WeblogBahamas.com

Milton Friedman's Century - Free or Equal Documentary preview

Rick Lowe

There are only a couple spots left to watch the new documentary on Dr. Milton Friedman by Johan Norberg.

Click here… to sign up for this Nassau Institute event scheduled for Thursday, January 26, 2012.

Island Wines & Spirits now open at Top of the Hill Shopping Plaza, Mackey Street

Island Wines & Spirits is an independent liquor store located in Top of the Hill Shopping Plaza, Mackey Street, (next to the Super Value Food Store), offering a wide selection of spirits, wines and beers. Drop in and check out our large assortment of adult beverages and discover why Island Wines & Spirits is earning the name “One Stop Liquor Shop”.

Mention this flyer (pdf) prior to your purchase, “flyer discount offer”, and receive a 10% discount off the retail price of any wines and/or spirits. Offer good until the 31st of January, 2012.

Telephone: (242) 394-0630 || Fax: (242) 394-0632 || Email: store "@" islandwinesandspirits.com

Open Monday through Saturday – 9:00AM to 8:00PM and Sunday – 8:30AM to 1:30PM

Visit their website at www.islandwinesandspirits.com

Bahamian Agriculture, an overview. Part 7.

This is the final article in a series that we have been privileged to post here with the kind permission of the author. See links to previous articles below.

John Hedden

Reflections on agriculture and other pastimes.
The ironies of farming.

 What a thought.

What to do?

Farming of course, and to be specific earning a comfortable living from a farming plot intensively cultivated.

Cultivated with what? Coca? Indian hemp? Poppies? Neem? Other high value crops. A money tree? Maybe more mundane crops like rice  or perhaps potatoes. Possibly Noni even?

In reality folks, farming in the Bahamas right now is a thankless task, physically demanding, requiring a maximum of 4 hours sleep at night, knowledge of every skill under the sun; including book keeping, (not likely). And to top it all off, at the end of that 20 hour day you just can’t move your onions.

You see we don’t have that branding like ‘Vidalia’, or ‘sweet yellow’, or a label saying ‘imported’.  Though maybe -- 'IMPORTED' from Andros –

So at the end of that very same day, not only are you dog tired, you are also dog broke. What better result could you ask for, broke and broken.

Farming in the Bahamas has never been a profitable business to be in. Look at the original Arawaks and Lucayans; they lived mainly off the sea which they never had to sow. They also lived off of the wild fruits and berries, herbs and coontie; none of which they had to sow. They never sold anything. In fact the only sale that took place was that of themselves by the white Europeans, who arrived, hoodwinked, and then transported them to Hispaniola to work in the mines and as pearl divers.

Bahamian Agriculture, an overview. Part 6

John Hedden

The Way Forward?

So far in this series (see links to previous articles below) we have briefly examined various aspects of agriculture including its history, technology, and infrastructure, its viability, and the existing governmental policy. To date nothing thrown at the problem has stimulated anything, be it politicians, ministers, ministry staff, or the few brave farming souls who seem to end up 'eating dirt'.

So what is the way forward for agriculture and farming in the Bahamas?

We have no soil. We have no native mineral fertilisers. We have a raw limestone rooting medium. We have fresh water in limited supply. We have a good winter climate. As any fruit grower will tell you, we have hurricanes. We have loads of bugs and diseases. We have a consuming public with cultured beautiful nails, green with cash and, allergic to the very idea of brown soiled hands. That, pretty much, covers the physical environment. Oh, I forgot to mention the sunshine, plenty of it;  we do, after all, cultivate tourists, and quite a crop. Though, like our produce, I can't vouch for the quality.

As for infrastructure and governmental policy, we have a very harsh climate with no favourable conditions to encourage any entrepreneurship, unless affiliated with the appropriate powerful entities. Marketing is hampered by our geography, and the native tastes tend toward name brands and imported foodstuffs. Costs of food  production are really high, and genuine land tenure is pretty much unavailable to the normal farmer.

All of this tells me that sustainable agriculture, and self sufficiency are also pretty much a figment of the politician's imagination. Yet we hear noises to the contrary all the time. Agricultural production accounts for less than 1% of the country's economic output; and this tells me that something is very wrong. Pretty forlorn isn't it?

Bahamian Agriculture, an overview. Part 4

John Hedden

Is an agricultural sector viable?

