Chile's position in green on the Globe

On Saturday morning there was an 8.8 magnitude earthquake in central Chile. Stop right there! Remove all pictures of Haiti from your mind. instead if this had happened in the United States or Japan for we are not referring to an undeveloped and poor nation but rather to the wealthiest, most developed country on the entire South American continent. This is a country where the life expectancy is 77 (Jamaica: 76, US: 77, UK: 78, Canada: 80) and literacy stands at 96%. Chile has half as many AIDS cases per thousand of population as does the United States. They have attained what many countries aspire to: zero population growth. On a scale of one to ten with Haiti being one and the US and Canada being ten, Chile would be nine.

Moon Valley in the Atacama Desert

The geography of the country is unique as Chile is barely 200 miles wide but almost 3000 miles long. The reason is simple, the towering Andes create a natural border so Chile occupies the ribbon of land between that enormous mountain range and the Pacific Ocean. The country runs through 38 degrees of latitude from the Atacama Desert in the north to the Grey Glacier in the south, with every imaginable climate in between. The northern desert is the source of Chile’s traditional wealth as it is there that the world’s largest copper mine is located. The country has also in recent decades become the world’s fifth largest exporter of wine. Chile’s magnificent wine is grown in the Mediterranean climate of it’s central region.

Grey Glacier, close to the Antarctic Circle

The ethnic make up of the country is remarkably homogenous. 65% is mestizo, the Chilean version of “Jamaica white” being a mixture of mostly Spanish European ancestry with some Amerindian. 25% is European, mostly Spanish, German, Italian, Irish, French, Swiss and Croat. Another 5% is mostly Middle Eastern. Roughly 4.5% of the population consider themselves native, though few can claim to be pure bred Amerindians. Afro-Chileans make up less than 1% of the population and again are mostly of mixed blood. I have mentioned the ethic mixture because it fascinates me. Chile seems to have almost risen above the prejudices between the European settlers and native people that is so obvious on the other side of the Andes and, indeed, so much of the world. They appear to be on the way to becoming a true racial melting pot. The official language is Spanish with German spoken in some areas. English is mandatory in school. The four native languages have unfortunately almost died out.

On Saturday morning the BBC spoke to a scientist from The Royal Geological Society who explained differences between Haiti’s earthquake and Chili’s. Hopefully I can accurately pass the information on. Haiti’s quake was caused by a crack in the Teutonic plate and was 6 miles below the surface. This caused almost the full 7.0 force to be felt on the surface though over a fairly small area. Chile’s quake was caused by one plate slipping under another and was about 37 miles underground. The gentleman from the RGS said that the distance underground would have made the epicenter less relevant with an equal force at ground level possible 50 by 200 miles in size. The full force of 8.8 (700 times greater than the Haiti quake) would not have reached the surface. The Teutonic slip, as in the Chile quake, is also more likely to generate a tsunami, hence the warnings across the entire Pacific basin. This type usually has more frequent and stronger aftershocks than when the plate cracks. I hope my explanation is accurate enough to satisfy the experts, particularly my brother-in-law, a highly qualified practicing geologist.

Of course, at the end of the day, it is patently obvious to everyone that the main difference lies mostly in the vast economic chasm between Haiti and Chile. In proper codes and practices in one and the total lack of either in the other. In the difference between total despair and the ability to deal competently with a situation. In the difference between thousands of homeless people living in the streets six weeks later and streets which are mostly empty after two days as almost everyone has a place to go (some families even have tents as part of their emergency kits).  In the difference between a strong President and Government who are front and centre within the hour and ones who cowers in shock for days. However, we have already seen wide scale looting in Chile but isn’t this also a difference, for people more used to creature comforts will loose patience quicker than those who often survive in substandard conditions as a matter of course. The Chilean government is starting to deal with the associated problems and is already putting in place a timetable for recovery. Unfortunately, they have been through all this before and likely will again in the future.

All this being said; we must send our heartfelt condolences to the people of Chile. They do not need the huge outpouring of assistance that Haiti did, but President Bachelet has appealed for help in the form of mobile hospitals and search and rescue teams. And of course, they certainly need our prayers and good wishes.

