A passion for yams
Published:Saturday | April 16, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Nedburn Thaffe, Gleaner Writer
CEDAR GROVE, Manchester: IT'S MINUTES to seven in Cedar Grove, Manchester. The shutters of most small groceries strewn along the roadway remain closed, and the main road which leads into the capital town, Mandeville, shows little sign of life at this hour of the morning.
However, since morning time means farm time for farmers in the parish, the fields are buzzing with activities. Damped with the overnight drizzle, freshly tilled red dirt mingled with chopped grass permeates the air on Laford Beckford's yam 'grung'.
Planting mozella, renta, yellow yam, and pum-pum yam is his business and passion.
"A more than one grung mi have innuh, yeah man. Mi come here from 6 in the morning, and if you nuh mine mi deh here until all 10 in the night. Sometime me just roast piece a yam, and mix up mi little 'bebbige' (beverage) an gwaan do mi work," he said.
preparing the ground
This morning, Beckford is preparing the ground to plant out some excess yam heads, which means he has to do his usual weeding, and dig yam hills; something he has been doing since age 13. "Yam grow good a them place here, man. As a matter a fact, everything grow good a Manchester, so me have to make use a the ground, yeah man," the 45-year-old farmer said with much emphasis.
"From mi a 13, mi a plant yam with mi ole man (father) over Bull Head," Beckford told The Gleaner with his hand extended to the east.
'The first time mi a go plant yam, mi seh to him, 'Daddy, mi waan plant piece a grung fi mi self'. Him look on me and seh, 'Bwoy weh you a talk bout, you can plant grung?," he said with a chuckle.
"You see when him give me the piece a grung and mi plant mi yam, my yam grew bigger than all of his. Him look on me and ask me how a first mi a plant yam and it grow so big," Beckford added.
years of experience
With 32 years of experience under his belt planting yam, no wonder The Gleaner takes everything he says as gospel. And as he explained, there is more to planting yam than what meets the eye; it is an art.
"Look on this, every yam head come with three eyes," he said, taking up piece to illustrate. " You see when the yam grow, it grow from the eyes, so if you want two fat piece a yam, you go so and dig out one of the eye them," he said, carefully jamming his cutlass in the piece of yam.
"You see if you nuh kill one of the eyes, it not going to bear as big as you want it to," the farmer explained.
"When you ready to plant it now, you have to line up yuh hand straight, position the yam inna the grung, and take it out straight same way. You see when you do this, the yam grown straight and nice," he told The Gleaner.
Beckford says he does not see himself throwing down his fork and cutlass anytime soon. "You mad! Mi nah stop plant grung fi now. Mi do other little things on the side like painting and other things, but a this mi mek my living out of," he said.