A few weeks ago, Gnome started pollinating the vanilla. It was pretty hard work because he had to climb a ladder to get to the flowering vines.
Ladder For Pollinating Vanilla.Vanilla Flowers.
We were actually asked if the scent of the flowers were like vanilla. When I went to check the first time, I didn’t think that they smelt of anything. With subsequent sniffs, I think they have a faint sweetish scent similar to honeysuckle.
Anyway, the pollinating has worked and we have pods forming! Oooooh…look at that…we are so pleased!
Vanilla Pods.
We will have to wait for the pods to mature…takes about 6 months; indications are when they turn pale start to split at the end. They get to about 15cm in length. Harvesting still requires a lot of attention because each pod ripens in its own time so this is another job to add onto the daily list! Phew…farming is actually a lot of work!
Yippee!! We had a good rain last night which filled up half of the tank. And now it’s raining again so we should have the tank completely filled. Good thing Gnome sorted this out:
Tank In Place.
We were so worried because the dry days seemed never-ending (it always feels like that every year). At least now our poor shriveled tobacco plants will start growing again:
Tobacco Plants.
And the pond might start filling up…look…it has been reduced to a single puddle!
Pond Drying Up.
Hopefully with this extra bit of rain, our mangoes will get fat and juicy.
Mangoes Growing.
All the fruit trees on the farm will benefit from this splendid rain…what a relief!
We are still here! Lately the daily RealFeel of 50C (115F) has been absolutely awful. We have been up at 3am doing our stuff in the cool of the morning (still RealFeel 30C/86F). The heat has frazzled my brain and the inspiration to write just wasn’t there!
Gnome has been charging on full speed and managed to set up the water tank for the imminent (well, we hope) rains. This is the new look tank in Belize called Best Tank:
New Water Tank.
I think that these tanks are made within the country so they have stopped importing the Rotoplast type.
Rotoplast Water Tank.
I mentioned to Gnome:
“Hmmmm…I don’t really like the colour of these new tanks. Quite bland.”
Gnome replied with:
“My dear, are you going back to your Ikea days when you wanted everything in spring green stripes or pastel blue? I’m afraid that we don’t live like that anymore.”
