With the escalating price of food I am always thankful for the gifts of produce from friends and relatives and had hoped to be "growing what we eat and eating what we grow" by now - (Hope I've got that the right way round!!!).
When I lived in England there used to be a funny 70's sitcom called "The Good Life". The basic plot was "Tom Good ... gives up work ... and he and his wife Barbara adopt a sustainable, simple and self-sufficient lifestyle while staying in their home in The Avenue, Surbiton."
"Goodwill Heights", I figure, is Dominica's Surbiton equivalent, so I also had plans of living a simple more self sufficient lifestyle. Well things haven't worked out as I planned and we're not keeping chickens or growing our own organic produce yet, so I'm very jealous of my friend who has beat me to it. The Sawers are certainly living the "Good Life" here in Dominica, although they may not actually realise it yet :-) and it might seem more like some feverish nightmare some of the time. This is just some of the fab produce I've gratefully received from them.
Hmmm, I'm not sure how they grew the organic chocolate but I'll certainly be looking forward to their next harvest.
I don't always like to take my camera when I'm hiking, especially when hiking with others, but on this waitukubuli national trail hike last year the group was large and spread out enough for me to have some fun experiment time.
I had read about the "not for the faint-hearted" technique of camera tossing, which can create some really cool abstract image effects, but decided "tossing" was not for me and stuck with some less extreme camera movement shots, with the camera firmly held in my hands.
It was a lot of fun and I really liked some of the effects I managed to capture.
Click link to view a picture slideshow of some other movement blur shots
On Friday Nov 19th to Sat 20th, Ross Univeristy held an art and craft fair at their Campus Activity Centre.
Apparently this event has been going for 5 or 6 years now but this was the first year I had heard about it and that was just by a chance passing comment made by a local artist earlier in the year.
It was a nice event - not only an opportunity for much needed sales and promotion for the many local arts and craft producers/sellers but also a relaxed environment for artisans to network and socialise with each other. It was also good for Ross students, employees etc who are often extremely "spare time" challenged, to see and purchase authentic local craft in one location and without having to travel very far. Those who were soon to be leaving the island could pick out souvenirs for friends and family or supporters and lovers of local art and craft could easily browse and shop for work from their favourite or newly discovered artist.
I really enjoyed the event, although the air conditioning was way to cold for me, and I met a few new artists that I did not know about.
What was especially good was that 15% of all sales were collected at the end for charity organisations (The Northern District Home for the Aged and CALLS) and to help the Dominica Arts and Crafts Producers Association (DACPA) with their outreach aims.
Many Thanks to the hard working organisers Carole Antone and Lene Larsen and all the others involved. I hope this event continues to grow from strength to strength and maybe it can be publicised a bit more next year. A few residents I have spoken to (including artisans) have mentioned they were not aware of it and would have liked to attend.
Perhaps someone (cultural Division?) can follow it with a Christmas Art and Craft fair. It would be great for more people to consider local arts and craft for their Christmas present purchases. They really need all the support they can get.
Also, I keep hearing about the importance of cultural industries so if anyone happens to be speaking to the PM ;-), please can they ask him to consider removing all import tax, duties etc from arts and craft materials which have to be imported by artisans as it would be a huge help to this struggling sector.
Click to view pictures from the Ross University art and craft fair
Click to view picture slideshow from the Ross University art and craft fair
I saw a guy in Roseau selling these "bits of wood" that he explained is used as a blood cleanser. I got some but my husband pulled a funny face when I got home and said that I had actually paid for these "bits of wood". :-)
Doing some reasearch on the internet I believe it's known as "bitter wood" and has been "used for centuries to fight intestinal parasites, ease digestion, reduce fever and cleanse the bowels. Moreover, it is also said to lessen one's taste for alcohol."
See viable-herbal.com - Bitter Wood
Has anyone ever used it?
One day I will have my own back yard garden but for now I'm always grateful to receive the gifts of fruit and produce from friends and family.
My Uncle grows rambutan in his back garden, here in Dominica. It's delicious!!!
Growing up in Dominica, coconut and a variety of coconut products were part of everyday life. Not only refreshing coconut water and the succulent flesh on Sunday outings to the village of Castle Bruce and an assortment of tasty sweets like coconut tablet and cheese on the way home from school, but also items from all the other parts of the coconut tree; like sweeping with cocoyea brooms, making kites with cocoyea sticks, playing cricket with bats made from the branch of the tree and a young coconut (well several actually) for the ball, hats, cigarettes in coconut shell ashtrays, bangles, earrings and the inevitable, uniquely Caribbean cocoyea stick "licks" for misbehaviour - ouch!!!. I won't even go into the various recipes using coconut, milk, cream, oil etc.
These memories were once again rekindled by the Coconut Art & Craft Exhibition, held at the Old Mill Cultural Centre; an inspired addition to the Independence Celebrations by the Division of Culture. Many of the craft items displayed were made by artisans belonging to the Dominica Arts & Crafts Producers Association (DACPA) - listed below.
It's the first time I have seen an exhibition solely focusing on coconut and it would be great if it expanded into a larger annual "Coconut Fest" event, featuring a wider variety of coconut food dishes and beverages, maybe even a series of workshops and guest coconut craft designers and artisans from other Caribbean islands. Maybe a coconut producing village could host it.
Although a very good exhibition, especially the large selection of beautiful coconut jewellery, and a showcase of some of our gifted artisans, I would have liked to have seen a wider variety of new, innovatively designed coconut craft products; especially products using the stem which I hardly ever see.
I do hope that skilled craftspeople and local craft do not become terminal casualties of the modern age, replaced by machines spewing out cheaper, quicker to produce, souless, mass produced items; but I worryingly often hear artisans lament that it's getting increasingly harder for them to make a living from their craft and the number of people willing and able to pay a fair price for what they produce is diminishing each year. They need all the support they can get so check out the exhibition if you can. It closes on Friday October 22.
There is so much which can be done with this amazingly versatile material. A search on the internet can open up a wealth of inspiration to artisans who work with any part of the coconut tree and nut.
These are a few I noticed. http://www.coconutcraft.com/
http://www.indianetzone.com/1/coconut_craft.htm Some of the DACPA Coconut Craft Exhibitors
Agatha Carbon, Anita Watty, Cecelia George, Henrietta Seraphine, Julien James, Lincoln St. Rose, Vanessa Winston
Update 31/10/2010
I saw these bags at Creole in the park which was just what I was talking about. Handbag photo 1 Handbag photo 2
I went to the first Layou Titiwi Festival in Dominica reunion year 2008 and I remember having a great time and thinking "I hope they do this again next year". The event was jointly organised by the Layou Improvement Committee (LIC) and Waitukubuli Ecological Foundation (WEF) in celebration of World Rivers Day, celebrated in the last weekend of September. Now in it's third year, I think it has rightly earned it's place to be promoted in Dominica's calendar of "must-visit" annual events.
This weekend 25th & 26th, the Layou village was once again transformed into Titiwi village. I was there the Saturday and Sunday, arrived far too early on the Saturday and probably left too early on the Sunday (must listen to the radio more). It looked like Saturday was more of a night time thing and Sunday a more family affair during the day, followed by the requisite "jump up" in the evening.
The activities were pretty similar to last year. The Wacky Rollers crew did a great job, as usual, organising the zip lining for kids of all ages, all sizes, boys and plenty girls too. Only charging a nominal price it meant that for many kids this was a new experience, one they might not otherwise be able to afford. Watching the different expressions coming done the line made me laugh so much. There was also sack racing, football, volleyball, Rodney's Rock boat trips and a new cool addition for this year, the ATV vehicles.
And of course there was LOTS of titiwi. Cute 'n' colourful, palm leaf decorated booths lined the beach and served titiwi in every form imaginable, titiwi pizza, pasta, accra, sancoche, steamed, smoked, pie, lasagne and in some forms I really could not imagine like "Titiwi punch"???
I admit titiwi dishes are not the most attractive and not to everyone's taste so although the spotlight was certainly on this diminutive, translucent gobi fish, you could still get other varieties of fish, breadfruit, provisions, bakes and of course chicken.
The wide beach and river makes an ideal setting and even resident Dominicans, who are not familiar with the area, often comment that they never knew Layou village had such a big beach. Unfortunately the quarry and equipment in the background is a real "blot on the landscape" and ruins the backdrop as well as the environmental message; as does the big barge transporting tarish to wherever.
Overall the environmental aspect and "World Rivers Day" celebration, part of the original festival concept, seemed to have been side-lined this year which was a shame.
I think it's important for residents and visitors to patronise and support "community" events like this one. You don't even have to add the word "tourism" at the end because the way I see it, the benefit and attraction of many of these initiatives, is that they started off as grass roots, "bottom up", community ventures first and foremost, which visitors became interested in often because of their authenticity. They did not start off as disconnected "only aimed at tourist" projects and consequently hopefully stand a greater chance of survival when some crisis or another impacts the numbers of tourists coming to the island.
Mr Lazare and the rest of LIC are doing a great job and I truly hope Titiwi Festival grows from strength to strength and benefits Layou and surrounding communities.
I also hope that as it expands it keeps sight of the key ingredients, (not just the titiwi), that makes it such a popular event for both resident and visitor alike.