In my previous articles (see links below) I have presented what I see as some of the biggest factors affecting present day agriculture in the Bahamas. These include brief touches on the history of farming, the mental attitude towards the land; infrastructural systems, advances in technology and education, and the urgent need for vastly improved knowledge and application to actual farming practices.

In this article I will present agriculture from an environmental, and hence a sustainability perspective. So what is the environment?

For farming, the environment includes climate and weather, the nature of the soil, water availability, natural vegetation, land profiles, and native supply of farming inputs. In other words our geography.

The climate of the Bahamas is almost ideal for crop production because we have a sub tropical system with pretty much constant seasons from year to year. This is one reason why we are so popular as a tourist destination. However weather patterns show differences, with high summer temperatures, and humidity; and the occasional winter extreme where freezing temperatures may affect the islands of the northern Bahamas. In the southern islands however, temperatures are much warmer and less variable over the year, and rainfall is very low. These will have an effect on the types of crops that can be grown over the course of the year with the different seasons. In the northern region cooler winters allow production of  temperate crops from September planting to late June harvest. Crops would include the cabbage, tomato, squash, and lettuce families.  Summer production will be limited to more heat adapted crops such as melons, sweet potatoes, cassava and okra. In the southern islands however temperate crops may not be readily adaptable, and the weather pattern will more and more dictate the planting of more heat and drought adapted crops.

The Green Thing

Rick Lowe

A friend sent the following story along about the green movement. It's brilliant.

Obviously few us would want to go back to those days but it's good food for thought. At least I wouldn't and I thank my lucky stars daily I was born in the 1950's. Future generations might not have life so good.

Hope you enjoy the history lesson.

The Green Thing

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized to her and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today.  Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.  So they really were recycled.

Bahamian Agriculture, an overview. Part 1

John Hedden

First published in The Tribune, Saturday, September 17, 2011 and posted here with the kind permission of the author.

Mr. Hedden holds degrees in Botany from UWI Mona Campus and University of Reading UK and graduated from Government High School, Nassau, Bahamas.
He has experience as a Horticulturalist for the USAID project BARTAD Andros, Horticulturalist for the Ministry of Agriculture at CAS (now GRAC), and then extension services.
Mr. Hedden is now trying to establish a modern demonstration fruit and vegetable farm on 10 acres of 'crown' land.
He presently lives on Abaco and has worked with farmers there for the last 25 years.

Recently much has appeared in the media about agriculture, with senior politicians, pundits, veterinary intellectuals, and the regular armchair philosophers, making their comments and putting forward opinions. However I have seen no comment from the actual farming community about the status and future of farming. This may shroud the real issues involved, and so confuse the general public with rhetoric and other fancy words. Before the reality becomes smothered I feel that as a genuine ‘paper farmer’ I can probably help cloud the issue even further.

In order to put agriculture and the modern Bahamas in proper focus we must start from the very beginning. This first part deals with historical anecdotes and notes which begin to include geographical, topographical, climate issues, and basic soils and water availability. I have not included dates because these instantly put off any student of history. However a journey into the well documented archives of our country will verify many of my statements.

In the beginning was the Lucayan, the Arawak, The Taino; people who should go down in history as the true Bahamian, and the only people who have sustainably harvested their food from the environment throughout this archipelago. Unfortunately these people do not survive to the modern times.

Logos: Order books at US retail (including delivery) to Nassau

Rick Lowe

Have you noticed the new link to Logos Book Store on our side bar?

Scroll down a little, below the Daily Cartoon and you'll find a link that looks like the picture shown on the left.

Click on the link in the side bar, order away and pay. Any book that is available will be delivered to Logos in the Harbour Bay Shopping Centre for you to collect at the prices listed on the web site.

It's a great arrangement. Try it out.

Carlyle Bethel and his ‘merry band’ known as the Q.C. 5000 feed the less fortunate

Rick Lowe

This article... by Shavaughn Moss, Lifestyles Editor at The Nassau Guardian is a prefect example of how society can deal with its problems without the heavy hand of government.

Congratulations to Carlyle Bethel and his friends at Queen's College!

Thank you Mr. Bethel for starting a very worthy effort and let's hope that the students at QC continue the project ad infinitum and young adults at other schools, churches and community groups start similar efforts throughout the country.

I don't know you but I'm proud of your effort.

Conch Salad TV - Videos of interest about and from around The Bahamas

Rick Lowe

Here's a neat video from the many you can find at Conch Salad TV: