The Les Fruits de Mer association has launched a free at-home learning program. Amuseum@Home shares several fun learning resources each day via social media and the Les Fruits de Mer website. The program supports local learning while schools are shut down and St. Martiners of all ages are staying at home to avoid spreading coronavirus. 

“With the acceleration of this global pandemic we knew we had to act,” explained Les Fruits de Mer President Jenn Yerkes. “Sharing these free learning tools and activities can help kids stay engaged and entertained during this difficult time, while also learning about their island. It can help parents and teachers too. We hope that it also makes it easier for people to stay at home to slow the potential spread of coronavirus.”

The Amuseum@Home program launched on Sunday with an ebook about pond birds, a set of coloring pages and a short documentary film about flamingos on St. Martin. The theme for the day was wetlands. Les Fruits de Mer plans to share several resources each day.

“This is a very hard time, but the rich nature and heritage of St. Martin have a way of lifting spirits,” said Les Fruits de Mer co-founder Mark Yokoyama. “Let’s find inspiration in the stories of St. Martiners and in the amazing plants and animals that have survived countless droughts and tempests. It is a good time to explore and celebrate what makes this island special.” 

All of the Amuseum@Home materials are offered for free. To access them, visit Les Fruits de Mer on Facebook, or go to https://www.lesfruitsdemer.com/category/athome/ for daily collections of books, activities, videos and more.

Where can you look if you want to learn more about St. Martin? If you want to know about hotels, restaurant and tourist attractions, head to the internet. If you want to know what commanders were in charge of the colonies and how many barrels of salt were produced in the 19th century, look in various government archives. If you want to know foreigners saw the island, many of the history books written in the 20th century will tell you.

But what if you want to learn about life on St. Martin—how it is and how it was? What about local culture? What about local events that weren’t “historical” enough to make it into the permanent record? What about the knowledge passed down from generations?

The best, and often only, source of this knowledge is direct conversation with St. Martiners. At this very moment, the people of the island know more about St. Martin than all the sites on the web and all the archives in Europe. This is a tremendous resource. It is the most vast and valuable part of St. Martin’s heritage.

There is a line that has been slipping away for a long time. It is a fuzzy line drawn somewhere in the early 1960s when the age of tourism began in earnest. It is a line that divides those that remember the island’s traditional period and those who never knew it. It is a line edging close to the horizon.

St. Martin’s unique cultural legacy will endure, as it has for hundreds of years. But the depth and richness of that legacy will depend largely on what we are able to record today and in the coming few years. It will depend in part on how we protect and preserve what has already been documented. But most of all, it will depend on how many people we can speak to and how many stories we can record right now.

With time working against us, perhaps we can start by identifying the St. Martin 100. Who are the 100 St. Martiners who need to be interviewed most urgently? Perhaps their oral histories are of special value because of their experience or role in the community. Perhaps the perfect St. Martin 100 simply captures a diversity of experience: people from all walks of life from all over the island. Certainly it includes elders who can still remember life when it was very different here.

Of course, the St. Martin 100 is just a start. If 100 oral histories could be recorded a year, a library of 1,000 interviews could exist in a decade. So many stories would be saved and so many traditions described from different points of view. This would be a true library of culture and heritage.

Who would you suggest for the St. Martin 100? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or [email protected].

Nature lovers and book lovers have something to celebrate on St. Martin. Ten different books about local wildlife are now available at Amuseum Naturalis, including eight in English and two in French. All of the books are full of vivid color images and great stories about the island’s unique nature. They are published by the Les Fruits de Mer association.

“The last edition of our wildlife guide was completely sold out. So it’s great to have it available again–plus a bunch of other beautiful books!” said author Mark Yokoyama. “Most of them are available in print for the first time, and it’s really nice to sit down and flip through the pages. We’re especially excited to have the long-awaited French edition of the St. Martin wildlife guide!”

The first French edition of The Incomplete Guide to the Wildlife of St. Martin has been published thanks to a micro-project grant from the French Agency for Biodiversity’s Te Me Um resource center and its members. The project financed the French translation by Amandine Vaslet and the printing of 200 copies for schools. Teachers who would like a free copy for their classrooms can pick it up at Amuseum Naturalis.

