even though I have a very small garden space where I live currently, this has been able to consistently provide my daily needs of different types of vegetables.
Any form of useful vegetables is found here, from fluted pumpkins to bitter leaves , scent leaves, and others, jute mallow , spinach, and others. Most of these vegetables are medicinal and not just for food alone. For instance, any time someone is having a stomach upset, we often add some scent leaves to their meals to aid digestion and correct stomach issues. While fluted pumpkins are a good blood booster, which is absolutely good for one to keep handy and add to our meals. It totally eliminates anemic conditions when eating on a consistent basis.
Aside from this basic gardening, you would read far into my blogs before you caught a glimpse of the countless farming activities I have engaged in all these years. We grow every form of staples and tubers for food. Farming has provided us with most of the meals we have eaten over the years, and this is not a passion we are quitting anytime soon.