May is Haitian Heritage Month. It’s packed with holidays: Labor Day, Agriculture Day, Flag Day, National Sovereignty Day, and most important of all, Mother’s Day!
At home and in the dyaspora, compatriots commemorate Premier Mai (May First) in many ways, including dressing up like the patron Lwa of agriculture–a peasant farmer who answers to the names Azaka Mede, Kouzen Zaka, among others.
If having a green thumb means that every seed you plant sprouts, then Azaka Mede is green all over. Every seed he even dreams of dropping in the soil yields a bountiful harvest.
Another person with a serious green thumb is First Lady Michelle Obama. For years now she’s been doing her best to show the public that cultivating the little piece of land you might call your own doesn’t mean you’re broke. Who cares what the neighbors think? They don’t pay your mortgage anyway.
Getting dirt under your fingernails by caring for precious soil won’t turn you into a peasant. Ask Martha Stewart. Wait. Ask Oprah.
If you don’t like Michelle Obama’s gardening style, that’s cool. This is America; you get to choose. Hunger doesn’t care what it says on your voting card. Everyone loses. And starves. Let’s hope not.
You don’t have to belong to a particular political party to appreciate good, clean, healthy food. Growing your own food–if you’re lucky enough to do so–makes you one of the elite. Seriously.
Imagine if farmers in Haiti could produce enough to feed every household! Wait. Too many might not want that to happen. Let’s talk about something else instead. Say. . .
Fashion?
Yes.
Michelle Obama is known for her sophisticated fashion sense. Azaka Mede, on the other hand, is not quite a fashionisto. He prefers threadbare denim to Naeem Khan couture. He’s never been inside a WalMart, Target, K-Mart, forget about Neiman Marcus!
By the way, I saw a Naeem Khan “Peasant Dress” on Neiman Markus’ website. The price tag is $2,390.00 US. That’s not exactly for the average peasant. If you can afford it, though, happy shopping!
Azaka Mede wears the same straw hat he’s worn for generations. His calloused feet are in the same old pair of sandals. Scarves protrude from his pockets—not Gucci, Hermes–just old rags. He uses them to mop his sweaty brow. Spending endless hours under the Caribbean sun causes your sweat to sweat.
No gala dinners for Zaka either. No red carpet events. No beer on the White House lawn. Zaka would not fit in anyhow. He’s a simple man who enjoys a simple life. Zaka likes his calabash bowl and eats with his hands.
But don’t let Azaka Mede’s shabby appearance fool you. He is as rich as the Atlantic Ocean has souls. He is worth more than the White House’s collection of china service. Land is Zaka’s fortune. Everything he needs in the soil.
It pleases me when people tell me I have a green thumb. Every year–right next to the flowers–I grow tomato, cucumber, eggplant, onion, okra, potato, pumpkin, lettuce, rosemary, sage, parsley, thyme, apples, blueberries, blackberries, grapes, and plenty of other goodies. And I live in the city with a patch of land the size of my right hand.
Unlike Michelle Obama and Oprah’s farms, my little patch of land will never make the news, but I love gathering fresh berries from my yard and eating them while the sun’s heat is still in them. I love the apples I get from my little Charlie Brown apple tree. I am one of the few who gets to grow her own food and enjoy it.
I am thrilled that Michelle Obama doesn’t have a problem with getting her hands dirty to teach folk the value of cultivating the land they do have. This is precisely the lesson Azaka Mede has been trying to teach us for generations.