Are you innocent enough to plant Ugwu (Pumpkin)?

Are you innocent enough to plant Ugwu (Pumpkin)?

Hello, I suppose you know Ugwu. Are you Nigerian if you don’t know the medicinal value of pumpkin leaves and its delicious moments in our soups and stews? Who in the world does not love pumpkin? From the leaves to the fruit.

Well, do you love to plant it as much as you love to eat it? Do you even know how to plant it? Imagine, you know how to, do you think you are innocent enough to help those first green leaves sprout?

One of the many interesting things that come with growing up in the village is a well grounded knowledge of agriculture, myths and legends. For me, it is use of Ugwu to determine a person’s level of innocence. I was/still am (if my father can be convinced) a fruitful Ugwu planter.

When I was much younger, my family profited from my curiosity for agriculture as I and my siblings had a garden where I strove to plant any and everything. You guessed right! One of such things was Ugwu – the self righteous plant that requires innocence to bloom. I was always chosen to plant it because my mother discovered that plants, especially pumpkin, bloom when I plant them.

I was curious, I wanted to know why the seeds, especially for vegetables, weren’t given to just anybody. To be honest, I revelled in the realisation that I had fruitful hands but the reason kept me pondering. You see, my people believe that Ugwu is too pure a plant for an evil person or someone who lacks childlike innocence to plant. Ugwu sees the heart and will refuse to grow. In fact, you can rate how innocent you are by the level of bloom your own Ugwu has.

So, imagine my shock when two years ago, my father passed the Ugwu seeds to my youngest sister, bypassing me! In mock fury, I asked him the reason. His answer led me to think and review my life. He said – you have tasted adulthood and one cannot be sure if you are still innocent with the reckless mind of a child.

The question lingered – was I innocent enough to plant Ugwu? Or was my father just shady? LOL. I wasn’t. I, at that time, was beginning to enjoy the breeze of adulthood in full force and began to do away with my ability to let go immediately, see all the wonders in people and dive into kindness simply because adults should be calculative and not too trusting. Wrong.

This isn’t even only about the grudges or the bitterness or the anger or the pain, it is about the thoughts that cloud our minds and the plots and the dirtiness and rancour. That childlike innocence, where you belong to everybody and nobody and more importantly, you had a programmed mind for good, quickly erodes once adulthood strikes.

I love the pumpkin plant for all its goodness and taste; and I love to plant so I, since that time, began to return back to my childlike zone because I want my Ugwu to bloom. The unassuming plant is one of nature’s best gifts that so many people cannot do without. I can’t.

You know the Ugwu you want, that thing that you want to bloom. The question is – how much of your adult baggage are you ready to drop for that thing you are planting to bloom? The sages would rather a child plant or an adult with childlike innocence. Let go and let things bloom. Are you innocent enough to plant Ugwu?