Parishioners of St Mary’s Church in Warwick celebrated a traditional harvest service — in the wake of hurricanes Humberto and Imelda — last Sunday.

Carlos Amaral, chairman of the Bermuda Farmers’ Association, was the guest speaker at the special service to recognise the importance of our farmers.

“As farmers in Bermuda, we ride a roller coaster of emotions, from the satisfaction of seeing our hard work pay off and the anguish of seeing months and even years of hard work wiped out in a few hours with the passing of a powerful hurricane,” Mr Amaral said.

He stressed that farming is more than a job for local farmers — it’s a lifestyle.

“It involves not only the physical labour of planting, growing and harvesting but also the emotional and social aspects of togetherness and community,” he said.

“We face unique challenges and wear many hats. We are weather men, predicting what’s going to happen with the hurricanes like those this week. We’re entomologists, figuring out what insects are going to affect our crops and how we’re going to mitigate that issue.

“We’re plant pathologists looking at diseases on our plants and trying to figure out the causes and what we need to do to remediate or fix the issues. We are heavy equipment mechanics because in Bermuda we can’t just go down the road to the nearest John Deere dealership for spare parts.”

Mr Amaral noted how technology has and continues to change the farming industry. He said there are far fewer local farmers and farms than when he started.

“I remember attending Farmers’ Association meetings where there was upwards of 30 local farmers,” he said. “Now I think we can count them with just two hands.”

There was a warm reception for the farmers who attended. Their tools, including a tractor from DeSilva’s farm in Devonshire, were blessed by Father Carl Williams, St Mary’s parish priest.

“It was such a beautiful service,” said Father Carl. “We had an excellent turnout and hope to see more farmers and community gardeners join us.

“As with traditional harvest celebrations, we shared local produce, plants and baked goods. We even had Warwick Gombeys dance at the tractor blessing and Hannah Bushara, one of our parishioners, felt the spirit during the service and sang one of her original compositions called The Seed.

“We give thanks for the blessings of food and local produce that God provides for us, and we do try to eat locally grown items as we know they taste the best.”

St Mary the Virgin Church, on Middle Road in Warwick, is an Anglican church that warmly welcomes all to attend its services and functions. Sunday services are at 8am and 10.30am.

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