Thinking Small
- By Claudia Colli
Recently I went with family to the South Florida Agricultural Fair in West Palm Beach, and even though I had not been to a US Ag fair since my kids were small, all the nostalgia came back. Everything was there: stalls of cotton candy, amusement park rides, pens of prize winning animals – including amazingly large roosters and chickens in a dazzling array of colors and patterns.
There was a display of gleaming classic cars and Harley Davidson motorcycles (which made my grandson's eyes pop out), a dog show and pig racing (I hadn't known that pigs could run that fast!) And then there were the food kiosks – pizza, ice cream, nuggets and donuts – all designed to appeal to impressionable youngsters (and adults), and add to the waistline. The grounds were so large that even after four or five hours we had seen only a fraction of what was on offer.
My next chance to go to an Ag Fair was earlier this month on Tortola. And although I have been to the Agricultural Exhibition at Farmer's Week many times before, I wondered if I would now find it too small and too tame. The lesson I learned, though, is that there's pleasure in the small things.
There was a wonderful camaraderie at the fair. The farmers, who had laid out tables with home grown veggies and fruits, were proud of their achievements. "They are all organically grown," said one woman of her mustard greens and local spinach. There isn't much organic in the grocery store, so I filled my bag up. We also ended up with a tangerine seedling and two lavender orchids. As we moved past the different tables, we chatted to the vendors about the pleasures of cultivating one's own produce, and got a few growing tips for our own vegetable garden.
You couldn't get pizza, burgers or nuggets, at Farmer's Week, but you could get a heaping portion of stewed conch, peas and rice, homemade coleslaw and johnny cake. There wasn't a Las Vegas-style magic show, or a pig Grand Prix, but there were donkey races, local music and pens of prize sheep, pigs and goats – plus some pumpkins and squash as beautiful as sculptures.
When people comment that there is no agriculture in the BVI, they haven't gone to Farmers' Week. It may be a fraction of the size of the South Florida Fair, but that's part of its charm.