ABACO CERTIFIED ORGANIC NEEM

CERTIFIED ORGANIC ABACO NEEM FARM IN THE BAHAMAS – THE GARDEN OF EDEN

By Klaus Ferlow, HMH, HA

In my 65 years business career I have travelled around the world and have seen many countries and learned about different cultures, but my trip to my friends Nick & Daphne Miaoulis at their certified organic neem farm, the only one in the world was the highlight of my thirty years as one of the few North American Neem researchers!!

In 1993 Nick at the age of 37 needed a challenge in his life and with the help of Mr. John Conrick who was at that time the President of the Neem Association in North America; imported 8000 neem seeds from India. He then propagated them in a makeshift nursery in Marsh Harbour, Abaco. His vision and believe was that the benefits and healing power of this miraculous and versatile neem tree would offer better plant, human, animal and environmental health mankind would contribute to the healthcare of his country, The Bahamas. When the seeds germinated he then started, from scratch the Abaco Neem Farm with the cooperation of an experienced Abaco farmer, Mr. Albert Albury.

Neem, Azadirachta indica A. Juss is a versatile medicinal important tree of the Indian sub-cotinent and is part of the oldest most successful botanical medicinal system in the world – AYURVEDA; and the United Nation declared the neem tree as “the tree of the 21st century!”

The neem tree grows in Africa, Asia, South & Central America, parts of the Caribean, The Middle East, Australia and United States of America.

I was very impressed with what these intelligent hard working and heart warming people have achieved in thirty years on their 125 acre farm which is UNBELIEVEABLE!!

A young intelligent man Alok Behera from India, who served us as a waiter in the RG Royal Hotel in Bangalore, India where the Global Neem Trade Fair and World Neem Organization Seminar/Conference took place in December 2018, joined them as Assistant Field Manager on their farm nine months ago and has been a huge relief to their heavy daily work.

Just imagine that they have to take care of over 100 different trees and plants inclusive 7000 neem trees (have to be pruned yearly by hand!), over 750 coconuts, a variety of bananas, avocados, mango, papaya, citronella, moringa, bismarck, queen & royal palm, kamalane, fig trees and a huge number of other plants such as aloe vera, pineapple, hibiscus, jasmine, passion flower, guava, ylang-ylang, native wild orchids just to name a few!

The farm has their own nursery, has 200 chicken and chicks, ducks, wild bore, beautiful roosters, offers farm to table dining, farm tours also for university students (researchers), has a boccaccioz court and next year a pizza oven and cottages for tourists is on the plan. There are many flowers for the birds, butterflies, bees (beehives on the property) and honey!

I was drinking every morning fresh coconut milk and yoghurt with fresh coconut, mango and papaya plus granola topped with honey.

Only ten minutes from their farm is the Atlantic ocean with azurruo blue and emerald green warm water and white sandy beaches as far as you can see. I gave their certified organic farm the name “THE GARDEN OF EDEN!”

Besides all of this I have never met a person like Nick, he is a complete versatile entrepreneur, offers also landscaping and together with his wife Daphne they have a real estate license which creates some extra income!

They survived one of the largest hurricanes, Dorian, September 2019 and most of the pine trees and many houses and business were destroyed and they lost 30% of their neem trees but in the meantime have already replanted them.

Last not least they also produce a huge variety of one of the best certified organic handmade herbal neem personal care products withoug harmful ingredients for the body, pets, home & garden inclusive the only certified organic neem oil that can be also used internally!

Three youtube neem videos were developed on their farm which I will publish on my website: http://neemresearch.ca/neem-video-the-bahamas/

There are plans the Abaco Neem Farm and Ferlow Botanicals will cooperate in the future to the benefits of mankind and their motto is: “Neem: to help the body heal!”

The soil on their farm is very poor and they have used from the beginning seaweed, ash and neem cake as non-toxic fertilizer which has worked very well for all their trees and plants! This farm can become in the future the number one Neem Research Centre in the world and I will help them to put their name on the world map.

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