John Wayne feeds Jones Town with callaloo

Carl Smith moved to Kingston from Troja, St Mary, more than 35 years ago - 'Bob Marley time', as he describes it. He has made 25 Greenwich Road in Jones Town his home ever since.

When THE STAR visited his farm last week, no one in the community knew him by the name Carl Smith. To them, he is simply John Wayne, the callaloo man.

It was no mystery how he acquired that nickname. At the front of house are many rows of callaloo plants, so much so that there was no visible path on which to walk.

But John Wayne, 60, was eager to show us the rest of his farm. And so, with him leading, we carefully manoeuvred our way through the plants to the back of his house.

A variety of trees, including jackfruit, banana, coconut, breadfruit, pear, soursop, tobacco and a mango tree, lined the area at the back of his house, providing shade for the rows of callaloo.

Old refrigerators were filled with soil, and in them tomato plants and Scotch bonnet pepper blossomed. A pen, which has two sections, was home to three pigs - one heavily pregnant - and eight goats, including two rams. Drums were filled with water for irrigation, which John Wayne said he fetches from a standpipe in the community.

In a corner, a heap of fowl manure was scattered. This he uses to nourish the soil.

John Wayne told THE STAR that he decided to make the area around his home a farm when he acquired the property 30 years ago, as farming was the only thing he knew how to do.

"Mi grandfather used to do farming, and mi used to deh gainst him, and know how fi plant tomatoes, callaloo and all dem tings deh. And true mi nuh have no education, a dat mi haffi do," he said.

And he has no regrets.

"Mi love di farming. Mi love fi just plant dem and just walk round and touch dem and all dem something deh. All dem banana tree yah, and dem tobacco yah, mi walk round a day time and look pan dem and admire dem, just how beautiful dem look," he said, while absent-mindedly touching a tobacco plant.

Explaining that he hasn't received any technical support from any government agencies for his farm, John Wayne said that he learnt to do things his own way.

"Everybody plant dem ting different enuh, but a machete mi use and dig a deep hole, and then use di soil and put around the root a di callaloo, so dat the plant still get moisture, all when time dry," he said.

John Wayne sells his produce to community members. His best selling crop is his callaloo, and that's because it's available all year round. He sells this from a stall that he made out of an old refrigerator door.

"Mi just cut it and put it pan mi stall up a the front part, and everybody weh pass and see it, dem buy. Mi sell it fi $100 a bundle," he said.

"When people bruk dem quicker fi buy a bundle a callaloo and some butter and go cook it up," he added, laughing.