(Photos from Wikimedia Creative Commons)

Read more about Jamaica at Jamaica-Allspice.com

In my opinion we hold on too much to “traditional exports.” We fight for a place on the world market for our bananas when the market seems to want bananas from Costa Rica. We then accept a lower price. Our bauxite industry has all but died a long and painful death. Recycling aluminium is a lot cheaper than mining and producing it from scratch. Good riddance I say to the deep red gouges in our green landscape. Sugar is no longer King. The King is dead, bury him! Jamaica is a small country; if there is a demand for something we produce we would never be able to produce enough of it to satisfy the market, the old “supply and demand” of basic business. Case in point: coffee.  Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is in great demand worldwide. Unlike bananas, we set the price for our coffee and the market pays it. In the middle of a recession, income from coffee has increased by 30%. The same is true of cocoa. There is a limited area where these crops grow so we can’t put thousands of acres more into coffee and cocoa. We therefore need other products. We have hundreds of thousands of acres of sugar cane. Every year we accept lower prices on this crop which used to be the backbone of our economy. We will need some cane fields for domestic consumption and the production of another star export, rum. Some of our existing fields can be turned to the production of ethanol. This takes retooling and a fairly heavy financial outlay but isn’t that better in the long run than accepting half price for sugar?

Take a drive outside the cities. Wherever you go you are almost guaranteed to pass stands of bamboo on the roadside. In the countryside we use bamboo for fences, for scaffolding, even for homes. On small farms bamboo “pipes” are used for irrigation, small rivers are crossed on bamboo bridges and large ones navigated on bamboo rafts.  Children fish with bamboo poles and, unfortunately, some are disciplined with bamboo switches. In China and Japan, bamboo scaffolding is commonly used in construction.

There are many old wives’ tales about harvesting bamboo. But often those old wives were smart. The sugar content of bamboo rises and falls. The more sugar there is in the bamboo is the more attractive it is to insects. Sugar content is at its highest during the hottest time of the day. Harvesting bamboo at dawn during the full moon is actually the best time as the sugar content is lowest at that time! Bamboo also starts to rot from fungus after five to seven years. Bamboo is therefore best harvested between three to five and five to seven years, depending on the variety.

Bamboo grows at an incredible rate; it is the fastest growing plant on earth and can grow 24 inches (60 cm) per day. Bamboo plants reach maturity in three years. Because of this it is cheap and it is sustainable. Lumber and textiles made from bamboo are no longer niche products but are in incredibly high demand worldwide. In the U. S. one can buy bamboo flooring at any hardware store and bamboo sheets at your nearest department store. The bamboo products industry is anticipated to reach sales of twelve billion U S. dollars within two years. Why can’t Jamaica get a piece of that pie? Certainly with such an unbelievably high demand, the market would absorb as much bamboo lumber as we could produce. I can see it in my mind quite clearly: Acres and acres of former cane fields, already laid out, with irrigation in place, turned to bamboo and the huge sugar mills gutted and refitted to cure and laminate the lumber. Sugar cane and bamboo are both grasses, for all I know they could be planted and reaped using the same equipment. Maybe it’s time King Sugar was deposed in favour of the Big Bamboo!

Bamboo Avenue, St. Elizabeth

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The Theatre Royal after the Great Earthquake of 1907

A hundred years ago Kingston was rising from the ruins of the Great Earthquake of 1907. Col. Wray was now a middle-aged businessman himself but wealthier than his uncle could ever have imagined. He was also mindful of where his wealth started and made an offer to the city of Kingston to rebuild the Theatre Royal at his expense. This was a great relief to the Council as one can imagine the public purse would have been thinly stretched with rebuilding numerous public buildings. A competition was held for the design of the new structure and this was won by Mr Rudolph Henriques of Henriques and Sons. Ground was broken and, by the end of 1912, the new Ward Theatre, completed at a cost of 12,000 pounds, was handed over to the Mayor (coincidentally my Great Grandfather) and Council of the City of Kingston. It’s very first production, Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance took to the stage from December 19^th to 21^st with tickets costing between 2 and 4 shillings.

This splendid Neo-Classical building was constructed of concrete and steel, the newest method of building after the Great Earthquake. It boasts a stage of more than 2000 square feet and seating for over 800 patrons and was designed to rival the great theatres of Europe but ventilated to suit our tropical climate. The Ward also boasts perfect acoustics and every word spoken and sung on stage carries throughout the theatre without the need for microphones.