Copies of the French and English versions of the wildlife guide are also available to teachers from French Quarter thanks to the Quartier + Musée project funded by CGET and the Collectivité de Saint-Martin under the Politique de la Ville program. Teachers from French Quarter are encouraged to stop by the Amuseum to pick up their copies.

For the general public, books are available for purchase at Amuseum Naturalis at The Old House for $10 to $20. They are also available on Amazon for those not on the island.  As always, digital versions can be downloaded for free at lesfruitsdemer.com. Amuseum Naturalis is on the hill above Galion Beach in French Quarter. It is open 9am to noon, Tuesday to Saturday, and entry is free to all.

Every two years, BirdsCaribbean holds its international conference on Caribbean birds and their habitats. The meeting is the largest of its kind, attracting hundreds of delegates from the region and beyond. This year, it will be held in Guadeloupe from July 25-29. St. Martin will be represented by Jenn Yerkes, Mark Yokoyama and William Allanic of the Les Fruits de Mer association.

Jenn Yerkes will be delivering two presentations: Jumbie Trees and Spirit Birds: Connecting Cultural and Natural Heritage to Engage the Public and Helping People Engage with Nature After a Natural Disaster. Both presentations will highlight work done on St. Martin in the last two years. Mark Yokoyama will be leading a workshop on working with local media. William Allanic will be attending as a youth delegate.

BirdsCaribbean is the largest conservation group in the region. Its members come from nonprofits, forestry departments and universities all over the region. They do research, save wild spaces and share the magic of birds and nature all over the Caribbean. At the conference, over 200 members will gather in one place to share the latest in research and more.

Les Fruits de Mer has been a partner of BirdsCaribbean since 2013. The association became the first institutional member of BirdsCaribbean in the entire French Caribbean in 2015. Les Fruits de Mer members have presented at international BirdsCaribbean conferences in 2013, 2015 and 2017.

The conference is important because it is the one time when people working in bird science, conservation and education all over the Caribbean come together to learn and share. Training workshops teach skills like how to do a bird survey. New research and techniques for helping birds are shared. Les Fruits de Mer members will bring know-how back to St. Martin where it can be used to raise awareness, improve nature education and protect valuable habitats.

This year’s conference is “Keeping Caribbean Birds Aloft” (or “An nou poté mannèv pou zozio karayib volé” in Créole). In keeping with the theme, the conference will feature many ways to help birds in the Caribbean.

“Our birds face many challenges, and we want to address them,” noted Lisa Sorensen, the Executive Director of BirdsCaribbean. “We will work on how to protect birds from threats like plastic pollution or habitat destruction. We are also working to promote birds for their value as a tourism attraction and the benefits they provide to people.”

You can learn more about the conference at http://birdscaribbean.org/bc2019/, including keynote speakers, workshop themes and field trips. Registration is open now.

In a little brown notebook full of 18th century medical cures and other valuable information, many people are mentioned. Some are patients, some are doctors. Some are notable figures in St. Martin history, others we may never know.

Some remind us that there was a patient behind each treatment, like the woman Judy. She appears in the title of a remedy: “For the dry Belly ache such as the woman Judy had.” Others invoke family names still common on St. Martin, like the pills to J.B. Gumbs “to act on the liver.”

Some tell a story of inter-island connection. A number of cures are recorded from a Dr. Griffin from St. Kitts, and one from “the French Doctor Laguionie.” Others help us place the notebook in history. One medical recipe was “recommended for the man Will belonging to the Estate Mary’s Fancy.” This seems to show that this was written during the time of slavery.

Early in the notebook is a list of medicines delivered from New York to Mr. Lucas Percival. He was born around 1809 and died in 1877. He is best known as the owner of the Diamond Estate in Cole Bay. Just after emancipation was announced by the French, 26 enslaved persons left the estate to gain their freedom across the border. This escape showed that slaveholders on the Dutch side could not sustain slavery as it was. They were forced to make changes long before it was finally abolished by the Dutch in 1863.

