The recently public launch of the book Preserving Paradise, edited by Professor Sean Carrington and contributed to by some of the great experts of environmental knowledge of this country provided the opportunity for a copy to be received for the FCT’s library from the Barbados Museum and Historical Society.
At a presentation chaired by Director of the Museum, Ms Alissandra Cummins, (who kindly invited the FCT to be present at the book which is dedicated to the life of the late Dr Colin Hudson, founder of the FCT) the Honourable Prime Minister, Freundel Stuart, remarked that today, even moreso, the environment and its care is critical to our survival.
We are pleased and very grateful for the invitation to the event and even moreso to be fortunate to have such a great resource now available for borrowing from our library. We wish the museum the very best of luck in the sales of this wonderful contribution to the environmental education of Barbados.
For those who have been keeping up with our Permaculture transformation in the Hudson Community Garden, you will be pleased to note there is another morning in the garden to learn more of the principles!
Recently, the FCT, has had the pleasure of working with Lorraine Ciarallo from Canada, who is a Permaculture Designer, Consultant & Educator and obtained her Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) in 2009 and in December 2011, completed the Permaculture Internship Program at the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia.
Lorraine, has been volunteering her time at the Hudson Permaculture Garden for over a month and sharing her knowledge with us. We have been clearing the garden of bush while building mulch boomerangs for the trees to retain moisture in the soil, spreading coconut mulch, growing heirloom seedlings and surveying the land to determine contours for placement of swales and beds.
Join us on Saturday the 5th of May in the Little Edgehill garden from 7:30 am to 12:00 noon. Lorraine shows us how to determine contours to capture maximum moisture and develop swales and beds along the contour lines. Please bring picks, hoes and mattocks, water, snack, hat, sunblock and friends to share the work load.
For more information please contact Lani at 836-6189.
Looking forward to seeing you all in the garden to build and develop sustainable agriculture right here at home.
For those who are not sure what Permaculture is, try this great resource:http://www.permaculture.org.au/
On Wednesday April 25, 2012, Chairman of the FCT, Mrs Vivian-Anne Gittens, Administrative Director, Ms Nicole Garofano, and Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Kammie Holder, met with Dr The Honourable Denis Lowe at the offices of the Ministry of Environment with several of his colleagues.
We are happy to provide this snapshot of the the two and half hours of discussions including a presentation by Nicole on behalf of the FCT which included some of the great work we have been achieving over these past few years – and we say we, because without the help of our volunteers, our funders and you, who take the time to support us and read of our work, we could not have achieved such important work.
We include here the comments as recorded by Nicole Garofano from the meeting: Minutes of meeting with Dr Denis Lowe Minister of Environment and Drainage
Show here is the presentation offered to the Minister by the FCT: Meeting with Minister Denis Lowe April 25 2012
And finally, the Submission document of Public Sentiment gathered from the comments of those who chose to attend the Earth Day Morning Gully Walk event: Review of Earth Day Comments which was handed over to the Minister along with several copies of Bri and Luk – Book 1 as seen here with Mrs Gayle Francis-Vaughan, PS of Environment and Drainage: 
Thank you Minister Lowe and your team for your appreciation of our work and your commitment to develop a formal agreement with the FCT for mutually beneficial relationships in the future. We look forward to working with you and we look forward to keeping our readers updated on the progress of the development of a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and consideration of subvention for the continued work of the FCT.
Bridgetown, BARBADOS“We do not inherit the earth from our fathers; we borrow it from our children -Native American Proverb”