A recent photo of the Ward Theatre

My family attended events at the Ward for four generations for, as children, my sister and I were taken to Pantomime every year as well as occasional ballets. I recall watching the very First National Pantomime at the Ward. The theatre attracted international performances from all over the world: Italian opera, Russian ballet and the latest Broadway play. Many events in Jamaica’s history also unfolded there. It was at the Ward that the People’s National Party was launched in 1938 and the Jamaica Labour Party in 1943.

The Ward started its decline in the 1970s, theatre goers went downtown less often and, in a more modern time, there was the major problem of parking. Since 1982 the Ward, once the centre of the arts, has been almost permanently closed. In 1986 the Ward Theatre Foundation was formed and they have been valiantly fighting to raise funds to maintain and refurbish the structure. The Foundation and the Centennial Committee are now trying desperately to raise US$20,000,000 to bring this magnificent old lady back to her former glory in time for her Centennial less than three years away. It would be a wonderful thing indeed if our children could experience a performance on its stage and feel the grandeur that is part of a traditional theatre for the Ward is the only one of its kind in Jamaica and, indeed, the entire English speaking Caribbean.

Read more about Jamaica at Jamaica-Allspice.com

The 2010 Winter Olympics start today so what can we expect? The current bobsled team unfortunately did not qualify so there will be no Jamaicans this time. Wrong! Enter Errol Kerr.

AP photo

Errol was born in 1986 to a father from Westmoreland, Jamaica and a mother from California, USA. He fell in love with skiing at the age of eleven and by seventeen took part in the 2003-2004 Junior Olympics where he placed second in two events. Over the last seven years he has done quite well skiing for the US Team.

Then came the chance that every athlete dreams of: the Olympic Trials. Errol made his decision, if he was going to the Olympics; he was doing it for his late father and Jamaica! He went to the trials and qualified but things were touch and go for a while. Big sponsors are tripping over each other to throw money at our track superstars but our potential ski champ was having trouble finding sponsors. It costs the average professional skier roughly US$100,000 (J$8,900,000) per year for training and to take part in the requisite events. Errol has had sponsorship for only about half but, despite this, his ranking has slowly climbed from fifty-third to fifth. Then, at almost the last minute, the Jamaican Government stepped in and what seems to be the obvious local sponsor came on board: Cool Runnings Spring Water!

So friends, tune in tonight for the Opening Ceremony and watch the new kid on the block carry our flag, then again on the 21st to watch him compete. Good luck, Errol, the whole country is rooting for you!

Read more about Jamaica at Jamaica-Allspice.com

Into the picture comes a group of wonderful ladies who have been trying to care for the unwanted and unloved animals roaming the streets of Ocho Rios and other nearby towns. This cool and quiet rural setting would be an ideal place to relocate their shelter, The Animal House. Property is leased from the mining company and eventually over a hundred once bruised and battered dogs and cats move in. Life is good for these once neglected animals.

Then comes the news: the mining giant is phasing out and will no longer supply the shelter with power and water but, not to worry, the public utility companies will take over. Suddenly both services are cut off. One hundred and fifty innocent creatures and those who care for them are suddenly without water and power! After five months power is restored but not so water.

Upon investigation it is discovered that a large meat company, which also leases property nearby, had taken over the shared pipes and unceremoniously cut off the Animal House. The National Water Commission no longer intends to take over the lines. The ladies meet with the meat packers, the NWC and various government representatives, they are told to collect rainwater or pay the NWC US$15,000 to run pipes to the shelter. The ladies have no choice; they must buy water by the truckload to care for their wards. This is not cheap but must be done as often as they can afford it.

The Animal House is privately funded and is a no kill shelter.

I'm thirsty!

Please help these defenceless animals by signing their petition addressed to Jamaica’s Prime Minister.

Read more about Jamaica at Jamaica-Allspice.com

Once at Art School, Ian found that he was “drawn” to animation rather than motion graphics so he changed direction. Upon graduation he went to work as one of the thousands of keen young artists at the Disney Studio. One of his first jobs was as one of the many assistant artists painting the backgrounds for Mickey’s The Prince and the Pauper in 1990. He continued doing background work and visual effects then character design for a number of Disney’s animated movies: Aladdin, Pocahontas, Tarzan and Disney Television’s Hercules. In 2002 he was given the assignment as Associate Art Director for Treasure Planet, a reworking of Treasure Island set in outer space. The movie was nominated for several awards, including an Oscar.

