Mr. Dagobert’s Magical Medicine Garden
Allan has been in search of Cover Crops to enrich the infertile soil. Not only the newly cleared land in Bana but the farms of the participants where soil has been depleted of nutrients by continual cropping without adding nutrients back to the soil. We were at the Vegetable Growers stall looking at their limited supply of seeds when a man at the counter introduced himself as Mr. Dagobert and invited us to his farm. Thus began a very intriguing series of discovery visits.
The next day, we went to his home farm. From the overview, one cannot imagine the hundreds of varieties of medicinal plants in this relatively small ‘mini’ jungle. Mr. Dagobert slowly took us through the narrow pathways, introducing each plant, shrub and tree by scientific name, telling the medicinal use for the root, stem, leaf, flower, seed and sap. Mr. Dagobert secured his intense interest by taking a course by correspondence from Canada. From there, he has managed to grow hundreds of specific species. He collects, dries and packages the seeds to sell. They make mixtures of herbs for infusions (drinks). Many people use these natural medicines for malaria, high blood pressure, digestive problems, whatever ails.
I photographed each species, Mr. Dagobert spelled the scientific name for Allan to write down, then we videoed what he said about what they are used for. Not only does he have the knowledge, but to have each of these species growing in his gardens!
A few were familiar. Echinacea (cone flower), marigold (the ones here grow almost as a bush), pigeon peas (first saw them in Tobago, very common food source, add fertility to the soil) for example. One interesting small red berry they use to induce abortion!
Allan has made a power point of the cover crops; the seed, what the plant or tree looks like. We said the farmers will be adapt at identify each because they will know them. Mr. Dagobert took Allan’s request very seriously. Allan had put together a three pager on cover crop species identified by the scientific names. Mr. Dagobert just loved it!
The garden is alongside a river. Every day the plants are thoroughly watered in dry season (now!).
Next visit, we went to Mr. Dagobert’s forest plot where he has many large trees growing in a very natural setting. The highlight for me was seeing donkey eye growing. Donkey eye is a seed we used extensively in Tobago in jewelry making. Donkey eye grows on a vine. One must be careful not to touch the pod because it will make the skin very itchy. A relative of the donkey eye, mucuna, is well know as one to add nitrogen to the soil. As I said, Mr. Dagobert took Allan’s search very seriously.
Our next visit was to pick up the cherished seeds for cover crops but Mr. Dagobert was not home. We phoned. He was three minutes away. He and another man arrived carrying a cutlass in one hand and a feed bag in the other. They proceeded to get water and to put strange looking seed pods into the pail. The man who had promised the mucuna had not brought them so Mr. Dagobert and his friend made a long trip to an area where they knew mucuna grew. Remember, this is the very hot time of the day! Anyhow, Mr. Dagobert’s friend proceeded to make plastic covers for his hands out of thin black bags (a pair of good rubber gloves would have come in handy) and, taking his cutless, proceeded to lift the mucuna pods from the water, split them open releasing the seed. It wasn’t long before everyone was scratching. This variety of mucuna has very itchy little hairs on the outside of the pod. The itching lasts the better part of a day!
After the seeds were all broken out and everyone was standing around scratching, Mr. Dagobert’s friend motioned for me to come look in the bottom of the feed bag. A little wild baby rabbit! After a bit, they took the rabbit out-it just fit in my hand. Allan reached over and petted its head. It growled. I have never heard a rabbit growl!
Mr. Dagobert said he would like something from Canada. He has a 5 year old dog-eared catalogue from Richter’s. I looked it up on line, tried to download it several times but it is a large file and gets interrupted each time. It has beautiful pictures of medicinal plants, offers seeds for sale. From his five year old book he has written out all the seeds he would like to buy and starred the ones he would most like. The pictures of the gardens on line have convinced us to visit their seed garden near Uxbride, Ontario.
Mr. Dagobert’s son is studying in Canada. He gave me his name and I sent him a message on Facebook which he received. It is surprising that he is taking his PHd in Philosophy? Great minds! Mr. Dagobert’s other son wants to come to Canada to play football.
Oh yes, did I say that Allan thinks he will hide the mucuna seeds because of the itch. There is another variety that does not itch. Another challenge for Mr. Dagobert?
No comments:
Post a Comment