We grow what we eat...we eat what we grow’
Theresa’s backyard garden boasts yams, dasheen, bananas, parsley and thyme, lemon grass, black sage and nutmeg.
Many of the fruits and vegetables grown in the garden are native to Grenada. Others came from far off places as Tahiti, Brazil, Asia, Hawaii and West Africa.
Come see, touch and taste a wide selection of fruits, vegetables and herbs that are an important part of our local daily culinary and medicinal traditions.
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On a tour of Theresa’s Backyard Garden by two wonderful visitors to Grenada, it started to rain. Nothing heavy, but hard enough to look for cover. Selwyn from the tour company were the guide for the day and was a little way from where we were. I was busy explaining about the guava and my visitors were busy picking and tasting.
The rain started to fall harder and by that time, we were looking around for Selwyn. He was happily sheltering the rain under what he called the farmer umbrella.
The farmer umbrella is a banana leaf. The idea is you stand close to the tree and pull a leaf over your head. If you stand sideways, it will cover your shoulders as well.
That was great! I would not have thought of it if Selwyn were not with us. He calls it the farmer umbrella because when he is in his garden he always has a couple of banana leaves just in case it rains.
It was an experience, not only for my visitors to Theresa’s backyard Garden, but also for me.
This is one of the lovely and unusual experiences you can have when you visit Theresa’s Backyard garden.
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Sightseeing in Grenada since hurricane Ivan has changed. One of the most magnificent sites the island had to offer is the nutmeg tree. The lovely trees that graced the hills and valleys of the island were devastated by that terrible hurricane in 2004.
The nutmeg is a native of Indonesia and one of Grenada’s most important crops. It is incorporated in our national flag. In the early days of Queen Victoria nutmegs were in much demand by the aristocracy. They believed that it could ward off illness. The women wore a silver pendant designed to hold the nutmeg while the men kept a special case in their pocket for the same reason.
In Grenada, we use it for colds, in a hot rum toddy, we mix it with Vaseline and rub it on the chest so the pungent aroma can be breathe in while asleep. It is also now used in a spray for the relief of pain.
The first nutmeg plants arrived in Grenada in 1843 and were planted in St Andrew at Penang estate.
The nutmeg is a tropical evergreen tree which grow to over 60 feet. It takes eight years to bear a crop and steadily increases in yield each year. It is a continuous year round crop. Grenada’s nutmeg is prized worldwide as it is of very high quality. Weeds do not grow under the nutmeg tree.
Both the nutmeg and mace accounted for nearly 40 percent of the islands revenue from export crops.
Today some farmers have replanted after Ivan and the nutmeg is now beginning to show signs of producing in the near future. Visit Theresa’s Backyard Garden and you will see the young nutmeg trees that are now beginning to take on their first crop.
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Place to visit in Grenada is the Roman Catholic Church, Petit Esperance in St. David. This church, constructed in 1852 was truly a community effort. River stones were brought by hand to construct the building, establishing a unique architecture, which still exists.
On September 12 1858, the new church, still incomplete was dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and the first service held. On February 27 1859, the church was consecrated and dedicated.
The present tower of 180 feet was completed in the 1870’s. On November 2 1900, just off St. David’s Point, the S S Orinoco, on its way to St George mistook the candlelight (All souls Night) on the graves at the St David’s cemetery for the lights of the town of St George.
The ship headed for what they thought was the harbour, ran aground and sank off the point in the rough Atlantic waters. One of the many rescued items from the S S Orinoco is the present alter at the church of the Immaculate Conception and St Joseph.
The recent renovation at the Church is once more a community effort. Stonework has been added, and this time it is face stones from Carriacou, which emphasizes the unique architecture of the façade.
This is one of the historical places of interest when visit to St David. Only a short distance from this lovely Church you will find another place of interest and that is Theresa’s Backyard Garden.
Please leave me a comment on the Blog let me know what you think. Thank you
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Where to go in Grenada is a decision you will make while planning your trip or at your arrival here on the Isle of Spice.
Putting down your bags and relaxing after the long and tiring flight your second concern, the first being a good plate of food (well you have been eating aircraft food) is how far is the nearest beach.
Things to do in Grenada will now be on your mind if you have not already planned your trips – and not many of us do that. We tend to go with the flow; after all, we are on holiday, right!
After taking in the beach the first couple of days, we are now actively looking for a place to visit in Grenada. Places of interest are varied ranging from waterfalls, beaches (including lovely secluded unspoilt country beaches that only local people will know), and markets.
Some of us will go on organized tours while others, being more adventurous, will hire a car and take our time to experience what this lovely island have to offer.
One of the forgotten and most beautiful parishes in Grenada is St David. There is no town, although the first town ever started in Grenada was in St David. Megrin Town is still to be found on the map today. Megrin was the name given to the parish by the French and changed to St David around 1764 by the British after one of their many wars for these islands.
Today 2009, there is a new attraction in St David or is it Megrin. Theresa’s Backyard Garden is a beautiful addition to where to go in Grenada. The garden introduces the visitor to food and herbs that grow locally and used as part of the daily diet of Grenadians.
