Bounty of the Country

-
Today the children and I made a trek up to St. George to visit my mom. I know I may be biased, but St. George is the sweetest of Barbados' eleven parishes. We may not have a beach :), but in our perfect central position, we more than make up for that with panoramic views of almost the entire island, sweet valleys and luscious hills, immaculate fields of agricultural land and ever blowing sweet breezes.
 

  The bounty of the earth at this time of year is also awesome. Today we picked:

Chili Plums


 And tonnes of golden apples. From treetop to the ground..talk about easy pickings!

 The neighbour's avocado tree was packed with fruit.


 Other sweet pickings around the neighbourhood included:
Bayleaf
Scotch Bonnet Pepper
                                                                     Castor oil Plant.
 Pride of Barbados or Flower Fence
                                                                     Bajan Grapefruit



                                                                      Plenty Sour-sop
And when last have you seen Bajan Olive trees?
I have not seen these since my childhood. My neighbour had an entire fence of these. Good to know they are still around. Speaking of which, I thought black sage was extinct! Remember when we swept the yards with this?
And just for fun please enjoy some of my St. George scenes.

















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Looking for bush

-
Image
What is it with this woman and bush, you may be wondering, but I love me some greenery! I love bush tea, I could eat bush rice everyday (seriously, I could), I study bush (herbology), I plant bush, I bathe with bush sometimes, a brother calls me Bushwoman as if it were my real name and I even call myself Wonderworld Bush for goodness sake! I am known to carry a camera and a plastic bag with me everywhere just in case the opportunity presents itself to take cuttings or at the very least to capture a pic of new plants for later research. My "condition" is so well known, that last summer I was asked by the Nuwaubian members of my community to accompany them on a walk to identify wild plants in our area. We walked for a good hour or so and it was quite amazing to note the many things I myself discovered for the first time. In fact I was so impressed that I wanted to see what I would unearth a little closer to home. I literally went on a ten minute walk around my house and wow
Read more

Bush Tea

-
Image
All week I have found myself gathering herbs for bush tea. I grew up on bush teas! I don't know about you but growing up I hardly ever visited a doctor outside of vaccine schedules. Bush teas were our cleansers, healers, tonics, nourishment and much more. They were also a part of our culture. When we had colds we were instructed to pick cerasee, mosquito bush, soursop and pear (avocado) leafs. For stomach aches, we had ginger, bayleaf, aloes or sweet basil. Heads were wrapped in oil leafs (castor oil plant) for headaches or rubbed with coconut oil for head colds. We drank fitweed, flower fence, lemongrass and a host of other "cooling teas". With development, a lot of our local bushes are all but gone and very hard to find, so when I come across an old familiar bush I make a point of bringing cuttings or saplings home to transplant. Today I am so happy to have a few essential Bajan bushes in my yard.     Cerasee is definitely a must have bush despite its
Read more

Breadfruit ...... So Many Ways

-
Image
I have a confession to make. In 2005 when I returned to Barbados, I ate breadfruit every week! Well, to be perfectly honest I ate breadfruit multiple times a week. Yes, I was overdosing on breadfruit. Reason being it was so hard to get the real fresh deal in NYC. Breadfruits do not travel well! Eight years later, we still love breadfruit. Much to my delight they are easy to come by all year round and are absolutely free . EVERYBODY knows somebody who has a breadfruit tree. Breadfruit is so very versatile and easy to cook. SO, today I bring you all things breadfruit.
Read more