Most of the cures in the first part of the book come from Dr. Allaway. Peter Welles Allaway was a surgeon who bought the Union plantation in Colombier in 1832. After French emancipation in 1848, Dr. Allaway was the first planter to sign a contract with free workers. Despite being a doctor, Allaway’s contract has a clause noting that he makes no commitment to providing medical care to the workers.

The “Remedy by Parson Hodge of Anguilla for cough and digestion” is noted as “good.” He is the Reverend John Hodge, who introduced Methodism to Anguilla and St. Martin. He was a free man of mixed race — a black mother and white father. He was also the first Caribbean person ordained by the Methodist Church. At the time, there was no doctor on Anguilla, so medicines were provided by the Methodist Missionary Society and care was given by missionaries.

One more name found in the book is not tied to the major historical changes in 19th century St. Martin, but is still important. Tucked at the bottom of the page is a short recipe: “Pills (by Doctor Allaway) prescribed by him for my daughter Anna Gumbes who had a catarrh, bilious fever and obstinate.”

Do you have an idea who the parents of Anna Gumbes are? Share it by writing in to The Daily Herald or [email protected].

The first foods on St. Martin were here long before the first people. Many different native fruits were already part of the landscape when the first people came. Before the first people, these fruits were food for native birds and other animals. We can thank the birds for eating these fruits and then spreading the seeds from island to island.

Sea grape and coco plum are often found near the sea, and still grow wild near many of our beaches. Guava and guavaberry do well in valleys with rich soil and plenty of water. Soursop and sugar apple were once found in almost every yard.

Today, some native fruits, like the water lemon, are rarely seen. The water lemon is a close relative of the passion fruit. Both plants are vines with beautiful flowers. The fruit of the water lemon is oval-shaped, and soft and fuzzy on the outside. Inside, the fruit looks like a passion fruit, with edible seeds in sweet, juicy pulp. Though delicious, they are not widely grown.

Sea Grapes are still loved for their shade and beauty, but now much of their fruit goes uneaten. Over the years, many new, non-native fruits like mango, banana and kinnip became local favorites after they were brought to St. Martin from other parts of the world.

Other native fruits still have a strong place in local diet and culture. Guavaberry is a favorite flavor for rum, jam and tarts eaten at Christmas time. Soursop trees are still found beside many houses. Their fruit are enjoyed as juice, smoothies or sorbet and their leaves are used as a bush tea.

When we enjoy native fruits — especially from trees growing in the wild — we can imagine what it was like for the first people who arrived here. They’re a true taste of paradise and a rich part of our natural heritage.

What are your favorite local fruits? Tell us by writing in to The Daily Herald or [email protected].

Move over, boring old catamarans—make way for the octomaran! The Les Fruits de Mer association is finalizing its design for the world’s first eight-hull sailing ship. The ship, to be named the Calamari, will serve as a traveling laboratory for ocean research.

“How much more stable is the octomaran compared to a single-hull ship? Obviously, eight times more stable,” explained conceptual designer Mark Yokoyama. “There are also significant safety benefits. The Calamari will be partially unsinkable. Our computer modeling shows at least one hull remains afloat in every possible scenario. In a real-world disaster, a substantial portion of the passengers are likely to survive.”

The Calamari is the first octomaran ever designed. Each hull will have its own sleeping quarters, laboratory space and kitchen. The research team will be able to conduct up to eight experiments at the same time. They will also be able to cook up to eight different kinds of food simultaneously.

“The Calamari will be a platform for conducting research that has never been attempted,” declared Les Fruits de Mer expedition chief Jenn Yerkes. “We’ll also be able to feed a crew with any combination of dietary restrictions and food allergies imaginable. It will truly be a new age of exploration.”

Its groundbreaking design will give the Calamari eight times the typical buoyancy, making it suitable for extremely shallow areas as well as the profound depths of the big blue. “We’ll be able to deploy teams of extreme shallow snorkelers as easily as deep-sea divers. We’re thrilled to develop this truly unique craft to discover and share the natural heritage of St. Martin’s seas!”

Once the design is finalized, construction will begin at shipyards in Halifax, Newark, Sheffield, Mumbai, Nagasaki, St. Petersburg, Stroobos and Saint-Nazaire. The components will be assembled on St. Martin.

