The people of Garden of Eden

By Michel Outridge

DURING a visit to Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara, the Pepperpot Magazine met a villager, Doris Doodnauth, whose family is involved in large-scale farming of plantains, bananas, citrus, passion fruit, and cherries among others.

The 57-year-old sees farming as a hobby and not a job, so to speak, and related that ever since she was a young girl she realised that she likes farming and when she married and relocated to Garden of Eden, it was the perfect place to have a large farm.

“Since me small me like farm and when me married and come here,it encouraged me more because the cow dung is right here and the space; so I just started to plant,” she explained.

Doodnauth added that even though farming is ‘back-breaking’ work, it is always better to work with yourself rather than having to work for other people.

The mother of four sons stated that her family is large with 10 family members and they all pitch in and do their part to upkeep the farm.

“Life is good here because we live simple and we work hard and it is a nice place to live; simply no worries at all, because everybody here does something so we don’t have the time for nonsense,” she said.

Doodnauth and her family also have 25 cows and would sell the milk and along with some fruits within the community daily.

She reported that her son would milk the cows and goes around the village to sell the milk and whatever the farm produces, in terms of greens and fruits, but if it is too much it would be sold at Stabroek Market to a wholesaler.

“My day starts early and ends whenever the work is done; luckily, I have daughters-in-law to assist and we try to live as one unit, but we are happy,” she said.

Doodnauth told the Pepperpot Magazine that they have 25 acres of land, but half of it belongs to her husband’s brother and they do their farming as per norm.

She noted that all her produce is strictly organic and they do not use chemicals nor fertilisers, which makes it wholesome and of good quality; as such, the greens last longer without being refrigerated.

“Rather work any day than just doing nothing and get sick and being self-employed is a really good thing,” she said.

The Pepperpot Magazine also met Cubra Mohamed, an aspiring civil engineer, who will be gainfully employed in the new year.

He is a local of Garden of Eden and he resides with his parents.Their property is one of the well-kept plots which has flower plants in abundance and in neat rows in the front yard.

Next door, they have a section for their citrus and other fruits, along with some vegetables which they plant on a relatively large scale.

Mohamed said his parents are responsible for the farm and the flower plants in the yard and he would assist with the sheep and goats they rear.

“Almost every resident in this street has a plot of land that is more than 22 acres and they farm and rear chickens and cattle mostly,” he said.

Mohamed related that there are about 50 residents in his street, but the other street is more populated.

He stated that life there is good, except there is a need for better internet and landline phone services.

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