Back To Basics [Song]

Uploaded by edward spencer
BACK TO BASICS
By Trinidad Rio

Spoken: Merry New Year, ladies and gentlemen. Once again this is straight, diehard, genuine, authentic calypso and this is how the story goes:-

I went to Public Utilities and tell them,
"Disconnect them facilities 'cause me ent want them."
I try to contact the Ombudsman but never in office
I going to file me an injunction on the Public Service
'Cause every time a heavy rain fall, by me doh have no current at all
They spoil mih TV, they spoil mih fridge, they nearly kill me with low voltage
Now, before they make me a lunatic [I going back to basic]
I going and get a flambeau and lamp with wick. [I going back to basic]

I call my fans and I call my friends to let them know
That if they have a message to send, tell Tempo
And if they come home and they ent see me, tell my neighbour
Or get a pen and a writing pad and write a letter
'Cause TSTT does make me weep, gone are the days when ole talk was cheap
I make a phone call to Talparo and I get a phone bill to Mexico
Oh mih lord, before they kill me and kill me quick [I going back to basic]
A piece ah maling and two KLIM pan wouldn't do the trick. [I going back to basic]

I went and buy me a motor car for my own comfort
Because I can't take no more torture waiting on transport
But all them potholes and all them bump, mih car ent able
Until they invent a car to jump, well I go travel
I beg the Lord to please put a hand, touch the heart of the spare parts man
I used to have a raise in the bank, now every cent gone in my gas tank
Now, I prefer roll a roller with piece ah stick [I going back to basic]
Or buy a three-speed bike going jic-jic-jic. [I going back to basic]

Now the only competent source that really working
Is when you can't pay your bills on time, they come cutting
Incompetence and disregard ent no humour
'Cause the situation is sad for the poor consumer
The word WASA does give me gripe, I ask for water, them give me pipe
I can't even get mih clothes to wash, my toilet full and can't even flush
Now they make me condemn mih toilet bowl [I going back to basic]
And now I digging a latrine hole. [I going back to basic]

Yesterday, I went to the store to buy a cooler
Then get my Indian partner next door to make a chulha
I buy a donkey cart from Ramdeen to make a stagecoach
Then put some Severin in mih latrine to kill the cockroach
I buy a posey made in Hong Kong, the only silver posey in town
Well, if you see the latrine I build, girl, is the cleanest one on the hill
All down inside the hole and around the walls, I always Flitting... You know why?
To make sure cockroach ent bite my -----.

Long time, me, Gypsy and Cro Cro, back in the earlies
We used to go down town after show, pick up the ladies
Window shop, take them along, buy them a roti
Then find the cheapest hotel in town and make a pacoti
But time changes and so do we, so put that down in kaiso history
'Cause if you should do the same today, is like a game of Russian Roulette
So now, before one of them get me sick [I going back to basic]
I prefer sit down in a corner and ----------- [I going back to basic]

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance

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A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Trinidad Rio! Not to make light of budget related woes and other hardships, but if we really think about it, we do need to go back to basics, not just to save money but to improve the quality of our lives. Funny eh?  To live better we have to step back and slow down.

As always, my mind goes immediately to agriculture and food production. I don't know about you but in hard times, I could do without shelter, clothes, etc. If I were given the choice of one necessity of life, I'd choose food. We all really need food and water to survive. I read the section in the budget that applies to agriculture and food security and I crossed my fingers and hoped that this time we are being serious. For a society that is constantly referring to the importance of food and the pervasiveness of the soul selling "eat ah food" mentality, I would have expected agriculture to to be listed first among the initiatives outlined for diversifying the economy. Instead, six others:- financial services, tourism, information and communication technology, downstream energy industries are discussed before eventually turning to agriculture.

"AGRICULTURE
Mr Speaker, the seventh area of focus is agriculture. We propose to reduce our food import bill by 50.0 per cent or just over $2.0 billion per year by 2015. Achieving food security is our top priority. We all recall the global food price shocks in the period 2006–2010 when domestic inflation reached an annual average level of 9.1 per cent compared with an annual average of 4.8 per cent in the period 2001–2005. The increased levels of inflation stemming from our increasingly imported food requirements have had a harmful impact on our citizens, particularly our most vulnerable, as they sought to manage the business of their everyday lives. Consequently it is proposed on a temporary basis that Value Added Tax would be removed from all food items except luxury items and alcoholic beverages.