In addition to the Calamari, the association has already created initial designs for a nine-hull octomaran to be called the Octoplus.

We had a fantastic day on Saturday with tons of wonderful volunteers! It was super busy, but Maël Renault found the time to take some photos. It looks like fun, and it really is! Our next volunteer day is Saturday, April 13th from 9am-noon. You can get details, sign up and invite friends here.

Non-profit association Les Fruits de Mer is getting ready to launch their biggest project ever, a brand new museum for St. Martin. The group, which has previously focused on wildlife education, is taking their latest project in a surprising new direction.

“After two successful years of our nature museum, Amuseum Naturalis, the obvious next step would be to expand to include local heritage and culture as well,” explained co-founder Mark Yokoyama. “But we decided to consider all the possibilities, no matter how crazy or unexpected. What has never been done on St. Martin? What would no one ever think of doing a museum about? Then it hit us: Yoda!”

Yoda is a character from the Star Wars movies, a “Jedi” master, strong with “The Force” who lives on the fictional planet “Dagobah”. Although loved by millions, the character has no particular connection to St. Martin. For an organization focused on local topics like wildlife and folklore, the idea of creating a Yoda museum was intimidating.

“When the idea first came up, I said, ‘You want the impossible!’ ” remembers Les Fruits de Mer President Jenn Yerkes. “Mark said ‘Let’s try!’ and I thought, ‘There is no try—let’s do this.’ ”

The Yoda museum will be located in the historic building that formerly housed The Old House museum. After Hurricane Irma, the site was in need of extensive clean-up. The association has used all its powers to lift this project off the ground. Still, the building is remarkably beautiful. As Jenn Yerkes asserts, “When 200 years old you reach, look as good you will not.”

Always in motion is the future, but you can follow the progress of the museum at https://www.lesfruitsdemer.com or search your feelings for Les Fruits de Mer on Facebook.

UPDATE: It has come to our attention that the new museum will not be the island’s first Yoda museum. It seems there has been a Yoda museum in Philipsburg for over 10 years. We sincerely regret the error. To our knowledge, the new museum will be the first Yoda museum on the French side of the island.

Does every name have a story behind it? If not every name, surely most do. Some are beautiful, some are terrible. But one thing that many have in common is that we become so used to the names, we forget the stories.

Consider Philipsburg—it’s named after John Philips, but what do we really know about him? He is not particularly well known—he doesn’t even have a page on Wikipedia. How many countries have a capital named after someone so obscure?

What we do know is that he was born in Scotland and made Commander of St. Maarten by the Dutch West India Company. The West India Company was a slave trading enterprise, and every part of the Philips story involved enslaved people. He convinced planters to come to the island with their slaves by offering them land, and was a plantation owner and slaveowner himself. He gets the credit for having Fort Amsterdam rebuilt, but surely enslaved people did the actual rebuilding.

Of course, many historical figures took an active part in enslaving and dehumanizing others. Thomas Jefferson is a commonly cited example. His ownership of slaves was accepted at the time, then largely erased from history. Thankfully, today we are more open about the brutality and horror of colonization and slavery, and the role of those involved. We can recognize Jefferson as a political thinker, while also seeing how terribly incomplete his vision of democracy was.

On St. Martin, many names we use today are linked to slavery. Consider all the towns and neighborhoods named after plantations where people were enslaved: Hope Estate, Belvedere, Mary’s Fancy and Madame Estate. There are neighborhoods, real estate developments and businesses named after plantations.

St. Martin is full of names that are both part of local heritage and linked to terrible suffering. How can the island reconcile these two things? Are we telling an honest version of the story behind the name Philipsburg? Is it reasonable to expect that every time we name something after a plantation, we recognize the enslaved people that built that plantation? What is the role of government, business owners using these names, and the people of the island? Write in to The Daily Herald, or to [email protected] and share your thoughts!

After delighting over 10,000 visitors in its first two years, Amuseum Naturalis is coming back in a new location in 2018. St. Martin’s first natural history museum will be expanding to highlight island heritage and culture as well as nature. At the new location, formerly The Old House museum, there will also be community projects including gardens, a composting center and a native plants nursery.

