“That’s why we need a fence, Andy.”

As I was finishing up that last post, Ryan, Matt, and I heard a loud “Mooooo” float into our room. The noise was a bit louder than usual, but cows commonly graze past our house, so we thought nothing of it.

A few minutes later, Ryan paused and, looking out his window, said “It’s eating your hay, dude.”

Matt said, “What?”

“It’s eating your hay.”

Just this past weekend, our soon-to-be garden was covered with rice stalks. These stalks will serve as ground covering to provide the ground shade from the sun, keeping the moisture in, while also reducing the erosion caused by the strong winds we experience and the heavy rains that are soon to come.

Our friendly neighborhood cow was standing in the middle of our garden, ruminating over our rice stalks.

Matt and I threw on our shirts—it’s not proper for Muzungus to be shirtless outside (See “Shirtless in Karonga”)—ran out the door, and proceeded to chuck rocks at the cow until it meandered off our property.

“That’s why we need a fence, Andy.”