He was then given the job as Art Director for Chicken Little to be released in 2005. An animated movie has hundreds of artists working on it. Some will do backgrounds, some draw characters, some work on specific sequences. An Art Director’s job is to make sure that dozens of characters, hundreds of scenes and thousands of frames all fit together seamlessly so that when we go to the movies we will see a finished product which looks like it was done by one person from start to finish; a monumental job indeed! Chicken Little was number one at the box office grossing US$40,000,000 its first week-end. In total it has earned over US$314,000,000! Disney was back on top of animated films. And a Jamaican was partially responsible for that!

Disney then went into production of The Princess and the Frog, featuring the first Black Disney Princess, Tiana. As with Chicken Little, voices would be done by famous people. No less a person than Oprah voiced Tiana’s mother. So who would be Art Director for this project? Why not the same person who worked on the previous box office smash? The film was released in December 2009 and grossed US$25,000,000 its first week-end. Only out two months it has already earned US$166,000,000.

Gleaner photo

So thanks to the quiet Ian Gooding, born in St Andrew and schooled at Campion College, Jamaica has shown the world that we’re not only singers and runners, but we certainly know how to draw! His family must be very proud indeed that they encouraged the young Ian to follow his dream because, just like in the Movies, dreams can come true.

Read more about Jamaica at Jamaica-Allspice.com

Remember to help our neighbours by donating to Food for the Poor

A typical view of Port-au-Prince -ROB

Take a trip on the Mandela Highway and have a look at those shacks along the side. Think of downtown Kingston then surround that on all sides with the shacks as far as the eye can seen. Think of Coronation Market sitting in the middle of the Riverton Dump. Think of sewerage flowing in the gutters. Go downtown and drive the length of Princess Street and back again. Try to turn your car around. Think of going to work everyday in a car with iron pipes welded to the bumpers for protection in traffic. Think of locking up your business and fleeing before dark in fear of your life, for at night gangs of youths, armed with the leftover grenade launchers and flamethrowers of Duvalier’s Tonton Macoutes, roam the streets. Think of returning home to your comfortable suburban home and starting the generator and the water tank…every day. That is the life of “the One Thousand,” the privileged families of Haiti who have a car, a generator, a water tank and the hope of living past 60. The rest of the population go home to one of those shacks without the hope of even hanging curtains at the window or buying a bed from Courts much less eating a decent meal. They sleep five to a room, with luck they have a blanket to sleep on. With luck someone five or ten houses away has a phone.

The people are colourful but the city is grey -ROB

With luck they don’t have to walk too far to the stand pipe where their luck will run out as the water coming from that standpipe will ensure that 90% of them get sick. When they do get sick they have a 40% chance of basic health care. Think of the Kingston Public Hospital. Now suppose that was Andrew’s Memorial or Medical Associates; in other words, that that was the best care available. But think of KPH with half the personnel and equipment that is has. Before they die, at roughly 60 years old, they would likely have had malaria, typhoid, meningitis or tuberculosis, or all of the above. They might die from those or possibly cholera or AIDS. They will have twice as many babies as the average Jamaican but those babies will be five times more likely to die.

What looks like a garbage dump is the Market -ROB

My husband visited Haiti several times when he was Group Security Director for a large Caribbean group. When he came home after his first trip he said to me “Think of Jamaica in comparison to Switzerland; Haiti makes Jamaica look like Switzerland.” There are millions of people poorer than the most destitute Jamaican. And for every Jamaican, no matter how poor, there is always hope that one day, they or their child will live in Norbrook and drive a Lexus. There is no hope in Haiti. Years, decades, centuries of being oppressed by their rulers have taken every shred of hope from them. The only hope left is that one night they can sneak across the border to the Dominican Republic or take off in a waterlogged boat and survive long enough to reach Jamaica or Cuba or, even better, Florida. Subsequent governments have bled the country and its people dry then gloated, for right in the middle of the thousands of shanties they have built a beautiful park and an exact replica of the U. S.’s White House, complete to cupola and fence!

An aerial photo of the Haiti/ Dom Rep border

The geography of Haiti is awful for over the last seventy years the hillsides have been denuded by charcoal burners. When flying over, the border between Dom. Rep. and Haiti is as obvious as on a map: green on one side and brown on the other.  The city has a miasma of dust over it at all times. The one room shacks which house 95% of the population are made from poor quality concrete block held together with weak mortar, sometimes made with gutter water or even sea water. There is no steel. More substantial buildings will use some steel, but nothing close to what is required under Jamaican building codes. In the poorest Jamaican shanty-town, the residents will often plant fruit trees or some greenery, even a row of “flowers” in discarded paint tins or cheese pans.

