Jamaican Farm Tour

Fay with Chef Randy

Treasure Beach, Jamaica – Many people spend their lives in Jamaica and never travel far from their parish, that’s why it was such a pleasure for us to spend two weeks traveling around the island discovering the special things that each parish has to offer. My husband’s family originally hails from north St. Elizabeth so it’s a parish close to our hearts. However, neither Angela nor I had spent time in south St. Elizabeth before so we were excited to go on a Jamaican farm tour to learn more about this part of the island … especially because we’d been hearing a lot about the wonderful things happening in Treasure Beach.

Mr. Dull’s with a bowl organic fruit

We made plans to stay at Jakes Hotel, which is truly the heart of the tourist experience in Treasure Beach. Jakes is the love child of Jason Henzell and his mother, Sally, who have turned it into a quiet destination with a commitment to uplifting the entire community. Click here for our interview with Jason, who answers the question: What is community tourism?

In simple terms community tourism is a commitment to having a everyone living the a community benefit from tourism not just a select few. To that end, Jason continues to spearhead initiatives such as the new community sports centre that boasts a football field, basketball and tennis course. The sports centre is now the hub of the Treasure Beach community and we made sure to join the locals on Saturday night to enjoy the football festivities.

Beet, carrot and arugula salad

Another way Jakes shares the wealth is by purchasing all their produce from farmers in Pedro Plains, the local farming community. Once a month they also host a full moon farm to table dinner at Dull’s Farm, a local organic farm. Since we wouldn’t be there for the dinner that month we jumped at the chance to do a farm tour with Jake’s chef Randy.

The Jamaican farm tour video below is about 5 minutes and was shot on location in Treasure Beach’s Pedro Plains farming community. Make sure to watch to the end to see the easy recipe Chef Randy made with the delicious bounty from our Jamaican farm tour.

beetscarrotscashew fruitDull's Farmfarmjakes hotelmangoesorganicpeanutspedro plainsSt. Elizabethsweet sop
Comments (4)
Add Comment
  • Angela

    Hello, do you check the comments that are left on your recipes? This is my first time visiting your website and will probably have some questions myself. I know people get busy and older material tends to be forgotten or put on the back burner. I am Jamaican, but never learn’t to cook as we always had housekeepers. I just met a wonderful man who is a better cook than I am and I would love to learn how to cook from my own culture. Thank you for creating this site – I need it!!!

  • Neville

    Excellent site. Enjoy many of the recipes I remember being cooked in our home in Jamaica and here in the U.S. as a kid. Learned at my mothers knee and from the maids we had. My American family not used to to it, but will, as long as I do the cooking, which I love to do (smile). Keep up the good work. Respect. Neville.

  • Elia

    Fay your whole vision and combination of community, family, land, food, sustainable tourism, etc is just fantastic! I have a small piece of land in Costa Rica Caribbean side which is heavily influenced by Jamaica because of history…..I am in Barcelona right now for a couple of weeks learning how to cook one of yur recipes….I hope to contribute strengthening our Jamaican roots in that part of the country in Costa Rica with a tsp of salt!

  • Les

    Hi FayI will be heading down to Kingston in Feb., I go to the Missionary of the Poor every year. I am a Chef in sunny Florida, I look forward to the trip each year. I share my talents with the Brothers in the Mission, I have always enjoyed Jamaican cooking , The Brothers do the cooking at the Mission and they share their talents with me. The Mission has a farm on the property, they raise pigs,chickens,goats,rabbits and cows.They also farm vegetables and fruits it is farm to the table cooking.At the Mission we help the staff with the residents daily needs. We shave the men and clean the living spaces for men and woman. It is rewarding to be of service to the Jamaican people, even though they are the poorest of the poor they are very happy people. I am looking forward to return this Feb,