Norma’s Letter from Jos: 31 March 2011

Note: Norma runs Zamani Farm near Jos

Vegetable orders for Thursday 7 April

Thursday, March 31, 2011

From: Norma

Hello customers,

This will be a short newsletter, as we are very busy on the farm this week. We are trying to give all the crops a good soaking so that they will be able to stay fresh over the next weekend when we will not be able to water them for two days due to the elections. We have also been planting new stuff and manuring the young crops. There is always something to be done and never enough time in which to do it.

Fortunately we have had a quiet week in Jos, although everyone is nervous about what the elections will bring. We are planning to go on with our normal deliveries through the election period, but if anything happens to prevent us from delivering we will let you know as soon as possible. We want to ensure, especially, that Audu and our delivery staff will be safe on the road to Abuja and that conditions in Plateau state are relatively peaceful. We are playing things by ear, but hope that all will be OK and that we can have a successful election.

Thank you all for ordering lots of lettuce and spinach for today's order. It has been a big help to us to be able to harvest a good portion of the crop. But we still have plenty for next week if you need it.

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We are waiting for the election period to finish and see how things go before we take any decisions about the future of the farm. If all goes well, we should be able to get the farm back to normal, and hopefully resume our twice weekly deliveries. We hope to be able to fix our own delivery van so that we can cut down the cost of deliveries. If major crises erupt we will have to see what we are going to do with the farm, since I don't think I can take another year of the sort of stress we have been working under since January of last year. We are investigating possibilities of moving the farm to another state, but we will defer any decision until we see what the situation will be in Jos.

Whatever happens, we will let you know.

Thank you all for your patronage and support.

More news next week.

Regards,

Norma