The permanent cloud of dust and disease which covers Port-au-Prince -ROB

There is none of that there. It is all dry and grey. It is also hot for, as we know, it is vegetation which helps to keep us cool and clean the air. When the temperature falls to 65°F in Kingston or 50° in Miami, it is still 90° in Port-au-Prince.

Satelitte photo of Port-au-Prince before January 12th

This was reality in Haiti and it’s capital, Port-au-Prince, BEFORE 12th January, 2010.

To Help Haiti, please read our Post from January 15th

Traditionally eaten on New Year’s Day, Gungo Peas Soup is a highly nutritious follow up to the over indulgence of the Christmas Season. Gungo Peas, Cajanus cajan, are also called Pigeon Peas or Congo Peas. They are popular all over the Caribbean from Trinidad and Tobago to Barbados to Puerto Rico and, of course, Jamaica. Gungo peas have been cultivated for millennia; supposedly travelling from the Indian sub-continent to East Africa and then to the West Indies. A true legume, the gungo bush can sometimes grow up to ten feet tall and different varieties will bear annually or biannually. The plants generally live for three to five years but are often rooted out after two years as the yield falls off. The plants are then shredded and tilled back into the soil as, like all legumes, they are an excellent green manure and will enrich the poorest soil. They are also very drought tolerant and will grow in the driest areas. They are an excellent source of protein, amino acids, vitamins and minerals and in the herbal medicine of some cultures, tea made from the leaves is used to treat swelling of internal organs and some cancers. Though dried peas are available throughout the year, in Jamaica, gungo usually bears in December and January and fresh green gungo are a must for Christmas Dinner rice and peas and of course: Ham Bone Soup Ham bone ½-1 lb pigstail or salt pork (optional) 1 qt (4 cups) fresh green gungo (or 3 tins green gungo) 2 tsp allspice berries or 1 tsp ground allspice 2 sprigs thyme 3 stalks scallion, chopped 1 med onion, chopped Salt & black pepper to taste 1 whole unbroken green Scotch Bonnet pepper 2 cups coconut milk (or 1 tin) 1 lb yellow yam, peeled and cut into chunks Flour for dumplings If bone is large, saw into 2 or 3 pieces, the bone from a picnic ham can usually be left in one piece. If the meat remaining on the bone appears to be less than 2 cups add pig’s tail or salt pork and use less salt. Place all ingredients except coconut, yam and dumplings in a 5-6 quart pot and cover with water to about 2 inches from the top. Bring to boil then cover and lower heat and simmer for about 1 hour until peas are tender (20 minutes in pressure cooker). Take out pepper and discard. Remove bone and cut off meat. Return meat to pot along with yam and dumplings, adding more water if necessary,  and cook for a further 30 minutes (10 minutes in pressure cooker). Add coconut milk and adjust seasoning. Return to stove and simmer for a further 5-10 minutes. Happy New Year!

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Jamaica’s motto “out of Many, One People” is all too true as, although over 90% of the population is of African heritage, we are indeed one big melting pot. From the first day Columbus set foot on Jamaican soil there have been Jews in the Island as his interpreter, Luis deTorres, was Jewish! Since then members of that faith have been an integral part of our history.

The first shipload of Jewish immigrants arrived from Portugal in 1530. As can be imagined in the heyday of the Inquisition, Jews did not fare very well under Spanish rule, though possibly marginally better than if they had remained at home in Spain and Portugal. Despite this, their enterprises did well.

At the time of the British conquest in 1655, Jews were at last allowed to worship in public and, in 1660, were granted citizenship by Charles II. At this time more immigrants arrived from other countries in the region as well as from Europe. Unfortunately, as has happened countless times in countless places, rights were given to then taken away from them over the next 180 years until finally, in 1831 Jews were granted full equality as Her Majesty’s subjects.

The Jews, who had slowly prospered before, began to thrive. In 1838 the deCordova brothers founded the Gleaner. Belisario produced his now sought after painting. By 1849 almost 20% of the House of Assembly, including the Speaker, were Jewish. Synagogues, markets and banks sprung up across the Island. The current Duke Street Synagogue was built after the 1907 earthquake by the Henriques Brothers, at that time Jamaica’s most prominent firm of architects.

