BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – LIAMUIGA, meaning ‘Fertile Land’ was the name given to St. Kitts by the indigenous Arawak tribe that inhabited the island many years ago.
Well known Rastafarian Reggae artiste Crucial Bankie puts it across perfectly in his popular patriotic tune called ‘Borderline’, with lyrics of ‘Liamuiga…land of water and sunshine …watering this heart of mine though the storms may blow sometime’.
Likewise, there are many other national tunes of different genres that praise the fertility and beauty of our homeland; not forgetting calypsos with topics on agriculture to eat local and produce more.
Even with the current controversial Land for Debt Swap issue puts focus on the emotional connection of land ownership to the citizens.
On St. Kitts there are two popular public gardens, one in Central Basseterre and another in Challengers Village.
The one in Central Basseterre is located at the top of Market Street in the vicinity of Wades Gardens Housing while the other is in the area of Museapa’s Vendor Stall on the Island’s Main road.
SKNVibes recently visited both gardens and spoke with the caretakers of these community adopted spaces, where, collectively, a number of herbal and medicinal plants, flowers and fruit trees can be found.
Muriel Seaton-Paul, owner and operator of Museapa’s Vendor Stall, explained that she and her husband have been there for almost 20 years, adding that when they first started it was with some jewellery and a cooler to sell drinks.
She said sometimes she would sow the seeds at home, which is just a few houses away.
“I love gardening and I love plants. We started planting plants over on the other side. But then we realised that when people were going to their offices in the morning and stuff like that, they would swing over to get tea bush…like the Basil.”
Her husband then advised that they should start growing herbal plants along with other types of plants.
“The problem when we started planting was that we started planting them for that reason, more so for the visitors who were coming because a lot of them buy stuff that are made out of different plants, but they have no idea how these plants look, where they came from or even if they know how they look, they don’t know the usage and so on.”
Seaton-Paul talked about the medicinal properties of some of the plants like Basil, Periwinkle, Silk Vine, Lemon Sage, Soursop, Lemon Grass and French Thyme when used as a tea. She said she tries to plant as much tea bush as she could.
“When I was growing up, my grandmother always gave me Basil tea in the morning. That’s the first thing you get even as a baby. I don’t have a Soursop tree over there, but I would still tell them about.
“Long time ago, I don’t know about now, like women when they wanted to go out in the night, sometimes their babies can’t sleep, they would give their children Soursop bush tea and that would ‘knock them out’ for the night.”
Lemon Grass, she declared, is good for fever while Lemon Sage, which serves the same purpose, could also be used as a cooking ingredient.
Seaton-Paul pointed out that the overseas visitors would field questions of her and in answering them she too would gain vital information.
“Sometimes when you’re giving out information you also get information. Because I learnt when I was talking to a few that the people from Thailand also use the lemon grass to cook with. We mainly use it for tea…for fever.”
Seaton-Paul talked about the health properties of the Aloe and Cactus plants.
She has two types of Cactus plants, noting that the flat type, locally referred to as Sweet Prickle, when in its young stage could be cooked similar to that of a vegetable called Ochro, adding that the plant also works as an internal cleanser.
She said the more mature ones could be used for washing people’s hair.
Explaining how it is being used as an internal cleanser, Seaton-Paul said one should cut the Aloe, extract the “gel-like part” within, blend it with orange juice and drink it.
As it relates to the plant’s external use, she explained that on the outer part could be used to assist in the healing of cuts and bruises.
“Sometimes some of the visitors come and they have terrible sunburn and so I would use the Aloe on them. They would offer a tip or something but I would not charge them,” she added.
She pointed to a plant with round green pods called Silk Vine and explained that the older generation said the pods could be heated and placed on that part of one’s body that is causing pain.
“They are toxic. There are some worms that follow them sometimes and they eat the leaves…it doesn’t do anything to them but if something go and eat the worms they would die,” she added.
She said the Silk Vine is mostly found close to the sea because the wind tends to carry them along the coastline.
The French Thyme, Seaton-Paul stated, is used to ease menstrual discomfort. She said the plant is also called Mexican Oregano and that she learnt about that name from her overseas visitors.
“We are mainly using these bushes for medicinal purposes but people in other countries use them for cooking and so on. We use them for cooking now, but before we didn’t use them for seasoning and so on…just bush tea,” she noted.
She outlined that “the other stakeholders like taxi drivers and so on, after they heard me telling the visitors, they too started using here as a demonstration point. The problem I have now though is that people, with everything, they abuse the situation.”
She opened up about the challenges she has been experiencing with regards to destructive actions of humans and animals.
