Monthly Archives: June 2017

Amusing, Belize, Food, Plants

A Few Small Things…

Oh it’s a horrible, grey muggy day today!!

Gnome admonishes me and says, “Stop complaining, Babes…”

And I reply, “It’s not a complaint!  It’s a description!!”

It is really grey.  It is really muggy.  🙂  Ha-Ha, one must keep up the humour especially during these times and use emoticons to show that everything is really in the greatest humour possible!!  🙂

Well anyway(s), here are a few small things to show you what’s happening.

Since my Mabe cooker done broke and I don’t have an oven, we are resorting to our old “tried and tested” methods again.  Back to the Dutch oven and cooking over coals.  We had a stash of Fray Bento meat pies from British Foods Belize so we decided to cook them traditional style.  They puffed up very nicely (a lot better than the conventional oven) and they are a little burnt since we haven’t cooked like this for  a while.  These were a nice Sunday afternoon treat.  Also, the fire kept the bugs away for a while which was a welcome break.

Dutch Oven Pie.

This is a vegetable that grows on a vine which we have planted up the side fencing of the Duckie Zen coop.  The best way to describe them is that they taste like firm, little cucumbers but they have to be cooked.  They are growing prolifically with all the duckie fertilising so we are harvesting a basket of these each day.  I’ve mostly been steaming or putting them into soups and stews.  This vegetable is called tindali (a vegetable of Indian origin)and was obtained from the Spice Farms in Toledo (courtesy of Dr Mathew).

Tindali.

Oh, and it’s Mango Season again!  This is the chance to stuff yourself with Mango everyday…it’s great.  There should be a Mango Festival down here at this time of the year; it is definitely worth celebrating!

A while back I tried to make some home-made senbei (Japanese rice crackers).  I used ordinary glutinous rice flour because that was all I could find.  The final result was that they were chewy (still tasted good) but not the usual crunchiness that you would expect from these type of crackers.  After discussing with Gnome (and reading Wiki entries) we realised that the Mochiko flour that is traditionally used is cooked (not raw) rice that has been dehydrated and then ground into a fine flour which then gives the crunchy quality to the food.  So you can’t get Mochiko flour for love nor money in Belize (!) so Gnome says that when we get really bored (ie. during the rainy days when we can’t get out) he will help me make the flour.  Watch this space…it will probably take about 72 hours to make the flour by hand!

Home-made Senbei.
Home-made Senbei.

Keep well everyone and keep on going despite the weather!! Well, we’ll keep on going because we like to think that we are cool and tough…Ha-Ha!!

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

Monsters Everywhere!!

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It’s that awful buggy time of the year again…June and July.  The Monster Mosquitoes are out to get you and they are biting through clothes and socks.  Despite all this, we still need to get out there.  But we sure are doing our jobs faster so we can run into the protection of the house (although, there are still mosquitoes in the house). 🙂

Anyway, on a more positive note, there are other monsters (better!) on the farm…

With the big over-night rains, practically over-night, all our plants have quadrupled in size.  There are Monsters Everywhere!!  Check out the size of the aubergine bush:

Aubergine Plant.

Oh, and it is producing such lovely fruit; we are eating aubergine everyday right now (steamed, stir-fry, oooh and deep fried in tempura batter is yum-yum).  This Black Beauty variety has a good firm texture unlike some of the other types that we have had in the past (we don’t like the spongy ones).

Our Aubergines.

This is the pumpkin…it was really struggling over dry season but now it has spread over the whole bed.  Unfortunately some of the newly formed fruits are rotting because of the excessive rains.  I guess you can’t have it all…

Pumpkin.

We are growing air potato in one of our raised beds.  They were doing nothing two weeks ago and all of a sudden, they are climbing.

Air Potato.

Air potato is a type of yam.  We rather like them because we don’t need to go digging around for them.

Air Potato Vine.
Air Potato.

This is the giant bamboo at the pond; it gone absolutely wild so Gnome will be giving it a hair-cut this week.  We are using some of the bamboo (they are 30 to 40 feet in length) as rafters for our new building.