“We are thrilled to create a space to tell all the stories of St. Martin!” announced Les Fruits de Mer President Jenn Yerkes. “We’re working with the local community to find and tell stories. We especially want to shine a light on heritage that’s been ignored or suppressed, and show how the island’s history and culture is fascinating and meaningful.”

Amuseum Naturalis is developed and operated by the Les Fruits de Mer association. The group believes this project is important for many reasons. Local school systems are already under stress after Hurricane Irma. School materials on the island come from Europe or North America, and don’t teach enough about local nature or heritage. The Amuseum has been, and will be, free for all. It is a place where young people can discover science and history, and develop valuable skills.

“We’re really happy to see the amount of support the Amuseum is getting,” commented Amuseum curator Mark Yokoyama. “Volunteers have been coming to help clear the property and prepare the site. Everyone who comes falls in love with this place. People from around the world have been supporting with donations. It’s a big project, but together we can make it happen for the island!”

Les Fruits de Mer are currently working with volunteers to prepare the new location every weekend, and more volunteers are always welcome. The next volunteer day is Saturday, March 17th, and more information is available at lesfruitsdemer.com and on the Les Fruits de Mer Facebook page. There is also a crowdfunding campaign raising funds until March 30th. St. Martiners interested in sharing stories or ideas about topics to feature in the museum should contact [email protected].

We’re super excited to be relaunching Amuseum Naturalis at an amazing new location: The Old House! In addition to nature, we will also be highlighting local heritage and culture. The new Amuseum will also be a space for community projects. We’ve already started a native plants nursery for reforestation and bird-friendly backyards. Community gardens and a composting center are on our to-do list!

To learn more about the project and donate to support it, visit our crowdfunding page.

We will be posting regular updates about our progress here, in our newsletter and on Facebook, so please follow along. Our next volunteer get-together is Saturday, March 17th. Event info is here.

2017 was a pretty amazing year for Les Fruits de Mer. Here are a few of the highlights.

Our year started strong, with the relaunch of our pop-up natural history museum, Amuseum Naturalis. We remade all our exhibits with big, bright signage and added many new attractions. Special exhibits, including original whale paintings and the unsung heroes of Caribbean science took the Amuseum in interesting new directions. Over the course of the season we welcomed almost 9,000 visitors. The all-volunteer team ran the Amuseum during busy Mardis de Grand Case street fair nights and daytime classroom visits.

In April Les Fruits de Mer held the 4th annual Endemic Animal Festival at the Amuseum. It was a chance to see the unique animals that live only on St. Martin. The event also featured nature-themed art activities and giveaways of Gaïac seedlings as part of our Club Gaïac project. The next weekend members of the team also hopped over to Anguilla to volunteer at the 2nd Anguilla Iguana Day festivities.

The team traveled quite a bit during the summer. Members visited Statia to film and research and Amsterdam to attend a conference about Maria Sibylla Merian, a groundbreaking scientist who did key work in the Caribbean. Jenn Yerkes and Mark Yokoyama gave presentations and led workshops at the BirdsCaribbean International Conference in Cuba and Jenn presented at the International Association of Caribbean Archaeologists meeting in St. Croix.

Hurricane Irma hit St. Martin in early fall, delaying most plans. The Fruits team worked to document the hurricane’s impact on nature and the subsequent recovery. Since the storm, Mark Yokoyama has been writing weekly columns in The Daily Herald about nature after Irma. The team has also produced a number of short films highlighting different aspects of the recovery. Our videos were viewed over 100,000 times in the last three months. In October, Marc AuMarc released the second album of Les Fruits de Mer theme songs, Fruits Around the World.

Les Fruits de Mer restarted public outreach with a bird feeder giveaway at Sky’s the Limit restaurant in October. The 5th annual Migratory Bird Festival was held in late November at Friar’s Bay. It was a fun event, with great activities and a super team of volunteers. The 2017 theme was Welcome Back! to both the migratory birds and the recovering habitats that they depend on. The 4th Heritage Photo Contest was also launched in November, with the theme Rebirth. Entries were accepted through the end of the year, with an exhibition to follow in early 2018.