Mr Speaker, another global price shock is on the horizon as drought conditions are devastating commodity crops, in particular corn and maize, in the United States. These higher global prices are already generating price increases in Trinidad and Tobago in particular in the poultry industry. We shall be proactive. The Ministry of Food Production will take the following steps to address the situation:

1. the National Agriculture and Marketing Development Corporation (NAMDEVCO) is establishing a Commodity Stabilisation Fund which will initiate measures to stabilise both the supply and the price of identified produce on the market while at the same time strengthening the agro-processing sector;

2. the Ministry of Food Production through a competitive process, is now actively distributing to the national farming community, standard leases for small and large farms. These farms will occupy 4,111 acres on Caroni lands and 100 acres each on state lands at Tucker Valley. A condition of the leases will be agreed cultivation as quickly as possible;

3. the Ministry of Food Production is continuing to distribute standard agricultural leases for two acre-sized plots to the former employees of Caroni. We have decided to expedite the lease issuance exercise by utilising private attorneys to assist in the preparation of the leases. We expect that within the next two years more than 5,000 such leases will be distributed; and

4. the Ministry of Food Production, with agricultural land becoming less and less available in Trinidad and Tobago, is moving to establish a Food Security Facility with the Government of Guyana. The Facility would commit both Governments to expanding agricultural production in Guyana through the establishment of commercial relationships for funding the establishment of several large agricultural estates in Guyana. Mr Speaker, I wish to emphasise that the agricultural sector enjoys a range of incentives under the existing legislation. I would urge all farmers and other stakeholders to take advantage of these incentives.."
SOURCE: Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. BUDGET STATEMENT 2013. Stimulating Growth, Generating Prosperity, OCTOBER 1 2012, pg. 18.

Although Trinidad Rio does not address FOOD in his back to basics move, I believe it to be one of the foundation blocks of a society. The quality of food that we consume has far reaching impacts on every other sector and because everything is interrelated, sometimes the quality of food is affected by what is happening in other sectors. By the way why doesn't the government just bite the bullet and state that we are going organic? If the government would actually consider "legislation to make radio and TV stations introduce more locally produced programmes" why not consider legislation to introduce organic, earth/human friendly food production? Why can't the agriculture and food production industries be put on notice that there will be a move away from the importing and production of tainted plant and animal products? There is an organic agriculture movement already growing in this country and more and more enlightened people will be asking the right questions about the health problems being experienced by the population and the likely correlation between water and environment and food quality degradation and quality of life.

People all over the world are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of natural foods and there are increasing numbers who do not want to consume genetically modified agricultural inputs or products laced with agricultural chemicals/antibiotics/harmful preservatives. It is not pie in the sky to suggest to a forward thinking nation that the production and export of organically produced raw and processed materials would be very profitable.  

Although I fully support cooperation between the Caribbean nations and I'd prefer to import from the Caribbean than outside, I do not think that we should rely too heavily on other countries before we have really given our agricultural sector a chance. We are not yet scorched, barren land, although some would like to be given free rein to make it so, and I will not be convinced that we are running out of land before I can examine how the land that we do have is being utilised - what is being hogged, used inappropriately or just lying idle. Perhaps we need also to be looking at land reform. 

I will say it again and again - Trinbagonians who have access to land, even a small lot of land are in a good position. Those who live in concrete apartment blocks surrounded by concrete pavements have to lobby to get their representatives to secure community gardens. I have witnessed these thriving in two countries. Trinbagonian gardens can grow all year 'round and their owners have access to government farms, government support and advice and information leaflets from government agricultural extension services. Start small. Grow herbs, then go for spinach, beans, peas, corn, root crops. Plant a lime tree, a passion fruit vine, a breadfruit tree, a soursop tree.... plant something! You might have limes, your neighbour might have plantain. You could trade. VAT or no VAT, try as often as you can to leave the imported processed goods on the shelves, and go local. Start creating a demand for local organically produced meat and vegetables. Encourage the organic farmers to produce even more when they see that there is a growing market.

Take the short courses that are provided by the government. Take the courses provided by organisations like Wa Samaki Ecosystems. This year their annual Permaculture Design course will be conducted from November 9th -18th, 2012. So if you can afford the fees [people continue to find the money to pay for Carnival costumes] and if you can get the time off from work, take the plunge. As you get your garden growing, be a change agent and teach your neighbours about Permaculture.

So as mentioned in an earlier post, here are some organisations/iniatives in Trinidad and Tobago which you can approach for information to get started:

IICA
Also: http://www.greenantilles.com/2010/10/06/iica-and-organic-agriculture-in-trinidad-and-tobago

TTOAM Trinidad and Tobago Organic Agriculture Movement
http://ttoam.org

Trinidad and Tobago Permaculture Institute [an Association of practicing Permaculture Designers]
6 St. Ann's Avenue, St. Ann's
Phone: 624 1341
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Trinidad-Tobago-Permaculture-Institute/103429283026969?sk=info

Wa Samaki Ecosystems
http://www.wasamakipermaculture.org

Plant A Garden!! A garden is a smile on the earth's face. A garden will put a smile on your soul.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Meet, Learn From And Exchange Ideas With Nicaraguan Farmers.

Tours like these should be of interest to our local NGO's, agricultural and extension officers, researchers/teachers and agricultural policy makers. Thanks to Nicaragua's involvement in the production of some of the agricultural commodities which are now fetching high prices on the world market, they should be enjoying a windfall even if you factor in the increase in the price of their own food imports.

