I once wrote, “I hate wild tamarind. They’re ugly, untidy and unruly. They spread rampantly and take over the place. They’re prejudiced and intolerant. They grow close together and won’t let any other plants live in their neighborhood. They’re resilient and tenacious. Their sturdy taproot goes straight down into the earth and holds on tight. They can withstand drought, flood and even come back after a fire. There are no insects, predators or diseases that can do them any significant harm. They’re hard to get rid of. If you cut them down, they’ll grow right back. If you try and pull out the small one, you’d better have a lot of time and a lot of patience. If you try and dig out the big ones, you’d better have a good hoe-pick and a strong back.”
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Landscapers and gardeners on St. John often fight prolonged battles against this exotic pest. Small plants can be pulled out or destroyed using relatively innocuous herbicides, but once the tree becomes large it presents more of a problem, emitting thousands of seeds every time they bloom. Cutting them down with a machete just makes the resultant plant stronger by increasing the root dimensions and spreading out the tree into multiple trunks. Some people suggest spreading diesel oil on the newly cut stump. This is an effective way to kill the plant one time, but has extremely negative environmental consequences. To remove them root and all seems like the best solution, but the prevailing opinion is that “it ain’t easy!” But Curtney Chinnery, aka “the Ghost From Jost” has a method as demonstrated in the following video:

St. John Live Music Schedule for tonight, Friday, February 17

Aqua Bistro – Mark Wallace & Rich Greengold – 5:30 – 8:30- 776-5336
Beach Bar – Locals on the 8s – 9:00 – 777-4220
Castaways – Mikey P – 9:00  -777-3316
Driftwood Dave’s – John W Lee – 7:00 – 10:00 – 777-4015
Island Blues – Slammin – 8:00 – 11:00 – 776-6800
Miss Lucy’s – David Reed – 6:00 – 9:00 – 693-5354
Morgan’s Mango – Lauren – 6:00 – 9:30 – 693-8141
Ocean Grill – T-Bird – 6:30 – 9:00 – 693-3304
Shipwreck Landing  – Woody Lissauer – 6:00 – 9:30

See the weekly St. John live music schedule

Kenny Chesney writes a Poem for the Ghost From Jost

The “Ghost from Jost (Curtney Chinnery)” is always writing and reciting poems for his fans and for a change someone has written something for him. And not just anyone, but renowned country western singer/songwriter Kenny Chesney. Ghost’s fan base never ceases to amaze me.

Curtney Chinnery, performance poet and artist was a major contributor to the St. John book,  Tales of St. John and the Caribbean

The Ghost and I made this video yesterday demonstrating how to catch a tarantula. Apparently there are nearly 1,000 species of tarantula and not all are as deadly as commonly imagines. I have heard that these tarantulas, or ground spiders as they are sometimes called on St. John, can inflict a painful bite, but one which is rarely fatal.

Moreover, our St. John tarantulas are not aggressive at all and are fearful of humans.

Stay tunes for more adventures of the “Ghost From Jost…”