Learning Everyday!

My friends and family know me.  I move around a lot and have had many jobs in different places doing different things.  Most of these jobs I have loved, some of them I enjoyed for the most part but would never do again.  Through these experiences I have learned much in the last 8 years as an adult.  Each place I have lived there has been a different culture, people, social scene, activities, sights, ect.  I have learned a lot about forests, people, whales, glaciers, how to identify plant associations, what fish like streams to look like, how to read maps and not get lost, I have learned how to deal with people and human resources paperwork BS, I have also learned much about children and teaching. 

I have lived in Jamaica for four months, I know very little about anything!  I know very little patwa, I know very little about how just about anything works in this country.  This makes me realize I know very little about life and the many-many things to learn on this earth.  Each culture, even person has something to teach you. 

One of the projects that I have been working on is a agroforestry project working with coffee farmers in the Blue Mountains.  My title, a forester, impresses most men that live in the bush.  They look at me as a technical advisor in all that has to do with trees and forests in Jamaica.  Whoa, the forests that I know are VERY different than those here.  The ecosystems are different, everything is different.  I think I am learning more from them than they are from me.  I do love being out in the bush and seeing the farms and where all of the veggies come from that I eat in Port Antonio.  I also am very interested in coffee… I love coffee, I drink coffee, I buy coffee, but I know very little about coffee.  This is where the farmers come in.  They want to teach you everything!

They tell me when to pick the beans, what beans not to pick, the borers that kill the beans, where the beans go, who picks them, how to pick them.  They share stories of how coffee came about.  Did I mention that I love these farmers?  They shared with me the soap tree (mash up di leaves and soapy), the flannel plant (feel it!! It feels like flannel), and how to make Jamaican lemon-aid (lime-aid) from fresh picked limes.  They also tell me important things like using banana leaves for protection from the rain.  I enjoy my farm visits very much.  

I was up in Shirley Castle doing some farm visits.  We visited four farms and I left with a bunch of bananas, a pineapple, and a dozen limes.  We also did a community workshop on soil stabilization and reducing erosion.  

Coffee Plant (Red Beans are Ripe)

Hillside Farming in Shirley Castle, Portland