The Ganja Fence Part 2

The Rasta grabbed a plant and said, "go back up mon", and so we did. Once we got back to the surface, we sat down under the cashew tree and broke up a few buds from the now dried plant, and as we smoked the magical herb Rasta went on to tell me this garden had been his fathers garden and that he was just a boy when his father had originally started this garden. He shared many of his happy memories of this place, as a boy working with his father with me.

I was just sitting there, spacing out and munching on some raw cashews and a grapefruit, slow poking my spleff, when all of a sudden I saw it. I could not believe my eyes but I was looking at a ganja plant that was so big, at first I thought it was a tree. I stood up and walked over to the giant plant, and from what I could tell this ganja tree as about 60 feet tall, or maybe even taller! I asked Rasta if he ever took any of the buds from this tree to smoke, and he answered, "who can reach them, mon"? He pointed out that the reason that I thought it was a tree in the first place was because all of the lower branches had been cut off and smoked long ago, and the trunk of the ganja tree was now so very tree like in appearance and girth...

I told him that I was going to go rent me a car to take me to the city, when I got back to town, and buy me a big ladder, maybe two of them, and that I would hire boys to carry the ladders out here, the next day, and that since no one else wanted to bother climbing to the top of this tree to collect the treasures that are waiting up there, I would! He laughed at me and said "dats cool mon, dat'a goot ting"

That night as I watched the sun set over the western tip of the beach below my mountain side home, I managed to spread the word that I'd need some help in the morning, and by morning's light there were a large group of boys, willing to carry the ladders for me... I told them that I had to catch a car to the city, and buy the ladder first, and so we made plans to meet, at sun up the next morning...

The next morning my driver took me to Savanna La Mar where I was able to buy the ladders I needed. My driver helped me load and tie down the ladder in the truck to carry them home for me.. The boys were all very excited when they saw the truck pull up in front of my home late that same afternoon, and they all rushed over to help us unload the ladders and to confirm the fact that they would all meet me at sun up in front of my home to carry the ladders out to the garden for me. Once the ladders were safely chained to the side porch, we all said our good nights and I went to bed. I can remember falling asleep to the sound of rain falling on the tin roof of my small wooded two roomed house, and I was so tired that not even the sound of the lightening kept me from drifting off into dream land.

The morning came way too soon for me, and before I knew it I had a large group of boys, waiting out side of my home for me, chit chatting. I picked the boys I wanted to use and then they loaded the ladder section's that I had just bought the day before on to their shoulders. I could tell they were all very happy about this chance to work for me carrying the ladders deep into the bush, to make some money!

The tall grass was very wet from the rain that fell over night, and there was broken tree branches and limbs everywhere. One of the boys asked me if I had seen any of the storm that we had last night, and asked if my home had suffered any damage like many of the other wooden homes had nearby. "What storm" I said, "tell me, just how much damage was done, did it rain all night" I asked. I didn't see any damage when I woke, but then again I really didn't have any time to look, so I figured to myself, that my home was one that was spared. "No, not at all, no damage was done to my home,". I said, As we walked deeper into the bush I could see more and more lightening damage. I saw one tree that was split right in half, right down the middle! "Wow, we must'a had a really bad storm", I said and the boys all giggled and started whispering as we walked on to the treasure I had found.

When I got to the spot, where I had seen the 60 foot ganja tree just two days ago, I could not believe my eyes... Rasta Dixon took one look and dropped to his knees and started to laugh and cry and praise Jah all at the same time. His reaction seemed strange to me but yet he seemed so happy crying that I just let him go and made my way over to the tree. I for one was happy to see that lightening had struck and fell the ganja tree, and that it was laying down on the ground, all of it's majestic branches dropping and dying... I was in a very strange state of mind as I stood there, frozen, trying hard to understand what I was looking at and what had happened: this tree was now mine; all mine...

I stood there frozen and felt a if I had been split in two, you see half of me was so happy that now I could just walk over to the half dead tree laying there on the ground, and just snip the bud, that was growing on the very tippy top of the tree, in fact IF I wanted to I could snip all the hundreds of these giant buds! The other half of me was so very sad that the tree had been struck by lightening, and that it was dying, as it lay there on the red ground. I was in this confused emotional state and it was this total confusion that finally allowed me to unfreeze and move again.. I looked over at Rasta Dixon and he was now dancing around in a circle and singing at the top of his voice "Oh praise Jah, Jah, let Jah be praise" and reciting scripture "Glory be to the Father and to the maker of creation As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be World without end" [Jah Rastafari: Eternal God Selassie I (131)]

I walked over to the ganja tree on the ground at my feet, and with one mighty swipe of my machete' I cut the top of the tree off, and claimed that giant bud as mine! The bud had to weigh between 3 and 5 pounds each! I tell you that it was so sticky it was pulling my T Shirt on to it and it was hard to pull my shirt away. The bud smelled so sweet that bees started to gather around my head, each just waiting for their turn to suck resin and pollen from the bud as I held it in my had. I could tell that the bees only wanted to suck pollen and get high and that they had no interest in me or stinging me at all so I wasn't worried. That's just the way things are out there in the bush. you become one with everything...

Knowing that I was one with everything, I wondered to myself exactly why The Powers That Be gave this tree to me as a gift and why had Jah struck this tree down with His lightening just for my pleasure. The sound of many more bees that had gathering at the now fell tree snapped me out of my daydream, and as I looked over at my friend Rasta Dixon, and he just stood there and looked at me holding this five pound giant sticky sweet ganja bud in my hands and said "Jim mon, dis is what I remember you by mon, and from dis day on dis is da picture dat'll be in me head of you, yea mon, when me tink about ya mon dis is what me see in me head from dis day on..."

I asked him what ever would we do now, that the tree had been struck by lightening, and just laying there dying, slowly, out in the hot Jamaican sun. Dixon walked over to me and he said "don't fret mon, Jah Jah take dat tree now and do it good" I had no idea what he was talking about and really didn't care. I was so amazed at the hundreds of two, three and four pound bud's, all over the ground, just waiting for me to get around to cutting them, that nothing Rasta Dixon said made any sense to me at all...

Chech and Chong, eat your heart's out!

I carefully cut, and then dragged about 50 or 60 of these giant ganja buds down into the underground bunker, and hung each one upside down from the roof beams. I was totally exhausted but I felt that I did the right thing because now they would be able to dry slowly, and they would certainty be safe till I was ready for one or two of them.

I grabbed the biggest bud, the one from the very tippy top of the giant tree, wrapped it in a string bag, and threw the bag over my shoulder and started walking home. The time passed quickly out there in the fields and after all the sun was now setting over the fields of ganja that were waving in the breeze. I headed out towards the east and Dixon followed my lead and when he caught up with me I said "hey Dixon, ya think maybe Jah gave me that bush cause he know how bad I wanted it" The Rasta looked at me with much wisdom in his bloodshot eyes and said "Jim mon, stranger tings hap'in mon" I smiled at him and asked, "know where I can sell some ladders...


It took me less than five days to smoke that one bud so I had no reason at all to go back to "the spot" during that first week, but the following week I decided to go back to the spot, and grab me another one or two of my giant buds. I asked Rasta Dixon if he wanted to come with me, and he said ok...

When we finally got back out to "the spot" in the beautiful red ground bush where the tree just days ago lay dying, we were amazed to see that each and every branch of the tree was doing very well and was now standing straight up sucking strength and life from the hot Jamaican sun. In the past 5 days or so the tree had turned into a Ganja Fence! A sixty foot long ganja fence that to me, was the most amazing thing I have ever seen...

©1997 Jim Nasium