Did they grow?

YES!

This weekend me and Chingerel went back for the first time to see if any of the plants had grown in the planters we gave our nomadic herder families. Since we went to Ondorkhaan, the closest of my sites and a short 2 day trip, Matt was able to come too and see the eastern steppe grasslands for the first time.

We were surprised and delighted by how well they had done with the gardens! I had been partly expecting them all to have been unwatered, abandoned, or possibly broken or eaten by goats, but almost everyone was able to grow something.

Each family had a very different experience with them and it was great to hear all their stories. For various reasons some of the gardens hadn't worked completely, but I'd say about 50% were doing well.

The good news: almost all the families' onions were flourishing in their bottle gardens. Garlic was also growing quite well, as were beets and turnips. The families all mentioned what a novelty the gardens were, and that people passing through often stopped to have a look and ask about them. I noticed that the nicer, friendlier families were the ones who had taken care of them the best. One garden had already been nomadic; they moved the two planters from their winter place to their summer place, and then from their summer place to their relatives' house in the town. To do this, they told me, one of the young men tied a planter onto his back and another onto his front and drove it by motorcycle across the steppe!

The bad news: all the tomato seedlings had died (not the right soil possibly?), plus most of the plants that weren't root vegetables. One family had thrown the garden out completely because it had broken and they couldn't be bothered to fix it. One family had been dutifully watering their garden, but the soil we filled it with was full of weed seeds so they were growing a flourishing garden full of weeds. One family's child had picked all the plants out of the planters, and one family had been sort of busy and not really bothered with it.

Interestingly, some of the families said they would have liked to grow more flowers and decorative plants, and others said exactly the opposite, they would prefer just onions and garlic and useful plants. All the families suggested plants that are easier to grow. Some families suggested a different watering system, and others liked the design. It was great, such a mixed bag of opinions!

We were really excited by our results, especially since I predicted Ondorkhaan would be the least successful growing site (a very dry climate plus less enthusiastic participants in general compared to Selenge and Arvaikheer). I'm looking forward to seeing how the other sites have done!

Now, we are taking a break before going out to the other sites for the summer Naadam festival. During Naadam everyone kicks back, eats khuushuur (fried meat pancakes) and airag (fizzy horse milk yogurt), and watches Mongolian wrestling, archery, and horse racing. It's a great time to be in Mongolia and we're planning a trip to the countryside to enjoy the holiday and revel in the festive mood.

Til next time!

Oh and check out some photos :)

Success! A few of these are weeds though :(

Very happy onions and beets :)

Baby cranes!

This tiny lady makes me look like a giant. I gave her the photo I took of her and her family and she was not impressed because she was wearing her work deel (long coat). I asked her if she wanted another photo and she enthusiastically agreed and then dug through her chest of deels, trying on three before choosing this one for the photo.

A herd of horses romping across the steppe.

Happy plants.

This family is so friendly and sweet. Their parents were out herding and they were hanging out at home. I asked about their bean plants and they sheepishly told me that they had left them outside and the goats had nibbled them up. Luckily the plants in their hanging planters did ok!