Secret Garden

I spent Sunday morning at one of the most quaint and beautiful farms I've ever seen.  Nestled thirty-five miles outside of Cairo in Mansheyet Kasseb, Giza, the land teemed with fruit trees, vegetable crops, herbs, flowering plants, birds, and bees.   It's owned and operated by a small business owner named Menar.  I learned of her business, Minnie's Dried Fruits and Vegetables, during my December visit, when a friend introduced me to her products on sale at a local restaurant.  Anxious to sniff out farming/gardening possibilites upon my move here, I read a bit more about Minnie's online.  Turns out the mission of her work is just as much about providing training and employment opportunities to women in rural communities as it is about offering healthy, organic, and sustainably produced foods to neighborhoods throughout Cairo.  Menar responded to my email inquiry with kindness and generosity, inviting me to visit as soon as I'd settled in.

The photos below capture a few nice close-ups.  The women you see are setting out strawberries for drying on a solar-powered dehydration tunnel.  Although the business sells only dehydrated products, Menar and her team of women grow scads of other crops that feed their families and friends.  I wandered around all morning, sketching what I could of dill, caraway, linseed, and other herbs, but the greatest highlight was seeing my first cinnamon tree!  Wow!  I eat cinnamon daily and was all smiles to see where it comes from.  Cinnamon trees have to grow for quite some time before the bark is ready for our enjoyment.

Menar sent me home with an overflowing bag of garden goodies.  Justin and I ate an enormous salad that night full of spinach, romaine, arugula, celery, green onions, and a zesty homemade lemon-herb vinaigrette.  We've got leftovers comin' out our ears.  

I am looking forward to seeing how this new connection grows.  Saturday, I'll join Menar in Zamalek, Cairo to sell at a farmer's market.  She also works with an NGO that has interest in starting a community gardens program here in Maadi.  Most of the women are working so hard on other projects that they haven't had the time to move forward on this one...  but perhaps with a new set of hands, they will!

Life is buzzing; many more photos and words are brewing.  Our first visitor arrives tonight, so J and I are in a race to see who arrives first...  Jonathan or the sheets for his bed in our guest room!  

Beautiful turnips.

Dill!  Patterns, numbers, everywhere in nature.  Perfection.

Working hard, laying out fresh strawberries in the solar tunnel for dehydrating.

Dehydrated peas, a new addition to Minnie's menu of deliciousness.

Behold color!

Felt like I'd found Eden.

The oranges and tangerines tasted like candy... 
sweetened only by their own, natural sugars.

Tunnel vision.

My Meyer lemon tree back home looks nothing like this.

:)