Greenhill 4-H Club: Garden to Green Seasoning

by Gamali Waldron, 4-H County Coordinator, Tobago

Nestled in the heart of the village of Mt. St George, Tobago, the Mt. St. George Methodist Primary School, a small denominational school, started a 4-H Club with the premise of keeping the children engaged in activities and becoming lovers of agriculture.  The 4-H club registered seventeen (17) members in June 2023 as the Greenhill 4-H Club.   The name was derived from one of the village’s most well-known sites, the Greenhill Waterfall.

Throughout the two years as a registered club, the activities are centered around the 4 tenets of 4-H: head, hands, heart, and health.

Over the past terms, the 4-Hers chose to adopt an elderly within the community with whom the 4-Hers share good tidings and gifts. A school beautification project is currently a work in progress as the 4-Hers learn about good agricultural practices from a theoretical and practical standpoint at weekly meetings on Thursdays.   4-Hers engaged in the sale of produce like organic bananas from the garden and also partook in an Aerobics burnout during the Carnival period.

The club has a functioning internal executive comprised of a president, treasurer, assistant treasurer, and public relations officer. The duties include keeping club members abreast of weekly activities and also fostering the skills of book-keeping, and record-keeping of regularity and punctuality.

This year the project exposed the 4-Hers to food preservation under the watchful eye of their Voluntary Leader Ms. Pamela Ottley.   4-Hers were briefed about the proper handling of food for sale and personal consumption.  All members were fully engaged from harvesting, and bringing additional herbs from home to sorting by name, washing/sterilizing,  and creating the final product, seasoning.  The Club aims to give from our first produce before anything can be sold.