Giant Bamboo.

Hope you are all surviving buggy time in Belize!  By the way, we do have Insect Repellent products so check on The Apothecary….

Belize

Water Everywhere!!

When it rains, it pours!!  Especially if you live down here in Toledo, Belize.  These are actually pictures from last week!  Surprisingly, it has dried up again(!) and it hasn’t rained for about 6 days now. Well, there was a lot of  water everywhere!!  Here are some pictures to show you  what we mean by a lot of water…

The duckie pond in the Zen coop is full again…we were supposed to re-do this one this year but did not find the time to get to it.  It is lined with thick construction plastic (which the duckies have scratched up) and then it has been lined with rocks.  When it rains everyday (which happens at this time of the year) it will get completely filled up like this.  As it gets drier, the water does leak out of the holes in the construction plastic so it doesn’t hold water perfectly.  We’ll have to sort this one out next year.

Duckie Pond.

This year the big pond did not dry up.  The water is high again…but the silly geese have forgotten that it exists again…we will have to lure them here with a corn trail…

Oh, and this year it has been re-stocked with tilapia thanks to Panda.  We can go fishin’ in the new year!!  (Panda’s doing okay by the way…last time we talked to him (which was a few days ago) he said that he felt fresh and ready to get on with things on the farm).

Pond.

These are puddles that are more like little ponds…so you can understand why we wear wellies all the time.

Puddle 1.
Puddle 2.

Okay, so we are still up to our ears in trying to finish last minute construction and the wood that we had bought (tambran) has got black mold growing on it already.  We still have to keep on going…rain or shine!!

Amusing, Belize, Farming

New Goosies On The Block!!

This one is an update on our gosling (goosie) situation.  Yes, I know that every-one has been waiting with bated breath for the next thrilling instalment (Ha-Ha!!).  Our L’il Spaddled Goosie with the spaddled legs didn’t make it…it may have had other problems and it just keeled over one day and wouldn’t get up again.  Rest in Peace my l’il sweet one in Goosie Heaven!!

Spaddled Goose.

We now have five goosies on the block and they are doing great.  They are at the ugly stage at the moment (but I still think they are really adorable).  Since they were getting bigger, there were over-crowding problems in piggie metropolis, so they are finally out with the duckies in the Zen coop.

The Piggies: “Phew…we can hear ourselves think again!!  Yay!!”

I think the piggies are relieved now that there is some peace and quiet in their living quarters.  The goosies were getting a bit too chatty and noisy…

Happy Piggies.

The goosies are having a lovely time.  Here are some pictures…

I am getting them used to eating all sorts of things so that they can forage once they get out into the “real world” of the farm.  Right now, I am throwing succulent mombassa grass, mango peels and food scraps at them.  They also get protein rations in the form of puppy food.

This is an old picture when they were all wee…

Wee Goosies.

Now look at them….

Green Goosies Eating.

They are starting to feather:

Sitting Goosies.

Goosies by the pond:

Goosies.

Once they are fully feathered we will let them out.  Meanwhile we will keep them safe inside the coop.

Amusing, Belize, Farming

Working Together!

The other day, Gnome went into the yard and then came straight back into the house and said:

“The male turkey is sitting on the turkey eggs!”

We both went to look and sure enough he had phased out into a deep meditative state whilst sitting on 9 eggs.  We made sure that the eggs were intact (which they were) but we wondered if this behaviour was a “good thing.”  The Over-Lord (the male turkey) has been a bit of a scamp and has broken the eggs in the turkey nest in the past.  Mama turkey (The Duchess) seemed unperturbed with it all (like it was normal for a huge 20lb turkey to sit on her eggs) and was nimbly dashing about outside looking for yummy morsels to eat.

Another Google search: Do Male Turkeys Sit On Eggs.

And sure enough there are reports that male and female turkeys “share the workload” and are known to take turns (like work shifts) to set eggs.  Okay….so after reading this, we decided not to chuck the Over-Lord off the eggs!!

