It was only a matter of time before somebody came up with the idea of a pet project for the new First Lady Mrs. Deolatchmee Ramotar. We’re going to have a “First Garden!” It’s not a bad idea really, given the fact that our other First Gardens like the Promenade Gardens and the Botanical Gardens have more or less been relegated to Kitchen Garden status these days; and as for The Garden City……..the less said about that the better.
Let’s hope that the “First Garden” was the First Lady’s choice. Frankly, she looks like a rather upstanding woman in an unpretentious sort of way who may well have done quite a bit of her own gardening at home before she woke up one morning to the title of First Lady. Recall that she has already said that she is not particularly comfortable in the limelight. One hopes that the good lady grows into her job.
Now back to this business of a “First Garden.” It would be nice to have something attractive looking back at you from the lawns of State House when you take a look in from Carmichael Street. There have been a few times when you would go by and see food boxes on the lawn………leftovers from the previous day’s revelry. More recently we have seen some forty-foot containers occupying space on the lawns. Unsightly, not befitting the official residence of the nation’s President. Let’s have the “First Garden” take up the entire expanse of real estate looking out onto Carmichael street!
What exactly will the First Lady’s “First Lawn” look like? One never knows. Perhaps somebody might get it into their head that the thing to do would be to put out a tender for a horticulturist to advise the First Lady on what she should cultivate. It may well be that they may persuade her to go for colour……..flowers……roses, tulips, dandelions and whatever other variety decides to grow on the lawns of State House. On the other hand one has a funny feeling that if she is left to her own devices the First Lady may decide to do the sensible thing and put down some beds of bora and tomato and callaloo and okra not just for the sake of putting them down but for the purpose of having them turn up on the dinner plates of State House eventually. Good idea, isn’t it? One can just see Donald at a CARICOM Summit of Food Security showing off to his colleagues about the fact that his diet comprises greens and vegetables reaped from the First Lady’s “First Garden” and exhorting them to have their wives do the same. “It’s called leading from the front” is the sort of thing that our President might say to his CARICOM colleagues. One can just about see the state paper’s front page banner headline. “FIRST LADY’S ‘FIRST GARDEN TAKES FIRST PLACE AT FIRST SESSION OF FOOD SECURITY FORUM.”
The other good thing, of course, is that it would provide a more than useful theme for the First Lady’s media interviews and her conversations with her counterpart First Ladies.
As for promoting gardening among school children……..well……that might perhaps be a tougher nut to crack. Times have changed, Madam First Lady and if you are to get the children to show an interest you might have to persuade your husband to set time frames for use of all those Lap Tops the government is distributing and strictly limit the sales of all those electronic games.
Here’s an idea that you might wish to consider, though. What about a Gardening Day….or two for the Cabinet…..including Dr. Luncheon, that is. The man looks like he could desperately use some exercise. Once or twice a week they could be required to put on their jeans and long boots and gloves……….which they should be encouraged to but with their own money and repair to State House where state-issued forks and shovels and rakes and hoses will be distributed and at which time they will be expected to earn at least part of their keep. Incidentally, First Lady, Donald should not be exempted from this exercise. He must do his own fair share of forking and hoeing and so on and so forth.
Every week, while the Ministers are tending the ‘First Garden,” two of them should be assigned the cooking….no gas stoves here; a genuine old-fashioned bush cook. OK it might not seem like the best of ideas to have smoke billowing from the lawns of State House but it’s all in a good cause. But first you should find out whether Priya and the two Jennifers and Carolyn and Pauline know how to ‘burn their fingers.’ We don’t want anybody going down with anything. After all, good Ministers are hard to find.