The association is also very thankful for the generous support of friends and members in the final months of the year. Sarah Allen and Maël Renault collected donations. William Moore and Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap also made donations. Jarrad Nunes included Les Fruits de Mer in his Cheer Project fundraising which drew support from many fine people. We were also incredibly grateful to have sponsorship support from local businesses for the Migratory Bird Festival despite the challenges that they are facing right now. This timely support made it possible for us to continue our work celebrating local nature and heritage at a time when it is truly important.

Thanks to everyone who helped make 2017 such a great year for Les Fruits de Mer, and we’re looking forward to an even better 2018!

We want to give a big thank you to The Cheer Project—Jarrad for doing it, Andy for helping and everyone for donating and sharing! Yesterday we raised $732 for Les Fruits de Mer, which we will be using to fund a really exciting set of projects for 2018. We will be rebuilding the Amuseum, printing new books about wildlife, making films about wildlife and how Hurricane Irma impacted the island. If you missed the video, here it is. If you want to make a donation, you still can.

People of all ages are invited to showcase St. Martin heritage, and their talent, in the 2017 Heritage Photo Contest, now officially open for entries. The annual Heritage Photo Contest and Exhibition was developed by the Les Fruits de Mer Association as an opportunity for people to celebrate art created here on the island, and to engage residents—especially kids—in thinking about their heritage.

The theme of this year’s contest is Rebirth. It was chosen to inspire entrants to explore the nature, culture and people of this unique island through the lens of recovery and reinvention.

“St. Martin is an island that has been reborn many times throughout history,” explains Les Fruits de Mer co-founder Mark Yokoyama. “In the wake of Hurricane Irma, St. Martin is rising again. We believe that capturing this transformation through photography will be a powerful way to show and share this hope and strength.”

Organizers designed the contest to include everyone, and to empower children and youth to enter with a special Under 18 award category, and other initiatives. “We’d love this to be an opportunity for young people to get into photography,” says Les Fruits de Mer President Jenn Yerkes. “For kids and teens who are already exploring photography, this initiative creates a showcase for what they’re doing.”

The contest is free and open to every age, and everyone is welcome to enter as many times as they like. People who want to enter should submit their entries to [email protected] by December 15, 2017. Each entry should include an original photo taken on St. Martin/St. Maarten by the person entering, a brief statement explaining why the photo was chosen, the entrant’s full name, and age if under 18.

All qualifying entries will go on display in the online Heritage Gallery, and selected entries will be featured in the Heritage Photo Exhibition, which will be held this winter. Awards will be given for the winning entries in three categories: Adult, Under 18 and People’s Choice.

For more information about the Heritage Photo Contest and Exhibition, including the full rules and a sample entry, visit: https://www.lesfruitsdemer.com/category/rebirth/

The new album by Marc AuMarc—Fruits Around the World—lives up to its name. From the opening blast of horns to the closing sighs of a church organ, it’s a globetrotting journey of sounds and styles. Over the course of twelve songs, it reshapes the ever-fruitful Les Fruits de Mer theme song in surprising new directions. This latest release is available for free download at http://marcaumarc.com.

Fruits Around the World was composed and recorded over the last year in a wide variety of extraordinary places, from 30,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean to the mountains of Cuba. Working with mobile technology, Marc AuMarc was able to create many of the songs on location.

“Drawing inspiration from different cultures and musical traditions keeps the music fresh,” explained Marc AuMarc. “This is the second full-length album based on a theme song that’s less than a minute long, and I think it’s even better than the first one.”

Many of the new tracks are upbeat. Latin rhythms brush up against Scandinavian techno, driving neo-disco and Chinese electro-funk. A few more contemplative takes on the theme balance out the tracklist.

“The variety of moods on this album is key to the listening experience,” said Les Fruits de Mer President Jenn Yerkes. “We also use different takes on our theme as the soundtrack to most of our documentary filmmaking, so this gives us a range of moods and styles to work with as we produce new films.”

An ever-expanding universe based on a single idea, a simple melody reflecting itself across the globe, and a fun time for all, Fruits Around the World is a lot like Les Fruits de Mer. Download it for free at http://marcaumarc.com and make it the soundtrack for your next expedition.

