Mariam Ferguson Jones, Straw Vendor, at 2015 GRAC Agricultural Expo with her straw works and jams and pickles on display (BIS Photos/Gena Gibbs)

NASSAU, The Bahamas -- A labour of love drove Mariam Ferguson Jones to share her late sister’s passion for home gardening with her fellow Bahamians at the recent 2015 Gladstone Road Agricultural Expo.

Mrs. Jones said she took the time this weekend to remember her sister by displaying the jarred fruits and pickled vegetables to give something back to her sister.

“I’m representing my sister, who is now deceased as of last year. Her name was Rowena Fox. She was a schoolteacher for 47 years. Now, I’m here sitting with her daughter, who is now the principal of a high school in the South,” said Mrs. Jones.

“My sister made jams, which my niece continued: making guava jams, raspberry jams, hogplum jams, jerk pepper jam, ya got the sweet pickles, pickled kale, pineapple, and native plants, if you wish to plant them in your yard -- all from my sister’s garden out South Beach. My niece was an agriculture teacher, but she’s now a principal, but she never forgets her work, so she puts her hands in the dirt all day.”

Mrs. Jones added that she works at the Downtown Nassau Straw Market in Stall 081 and she wants to also showcase her sister’s agriculture products in her stall too.

“I make straw baskets out of straw, the real natural straw doll babies with sea shells on it, flowers on it, straw bags, purses and native bags made here in The Bahamas,” said Mrs. Jones.

“My sister would want me to keep encouraging my niece to continue to make native jams that the tourists would like to carry home as a souvenir from my stall. We’ll see.”