Nicaragua: Sustainable Agriculture and the Campesino Movement, March 25 – April 4, 2012

For thirty years, the Campesino a Campesino (Farmer to Farmer) movement, now with several hundred thousand farmer-promoters, has helped farming families in the rural villages of Latin America improve their livelihoods and conserve their natural resources. Nicaraguan farmers are at the heart of this movement, which has contributed greatly to the global food sovereignty movement. Coordinated and co-sponsored by NICCA – the Nicaragua Center for Community Action, this delegation will allow you to forge solidarity with Nicaraguan farmers and learn from the experiences of the Campesino a Campesino Movement.

Since 1989 NICCA has enthusiastically supported the Campesino a Campesino Program (PCaC), a project of Nicaragua’s National Union of Farmers and Ranchers (UNAG). PCaC is a comprehensive attempt to promote agricultural sustainability and enhance biodiversity by giving technical help to small farmers who learn and then teach others. The program has many emphases, including organic agriculture; soil conservation; crop diversification; the use of natural fertilizers and insecticides that can be produced at home; and the empowerment of women through kitchen gardens and animal husbandry. Most importantly, it is a program led by farmers, for farmers. In Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere, PCaC has helped eliminate hunger in many rural communities where it once loomed over daily life.

On this delegation, you will meet with leaders of UNAG to discuss its national programs. You will visit a number of small communities and organic farms in the beautiful Matagalpa region, where NICCA’s partner, UNAG-Matagalpa, has been working for many years. Our visits will include small, diversified farms and places where the PCaC is just beginning; coffee farms and processing plants; and community-based sustainable tourism initiatives. You will also meet with the National Agriculture and Forestry Ministry (MAGFOR) to find out about Nicaragua’s Zero Hunger program, which has significantly reduced hunger since 2006. Throughout the trip, you will see and discuss sustainable agriculture techniques, local seed banks, environmental threats, and problems of agricultural commercialization. Community members will share meals and entertainment with the delegation.

To learn more about the Campesino a Campesino movement, see Campesino a Campesino: Voices from Latin America’s Farmer to Farmer Movement for Sustainable Agriculture by Food First Executive Director Eric Holt-Giménez.

Click here to download a sample itinerary.

Tour Cost: $1250

Price includes:

• All in-country transportation during the tour, beginning and ending in Managua
• Simple/basic hotel accommodations (double occupancy; single rooms available for an additional fee)
• All meals (vegetarian options may be limited; flexibility is recommended)
• NICCA trip leader, local guides, guest speakers and translators
• Preparatory reading materials
• All scheduled program activities
• Food First membership

NOT INCLUDED: International airfare, most beverages, tips and personal expenses

DOWNLOAD APPLICATION

For more information, please contact Suzanne at nicca@igc.org or by phone at (510) 654-8635

Submit your application to:
NICCA
P.O. Box 1004
Berkeley, CA 94701
nicca@igc.org

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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

GOOD NEWS: Coconut Production And Silk Destruction

Coconut Water | Performed by Robert Mitchum | Uploaded by MusicForYourFunk
COCONUT PRODUCTION

UPDATES
Feb 26, 2012:

"The Government’s trip to India in January has begun to reap rewards for the agriculture sector in T&T. On Friday, Food Production Minister Vasant Bharath at a luncheon at Carlton Savannah in Port-of-Spain welcomed Dr Avvaru Sujatha, principal scientist and head of the Mango Research Unit from the Nuzvid Krishna district of India to the country.

For the next year, Sujatha will assist in the control of the Red Palm Mite pest affecting the dying coconut industry in T&T at no costs to the T&T Government." SOURCE.

Jan 16, 2012: Returning from her state visit to India, our PM announced that:

"in a meeting with Food Production Minister Vasant Bharath and the coconut industry board of India, an Indian expert will arrive this week in the country to assist in riding the red palm mite that decimated the industry."

“The Indian expert will arrive in the country this week for a period of six months to be extended by another six months if necessary to get rid of the disease,” she said." SOURCE

I was thrilled recently to read the Newsday article which I have posted below. It was about the St Patrick’s Coconut Growers’ Co-op Society Ltd and their plans to rejuvenate coconut production in Trinidad and Tobago by reactivating the Cedros plantations. If I could see just one article like this every day in our newspapers, I'd have fewer worries about our future. Coconut and bamboo products are among the many that have been on my mind for some years because I live where those commodities are in high demand. Most of the imports are coming from Asia and I have been wondering what is preventing the nearby Caribbean and more specifically Trinidad and Tobago from supplying these products which grow like weeds in their backyards. Even if the export of surplus is not the priority right now, I am still very happy to know that the local market will benefit from easier and more affordable access to the beneficial products of the coconut industry. Please bear in mind that even the "waste" products from this industry can be recycled to provide the raw materials for other industries...various decorative craft industries, charcoal for cooking, coconut shell activated carbon for water treatment, potting soil from husks, plant growing medium [fibre for hydroponics and for orchids], coir can be made into twine and rope and used for packaging , stuffing and felting...and the list goes on.