At lunchtime on Thursday, people were lining up at Sky’s the Limit restaurant in Grand Case. But unlike most days, these people hadn’t just come to eat local barbecue. They came to get bird feeders so they could take care of the birds around their homes. In less than an hour, the Les Fruits de Mer association gave away over 80 bird feeders.

“We were surprised and delighted at the response,” exclaimed Les Fruits de Mer President Jenn Yerkes. “It shows that people care about birds, and know that it’s an important time for the island’s nature to restore itself.”

After reading about the giveaway online and in the local newspapers, people came from all parts of the island to get their bird feeders. The Les Fruits de Mer team explained in French and English how to fill and clean the feeders, and provided sugar, hanging rope and instructions.

“The birds on St. Martin today are the strong and lucky ones that survived the storm. By giving them a boost now, we can help the island get back to normal faster,” explained Les Fruits de Mer co-founder Mark Yokoyama. “Keeping a bird feeder helps birds, but it also brings them into our life and makes our connection to nature closer. Many visitors to the giveaway asked questions and shared stories about local birds, which was great to see.”

Due to the massive demand, all the feeders were given away before the end of the event. The Les Fruits de Mer association is hoping to get another shipment of feeders so they can do more giveaways in the future. The feeders were provided by BirdsCaribbean, which has sent over 2,000 bird feeders to ten Caribbean islands that were impacted by hurricanes this year. To find out more and learn about future giveaways, visit lesfruitsdemer.com or find Les Fruits de Mer on Facebook.

Pick up a free bird feeder this Thursday and help the island’s birds recover from the hurricane! The Les Fruits de Mer association will be giving out bird feeders for free at Sky’s the Limit restaurant in Grand Case this Thursday from noon to 3pm.

Just like people, St. Martin’s birds are having a hard time after Irma. Putting out bird feeders like these helps local birds like the Sugar Bird and the two kind of hummingbirds that live on St. Martin, the Antillean Crested Hummingbird and the Green-throated Carib.

“The birds that managed to survive the hurricane still need help, because it takes time for new flowers to bloom. Feeding them also helps them feed new chicks so the bird population can come back sooner,” explains island wildlife expert and Les Fruits de Mer co-founder Mark Yokoyama.

“We’re excited to give away these free bird feeders at Sky’s the Limit because it’s a place for everybody, and helping our local birds is something everybody can do,” says Les Fruits de Mer President Jenn Yerkes. “People still talk about how there were no hummingbirds on the island for five years after Luis. Anybody, young or old, can be part of making sure that doesn’t happen to our birds this time, just by putting out a feeder.” She adds, “Plus, it’s amazing to watch these birds at your feeder–it just puts a smile on your face every day, and we could all use that right now!”

The bird feeders were sent by BirdsCaribbean as part of a special post-hurricane initiative and will be distributed locally by the Les Fruits de Mer association. Everyone is invited to pick up a free feeder this Thursday, October 26th from noon to 3pm at Sky’s the Limit lolo, located on the Boulevard de Grand Case in the heart of Grand Case.

Les Fruits de Mer President Jenn Yerkes showcased early Caribbean naturalist Catalina de Ayahibex in her presentation at the 27th Congress of the International Association for Caribbean Archaeology in St. Croix in July. Her paper about this groundbreaking Amerindian plant expert will be published in the proceedings from the meeting. Jenn first discovered Catalina when researching an exhibit for Amuseum Naturalis. By bringing Catalina into the academic spotlight, Jenn hopes more information about this trailblazer and her work can be uncovered through research and perhaps even through archaeological exploration.

Catalina de Ayahibex was a Taino cacica, or tribal leader, in early 16th century Hispaniola, in the area now known as Santo Domingo. Her extensive knowledge of native plants and plant-based medicines led to the first drug patent in the New World, the first pharmaceutical business in the Americas, widespread research on Caribbean flora, and revolutionary developments in empirical science. Catalina worked with her Spanish husband Antonio de Villasante, who tested and marketed her cures. Their partnership was one of the first scientific collaborations between a European and an indigenous expert. It’s also one of the rare few over the centuries which actually recorded the contributions of a native naturalist.

