Planting the navel string under the coconut

It used to be a tradition in Jamaica that you would plant a new born child's navel string (umbilical cord) under a seedling so that the tree would "belong" to that child when the two were grown. I planted a mango tree for my first child, not with her "string" underneath, but Mandeville is really too cool for mangoes and the tree never flourished. I decided to plant a tree for the youngest daughter and got two dwarf coconut plants, one yellow, one green. We planted them this morning--again without the navel string--and they should start to give fruit after 2 years. She has named the yellow tree "Plenty" and the green tree "Cindy". I don't know why. But that is the joy of a child.

Most people who live in urban areas get few chances to really enjoy rural life. My father, who comes from St. Mary--a rich agricultural part of Jamaica--always impressed on me that a person should never lose contact with the soil; it's what gives sustenance and it's important to know how to exploit that. Daddy no longer lives in the hot, lush hills but in the cooler slopes of Manchester. His house is surrounded by citrus trees (mainly oranges), which do well in this cool parish. He also has yam hills, cassava, peas, bananas, etc. His driver/friend and a neighbour have extended the cultivation on a piece of land yet to be developed to grow corn and peas. At one time, my father only needed to get meat and chicken from the market and he would have all the other ingredients from his garden, mainly herbs, onions, and scallion. Other bushes (mint and cerassee--that well know reliever of colds, stomach problems and laxitive) would provide the basis for teas (see website for details of other Jamaican herbs and their uses). I did a similar thing when I lived in England, growing potatoes, carrots, lettuce, corn, berries, rhubarb, etc. In the US, whose climate and soil I did not know well, I limited myself to growing ornamental plants and maintaining a pond with goldfish. Even that form of gardening can lead to interesting encounters with nature, as we have found deer visiting to eat the plants and drink from the pond; frogs have moved in to make the pond their home; and herons visit to try to eat the goldfish and drink. Few of us urbanites will become full-time farmers but being good market gardeners, or supplying enough cut flowers for the home should be possible. For that reason it's good to follow the GoGrown Barbados blog (see link). Dirt under the nails is a good thing.

We can all watch the progress of Plenty and Cindy and I cant wait for a taste of the first coconuts. I hope that the absence of the navel string does not jinx the trees.