Jamaican Adventure: Agriculture, Farms and Fun...

Last week was agriculture practicum. We visited the local 4H in Linstead where we learned how to graph and bud plants. We also had a tour of their small farm. The next day we went to Walkerswood, where there is a farmers association and it’s where they make the famous jerk seasoning. We toured the farm and watched the other group build a green house (we helped a little). That same day we went to another farm, which was primarily a lettuce farm where they had both green house and open farming. Some of the green house farming was hydroponic, so that was interesting to see. The manager of the farm invited us to his house to see some of his wife’s art work, she is a famous sculpture artist and sculpted the statue in emancipation park in Kingston (pretty big deal). They then took us down to the white river to cool down and go for a swim. What a beautiful river, a fantastic experience.

Friday we went to Ochi to hear a lecture on sea turtle monitoring on the north coast and invasive aquatic species in Jamaica (including Lion Fish). These fish are native to the south pacific and were introduced into the Caribbean in the 90’s. This fish is very aesthetically pleasing to divers and swimmers but has no natural predators here so is depleting the native fish population. It has poisonous venom in its spines. We learned to properly remove the spines, de-scale, and clean them. After that we went to a fish fry where we ate Lion Fish provided by the local fisherman’s coop. After that we went to a local swim spot on the White River near Ochi where we enjoyed a couple hours of swimming. A group of us went back on Saturday to enjoy the swimming hole even more. There were swimming holes, waterfalls, and rope swings.

This is the last week in this community. Then we are off to Kingston again where we will find out our site assignments on Monday! I will be at my site by this time next week!

Enjoy the Pictures!!