DEVON Gilead was always good with his hands and he did whatever we could to grow food, landscaping and then started off as a beekeeper and established an apiary at Ithaca, West Bank Berbice.

As he began harvesting honey, it dawned on him that he should do something with the locally produced product, it was plentiful and he began bottling it and sold it in the community.

Gilead started producing “Nature’s Gift,” for all the by-products from honey bees including the stingless bee honey which helps to reverse glaucoma naturally.

He then attempted to make honey soap but was unsuccessful until his wife tried and it came out as a success and she is making seven different soaps presently.

His beekeeping journey started at age 16 years old; he used to go with a fellow villager, who used to work with the Ministry of Agriculture at government buildings when there was a bee invasion and would smoke out the bees at nights.

Gilead was the handy boy who held the ladder and would earn a “small piece” and after doing that for some time, he realised that at that rate they would kill out all the bees and he wanted to rear some.

He pitched the idea to the gentleman, who told him he was mad if he wanted to mind bees and declined to assist him.

Gilead admitted that he was afraid of bees but did not give up; he wanted to learn more about beekeeping and went on to buy a hive with the box and was told it was $70,000; back then it was money he didn’t have.

So he bought just the box alone and made his own hives and started to put the bees into the box and the next day when he returned he would find all the bees gone.

He was determined to try again and he got hold of a beekeeping book his uncle had and he did some extensive reading, hoping to learn.

Gilead tried again and failed, the bees keep escaping the box and he said that he then turned to God for help and had a dream of what to do and he did it, but ants had taken over the box, causing the bees to flee, once again.

It was when an experienced beekeeper from the city visited he asked him for help and in return had to give him some hives.

“It was just as I dreamed, but the only thing is you can’t leave the box on the ground for ants to get in, you have to put it on something, high with the honeycomb and queen bee in it,” he said.

The beekeeper took a piece of honeycomb with the queen bee and placed it in the box and the bees stayed but didn’t produce any honey for some time.

Gilead was crushed and wanted to end it all with beekeeping and he went to buy some gas and was on the verge of burning the boxes, when he decided to check the boxes one last time and to his surprise it had honeycombs filled with honey.

All 15 boxes had honey and Gilead was elated at last and extracted the honey and began selling it via some glass jars in the 10 ounce portion for $1,000 each.

Gilead stated that he had finally got honey after many years of trying and his apiary began producing honey and he bought a honey extractor to make his work lighter.

This gentleman did not give up despite many challenges and three years ago, when the Berbice River over-topped its bank he lost many hives, it washed away and while, relocating some in a boat, that boat sank and he lost the few he had left.

He did not get any honey for one year straight recently but did not quit and prayed about it.

Gilead, earlier this year became a sensation on the internet when the Guyana Chronicle featured his local grape growing venture in his yard.

People did not believe that he was able to grow grapes locally and had to go to his place and see for themselves- some even held them to make sure they weren’t plastic.

He has his eyes set on growing strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, mint, jack fruits and dragon fruit.

Annie’s Tasty Delight
Anneli Simon is a resident of Glasgow Village, East Bank Demerara and has been operating a small roadside snackette along the mina access road just outside of the village for the past 10 years.

She is well-known and her foods and snacks are tasty and wholesome, because she is a stickler for cleanliness and takes care of her surroundings and environment.

Simon has the tastiest pholurie, boiled and fried channa, puri and chicken curry, cassava ball, egg ball, meat ball and on weekends she would make white and black puddings with mango sour and has a wide range of cold beverages to go with it.

This small business owner used to buy and sell clothes, but had to put a hold on that venture due to the slow economic situation as a direct impact on COVID-19.

She is only selling food because business has been slow and she is trying to keep her door open since the spending power isn’t there like before.

Simon would open her small snackette on Mondays to Saturdays and takes the Sundays to do chores and worship service at church.

“This is a nice place to live, but the animals roaming free, destroying your gardens and breaking up the parapet and it has to be addressed by the Mayor and Town Council,” she said.

She has been residing in Glasgow Village since 2000 and she has a well-kept house and a lovely flower garden.

Her shop is the meeting place for elders in the community, who would gather and have a chat and discuss other things that are trending.

The place is clean and it is at a roadside spot and the owner, Simone, is a pleasant lady, who is well-liked in the community.