My Wellness Journey: Why I’m Choosing Health, Wellness & Food Security

My wellness journey began not with inspiration, but with grief, and the fierce determination to never let preventable loss happen again.

There comes a moment in life when everything slows down just enough for you to listen. For me, that moment didn’t arrive gently. It came through loss, fear, and a deep need to first survive, and then to truly live.

This is my story. It’s also an invitation to join me in something bigger: reclaiming our health, our food, and our future through the Grow Back Jamaica mission.

Where My Wellness Journey Took Root

In 2017, I lost my mother.

Anyone who has experienced that kind of loss knows it rearranges everything: your priorities, your perspective, your understanding of what matters. Suddenly, you are forced to look at your own life with new eyes: your health, your habits, your legacy.

The following year brought another wake-up call. In 2018, I faced a respiratory health scare that made breathing, something we unconsciously do thousands of times a day, feel frighteningly fragile. That fear became my teacher.

I realized I couldn’t afford to be passive about my health anymore. Not when my mother’s story was still so fresh. Not when my own body was sending me urgent signals I could no longer ignore.

Discovering Healing Through Research and Roots

Fear has a way of focusing the mind. Mine pushed me into deep research, not trendy wellness fads or quick fixes, but substantive learning about how our bodies heal, thrive, and break down.

I immersed myself in understanding:

• Traditional herbal teas that have been used for generations, and their medicinal properties 
• How specific foods trigger or reduce inflammation in our bodies
• The connection between nutrition, immunity, and sustained energy
• Lifestyle practices that support long-term wellness rather than temporary fixes

My wellness journey became intentional and personal. I began drinking herbal teas daily, carefully considering what I consumed, how I rested, and how I moved. I wasn’t chasing perfection; I was building a sustainable life. This was about survival first, and then about creating a foundation for thriving.

Childhood Memories That Shaped My Path

As I healed, something unexpected happened: memories I hadn’t thought about in years began surfacing with new significance.

I grew up in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, watching my mother transform our modest yard into a source of sustenance. She planted pepper, tomato, okra, sorrel, gungo peas, pumpkin, and a few healing herbs along the fences and other available spaces.

We didn’t have much land, but she made every inch productive, every plant purposeful.

We ate what we grew. We shared the surplus with neighbors. We knew exactly where some of our food came from, how it was grown, and what touched it. That knowledge lived in my body, in my taste memory, in the way I understood food – until life got busy and I forgot to remember.

When Convenience Replaced Connection to the Land

Somewhere along the way, many of us stopped growing our own food. I certainly did.

Life accelerated. Careers demanded attention. Grocery stores and markets offered ease. The connection between seed and table, between soil and health, quietly disappeared from daily life. Convenience replaced the deep knowing our ancestors carried.

Then Hurricane Melissa struck on October 28, 2025, and delivered a truth we couldn’t avoid: food security is not guaranteed. Supply chains break. Store shelves became empty. The skills our mothers and grandmothers possessed weren’t quaint hobbies; they were survival tools we have lost.

That storm clarified everything for me. My wellness journey had to include food security, self-reliance, and relearning what my mother tried to teach me.

Why I’m Starting a Backyard Container Garden Now

I don’t have acres of land. What I have is intention, determination, and enough space to begin.

That’s why I am starting a backyard container garden, growing herbs, vegetables, and medicinal plants in pots and small manageable spaces. 

This approach is perfect for urban and suburban Jamaicans who want to grow food but lack traditional garden plots.

This isn’t about becoming a farmer. It’s about:

• Relearning essential skills our parents and grandparents knew instinctively
• Reconnecting with the land, even in small concrete spaces
• Supporting wellness through food we grow, trust, and understand completely
• Building resilience one plant, one harvest, one lesson at a time

If one successfully grown plant can restore confidence and connection, imagine what consistency over months and years can accomplish.

Introducing Grow Back Jamaica: A Mission for Our Future

Grow Back Jamaica emerged from memory, loss, and responsibility. It’s my answer to the question: What do I do with what I have learned?

This mission extends beyond my personal wellness journey. It’s for:

• Our children, who deserve to understand where food comes from
• Our communities, which need resilience against economic and environmental shocks
• Our collective future, built on self-sufficiency and shared knowledge

Grow Back Jamaica encourages everyday Jamaicans to grow something, even if it’s one herb in a single pot on a windowsill. Because when we grow food, we grow confidence. When we grow confidence, we grow resilience. When we grow resilience, we grow hope.

What You Will Find Here on My Wellness Journey

On this blog and across my social platforms, I will be sharing:

• Herbal remedies and wellness practices, I am learning and testing in real life

• My container gardening journey – the wins, the failures, the unexpected lessons

• Honest conversations about health, food security, and intentional living in Jamaica

• Practical tips for starting your own backyard garden, no matter how small your space

• Traditional knowledge from elders combined with current research

This isn’t polished or perfect. It’s real life, real learning, real growth documented as it happens. I am figuring this out alongside you.

Let’s Grow Back Jamaica – Together

If you remember your parents or grandparents growing food in the yard – the smell of fresh herbs, the taste of sun-warmed tomatoes, the satisfaction of a meal harvested that morning – you already understand why this matters.

My wellness journey has taught me we can’t separate personal health from food security, or individual wellness from community resilience. They are interconnected, inseparable.

Let’s honor our ancestors not just with memories, but with action. Let’s grow back what we have lost: the skills, the connection, the confidence, the food.

One plant. One pot. One backyard at a time.

Are you on your own wellness journey? Have you started growing food at home? Share your story in the comments below. I would love to hear what you are learning. 🌱

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P.S. Follow my wellness and container gardening journey on Instagram @gillianlarmond, where I share what I’m growing, learning, and creating as I rebuild my health and encourage others through the Grow Back Jamaica mission. 🌱