A smooth sip of coconut water.
By Janelle De Souza
Trinidad and Tobago Newsday | Thursday, January 12 2012

It’s common knowledge coconut water is a healthy drink, not only for your daughter, but for most people. That’s because coconut water is composed of many naturally occurring bioactive enzymes that aid in digestion and metabolism.

It is also packed with simple sugar, electrolytes, and minerals to replenish hydration levels in the body... among other things.

However, at $6 a nut and $45 for a two-litre bottle in grocery stores, many people do without the healthy drink and popular alcohol chaser, which is especially inconvenient during the Christmas and Carnival seasons when drinking seems to be a staple activity.

Nonetheless, the St Patrick’s Coconut Growers’ Co-op Society Ltd hopes to change that within the next five years.

According to Pranesh Maharaj, chairman of the Board of the Society, its 60 members hope to replant approximately 5,700 acres of land in Cedros and later build a coconut processing plant with the help of the Government.

At the plant, they intend to use the wet processing method to produce coconut cream, coconut milk, virgin coconut oil, coconut vinegar, etc.

From the shells, activated carbon for air-conditioning units, water distillation and filtration; and organic mulch for food crop farmers from the husk. Naturally, the plant would also include a coconut water bottling facility.

“At 70 trees per acre and 100 nuts per tree annually, we would grow approximately four million nuts per year,” Maharaj explained.

“When we start producing three to five years after planting, we will help drive down the prices, maybe by 50 percent, and make coconut water more affordable to everyone.”

In the 1930s, the coconut industry’s business model consisted of one main processing factory to which farmers sold their nuts.

However, the St Patrick’s Growers, mostly from Cedros, were not among the farmers to benefit economically from that operation, and so could not realise their fullest economic potential.

Therefore, born out of economic deprivation, the St Patrick’s Coconut Growers’ Co-op Society Ltd was established in 1987.

According to Maharaj, who served as on alderman at the Siparia Regional Co-operation in 1996, there soon came a period of inactivity due to the government’s non-policy regarding the redevelopment of the coconut sub-sector.

In addition, the industry began to decline at an accelerated pace and members became de-motivated and inactive, leaving the Cedros plantation in a state of abandonment.

He said Cedros’ economy was based on two economic drivers - fishing and agriculture (coconut).

At the moment, the fishing beds are depleted and fishermen have to go farther out to sea in order to get a good haul. The increased effort and use of gas has caused fish prices to increase.

Maharaj said, up to the late 90s the coconut industry contributed to 50 per cent of Cedros’ economy.

Right now the industry is dead, therefore, he sees the organisation as one of the drivers for the re-establishment of one of Cedros’ Economic Platforms.

When the new Government came into place in 2010 and stated that one of its economic pillars was agriculture, the St Patrick’s Growers decided to take advantage of that opportunity and reactivate, which they did in October 2010 and by June 2011, the organisation was fully reconstituted.

“We realised the Ministry of Food Production, Land and Marine Affairs had an action plan for coconuts. The Ministry’s plan however, had major gaps and so we decided to be part of the process and corresponded with the Ministry since all the stakeholders in the coconut industry were not being consulted,” said Maharaj. “We felt we needed to present our position and so we did a position paper on the industry, giving our views and perspectives.”

The Co-op board met with Food Production Minister Vasant Bharath who decided to form a Coconut Advisory Committee to the Minister, on which the Coconut Growers Association, the Ministry and the Co-op are represented. They have all joined to develop the coconut industry into a robust sub-sector under the theme: Coconut nutritional value is equivalent to a complete food substitute which makes it integral to food security.

“I see the Advisory Committee as a stepping stone to the formation of a regional body called the CCIDB – the Caribbean Coconut Industry Development Board,” said Maharaj. “It will be a powerful regional coconut industry lobby group that would form linkages with the Asian Pacific Coconut Countries (APCC) and other coconut producing countries around the world thereby improving our policy making, the marketing and trade of coconuts, and encouraging the exchange of technology.”

Over the years, in Trinidad and Tobago, coconut redevelopment has not been a focus and so most of the coconut trees are aged, over 70 years old, and so produce less nuts. Research from the St Patrick Growers indicates that, in order to replant, the pests and diseases plaguing the industry in the country, needs to be eradicated. It is also necessary to identify high disease resistant and high yielding varieties of both water and kernel producing varieties of coconut.

“The industry life cycle is approximately 70 years. Under normal bearing conditions, the mature plant in TT produces, on average, 70 nuts per year. But there are other varieties can produce 150 to 200 nuts per year. It’s time to get different, high-yielding varieties into the stream,” said Maharaj.

In order to start the ball rolling on this account, the St Patrick Growers Board has communicated its interest in the sector’s re-development to the Coconut Development Board in India. Working through the India High Commission, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is being developed for the government to approve, sign off on and work out the details.

If the MOA is signed, the country will have access to India’s advanced research and expertise will be provided in the areas of entomology, agronomic best practices, clean and high quality cultivars (seedlings) and other details.

Maharaj estimates the cost to return the abandoned Cedros estates to its previous operational standard at approximately $100 million. This would include the clearing of the land, planting the new strain of seedlings and maintaining the estate for the next three to five years.

