Friars Bay:--- A certified accountant, writer, school teacher and former politician is what most St. Martiners know of Leopold Baly of Friars Bay, however, there is a hidden talent in the well known charismatic St. Martiner that many of his own relatives and friends do not know about.
Mr. Leopold Baly loves gardening, some years ago he used to sell his fresh produce alongside the Marigot main road. Baly said when he first built his house in Friars Bay he used to plant lettuce and tomatoes. "I had so much lettuce and tomatoes that I did not know what to do with all of it. Years ago, I used to take my vegetables on the road and sell it; I would park at the entrance of Howell Center and sometimes by the marketplace where people could see me with my fresh produce. To be honest, I made a lot of monies from that. The Indians use to look for me to buy my tomatoes because the ones I had here in my backyard were very sweet."
Baly said after a while he realized that St. Martin was losing its fruit trees so he decided to harvest fruit trees. "I had many mango, gooseberry, star fruit, sugar apple, sour-sop, guava berry and several other fruit trees that the older people had on the island." I wanted to make sure that we don't lose the trees so I started to harvest them and I was selling them to homeowners." Like everything else, the elderly St. Martiner said that some people used to order the trees and they would never go to get them and when they are too big for the pots he would plant them at the back of his house. "Today, I have so much fruit trees in my yard that I cannot plant vegetables anymore. There is too much shade so I have very little vegetables in my garden now."
Baly made sure he has water for his trees because he also has two concrete reservoirs that he stores water in. He said he built the reservoirs when he was building his house years ago. "We needed water for the construction and there was no pipes here so we had to build our own reservoirs. Today, I am using them to store water for my garden. They also help to hold water during the heavy rains."
At the back of Mr. Baly's house, there are many fruit trees: a huge breadfruit tree, a sapodilla tree, several star fruit trees, sugar cane, sour-sop trees, billambi trees, sugar apple trees, gooseberry trees, and a number of blackberry (Jamun) trees. Between the trees, Mr. Baly plants white yams, sweet potatoes and sweet cassava. There are quite a few number banana trees among the lot, all of which he uses for his family and friends. He still plants some lettuce, tomatoes and local herbs like parsley and thymes.
Besides the trees, the land behind Mr. Baly's house is very rocky. "It is a difficult area to walk in especially when it's raining. Many of my fruits and vegetables got washed away during the heavy rains last year because the water broke through the rock wall," Baly said.
On Saturday, SMN News paid a visit to Mr. Baly's garden, it was surprising to see the amount white yams that Mr. Baly reaped from his backyard the day before. He said he only planted two beds of yams and he rooted up yams that weighed as much as 12 to 15 kilos. There were some with five yams on the root. "It's like my hands with the five fingers on it. I bought the yams in the Chinese Supermarket and I planted them and this is the result."
Brewing Wine from Local Fruits.
While gardening is a hobby for Mr. Leopold Baly, he is also a talented wine brewer. Baly said that he first started to brew wine from the blackberries (Jamun) and while this is a very popular wine among the locals, he said many people do not know the true value of blackberries because it's a natural cure for diabetes while its extremely high in antioxidants. "Women suffering from breast cancer should consume blackberries. All parts of the Jamun tree are used for medicinal purposes."
Gooseberries are a sour fruit that are usually used to make sweets but Baly makes wines and vinegar from the gooseberries. "The gooseberry makes a very nice wine but now I am testing it with the cashew apple. I am trying to blend the two to see the quality of wine I will get out of it." When asked if he markets his wines, Baly said he never sold his wines because it's never enough for his family and friends. "During the holiday season I did not have enough blackberry wine for my family and friends. My sister took a few bottles to the USA and now she is behind me to send some for her to sell. Her friends love it and they are willing to buy it but I am not ready to market the wines I brew here. I also make vinegar from the bilambi and I use it for my own salad dressings."
Political Background.
Leopold Baly said he is one of those men that people consider an "intelligent ass" because he refused to join the existing political parties when he returned to St. Martin years ago. "Back then it was only the Flemings and Petits in politics and every young person that went away to study was expected to join either clan when they returned but I did not. I formed my own party and many people thought I would not have survived it. My parents were angry at me for years, they used to call me the "intelligent ass" because I refused to join the Flemings and the Petits who might have given them some glory and recognition of my achievements in education. However, my belief was different and so I did something different. I was the first person in the history of French St. Martin to form a separate political party that contested the elections that Petit and Fleming were running in. Today, we have lots of young people forming their political movement but they are careful not to do the same as I did for fear of victimization. "I was victimized in several ways. Many young people who were taking their lessons by me were denied that opportunity when they stopped me from operating. I went on to write a book that is already on the shelves "The Forgotten Holocaust", that was to let people get a true sense of their history," he told SMN News in an exclusive interview.
More about Leopold Baly's work can be found on the Elder of St. Martin at http://theelderofsaintmartin.blogspot.com/2011/06/st-martins-socio-culture.html?spref=fb
Click here to view more photos of Leopold Baly's garden in Friars Bay, St. Martin.