From:TheBahamasWeekly.com
Straw Vendor Mariam Jones Shares Her Late Sister’s Gardening Passion at the 2015 GRAC Agricultural Expo
By Gena Gibbs, BIS
Mar 10, 2015 - 11:47:11 AM
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.”
© Copyright 2015 by thebahamasweekly.com -