In the mean time, according to Maharaj, the Advisory Committee is in the process of putting a strategic plan in place. It is hoped Government develops a policy to enable Unemployment Relief Programme workers to do some agriculture work and offset labour costs.

“The Committee has done a tremendous amount of work getting to this point. How it develops from here depends on how well we articulate their views at the committee level to the benefit of all. However government intervention and political will is what will make it happen,” said Maharaj.

The Co-op understands the potential of the coconut industry and noted that disease and age stunts the expansion of the industry. Its members believe at least 1,000 jobs can be generated in primary production and processing.

“If Government were to assist, given that the industry life cycle is 70 years, the benefits will start to balance off in or before ten years,” Maharaj claimed. “Not only will the Government benefit from the taxes, the socio-economic impact will be greatly felt by all in Cedros… and it may have some export potential too.”

-Members of St Patrick Coconut Growers Co-op Society Ltd

SILK DESTRUCTION

Now, this is progress! I had been trying to avert my gaze from this silk issue, thinking pessimistically that it would go the way of most problems - plenty hot talk that would fizzle out into a cool sigh and inactivity. But then I read this article yesterday:

'Silk' to be abolished? Law body to decide.
By Rickie Ramdass
Trinidad Express Newspapers | Jan 13, 2012 at 1:59 AM ECT

THE recent controversy surrounding the awarding of "silk" to Chief Justice Ivor Archie and Justice of Appeal Wendell Kangaloo has resulted in members the Law Association agreeing on the establishment of a special committee to decide whether or not the awarding of Senior Counsel should be abolished.

The decision was arrived at yesterday following a special general meeting by the association at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain.

President of the Association Dana Seetahal SC said members of the association had unanimously decided during the meeting that the committee should in fact be appointed to decide on the issue.

"The resolution is that the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago appoint a committee of people drawn from its members to decide whether the appointment of Senior Counsel should be abolished and if not, to make recommendations for and to propose criteria for the appointment of Senior Counsel or the persons eligible for such appointments and the obligations of persons given this honour," she said.

However, Seetahal said she could not give a time frame outlining specifically when the committee would be established or whom its members would include.

"As you know, the association has over 1,600 members so we have not settled on who would be appointed as yet, but it will be decided in a short space of time," she said. Read more...

Well done! I had read and agreed with the comment posted below by reader, darenlyons, in response to the article in the online Express, "Anand to write Max on silk issue." The reader addressed our lingering colonial mentality, what Fela Kuti referred to as Colo-mentality in his song.

"darenlyons

50 years after "Independence" we are still concerned and enamored with the trappings of the British Empire ...the title of Senior Counsel has replaced Queens or Kings Counsel as if the nominal switch in title erases our fascination and tethering to the questionable vestiges of former colonial masters. Canada, which is still part of the
Commonwealth (another absurdity) has wrestled with this issue and in Ontario, the practice has ceased....isn't it enough that the Privy Council is ostensibly our highest court and our principal streets, squares and public spaces are named after Colonial masters and proxies. When will Trinidadians snap out of this collective coma and fealty to our colonial past and forge an indigenous, socio-political path framed within our cultural norms, impulses, needs, desires, future plans, mistakes and common narrative, We are having hissy fits about practices that were adopted in our pedestrian and embryonic stages-mainly adopted with sleepy and blurry eyes and as (Naipaul writes) "Mimic Men". Our inept politicians on both sides are versed in replicating outdated traditions we never crafted so mistakes and missteps abound. If we trip up or bump our heads, it should be while finding ourselves and not in the pursuit of self negating imitation. It's incumbent we stop these wig wearing, gown and breech adorning sessions that harken to a time when were effectively "far flung subjects". Let's chart the unknown possibilities of our existence and become real time Trinidadians and reject the varnish of present day serfs."

On another level, the award itself is devalued if the general perception is that it can be dispensed like Holly used to share Crix biscuits during his live shows. Even that was a more transparent process - whoever was near enough, and had the loudest voices or the longest arms would get. But our legal professionals, if they wish to be taken seriously, need their awards to be based on universally agreed upon standards of competence. When I say universally, I am also referring to the location specific requirements of our community of practitioners and teachers in the legal profession. The selection and award process must be transparent and without loopholes or susceptible to troublesome "precedents" which in this case conveniently acquired a sacrosanctity not usually attached to many other actions taken by past administrations.

An Irish saying about the goats in silk dresses goes: "Cuir síoda ar ghabhar ach is gabhar i gcónaí é." It means: Dress A Goat In Silk And He Still Remains A Goat. I am afraid that on so many levels, this award has lost its silky shine because while it may be true that silk cannot change the nature of goats, it is my suspicion that silk is not as immune to the persuasive influence of goatiness. After silk has been appropriated and worn with great determination by goats, it is permanently imbued with a certain unmistakeable pungency. I will not go so far as to say that the silk is forever duttied. To do so would be to run the risk of denigrating the essence of goat which I understand is held in high esteem in certain quarters, so I will say instead that the highness of the award is replaced by something else that is equally high - a scent, or a flavour if you wish, that is undeniably caprine.