Today, many of Jamaica’s most prominent and respected citizens are Jewish so to all the Henriques, Ashenheims, Matalons, deSouzas, dePasses, Melhados, Delevantes and all the others who helped lay the cornerstones of our country we wish you a very Happy Hanukkah!

The People Who Came

Jewish Jamaica

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I see from my back door rain clouds sitting over the hills and I would swear it’s raining there. Friends tell me that the Hope River looks very healthy, virtually overflowing its banks. Yet the Mona Dam (reservoir) is half empty and the No Water Conspiracy tells us we’re having the worst drought in twenty years and have reduced our supply to a mere trickle six hours a day. We appear lucky as places like Red Hills now get random supplies from a water truck no less!

	The Suffering

My garden is dying a horrible, painful death. My tomatoes and peppers have fallen to slugs, searching for some moisture. The roses have picked up the dreaded mealy bugs. The June roses, which tend to get scraggly at this time of year anyway, have all picked up what looks like a fungus. All diseases known and unknown are attacking on all fronts and I can’t spray or fertilise anything for it is so dry, they would be burned by the treatment, whether chemical or natural. At lease the oleander, plumbago and Chinese privet survive with little water and fall prey to no bug or disease so my hedges are fine.

	The Night Bloomers

Here’s a little advice to those in the same position: MULCH. Pack mulch around the roots of all your precious plants, leaving just an inch or two around the stems. Be very careful to use clean mulch as some things, like roses, might develop disease.  Don’t give shrubs planted in the ground a cup of water a day, you’re wasting the water, that won’t feed the roots. Rather give them a bucketful once a week poured on slowly in the early morning. Do not water at night as the slugs and other creepy crawlies searching for moisture will spend the night feasting on them. Prune all the dead and diseased branches off everything so that the healthy limbs get all the precious moisture. Things will still die but most will survive until they can be tended properly again.

Meanwhile, I look at pictures to remind me of what my garden looked like just a few short months ago and go through catalogues to decide what to fill the empty spaces with. The No Water Conspiracy will not win this fight!

	The Survivors

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From I was the tiniest thing, I would follow behind my grandmother as she sprinkled her magic dust in the garden. My grandmother had ten green fingers and every plant she touched would thrive. I have inherited only a tiny bit of that special touch but all of the love. When life becomes overpowering I disappear into pruning the roses or fighting white flies and nothing else matters…..until now!

I see from my back door rain clouds sitting over the hills and I would swear it’s raining there. Friends tell me that the Hope River looks very healthy, virtually overflowing its banks. Yet the Mona Dam (reservoir) is half empty and the No Water Conspiracy tells us we’re having the worst drought in twenty years and have reduced our supply to a mere trickle six hours a day. We appear lucky as places like Red Hills now get random supplies from a water truck no less!

The Suffering

My garden is dying a horrible, painful death. My tomatoes and peppers have fallen to slugs, searching for some moisture. The roses have picked up the dreaded mealy bugs. The June roses, which tend to get scraggly at this time of year anyway, have all picked up what looks like a fungus. All diseases known and unknown are attacking on all fronts and I can’t spray or fertilise anything for it is so dry, they would be burned by the treatment, whether chemical or natural. At lease the oleander, plumbago and Chinese privet survive with little water and fall prey to no bug or disease so my hedges are fine.

The Night Bloomers

Here’s a little advice to those in the same position: MULCH. Pack mulch around the roots of all your precious plants, leaving just an inch or two around the stems. Be very careful to use clean mulch as some things, like roses, might develop disease.  Don’t give shrubs planted in the ground a cup of water a day, you’re wasting the water, that won’t feed the roots. Rather give them a bucketful once a week poured on slowly in the early morning. Do not water at night as the slugs and other creepy crawlies searching for moisture will spend the night feasting on them. Prune all the dead and diseased branches off everything so that the healthy limbs get all the precious moisture. Things will still die but most will survive until they can be tended properly again.

Meanwhile, I look at pictures to remind me of what my garden looked like just a few short months ago and go through catalogues to decide what to fill the empty spaces with. The No Water Conspiracy will not win this fight!

The Survivors

Read more about Jamaica at Jamaica-Allspice.com