One of the key discoveries Catalina is credited with in Spanish documents is Hispaniola balsam. This balsam became one of the most expensive and popular drugs in Europe during the 1500s. However, like many indigenous naturalists and female experts, Catalina was later erased from the historical and scientific record. Jenn’s work uses 16th century documents from the Spanish archives to reconstruct and reveal the lost story of this unsung hero of natural science and medicine.

Archeologists, anthropologists, and other conference attendees were impressed and intrigued by Catalina’s story. Nearly 500 years later, wider recognition of her work and legacy is beginning.

What’s a Whimbrel? Where’s the Atlantic Flyway? Bird lovers may know, but the rest of us don’t! At BirdsCaribbean’s 21st international conference in Cuba, Mark Yokoyama led a writing workshop, Reaching People. The goal? Helping scientists write about birds in language that anyone can understand.

Most people like birds. Sadly, many people writing about birds fail to connect with a general audience. We forget to tell a story. Facts are given without context. There is no natural flow from one idea to the next. Often, the writing itself is too difficult for most people to read.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Science writing can be engaging—our favorite writers do it all the time. Complex ideas can be explained simply—great teachers know how. The workshop focused on these two ideas: storytelling and accessibility.

Picking key facts and ordering them logically helps turn a topic into a story. Adding details that grab a reader, and knowing what to cut are also crucial. Participants worked on their own stories during the class. Some even worked on a press release about the conference to send out when they got home.

The second half of the workshop focused on accessibility. Many were surprised to learn that the average adult in the US reads at about an 8th grade level. Unfortunately, many press materials are written at college level. This is a serious mismatch.

Luckily, we can be more readable just by using plain language and clear sentences. During one activity, participants found they had written sentences up to 60 words long without knowing it. Want to be easier to read? Find out what’s making your writing hard. There are even online tools that measure readability and suggest what you can change.

In just three hours, the group had a new set of writing tools and some hands-on practice. Jealous? Don’t be! You can download the workshop as a handout and run through it yourself. With birds and habitats under threat in the Caribbean, it has never been more vital to spread our message. Writing for everyone is a great start.

Over 200 scientists, teachers and conservationists came together in Cuba this month at BirdsCaribbean’s 21st International Conference. Held every two years, it is the only time when this far-flung community has a chance to work face-to-face to improve how birds are studied and protected. The event included nearly 150 presentations and workshops over five days.

St. Martin was represented by two members of the association Les Fruits de Mer. President Jenn Yerkes delivered a well-received presentation, The Human Element. She showed how the stories of people, like scientists and conservationists, can be used to interest people in birds and science. Mark Yokoyama hosted Reaching People, a writing workshop.

“This year’s theme was Celebrating Caribbean Diversity,” explained BirdsCaribbean Director Lisa Sorenson. “We love the variety of birds here, but the diversity of our members is even more important. We brought people here from dozens of islands. We have different cultures and languages, but we all face similar challenges. The chance to share ideas improves our work all over the region.”

BirdsCaribbean is the region’s largest conservation group. Programs like the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival, which highlights birds found only in the region, reach over 100,000 people each year. At the conference, festival coordinators on different islands share ideas and activities. Others are inspired to launch festivals on their islands for the first time.

Researchers sharing their work give ideas that can help save birds. Members learn how birds recover after hurricanes or prosper when farmers plant shade trees over their coffee. Then they can bring bird-saving tools back to their own islands. This year, one highlight was the large number of Cuban scientists.

“For almost 30 years, BirdsCaribbean has helped share the work of Cuban scientists with the rest of the world,” said BirdsCaribbean President Andrew Dobson. “Helping this collaboration has been a very rewarding part of our mission. It was also a joy to spend time with so many Cuban friends in one of the Caribbean’s most beautiful nature reserves.”

After five days of sharing stories and bird-sightings, members flew home to their islands. Each one brought back new skills and ideas. Tools developed on one island will soon be helping birds on others. Though many may do their work alone, they have friends and allies across the sea. In two years, the next conference will unite them again.