This space was created to discuss and exchange ideas about promoting good nutrition, food security and related matters – Blogmaster
708 responses to “Carmeta’s Corner”
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@Dame Bajans
The majority of the tanks are integrated into the potable architecture, only a few have separate tanks for waste/garden.
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Planted up early May, yams, sweet potatoes, cassava, pumpkin, peppers, Everything except the peppers has germinated and growing nicely. Glad to hear that we may be getting some rain in a day or two.
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If this is the original Cuhdear Bajan, it is good to see you here again. You contributions were sorely missed.
Hope all is well… Stay strong, stay beautiful
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Hope it misses but rain is likely
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“The centre of Bret and its strongest winds are expected to pass approximately 62MI (100KM) to the north of Barbados, therefore given the close proximity to the north of the island, a tropical storm watch is in effect, the forecasters said.
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de ministress say.
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it is me.
i am well but dealing with multiple issues. however none are life threatening. -
Hello Cuhdear, glad to see you back. Was worried in case you had gone to the great beyond, but David would have informed us.
I have had two pickings of callaloo and my bokchoi is ready. I planted peanuts this year..valencia. They are supposed to ripen in 90 days. I will wait and see. I planted about two dozen but only 12 are up so far. I may have placed some too deep. My cabbages are already heading and the sweet potatoes and pumpkins beginning to run.
Thinned out my double bearded irises and listed some for sale….lots of clicks buy no offers.
We are getting periods of hot, hot days and then lots of rain. I swear the callaloo grew by ten inches yesterday. I have more rhubard than I can shake a stick at. Big, fat stalks.
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Dame Bajans I am glad to hear that your garden is flourishing.
I am still in this world and happy to be here. After dodging Covid for 3 years it finally caught me on All Fools Day. But it was pretty mild and by Easter Day I had fully recovered,
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Lots of rain beginning mid-morning and continuing even now. It may turn out to be more rain than that produced by Bret,
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Bret knocked several dozen pears off the trees
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Sorry to hear covid got to you. I hope you broke its knees eddoe and shark soup.
Just cut my second last pumpkin from last year. Looks very good inside. Not dried out. Will plant more of these going forward. checked the freezer, have lots of bajan spinach left and romano beans. Have to consume these to make room for this years crops.
Is there anything you can do with under ripe pears, perhaps grill them?
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Cuhdear, tell me I am wrong, but there seems to be quite a few suicides by hanging in Barbados lately.
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Two women ( by hanging ) in the last two weeks .Suicide or murder ?
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Another death by suicide in Grazettes.
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My cabbages are ready, my sweet peas are ready and I have more callaloo than I can shake a stick at. I have blanched and vacuum sealed so much, I had to store some in my Chinese friend’s freezer. I have more red and black currants than I have ever had. People want, but do not want to go pick. It will be a cold day in hell when this 76 year old lady picks berries for the young folks.
I brought in 80 garlics and they are now in the garage curing.
So far, my harvests have been very good. I plant to try growing oyster mushroom next.
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I don’t have any information about suicides, But I expect that like elsewhere the social isolation, economic hardships, and sickness, sadness and deaths wrought by Covid pushed some people, especially those with underlying mental issues over the edge.
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The peppers both hot and flavor are ready. The sweet potatoes and pears are almost ready. The pumpkins are filling out nicely.
Breadfruits are plentiful and delicious as usual right now.
I was on Green Hill today and a big bright sign on a bus shelter stated “We buy breadfruit. $3 per fruit. Call [and the phone number was given]. I expect that somebody buying for the export market. As I continued my journey every breadfruit tree is full of ripe fruit. A neighbor gave me 2 today, and I gave one to a friend.
So breadfruit on the menu today Sunday. -
Pumpkins being harvested, Heavy, rich golden color and delicious.
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Woman, I would do anything for a breadfruit now. Each store I visit, they too young or so ripe they soft. My two trees in Bim I am sure being harvested and fruit sold by the “owners”.
My garden is really producing. I counted 25 pumpkins, I have been giving away tomatoes and callaloo. I picked and shelled some cranberry beans and may pick the rest on Monday. Cabbages done, sweet peas done. Yard long beans still producing. Irish potatoes drying up. So far I have harvested only one egg plant. Not hot enough sun and too much rain. Sweet potatoes have nothing below – same problem, and now its cold at night. At least I can eat the leaves.
Had a bumper crop of red and black currants. Chopped down 3 black currant bushes. Too many berries and you can only drink so much Ribena. I am keeping one in the allotment with the one at home. Sold some irises and hope to sell more next spring with some callaloo seeds and potato slips.
Made more than enough to pay the lot fees, buy chicken manure and order some new seeds this year.