So I am not at all disappointed that the legal fraternity seems ready to let the silk go the way of that other national award that was also considered by some to be an anachronism and affront. Take the silk and chuck it into the goat pen. They certainly won't look down their noses at it and since they'd rather eat it than give it back, you won't be saddled with the bother of finding a way to live with that Febreze defying odeur de chèvre.

"And you wearing sateen and I wearing silk...yeah man!
You wearing sateen and I wearing silk
Mih neighbour minding cattle and I drinking milk."
--Dhandaya Narine - "Picker"

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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Organoponicos And Food Security

"Our laid-back approach to food production is what bothers me most. There is much talk but little action. If government diverts 10 per cent of the resources it has put in its chase for a new POS skyline into agriculture, we could increase food production to a level where it dampens inflation. If we join hands in the Caribbean, embrace our brethren in South and Central America where land space is not a problem, then food inflation would subside."

---Raffique Shah "Vision and visionaries to steer us through crisis."

Some time ago our PM encouraged citizens to beautify their environments with the planting of ornamentals. I welcomed this focus on horticulture because I have always had a personal interest in and respect for this activity which is at once necessary and beneficial if conducted, as with all other pursuits, with respect for the health of the land and for the persons who will consume the produce.

I have always known that Trinidad and Tobago is blessed with excellent conditions for year round agriculture and for the establishment of prosperous and sustainable industries based on the harvests and even on the waste from these harvests. We do not need to depend on food imports to feed our people. In fact I believe that we are fully capable of feeding ourselves. Rather than waiting to be forced back into agriculture when our golden goose of fossil fuels has finally croaked, let us turn towards it now before even more precious land is grabbed up for ecologically unsound industries and as profit making investments by persons who have no interest in the welfare of the wider community.

Even in urban areas we can follow Cuba's brilliant projects supporting community production of healthy, fresh food for its citizens. These neighbourhood gardens are called 'organoponicos" and they are increasing the quality of fresh food available to people living in cities.

Ed Ewing of the UK Guardian explains:

"...when the USSR collapsed in 1990/91, Cuba's ability to feed itself collapsed with it. "Within a year the country had lost 80% of its trade," explains the Cuba Organic Support Group (COSG). Over 1.3m tonnes of chemical fertilisers a year were lost. Fuel for transporting produce from the fields to the towns dried up. People started to go hungry. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (UNFAO) estimated that calorie intake plunged from 2,600 a head in the late 1980s to between 1,000 and 1,500 by 1993.

Radical action was needed, and quickly. "Cuba had to produce twice as much food, with less than half the chemical inputs," according to the COSG. Land was switched from export crops to food production, and tractors were switched for oxen. People were encouraged to move from the city to the land and organic farming methods were introduced.

"Integrated pest management, crop rotation, composting and soil conservation were implemented," says the COSG. The country had to become expert in techniques like worm composting and biopesticides. "Worms and worm farm technology is now a Cuban export," says Dr Stephen Wilkinson, assistant director of the International Institute for the Study of Cuba.

Thus, the unique system of organoponicos, or urban organic farming, was started. "Organoponicos are really gardens," explains Wilkinson, "they use organic methods and meet local needs."

"Almost overnight," says the COSG, the ministry of agriculture established an urban gardening culture. By 1995 Havana had 25,000 huertos – allotments, farmed by families or small groups – and dozens of larger-scale organoponicos, or market gardens. The immediate crisis of hunger was over.

Now, gardens for food take up 3.4% of urban land countrywide, and 8% of land in Havana. Cuba produced 3.2m tonnes of organic food in urban farms in 2002 and, UNFAO says, food intake is back at 2,600 calories a day." SOURCE

Note: I don't know what the levels of lead pollution from vehicular traffic are like in T&T but if you are hoping to plant in urban environments, the location of the plots should be at a safe distance from roads and highways. Perhaps the EMA would be the best agency to advise.

For those of you who have an interest in starting your own organoponico on your farm or right in your own backyard or balcony, here are some links to local organisations/iniatives that can point you in the right direction:

IICA
Also: http://www.greenantilles.com/2010/10/06/iica-and-organic-agriculture-in-trinidad-and-tobago

TTOAM Trinidad and Tobago Organic Agriculture Movement
http://ttoam.org

Trinidad and Tobago Permaculture Institute [an Association of practicing Permaculture Designers]
6 St. Ann's Avenue, St. Ann's
Phone: 624 1341
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Trinidad-Tobago-Permaculture-Institute/103429283026969?sk=info

Wa Samaki Ecosystems
http://www.wasamakipermaculture.org

In the book by Canadians, Alisa Smith and J. B. McKinnon, "The Hundred Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating," the authors document their experiences over one year as they maintained a diet restricted to only foods grown within one hundred miles of their residence. If we can ensure that the farmers growing our food are not presenting us with produce laced with dangerous chemical residues, I am convinced that if Trinbagonians were to try this, despite the initial inconveniences and adjustments, our health would be greatly improved.

