Saving Paradise

Category: Heritage Gardens | Date: Oct 09 2009 | By: savingparadise

Things are shaping up here at Roche Caiman as we prepare for the official opening of the Heritage Garden. Lucina is pruning and watering. Displays are up at the Kiosk. Invitation cards have been sent.

The opening of the Garden will coincide with the World Food Day, celebrated annually on 16 October. This year’s theme is Achieving food security in times of crisis. Nature Seychelles and the Seychelles Agriculture Agency will sign an MoU at the opening, enabling these two organizations to work together.  Other partners joining in these festivities are the Wildlife Clubs of Seychelles, Seychelles Fishing Authority and the Farmers Association.

The Heritage Gardens© is a joint Project between Nature Seychelles  and the Wildlife Clubs, with the collaboration of the Department of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Education. Its vision is to introduce young people to plants that were valued by their parents enabling them to become custodians of a rich biological heritage.

The Heritage Garden at Roche Caiman has been designed by Nature Seychelles as a model to be replicated by Wildlife Clubs in schools and by the community at home. Not only do we collect plant species that are richly filled with historical value for propagation in the school-based clubs as well as to the adjoining communities, we also collect and collate their stories. 22 schools are taking part in the project. School Heritage Gardens© range from small to medium sized ones. Learning not only concentrates around the use of these plants but also basic ecological concepts, history, folklore and language.

The Heritage Garden at Roche Caiman has the Gro Manze, loosely translated as the “big food”, the  generic Creole vernacular for starchy food crops like yams, taro, sweet potatoes, plantains (cooking banana) and breadfruit.  Another section has different kinds of spices. Another medicinal plants. In the past Geriser (healers) and Herbalists had knowledge of which plant to pick for anything from a rash to a critical fever. They kept extensive gardens of medicinal plants. The sad thing is that today they are few and far between. The garden reminds us that these plants are beneficial to us.

This Project won the Commonwealth Youth Development Award in 2007. The citation read: By preserving and maintaining an important part of Seychelles culture and traditions that is in danger of being lost, the Project is of benefit to local communities. It adds value to the communities and their local resources by promoting understanding of the value of the plants that are around us, that fosters care of the local environment.”

Tags: heritage garden, medicinal plants, Seychelles

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Category: heritage garden | Date: Aug 20 2009 | By: savingparadise

Lucina is busy preparing the Heritage Garden for the official opening in October. She has everything going the way she wants. She is  a hardworking woman this one, and when I am taking a break, I like going out to talk to her about the crops, spices and herbs, and to just marvel at the beautiful garden, which I know from “before” pictures was just a patch of soil.

I can’t tell you how surprised I was the other day when I saw her passing outside my window lugging two poles. So I followed her outside, just as I heard Terence exclaiming, “bring your camera Liz, Lucina is building”. Turns out Lucina’s prized passion fruits had come down when the trellis that supports them was blown over by the wind. It was a beautiful constructed trellis, under which were two benches and a table made from timber off-cuts. A nice place to sit under. One could sit there to relax and catch the breeze or watch the bees pollinating flowers. We have had meetings under there. And lunch and tea breaks. We were also looking forward to the fruit. (To replace the Noni juice in the fridge:)).

Lucina has now managed to put the trellis back together. I expected to see a carpenter wielding some manly tools. But no, she did it all by herself. She even managed to rescue some fruit. The rest of the vines and leaves will end up as compost to continue the cycle of life in the garden.

A few hours later I met her on the corridor covered in sweat and searching for the shower. I gave her a sympathetic smile, which her bubbly self returned. “Every day something new”, she said. Yap, this garden teaches us something new every day. It teaches us that gardens need love, caring, patience and perseverance. Just like we all do. And just like the work we do for nature, the environment and wildlife does.

The Heritage Garden - a demonstration garden and nursery - was established to help people create and maintain gardens of medicinal and edible plants, useful herbs and vanishing food crops. To read about the impact it has had, see related stories in Zwazo No. 19: “Visitors flock to peek at neighborhood nature”, and “Edible Landscaping”.

Tags: heritage garden, passion fruit

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