You will see, touch, smell, and taste the fruits and vegetables whatever is in season. You will see lizards, butterflies and moths and hear the local birds and maybe the monkeys coming down from the mountain.
The view from the garden is beautiful and ideal for taking pictures. Visit St David as well as Theresa’s Backyard Garden you will not be disappointed.
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Gardens in Grenada are wide and varied. There are gardens showing an abundance and variety of palms, cycads, crotons, heliconias, bougainvillea and other tropical plants.
At other gardens, you can enjoy nature's scent and sound and experience Grenadian herbs, spices and medicinal plants. You can also see a large variety of flowering trees, shrubs, plants and lawns all well positioned for maximum colour effect.
In older more formal garden, there are water features, colourful borders of flowering orchids, anthuriums, ferns and bromeliads.
There is even a garden shown on Britain's Channel 4 TV Network in Gardens of the Caribbean where 100-year-old mahogany trees shade exotic hibiscus hybrids and bromeliads. They are all very beautiful.
Added to all of that beauty is Theresa’s Backyard Garden. This is a garden unlike all of the other gardens mentioned above. The reason for the difference is that Theresa’s Backyard Garden is a working garden. It is a ‘grow what we eat and eat what we grow’ garden.
Food in Grenada has a very rich history. Take the breadfruit, for example. Imported from Tahiti to the Caribbean around 1793 and it is now a establish part of our diet.
The manioc or cassava is another great example of the history of our food. A native to South America, we (the African) met it here in Grenada. The Carib family ate this in a variety of ways as part of their diet. The Carib women also prepared a beer from the manioc, which they drank at feast and festivals and got quite drunk on it.
Theresa’s Backyard Garden boasts a wide variety of fruits and vegetables in this working garden. On your visit, you will see, touch, smell and taste whatever is in season and growing in the garden. You will see the manioc or cassava, and experience a variety of local foods, fruits and herbs used daily for the needs of local Grenadians.
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The humble breadfruit is found at Theresa’s Backyard Garden. This lowly or not so lowly vegetable has a very interesting history. It was imported to the West Indies from the Polynesian islands in the late 18th century in the quest for cheap, high-energy food sources for British slaves in the Caribbean.
Captain William Bligh with a ship called The Bounty (although some say that Captain Cook) was the first to introduce the breadfruit to the Caribbean.
Have you ever seen the movie mutiny on the bounty? Well if you have, you will know that the breadfruit was the centre of the problem along with those beautiful Polynesian women.
Apparently, Captain Bligh left England bound for the Pacific to collect breadfruit plants and transport them to this side of the world. When he got there and the majority of his reserved English sailors set eyes on those hot blooded, scantily dressed beauties they promptly forgot all about the breadfruit and started romancing.
Well who could blame them; it took months to get to where you wanted to go on those ships.
Now the Captain, being a focused man tried to put an end to all that frolicking in the sun, got his plants and started to make his way to the West Indies.
This did not please his fellow sailors one bit. They were so annoyed that they had a mutiny on The Bounty. They put the Captain and some of his men in a boat, set them adrift, threw all the breadfruit plants in the sea and went back to their beauties.
To cut a long story short, Captain Bligh and his men made it back to England, there was an inquiry by the British Admiralty who cleared him of any blame, gave him another ship called The Providence, sent him back to Polynesia where he got more plants and successfully made his way to the West Indies. They left Tahiti with 2126 breadfruit plants.
The 678 surviving plants were first delivered to St Vincent and finally to Jamaica in 1793.
Would you believe after all that hullabaloo, the slaves refused to eat the breadfruit because they did not like the taste?
We in Grenada thank the good Captain Bligh or Cook because we would not have roast breadfruit, fried breadfruit, steam breadfruit and our wonderful national dish Oildown. All this, of course, is when the breadfruit is in season.
You are welcome to visit Theresa’s Backyard Garden and experience all there is to see, taste, touch and smell including the breadfruit.
I hope you enjoy the introduction to the garden. I will be posting many more of these short videos introducing you to what there is to see, touch, taste, smell, pick and eat in the garden. This will give you a good idea of the garden and what you will find in it when you pay us a visit.
I had a great first visit from a group of wonderful people from the UK.
They all made my first ever attempt at being a guide to my garden very easy and relaxing for which I gratefully thank them all.
I hoped the group enjoyed themselves eating guavas from three different trees (which they picked) to sample the difference in taste, smelling herbs and spices and enjoyed eating the freshly picked papaya (pawpaw).
Thank you to Ian from Sunsation Tours who made it all possible.
Theresa’s backyard garden boasts yams, dasheen, bananas, parsley and thyme, lemon grass, black sage and nutmeg.
Many of the fruits and vegetables grown in the garden are native to Grenada. others came from far off places as Tahiti, Brazil, Asia, Hawaii and West Africa.
Come and see, touch and taste a wide selection of fruits, vegetables and herbs that are an important part of our local daily culinary and medicinal traditions.
