SNN NEWS
New York Volume xx1
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Gale Cook a Jamaican Farmer
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Writer: Bill Tingling
Sept 25/2019
Recently a team of New Yorkers and Mid-Westerners, visited Jamaica to cover stories about Jamaican female farmers. As the plane descended at the Sangster’s International airport in Montego-Bay, we observed the sizable blue elegance of the crescent ocean surrounding the Island’s hilly, green paradise, welcoming us with opened arms to the Island, of sun and water.
As we exited the airport, the naturally bright, penetrating hot sun, forced our bodies to sweat as we sweetly enjoy Jamaica’s cold jelly coconut water, given to us by our host Vincent Wilson, the owner of Sr. Vincent Nationwide Farms. We arrived at Vincent’s home in Montego-Bay in which, he had cooked and prepared some of the largest yellow snapper fish we’ve ever seen. They were wrapped in aluminum foil, mixed in with Jamaican butter, spices, and herbs, baked in the oven, and then steamed. He laid the snapper fish on the colorful china plates, and on the table was Jamaica’s fines food, breadfruit, ackee, sweet potato, plantains, corn on the cub, Jamaican salad and ginger beer. It’s time to eat!. The fish was tasty, meaty, deliciously soft, and breathtaking, and it just melted in our mouth. Welcome to Jamaica, Vincent, the host said.
The following day Sunday, we met Aubrey Haughton, retired agriculturalist academia- and farm specialist. It was sunny, hot, breezy, and we are now on a two-hour drive to the Sir. Vincent’s Nationwide Farm in Darlaston, – Westmoreland.
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As we got closer to the farm, from a distance, we observed a tall female farmer, wearing black pants, a dark shirt, knee-high water boots, a bandana around her head, and a machete in her right hand. We can see her bending down with her back almost at a 90-degree angle, absorbing the penetrating sun, while digging something from the ground. As we got closer, we saw the female farmer with a farming tool digging out and removing the dirt from what turned out to be a large yellow yam, 18 inches long and about 8 inches in diameter. She then stood tall with the large yellow root yam in hand, posing like Usain Bolt, the fastest runner in the world. She was sweating, smiling, showing her beautiful white teeth, filled with joy and happiness. She then said, “welcome to our farm.”
We are now in the company of the famous Gail Coke, a 35-year-old third-generation female farmer who grew up in Burnt-Savannah, St. Elizabeth and has been a professional farmer since her teenage years. She is a graduate of the Bellfield High School Manchester, and after high school, she became a full-time farmer. “I love farming, it is in my blood,” she says.
Gail, the mother of two girls, ages 11 and 18, is not only tall, beautiful, with shiny white teeth, and filled with joy, but is a fascinating, intelligent, warm, and pleasant woman. She is more than a subsistence farmer; she is the general manager at the Sir. Vincent Farm, and is not afraid of getting her hands dirty. She is a master at tilling the soil with her machete, the hoe, the dirt fork, timely planting and neutering the crop, harvesting, and then taking it to the marketplace.
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Although Gail is a third-generation female farmer, her mentor and teacher was not her mother, but her late Aunt Joyce, who was also a Master Female Farmer and had a green thumb for crop’s success, Gail said.
She said her Aunt Joyce taught her that when you are on the farm,
· you must first drink plenty of water;
· prepare your mind, your heart, your body, and align yourself with the earth,
· becoming as one with mother earth;
· the soil is alive, she said!
· it is filled with emotion;
· having healing properties,
· readily available to germinate and entertain the planted seed
· multiplying the seeds into food and returning it to the farmer.
Gail’s, enthusiasm is phenomenal; she is inspired and energized by the surrounded elements and anxious to work with the soil. Aunt Joyce taught me the importance of understanding the earth she said. We must listen and understand when the land is talking to us, — knowing when the soil needs neutering, knowing when to sow, and when not to sow when to plant, and when not to plant. Most of all, as a farmer, you must love what you are doing, because we are given the opportunity, and the capability to feed the world. Also, we must always give thanks and gratitude to the creator, who has made it all possible.
Gail’s farm is on the western end of the Island where geographically, it is very fertile with a unique soil for growing a variety of crops. This section of Jamaica is known as the breadbasket area of the Island. The rain falls proportionately, creating a proper balance for food farming. Gail takes particular interest in growing yams, which takes nine months to grow from planting to harvest. There are approximately eighteen different varieties of yams grown in Jamaica. It’s a starchy root, a favorite food in most Jamaican homes and is rumored to be the secret weapon for Jamaican athletes and its world-record track stars.
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Gail also Farms sweet corn, also known as corn on the cob.
· It takes about eleven to twelve weeks to grow corn from planting to harvesting.
· She cultivates cucumbers that take from six weeks to eight weeks to develop;
· Pumpkins, which takes three months to produce
· Scotch bonnet hot peppers, which takes from three to four months to construct
· Legumes which takes about six to eight weeks
· Plantains and bananas take from nine to twelve months to grow
· Sugarcane takes from nine to twelve months
· Sweet potatoes take five to six months to develop
· Irish potatoes take from three to four months to be ready for the market
· Dasheen takes about six months
· Coconuts take about five years to grow
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Gail is a prosperous farmer who harvests and brings her crop to the farmers market in New Market, St. Elizabeth on Sundays, and to the Savanna-la-mar Farmers Market on Wednesday and Saturdays. The farmers market is a wholesale market, where hoteliers, supermarket owners, restaurant chefs, party planners, and thousands of people visit to purchase food – for their business and their households. Although Jamaica is a big producer of food, there is a significant challenge.
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According to Julia Randleman, a Pulitzer Center student fellow from Southern Illinois
University-Carbondale in the United States, “Jamaica has been called the richest, poor nation on earth.” That Jamaicans take pride in their island’s abundance of fruits and vegetables and think that hunger is not an extreme problem; however, rural farmers remain weak, and scratching out a living to support a family is hard. In Julia’s report, she stated that “trade liberalization has hurt Jamaica’s ability to be a major global supplier of items such as bananas.” And at the same time, Jamaica is importing foods from other countries, that are readily grown and available in Jamaica.
As a successful female farmer, Gail, and many other women farmers are examples that being a farmer is not only a gift, but they have the potential to feed the world.
Then, one would ask, why is the Jamaican government importing food if its land is so fertile, and its area produce abundance?
This is a question that the Jamaican government could better answer.
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Call To Action
The Jamaican Women Farmers Association is planning a series of International -Echo Tourism Educational Seminars and Workshops held in Jamaica.
If you are a farm specialist, agriculturist, a professor, lecturer, banker, marketer, or specialize in any areas of farming, and you believe that you could complement the Woman farm movement, we would love to hear from you. The purpose of the seminars and workshops are to promote women’s ecologically sustainable farming practices, economic exploration, entrepreneur development, community, and international marketing.
To register for this grand opportunity, please send us your name, email address, and your area of specialty and we will forward you all the details.
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