I harvested 90 heads of garlic and they were huge. Set aside 15 of the largest to plant in October. I also gave away 8 asparagus crowns. My onions did not do well. They developed a fungus and dried up early so they were small.
I planted bokchoi and tatsoi (rose spinach) for fall and they are coming along. -
Food supply.
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The yams were harvested in January, they turned out really well. I gave some to 5 or 6 people and still have enough left for a while. The youngest family member has a really good appetite and is pleased to eat yam and all kinds of ground food. I regularly cook up a soup with all kinds of starchy, yellow and green vegetables, some lentils and a bit of fish or chicken. Saving a bundle on the fancy bottled imported food. Breadfruits are ripe and very plentiful all over the country right now. The trees are laden, breadfruits hanging so low you have to kneel to pick them. I had breadfruit cou-cou for lunch yesterday and today, and may do the same tomorrow. Happiness. I picked and gave away some okras today because I have more than enough in my freezer and the trees are still bearing well.
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Lucky you. I am now planning my garden layout for this spring. Have to make sure I dont plant heavy feeders in the same location. In the next two weeks I will plant my seeds inside on the heating mat. Still have lots of spinach and callaloo in the freezer, some sweet potatoes and squash in the cold room.
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Harvesting spinach already. The thing is wild, produces nicely with very little care. Just need to keep the slugs and snails away.
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ZR agriculture
Responding to last week’s article, Full-Throttle Agriculture, a young person wrote me the following: “I think everyone who is right thinking can see the benefits of focusing on agriculture but do you think we’ll ever get to the point where we actually zone in and shift to prioritising an agricultural economy?” The person then queried whether our society will consider emphasising agriculture’s place in the economy as “realistic”. My response was that, “It’s realistic to have an agricultural economy. It’s as realistic as wanting to live”.
For instance, Tolulope Odetola and Chinonso Etumnu in Contribution Of Agriculture To Economic Growth In Nigeria tell us that, “The relationship between agriculture and development, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, cannot be overemphasised . . . . Invariably, reducing poverty, improving nutrition and general well-being of the population would imply improving the livelihood of this majority and this hinges critically on the performance of the agriculture sector.
“We therefore, reaffirm that agriculture is an engine of economic growth in Nigeria and efforts should be made to add value to the sector through increased investment . . . . We also recommend that the linkages between agriculture and other sectors be strengthened to increase the effect of agriculture growth on growth across the sectors. This can be achieved through increased productivity and the development of agriculture value chain”.
Similarly, J. M. Mayers in The Contribution Of Agriculture To The Economy Of Barbados
concludes that, “Despite the very shallow, heavy, clay soils and despite often inadequate marketing facilities, the diversification programme and hence the production of food crops in Barbados, can be considered to have been successful. Exports of nonsugar agricultural produce is progressing slowly, but needs to be more organised. One major problem is the decline of ground provision harvesting on many estates and this may eventually lead to a reduction in the acreages of yam and sweet potatoes. There is a need for training in agriculture at all levels, as well as the need for a system of supervised credit”.
I bring you the work of others for two principal reasons. Firstly, for you to know thoughts other than my own. Secondly, to bring scholarship into public space for public benefit. In totality: It is so we can have a more informed conversation about matters arising. Now let me add that we correctly emphasise the role of government in agriculture while underestimating the role of proper business practices and grossly underutilising the existing commercial infrastructure which, without any further government intervention, can be used to strengthen the agricultural economy.
Reducing all arguments to their final single conclusion self-evident is an emerged “ZR culture” within agriculture in Barbados. This ZR agriculture is characterised by having “good enough” policy and incentives via law for sound agricultural production, commercialisation and security but poor implementation; particularly regarding “crop theft”, large-scale farming and business discipline.
Considering crop theft: When the Police Service catches a crop thief “in a flash” and the convicted thief is made to pay a fine that is worth less than the stolen crops let alone the commercial loss to the farmer; what signal does that send to farmers, bankers, insurers and the wider market? What about the signal to would-be thieves?
Considering commerce: When every farmer wants to be king of a small plot instead of collectively ruling large-scale agricultural companies; who is to blame when the pauper monarchs lack capacity (economies-of-scale) to expand? Surely, not Government!
Of course, much more work is required on policy. For example, a few years ago St Vincent and the Grenadines advertised a request for proposals to insure its agriculture sector. We need the same here given our weather conditions but, preemptively, we must get the basics right, particularly, given the costs of insuring “pre-existing conditions”.
Thus – as with ZRs – we need to cut out the lawlessness and treat agriculture as serious business. Particularly, regarding the private sector approach to agriculture which is arguably behind Government at this point but, again, the same can be said for many more sectoral economies within Barbados.
