Piece of Peace

The oval-shaped, brown "beads" in the jewelry are actually seeds from the plant Canavalia rosea or C. maritima, also known as Bay Beans. These prolific vines creep from the coastal shrub toward the sea, forming networks of roots that aid in stabilizing sands. My kids love to play with these vines at the beach, they are very strong!

 

A Pan-tropical member of the Legume family, these beans were considered sacred and placed in graves of the Mazatec people of southern Mexico and other tribal groups. The dried leaves can make incense and are known to be psychoactive when smoked, especially when mixed with other herbs. I told this to a particularly crazy Kenyan friend of mine and he rushed out to try it - it works! 

 

Native to Australia, the beans were first eaten by Captain Cook, although raw they are toxic. Long ago Lightnin' and another Rasta bredren believed these to be soybeans, they picked some and put them in their ital. He recalls cooking them for hours and they still were hard when they finally ate them! Enjoy your interesting piece of the Caribbean and keep it dry!