When food has to travel great distances, there is inevitable deterioration. Trust me, the apples I've eaten from roadside stands in T&T are substantially inferior to the ones available at the source, and even at the source, time elapsed after harvesting and proximity are evident in the taste and texture. The same must apply to all the vegetables coming into T&T. If food must be processed to delay this deterioration, it is often tainted with dangerous additives, not to mention the sometimes harmful materials which go into the packaging.

PRIORITIES

I heard today that 17 million children are currently living in poverty in the USA. The number of desperate citizens is amplified when you consider that attached to those 17 million children are their impoverished, sick, unemployed and often homeless families. This fact is allowed to exist alongside the other fact that trillions of dollars have been and continue to be wasted by that government on wars, or should I say, "humanitarian interventions" in far off places. Where is the humanitarian intervention at home? Why are our immediate neighbours always expendable?

In our case, why shouldn't we love our homeland before all else? Why shouldn't we look around and ask ourselves why are more and more of our people suffering from diseases brought on by poverty, stress, pollution, unhealthy food and lack of exercise?

I once knew some children in T&T who were in their teens and had never been to the seaside. How is it that the beneficial impact of our places of natural beauty, our vistas that have not yet been cluttered and defiled by progress, are not available to some? Why is it that some people cannot come out of their homes and feel the earth under their feet in their own backyards and gardens?

Why is home ownership and/or access to land an impossible dream for many citizens. Billions of dollars are spent on wasteful government public relations campaigns while a home buyer has to find a million plus to get a concrete box.

The money was here, some of it is still here and it could have been used to give many people hope and purpose. I am not suggesting throwing handouts at people, I am dreaming rather about a system that curbs the greed of those who have unrestricted access to the wealth of this nation and who often make cruel and unjust decisions about who else is allowed to join the gang of beneficiaries.

And while we work on making home ownership a possibility for all, home rental - an industry which is predatory and usurious if left unchecked, has to be regulated, especially the management of rents and the standard of housing being offered to consumers.

Yes, one bullet withdrawn might spare the life of one body but the life of a body is good for nothing when the soul has been vanquished.

The whole world is trying to come to terms with something that perhaps we will only be able to define eons hence with the benefit of hindsight and if we are still around to do it. But the moment is a chance and I firmly believe that in this tectonic rearranging there is an opportunity to break free and to try something different, not to continue to mechanically hammer away at old problems with the same ineffectual and infected tools.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Plant A Garden

It was with pleasure that I read:

Kamla: Plant flowers at home.
By Radhica Sookraj
Trinidad and Tobago's Guardian | 15 Jun 2010

"Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is urging all citizens to plant flowers at their homes, offices and communities.

Speaking to her constituents at the Penal Quinam Government School on Sunday, Persad-Bissessar said whenever she travelled she always marvelled at the cleanliness and beautiful surroundings of international countries. “Why can’t we all work together to make our country like that. We have to clean up and beautify our surroundings. Why can’t we all plant flowers everywhere and make our homes, villages and communities beautiful?” Persad-Bissessar asked." Read more...

I am in complete agreement with the Prime Minister and I expect that in time her administration will also demonstrate the urgent need for citizens to also maintain home gardens for food production.

Yes, flowers are wonderful for their aesthetic appeal and for the lifting of the spirits of beholders. The proven therapeutic effects of gardening in general will certainly do much to lessen stress levels. If we go even further and add food production to our gardening activities, this will supply the added bonuses of reduced food bills, the consumption of healthier food (if we are organic in our approach) and by this example, the cultivating in our children of a greater appreciation of and respect for our connection with the earth.

A while back I was inspired by Iwer George's wonderful song, "Plant A Garden,"to write about this subject. Have a listen and read as I remember all the flowering plants the mothers in my neighbourhood crammed into their little gardens: oleanders, pandora, golden shrimp, ixora, anthurriums, oxalis, Ladies of the night, tube roses, marigolds, hibiscus, african daisies, roses, orchids, pentas, garlic vine, portulaca, periwinkle, crown of thorns, kalanchoe, phlox, gerberas, impatiens, african violets, lady's slipper, bougainvillae, ginger lilies, Jacob's coat, irises, ferns, tube roses, cosmos...and all the others whose names I cannot remember now. I smile to remember that there was also some specialization of labour in our family. My father would have nothing to do with flowers and planted and maintained only the vegetable, herb and fruit bearing plants and trees.

Listen to the PM and Iwer George. They are both giving us very sound advice:

"If dey retrench and yuh lost yuh work
yuh go ha to eat breadfruit you know, so best yuh plant it one time.
Yuh could plant a lil head ah yam on de boundary,
a lil bodi and yuh good to go! Come on!"
---Plant A Garden, 1994.
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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Plant A Garden

"Our laid-back approach to food production is what bothers me most. There is much talk but little action. If government diverts 10 per cent of the resources it has put in its chase for a new POS skyline into agriculture, we could increase food production to a level where it dampens inflation. If we join hands in the Caribbean, embrace our brethren in South and Central America where land space is not a problem, then food inflation would subside."
---Raffique Shah "Vision and visionaries to steer us through crisis" Sunday, October 5th 2008.

