Due to an explosion of American fast food outlets, eating from the ground seems a thing of the past in the Caribbean.

Barbadian singer Indra is still big into farming and expresses that passion on Plant Up The Land, her latest song.

She discovered the benefits of agriculture after moving to rural Barbados 10 years ago. By the time Indra returned to more urban settings, tilling the soil had become a way of life.

“Spending time in creation is beautiful, healing and energising, and growing real food is good for so many reasons. First of all, you know where even a part of your food comes from and how it was grown,” she said.

Plant Up The Land was partially inspired by the COVID-19 lockdowns when supermarkets and other sources of food were forced to close indefinitely. Observing the difficulties people faced, Indra said a song like Plant Up The Land is timely.

“When shops and supermarkets were shut down, and things were tight money-wise for a lot of people, if you had a garden or home farm with food that would have changed your life for the better in some way,” she reasoned.

“When you cook with what you grow, it brings feelings that’s hard to put into words…you feel tender, elated, amazed, thankful and blessed for the energy and time it takes to plant something organically and see it come to fruition.”

Born in Barbados, Indra Rudder’s musical roots are also organic. Her Barbadian father played the steel pan while her Trinidadian mother is a Parang singer and musician.

Indra’s recording career started as a teenager with Eddy Grant, whom she considers a mentor. She has also collaborated with other artistes including Mr Vegas, whose hit song, Sweet Jamaica, she co-wrote.