“The animals are doing a tremendous job of making a mess over there and so it’s not the way it used to be before.”
She said the garden is “getting depleted because people just abuse and I keep telling them that they are not there for a bagful and come and sell. It’s the only place you can go and get free tea bush, so to speak. You come and it must be in moderation, but, of course, some of us don’t know what moderation means and so they just come for a bagful. Then when the tea bushes are depleted they would ask, ‘Well…where are all the tea bushes that used to be here?’ And I would in reply say, ‘Where are all of the bagfuls that you used to go with all the time?’
“They come every week and they don’t care that someone is looking after the tea bush, they don’t care that they weren’t there before. They’re there now, so I should take care of these bushes so that when I come the next time they are there.”
Seaton-Paul recalled a recent unpleasant encounter she had with a passer-by.
“The other day we were here and some guy came up in a pickup. The very Lemon Grass that we planted couple weeks ago, he started pulling it up right in front of us at the root and so I had to yell out at him and say, ‘Look, when you pull up the Lemon Grass other people who are coming and just want a piece to make tea…where are they going to get Lemon Grass from if you’re going to pull up the whole root?’”
She said the man gave her some “colourful language and started getting personal”, talking about ownership of the garden.
“They are stepping on the other bushes going for the particular bush that they want to pick. They are not looking down to see where they are putting their feet, and so they trample on some of the young ones just to get what they want. You speak to them, they don’t care,” Seaton-Paul added.
She informed that a number of overseas visitors had sent her plant seeds to enhance her ongoing project.
Seaton-Paul admitted that at times she feels discouraged in continuing the gardening project.
“Sometimes I get discouraged and I say I’m not going to plant back anymore, but I say I can’t let people discourage you from doing things when you adopt an area and try to beautify it. I remember a couple years ago that whole hillside was covered with Morning Glory, and if you came in the morning you could take a beautiful picture standing on that hillside.”
Morning Glory, she explained is a flower that is yellow on the outside and red on the inside, while there are some that are orange in colour.
“Most of the plants over here are beautiful to look at,” she expressed.
Seaton-Paul claimed that at one time the garden spot was the only area on the island where the Gitrovah plant could have been found, but over the years people have taken seeds and now the plants are islandwide.
According to her, “That plant also, the seeds inside, in Egypt, they were doing experiments to get bio diesel. I think somewhere in the United States they are doing it also.
“Here is a Papaya tree. Most people, as much as they hear about Papaya, they don’t know – I could never believe it- but they did not know what a Papaya tree looked like and so when you tell them that’s a Papaya tree, they are amazed. So things that we take for granted come off as being very important to them. And there are people who come back many times and look for me because of the information they got about the plants.”
Seaton-Paul disclosed that occupants, including chefs from aboard yachts would visit here for fresh Basil and Lemon Grass.
“There was one guy to whom I introduced the French Thyme and told him it was Mexican Oregano. He could not get over it and he couldn’t get enough of it, and so I told him even when you come and I’m not here, you know what to look for.”
The other garden that was started some two years ago, is a project spearheaded by a resident popularly known as Big Dread.
As understood, it started out as a flower garden because, prior to that, drivers of vehicles were unable to see other approaching vehicles due to the tall grass that once grew there.
“So we just take that energy and beautify it,” said John ‘Roper’ Dore, who is a main caretaker of the garden.
Gregory ‘Bacis’ Peters said to this media house, “Well, we just wanted to create a vibe for the youth dem to get something to eat. That was the main intension. So when de plants grow, they could come and pick a fruit and to keep the place clean.”
Different types of Bail can be found in that garden as well as other herbal tea bushes like Lemon Grass and Mint. Fruits trees include Papaya, Raspberry, Spiced Guava, Gooseberry, Pomegranate and Star Apple.
Members of the public are asked to note that permission has to be sought in order to take any of the produce form the garden.
According to Peters, to take anything from the garden without asking “is a diss, and we don’t deal with that”.
He however admitted that he does not know the names of some of the flower plants within the garden.
Some of the flower plants were donated by neighbours and passers-by who take a liking to the beautification project.
Dore waters the garden by putting a hose over his wall and filling buckets.
The keepers of the garden are appealing to the business community to provide some assistance in helping to put an irrigation system and some fencing to the area.
Dore informed that his water bill was very high because he used to water the garden “every night. But through de water bill get so high ah stop, but de rain ain’t falling so ah have to start again.
“We need help, especially wid de water direct, because the work force is there because we work everyday…anytime, but without water they can’t live and that’s the main thing. Once the water come we could do anything…plant any amount of fruits trees. We can’t live without food and they can’t live without water.
“They need me and I love them,” Dore said about his plants.
