While in Chuk-a-Muk today (10.28.2018), we were introduced to a medicinal garden. The importance of this parcel of land shouldn’t/couldn’t be taken for granted. The variety of plants we were exposed to had a myriad of benefits; from helping a nursing mother lactate, to providing pain relief.
Space was created to get our hands dirty. Gregario showed us how to take a cutting from a plant, and put it in a nursery so it could take root, and be planted when it matured. This was important because when we arrived, we were told there was a need for a specific plant. We filled the nursery with the cuttings, this way people in the community had access to it once it became established. I started to think how connected people are to mother nature. This was perspective shifting as I began to realize what a home remedy could look like.
We were also tasked with filling the garden beds with plants which had been prepared and matured prior to our arrival. There was much more that went into our project than digging a hole and placing a plant in it. We were encouraged to use techniques such as using our hands to measure the distance between the plants to ensure uniformity. In addition to this, we got education about how compost should be used for plants, how to water, where to spread mulch and of course how to remove the plants from plastic to keep the roots intact while making sure the plants were not too shallow, or too deep. Chuk-a Muk was an introduction to the importance of community involvement.