At heart, Barbados has an issue with private sector growth. Let alone private sector-led growth. It starts with many people – like farmers – not identifying with the fact that they are actually part of the private sector. Many consider themselves as “ just the small man” hustling for a dollar. Secondly, there is too little research regarding existing policy support. This often leads to people asking Government for [a] policy that already exists. In totality, we end up with [a] “mess” which, again, is a lot like the ZR culture many Barbadians abhor.
Dr William M. A. Chandler is a published political economist, legal scholar and business consultant. Email wma@auxomni.com
Source: Nation -
Mangoes ripe, sweet and juicy. Thankfully no monkeys YET in the area where the mango tree is located [southern St. James] so plenty of mangoes for me my children and grandchildren, for my siblings and their families, for the neighbors, for friends and for complete strangers. All good.
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I’ve mostly completed planting, yam, sweet potato, cassava, peppers, tomatoes, pumpkin. Will plant okra after the next heavy rainfall, It has been quite dry for the past 2 weeks, but there was a little shower tonight.
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Planted okra on Tuesday. Raining now.
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The okras planted on 18th June started to flower on 28th July.
The pumpkins are flowering too, and 3 baby pumpkins are on the vines. Plenty of bees doing their thing. Everything else is coming along nicely, good rain and good sunshine, but intense weeding required. -
Not a good harvest this year. Too much rain in the spring. Got only ten squash and pumpkins. Eggplants like fingers but peanuts and okras good. Did I mention that I planted christophenes this year? Well, I have picked 21 so far and will reap another 25 or so before frost hits. Don’t know how the sweet potatoes will do as I have not yet checked them out.Planted ab ed of what I thought was bokchoi and it turns out to e leaf mustard. Too much for me, so I will fork it back in as green fertilizer as it does not freeze well.
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@ Dame Bajans,
What is the size of your plot? -
@ TLSN
My plot is 600 sq.ft. I have a 200 sq.ft at home as well. I picked 33 cristophenes so far and everyday I am finding more on the vine. I should harvest another 20 or so. I sold some at $1.75 each.
I pay $40 a year for my plot. When I first got it it was $20. It has gone up like everything else. -
@DameB
What variety of christophene did you plant? I tried a few years back, and got quite a few, but they were small’ish. Using as an annual, we’ll never get the increased yield in years 2 & 3 reported elsewhere. -
I harvested about 400 okras and they are chopped and frozen. I planted some bok-choi in what was the okra bed. Bok-choi seems to likee the slightly cooler weather, cooler being anything less than 30C lol!
The pumpkins did very well. We’ve harvested about 60 so far and the vines and still producing baby pumpkins.
Hot peppers are doing well, maybe too well. Flavor peppers only so-so.
I planted some field peas/cow peas on a rocky marginal area and they have done well, produced nicely. I’ve cooked some and have frozen some for later. i like them better than pigeon peas.
I haven’t tried the sweet potatoes, nor cassava as yet, but will do so before the end of this month.
Will harvest the yams in December.
Breadfruits and avocado pears are plentiful.
I discovered a wild passion fruit vine and am enjoying passion fruit juice.
Also discovered a wild jamun/jamoon tree and I intend to try my hand at making jamun/jamoon jelly once the fruit is ripe. -
Good topic.
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@Northern Observer
I bought a plant from a Chinese lady for $15. It is similar to what we grow at home but with prickles only at the bottom. I got a harvest of 60. I have five in the house starting for next spring. I am going to sell 4 @ $15 and keep one. I mulched my plant with two feet of leaves covered with bubble wrap, then another foot of leaves all held down with sticks. I hope it comes back. The ones from the supermarket need a longer growing season. I fertilized every month with a low N, high K and P. I also stuck bone meal stakes around the base of the plant.
My garden is raised with four inch ties which should act as a good insulator as its planted in a corner. The leaves are on top and behind the trellis. -
Well. My son found eclipse biscuits in Ottawa for.99 a pack. He got me six. Tomorrow corn beef and biscuits for breakfast.
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The avocados lasted from mid October to mid January, During that period I never wondered what to eat for breakfast. It was always avocado and anything.
The sweet potatoes and cassava turned out well, I enjoyed some, dried some, froze some. Had to sell some of the sweet potatoes because they can spoil in a week or so, but I did peel and freeze some for soup. I have dried cassava left and I must prepare more in the next few weeks, since some is still in the field. Cassava is well adapted to this climate and can remain in the field for months and still be good for pone and for cassava flour.
The yams turned out beautifully. They are smooth and delicious. Had some for lunch today with a mixed lamb/beef stew, and a glass of home made golden apple juice. We gave some yams away to family, neighbors and friends, but saved most for our own pots over the next few months. Saved some for planting in early May.
I think that I have spied some ripe breadfruits in my natal village. I will verify tomorrow.