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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Plant A Garden [Song]

Uploaded by cool4rocknroll

PLANT A GARDEN
By Iwer George (1994)
Arranged by Pelham Goddard

Nuff respect to all conscious one
Dis one is pure reality man. Reality on dis one! Come on!
All right man...Yes!

Things bad in the country, it rough in the city
Woy Mama, woy Papa!
Children on the pavement, they cyah see employment
Woy Mama, woy Papa! Eh-eh
Is nothing the Prime Minister could do
Is nothing them Opposition could say... lord, lord
The time you wasting liming in the streets
Man, if you plant a dasheen, you sure to eat, boy
Ah begging you...

Plant a garden, plant a garden
Man, ah warning you
Plant a garden, plant a garden, yes
White rice cook with bhaji is good for your family
Man, plant a garden, plant a garden
Boy, ah warning you
Plant a garden, plant a garden, yes
Cassava and pumpkin is good for the children
Man, plant a garden, plant a garden!
Boy, and you sure to eat, so sweet so sweet
Your family will eat, so sweet, so sweet
Ah begging you...

If yuh plant a lil dasheen bush in yuh backyard,
yuh safe you know.
You could plant a lil ochro, some tomato,
some chadon beni, some celery
and yuh good to go!

Tings brown in the region, it brown in the Caribbean
Woy Mama, woy Papa!
You working and your salary cyah pay bills and feed your family
Woy Mama, woy Papa! Eh-eh
Is nothing the oil industry can do
Is nothing them union leaders could say, lord, lord
Remember the recession time is here
So if you sow some seeds, it have to bear... yeah
Ah begging you...

Plant a garden, plant a garden!
Boy, ah warning you
Plant a garden, plant a garden, yes!
White yam cook with bodi is good for your body
Man, plant a garden, plant a garden!
Man, ah begging you
Plant a garden, plant a garden, yes
Plant some in your front yard
Plant up in the backyard
Yes, plant a garden, plant a garden
Man, and you sure to eat, so sweet, so sweet
Your family will eat, so sweet, so sweet
Ah warning you...

If dey retrench and yuh lost yuh work,
yuh go ha to eat breadfruit you know, so best yuh plant it one time.
Yuh could plant a lil a head ah yam on de boundary,
a lil bodi and yuh good to go! Come on!

Things bleak in New York city, it bleak universally
Woy Mama, woy Papa
They spending billions on fighting
They don't care how we eating
Woy Mama, Woy papa, eh-eh
Is nothing the IMF man could do
Is nothing we president could say
We cyah get no money borrow again
We have to ban we belly and take some strain, yes
Ah begging you...

Plant a garden, plant a garden!
Man, ah warning you
Plant a garden, plant a garden, yes!
Sorrel juice and mauby is good for your family
Man, plant a garden, plant a garden!
Boy ah warning you...
Plant a garden, plant a garden, yes!
If you cyah face the pharmacy
You could drink up some bush tea
Just, plant a garden, plant a garden!
Man, and you sure to eat, so sweet, so sweet
Your family will eat, so sweet, so sweet
Ah begging you...
Plant a garden, plant a garden
Boy, ah warning you
Plant a garden, plant a garden, yes
Promises from party cannot full your belly
Man, plant a garden, plant a garden
Boy, ah warning you
Plant a garden, plant a garden, yes
Plant up some tomato, plant up some sweet potato
Man, plant a garden, plant a garden!
Yes, and you sure to eat, so sweet, so sweet...

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
.............................................................................................



A Note From The Gull

This song came out in 1994 and its message was important then and even more urgent today. Trinbagonians on the ground are so fortunate to live in a country where the earth will produce all year round. As food supplies become unreliable and prices increase and as we also become increasingly and justifiably more concerned about the quality/safety of the food which is available, I think that much, much more attention should be paid to encouraging and supporting each other in "Grow Your Own Food" drives.

So, if you are fortunate enough to have some land around your home, or a space to accommodate some large containers, take Iwer's advice. If your families are like mine, the Mamas will insist on growing ornamentals and the Papas will protest, "But yuh cyah eat flowers!" and you will have to find the happy medium to satisfy the needs of both bellies and souls.

But what of our Trinbagonians who are not fortunate enough to have access to land or even a large outdoor space in which to grow potted plants? We had friends who, having no land of their own, went on land that was vacant (whether crown or private) and established gardens there. We didn't see anything wrong in that, in fact, as far as we were concerned, their labour for their families was heroic and earned only our respect. Here, where I am located today, there are city sponsored community gardens where people who don't have land can apply for access to fenced plots in these gardens. Many people plant vegetables and others fulfill other needs by tending ornamentals. This is an idea, perhaps that could be introduced in Trinbago, in areas where people have no choice but to live in apartment blocks without access to plots of land to grow something.

Thank you, Iwer George.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare