WHAT ARE YOU enthusiastic about? Do you embrace a happiness that not even harsh economic times can erode? If your answers are positive, then you are reading the correct column.
I am extremely ecstatic with my development and the growth of my kitchen garden. However, I am swamped with various feelings about it. I am feeling this way because my kitchen garden also contains huge medicinal trees and plants. So please do not pass and make remarks that state: “She could stop fooling sheself, ’cause that is not a kitchen garden.”
It is a multi-garden or a kitchen garden-orchid. It is a multi-garden because I can relax in one section, do research in another section and reap foods from all the sections. Additionally, I am enthusiastic because my lawn is being refurbished in preparation for food development. I also hope that you will join me and look at the possibility of transforming your lawn into food security.
In December, I will be posting before and after pictures on my website to show my lawn’s transformation from grass to glory. I plan to add potatoes, various herbs and marigolds to the other plants that insist they would collaborate with the grass on the lawn. Google YouTube video, “Elaine Hoyte Presents a garden tour in Horton Village, St Joseph” to view a multipurpose Caribbean garden.
One of the plants which have invaded my lawn and has to be reincorporated into its redevelopment is the Boston fern, or Nephrolepsis exaltata. Ferns are symbols of happiness and wealth.
The website canadianflowerdelivery.com has revealed: “If you are giving someone a fern as a gift, you are giving them the hope that they will have confidence, shelters, wealth and happiness.” Moreover, silent doctor Nephrolepis cordifolia (L.) C. Presl, known as sword fern or fishbone fern, is a type of garden fern that produces edible tubers. Research shows how treatment is applied in some areas of the world and some culinary uses.
• India – coughs and skin diseases. The young leaves are cooked as vegetables.
• Tamil Nadu (bud extracts) – urinary problems and stomach upsets.
• Nepal (entire plant) – skin, liver and kidney disorders. The tubers are roasted and used to quench thirst.
• Madhya Pradesh (fronds) – stops bleedings, stomach ulcers and intestinal disorders.
The rhizome is used for chest congestion, cough, rheumatism and anorexia.
The next time you attend a burial, admire the ferns in the wreaths. Also, remember that some varieties are consumed as healing herbs.
• Annette Maynard-Watson, a teacher and herbal educator, may be contacted via silentdoctors@gmail.com or by telephone 250-6450.
DISCLAIMER: It is not our intention to prescribe or make specific claims for any products. Any attempts to diagnose or treat real illness should come under the direction of your health care provider.