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Some tomatoes at home are ripening on the vine but I have had to cover them with nets to protect them from the monkeys.
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So what became of the Guyana sheep project that everyone was so up beat about?
What is the latest update on that?
Are targets being met?Have you noticed how we just jump from one initiative to another – seemingly depending on some kind of intuition – and start spending all over again… and again?
What does it take for us to recognize that the drivers CANNOT drive…?
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@BT
Do you really want to talk sheep?BarbadosToday epaper 3/20/2025
Blackbelly sheep project aims for million-strong flock
The ambitious goal of expanding the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep industry to a population of one million sheep remains viable despite public scepticism, according to Dr Leroy McClean, consultant for the Blackbelly Sheep Expansion Project.
Addressing farmers and stakeholders at an open day held at the Animal Nutrition Unit on Wednesday, McClean reaffirmed the project’s objectives, dispelling misconceptions and underscoring its critical role in bolstering food security in Barbados and the wider Caribbean.
McClean stressed that reaching the one million target is not an overnight undertaking but a carefully structured long-term strategy.
“When people hear about a million sheep, they say you’re crazy,” he acknowledged. “But when we analyse the numbers, we see that it is entirely possible.”
The expansion is directly linked to the St Barnabas Accord, a partnership between Barbados and Guyana aimed at strengthening regional food security. Under this agreement, Barbados committed to sending 1 000 Blackbelly Sheep to Guyana, leveraging that country’s extensive land, water and grazing resources to accelerate industry growth.
“This is not about Guyana or Barbados—it is about Guyana and Barbados,” McClean emphasised, noting that the joint project was a success. “There have been false claims that all our sheep have been sent away and that none remain in Barbados. That is utter nonsense.”
The expansion of the sheep population in Guyana is being facilitated through the Guyana Livestock Development Agency, which has already distributed animals to 140 farmers.
Notably, 30 per cent of recipients have been women, in line with the Guyanese government’s policy of ensuring equal distribution to women, youth and people with disabilities.
McClean highlighted Barbados’s heavy dependence on imported lamb, revealing that over a six-year period, the country imported an annual average of 1.3m kilogrammes of sheep meat at a cost of approximately $14m per year. When combined with local production, the total retail market for lamb in Barbados exceeds $24m, presenting a lucrative opportunity for farmers.
“If we are spending $24m annually on lamb, why aren’t we positioning our farmers to capture that market?” he questioned.
“Our objective is to reduce and ultimately eliminate our import bill.”
Beyond meat production, he underscored the potential for a high-value leather industry, citing previous tests that confirmed the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep hides produce some of the finest-quality leather in the world. However, to realise this potential, achieving a critical mass of sheep is essential.
One of the primary challenges to profitable sheep farming in Barbados is the high cost of feed, which McClean described as unsustainable under traditional rearing methods. To counter this, the project is promoting domestic feed production using agricultural byproducts such as cassava skins, river tamarind and cottonseed.
“Farmers cannot achieve a good return on investment if they rely on expensive commercial feed,” he stated. “By developing alternative feed options using local inputs, we can significantly reduce costs and enhance profitability.”
(SZB) -
Thanks Hants for the link.
Thing is many Bajans have come to regard walking as low class and nobody wants to be low class.
I the ZR woman haven’t had a car since February 1999, and you can’t imagine how many people, including some on Barbados Underground hassle me for taking the ZR’s and buses. Please note that I have never asked any of these people for a lift, so I don’t know why they have to be up in my business. When I need to take a ZR I have to walk 8 minutes to the bus stop and 8 minutes back home. If I take a Transport Board bus I have to walk 14 minutes each way. I regard an 8 or 14 minute walk as nothing. In my last few years at work I used to walk 1 hour from my out or town office to the bus stand by Trevor’s Way, and you can’t imagine how many colleagues would stop to offer me a lift because presumably they were “sorry” for me “having” to walk. I like walking. For many years I used to walk with the National Trust every other Sunday morning or afternoon [with John]. I haven’t gained any weight in decades. If people think I am low class so be it. If I am low class so be it. In my 70’s and can still easily walk for an hour or more. Two sisters, one in the GTA and one in the UK do a lot of walking too, several hours most weeks. The GTA one will be 80 next month and can still do everything for herself. Walks, takes the TTC for farther errands. Has never had a car. Body good. Head good too.
A whole lotta we Bajans have become full ‘o weself, have become poor great poppits. But there is a saying “hard ears ya won’t hear [Dr. Krimholtz and others] own way ya will feel”. -
I should add that when we were growing up we lived half way between 2 major bus routes, but that half way was a mile in either direction, so maybe we grew up to regard walking a mile or more as nothing, and now we can’t stop weself.
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