OK...Just one background post on me before I get to my current adventures in food security in Grand Cayman...
My parents were adventurous, caring people, and when I was growing up (age 5-8 circa, 1979-81), they decided to take my sister and I to West Africa; in particular, Mbingo, Cameroon. My father was a teacher by education and a farmer by upbringing. His new job was to produce "sustainable" income for an important regional leprosy hospital that had historically been funding by "unsustainable" donations that came from European and North American benefactors. To do this, my father needed to show the locals how to set up a beef-and-milk business coop which could financially support the humanitarian work at the hospital. The area has incredible pastureland that is excellent for this particular strategy.
Here's the hospital today: 
To make a very long but interesting story short, dad took to his position with aplomb and set up the coop with the locals. To wit, about 3 decades after we got back from Africa (back to the freezing cold Canadian prairie), he received an email which announced the retirement of Moses, the man dad had placed in the managerial role of the finances on behalf of the hospital. I think that all is the very DEFINITION of sustainable development...all without scandal or interruption...In fact, my brother in law, who is a Canadian physician (internal medicine) goes back to the hospital every year to help educate local health care providers.
Suffice it to say that I was exposed to gorgeous/exotic sort of flora and fauna in that most impressionable of ages (5-8, if Freud is to be believed - this is a picture of the Ekom-Nkam Falls): 
Indeed, it has long been rumoured that Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel, first published 100 years ago as "Tarzan of the Apes" was actually imagined to be set in the amazing jungles of Cameroon.
Alas, absorbing the tropical wonders (and spicy food!) of West Africa as a young boy of 5-8 goes by pretty fast (honestly, I think I had mostly forgotten about Canadian prairie winters) and then we came back to Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada: 
Without the pictures, I can't really convey how dramatically different these places are from each other: culturally, historically, geographically but especially the weather-based differences. Suffice it to say that I have had a special place in my heart for all things tropical but especially the food, weather and (sea) water.
So back to the title of this post, I hope you have some better understanding of how my past is shaping my present. And, for my next post, I will begin describing my escape from repeated Canadian winters (and mosquito-infested summers...lol). I just turned 44, so having been back in Canada since 1981, I have endured all the "temperate" weather that I can - no offence to anyone who loves Canadian winters!
It all began last April (2016) with a shot-in-the-dark trip to Grand Cayman.
Until next time,
Keep it local!
~TG
Welcome to steemit @foodsecurity
Follow and upvoted me @klen.civil
Just followed! Thanks for the support!
Hello fellow steemian! @nezbong here! I am pretty new myself and just wanted to welcome you to the steemit platform. Let me know if you need any help figuring stuff out. I know it was hard for me at first. I am uprooting your post and following you. Look forward to keep up with your progress!
Hey thanks so much...yeah, still figuring out all this stuff...including "etiquette"...I'm going to try to follow everyone that just upvoted or commented...I think that's a pretty good start...lol...Cheers!
@foodsecurity Sounds amazing! Following! I look forward to your next posts...I have had a dream to start and off the grid homestead and produce all/most of my own food/needs.
Honestly, it HAS been amazing...and it's only beginning. The Cayman story (ongoing) is going to be fun to tell here. Thanks for following!
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I'm so grateful...What a cool community this is. Really makes me glad I "closed" (you can't ever, really) my Facebook account three weeks ago. I wonder if everyone here is thinking the same sort of thing?