The three hour drive from St. Andrew Parish, where Kingston lies, and St. Anne Parish covered more of Jamaica than I’ve seen yet. I don’t know how we went or how we got there, though I’m sure another trainee could tell you, but my face was glued to the window and the sights outside. Even the main highways are not straight for longer than 100 yards, however the complete lack of potholes made for the smoothest ride I’ve thus far encountered. Off the highway was another story.
We followed the coast for a while before taking a sharp left and beginning the climb up a mountain. Que potholes… or rather, large chunks of absent pavement. After climbing for some time, we parked in front of the home of Val, the PCV working at Zionites Farm. Several other PCV’s were there for a visit, including Sarah, the PCV I shadowed. We could not drive to the farm, so we began the gradual and easy decent, taking in the sights of the mountain range in front and to our right, and the immense Caribbean Ocean to our left. A cool breeze blew distracting us from a relentless sunshine as we walked through other farmers’ plots, completely cleared of all but their crop, and in the distance an oasis of shade that must be Zionites.
We were received by a tall, barefoot rasta named Christopher and his wife, Lisa who was born in the Cayman Islands and raised in Brooklyn (I gave the name of my hometown upon introductions because I knew she’d recognize Poughkeepsie and her face lit up). Chris welcomed us and explained the farm- an organic/biodynamic system, tended from the soil on out. He described the human relationship with the earth (soil) as intimate, almost sexual, and beautiful, his lack of shoes a testament to his choice to be as near to the land as possible. I immediately felt at home, as I did at Sadhana Forest in India. There is no killing at Zionite Farm (unless it’s a pest like a rat or snail), compost is as important as the soil itself and a 5 foot buffer of thick hedge made up of various grasses outlines the entire farm to control outside contamination from the surrounding farmers.
The first thing Chris did was to give us a tour of the farm. A raised, circular cabin-like structure stands at the highest point of the property, closest to the entrance. This structure is primarily used as a kitchen and therefore its hillside is planted with herbs and salad greens: nasturtium, thyme, lettuce greens and several other ornamentals were growing all together, a strategy called intercropping. This small plot was shaded partly by a young mulberry tree, next to that a naesberry tree and various other plants. Chris chuckles as he points out an almond tree and the nasturtium, many of the plants at the entrance to the farm just started to grow there on their own. Sometimes he plants things and they don’t like the spot they’re in, so he sprinkles seeds somewhere else to see what likes to grow where- the opinion of the plants matter a great deal to him, though the opinion of his wife seems to take precedent.
-Chris helped us reach the ripe mulberries just out of reach-
The plot behind the cabin, moving out into the farm proper contains turnips, carrot, bok-choy (called pop-chow here), lettuce, cabbage, banana, plantain and I’m sure I’m missing something. These plants are similarly intercropped. Chris shows evidence of snail damage and encourages us to kill any we see- he also encourages us to pick anything we want to add to our lunch, to which we gladly comply, gathering into gourd bowls Lisa had handed us before leaving to begin to cook. To the left of this plot is a hedgerow, behind which we find pine (pineapple), coconut trees and of course, naesberry (Chris says naesberry just loves his farm). The coconut trees do not love the cool weather that tends to frequent his mountain farm, but they are his favorite tree so he keeps them. Moving down the shaded path flanked by hedges he shows us his compost pile while doctorbirds flitted around a plant I can’t remember the name of but it was taller than any of us, holding beautiful red flowers. We continue on to more herbs growing together: cilantro, chives, thyme and leek then another plot blow that holds more carrot, dill and radish, lettuce, pop-chow and, interspersed throughout, naesberry and paw-paw trees (papaya). The contents of my gourd at this point smelled so delicious I could hardly keep it from covering my face as I walked.
During our lunch of sip (rasta for soup), salad, fresh grain bread, salsa and potato salad, Lisa told us her end of the enterprise: marketing. A firey fashionista and a rasta man, the couple form a neat yin-yang, fused with a common passion. Lisa cooks, and exemplifies the couples teachings of agro processing while marketing their organic produce to niche markets. The organic movement will not gain momentum (anywhere) if farmers cannot make money from it. The process takes care and patience, which is not seen as conducive to feeding a family. Lisa imports seeds from the states to grow things not considered ‘cash crops’ to Jamaican farmers, such as cilantro, chives and mulberry, so these things are in demand by chefs, especially in the resort/hotel market. She has created her own label called ‘Stush in the Bush’ (stush means posh in patwa) and processes the raw products grown into things like salsa, chutney, salad dressing and jam. This is an important still for farmers to have, Jamaica has an issue with glut markets- When one farmer plants something lucrative, the other farmers follow suit and suddenly the product is worthless and they can’t get rid of it. Agro processing allows farmers to sell peanut butter instead of just peanuts, carrot juice instead of just carrots etc, for a higher price than the raw good. Furthermore, if they sell those goods as organic, they have targeted an even more lucrative niche market- provided that they are business savvy, which many farmers are unfortunately not.
This could get very involved so I’ll stop here. Suffice it to say that the couple’s passion and ability to teach were inspirational and refreshing.
After lunch we went into the field and helped Chris build a new compost pile closer to his far plots. Because he does not use synthetic fertilizers or manure, his compost must be very nitrogen rich and he therefore uses much more green matter (nitrogen) in his compost pile. We stacked logs into a container-type shape abutting a hill, and stacked logs along the bottom to allow for air to flow under the pile. We then collected brown waste/carbon, stacked it with green waste and covered it with soil to protect it from the elements. I was glad for the practical application, though I know composting science like the back of my hand and so, I zoned out a bit while he explained it.
This post is getting long and technical. I’d move on to today but even today feels long and involved so I’ll just leave you with a testimony I found about Stush in the Bush from some random blog, if you could possibly read any more 
Bless up my friends, for the land is green and the sun shineth <3
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