From the sweet or savory grits of a Bahamian morning to the delicious, unexpected taste of guava, join Laura Fikse on a journey that explores hydroponic farms, local traditions, and the powerful lesson of the Unmerciful Servant. Discover the flavors of Abaco and ponder the true meaning of forgiveness with the First Reformed Church (Sully) IMPACT team!
Today, I woke up to a hot meal of grits, corned beef hash, eggs, and toast. So far, I have loved every meal that our lovely cooks Lula and Doreen have made for us. I personally had my grits sweet rather than savory with some honey. People loved it either way, honey, or hash on top.
After fueling up we headed off to our first farm of the day, Driftwood Farms. I worked on mixing together compost and harvesting both beans and greens. Before beginning our work we were given a tour of the farm that was very interesting to hear about. The folks that ran the farm had recently dug in pits in the limestone. These pits then filled with water until the water was just a few feet from the level ground we were on. For the scientific people out there, this is due to the water table being so high in the Bahamas. All of the Bahamas is on a limestone mountain with an aquifer underneath. The water that had flown into the pits was fresh water from the aquifer. They plan on raising tilapia, shrimp, and prawns in the new freshwater ponds they had created.
The farm in and of itself was very different from what a Midwestern would expect. All the crops were above ground in a hydroponic farm. The compost we created was a mixture of coconut husk and rice husk along with water to break it down. The compost was then placed in buckets that could stack and create columns of plants. Water and fertilizer run through lines to water and fertilize the plants effectively.
My personal favorite part of this farm was trying guava from a grove of guava trees. For people who haven’t tried it and want to live vicariously through me, I would say it has a texture like a pear and tastes like a pear and a grapefruit had a baby. I am truly amazed by how many different flavors God created for us to enjoy! After wrapping up our work on the hydroponic farm we moved onto a more traditional style farm. Although we didn’t do any labor at the next farm, we took a tour and spoke with the lady who runs it. It was interesting to see into her mind of how to effectively run a farm. Banana trees are similar to field corn in the sense that they bear fruit once and then that plant has completed its job.
Unlike corn, banana trees take far longer to grow and mature until they bear fruit. To overcome wasting profitable and fertile land she plants banana trees alternated throughout her other crops. While the banana trees are still young, the other crops will be harvested. This continues until the banana trees mature. What I also saw was an adaptation and blending of cultures. Traditionally, Bahamians let their bananas ripen and eat them as fruit. However, other cultures that have come to Abaco use less ripe bananas as a vegetable in native dishes.
To finish off our day we headed to church for G2 youth group. The format of youth group was very similar to my own church. It started with some mingling along with games and food, then we did a larger message and broke off into small groups. The food that I helped serve was corndogs and we put on whatever condiments the kids asked for. Our options were ketchup, mayonnaise, and hot sauce which I thought was pretty funny because it would never occur to me to put hot sauce on a corndog, let alone all three condiments together, as many kids requested.
Our focus for youth group was about forgiving others. Our verse was Matthew 18:21-35 which is the story of the Unmerciful Servant. For those who may need a refresher, the story is about a servant who was in debt to his master but begged that his master be patient. The master agrees, however, the servant then turns around to condemn a man who owed him a much smaller sum of money.
This is just in a nutshell, please go read the real story because then you can understand the context too! In my small group, we discussed whether forgiveness is more for ourselves or for the sake of others. I urge you to ponder this for yourself and then discuss with a friend and see how your views may vary! We ended off our night with ribs, baked beans, mashed potatoes and baked sweet potatoes all of which was delicious, as per usual.
I will leave you all with this, try some guava if you can and remember to forgive each other as God has forgiven us.
– Laura