Awwhhh….it is actually quite nice to see the Over-Lord and the Duchess working together.  She is coming out more to forage for food and I throw some corn near the nest so that she doesn’t need to go so far.  He hasn’t come off for 72 hours now!!  Most of the time they are sharing the nest and are sitting side by side.

How Lovely….

Male and Female Turkey Setting.

This is not a good picture because I did not want to disturb them too much.  If you look very closely, they are both there.  Another two weeks ago until estimated date of hatching…we’ll keep you posted.

Belize

Shoppin’ Again!

Shoppin’ Again…but, this time it was at Spanish Lookout which is located in the Cayo District of Belize.    This time it was to get hardware bits for construction….not very exciting!

It poured down all the way on the trip so we reckoned that it was a good day to leave the farm.  We would have been stuck inside feeling sorry for ourselves!  Anyway it’s about 3 hours drive to this Mennonite Community.

Spanish Lookout.

This is a “modern” community that specialises in selling hardware…this is where you usually go in Belize if you are looking for this kind of stuff.

Spanish Lookout.

When it comes to shopping, I am  always quite happy to get what is needed on the farm, whatever the animals need and even things like a new bowl for the dog.  However, when it comes to buying anything personal for myself, I am really awful and would rather “save the money for the farm…or even one of the animals” than buy something “nice.”  We’ve often talked about how to overcome this problem so this is what we have come up with.  Since Gnome knows my likes and dislikes very well, he has agreed to buy a surprise gift for me whenever he finds something that he thinks that I would like.  This is Shopping Therapy…Munchkin and Gnome Style!!

This is what Gnome found for me.  It’s absolutely perfect.  It is a mini (one gallon) version of my clay pot; I am so pleased with it!!

Mini Clay Pot.

Anyway, back in Toledo now and it is sooooo wet.  The wet season has started.

Belize

Right Here!

Just a quickie!!  If you haven’t realised already, one of the reasons why we write these posts are to let our family and friends (from overseas) know that we are “right here.”  I am sorry but I haven’t written in a week and I am usually better about keeping up.  We’ve been really, really busy!!  The rains have come  mostly at night and the farm has started forming puddles already…the ducks and geese are happy with the multiple swimming holes!  We are trying to get a move on with construction so Gnome is working in the mornings until it gets too hot.  We’re also busy with doctor responsibilities (seems to come in cycles too) and have patients to see in the afternoon.  In between all that, I’m trying to harvest food including soursops and jackfruit.  They all still require preparation for storage…so, we are busy with everything!

Belize, Saving Money

Shoppin’ in Punta Gorda.

Hello Every-one!!  Hope y’all having a great Saturday.  I ran out of photographs for the Blog posts yesterday and pondered upon what fun farm pictures to take.  It then suddenly dawned on me that I haven’t taken any recent pictures of Punta Gorda.  PG is the main town in Toledo District, Belize and we live about 16 miles outside this town.  This is where we go for our shopping supplies.  For all of our readers who haven’t been to PG before, you’ll be amazed at how “little” it is and the complete lack of shopping malls or centres (ie. there are none).  The population of Punta Gorda is about 5021 (census 2010).

When I was walking through Punta Gorda yesterday thinking of what pictures to take, I realised that I was just “used to the place.”  To many of you out there, you’ll just shudder at the “lack of facilities” and “lack of services” but these are some of the reasons why we are here.  The place certainly does not over-burden you with a sense of consumerism!  You can only buy necessities here.  I think the place is conducive to adopting a healthier approach to living and there is a less of a feeling to “shop just because you want to buy something.”

It saves you a lot of money because there are no “nice things” to buy!!  Gnome describes the items that you don’t need which end up gathering dust and occupying space  in your house “kipple.”

Anyway, here is the centre of the town with the clock-tower.

Punta Gorda Town.

When we first came here about 13 years ago, there were hardly any cars about.  You could actually park you car in the middle of the road, run into a shop for 5 minutes and be back in your car without any car needing to get pass you.  Now  the streets are totally filled up with parked cars.  This is Punta Gorda on a busy Friday morning.  I know…I know…all you guys out there probably think that it looks dead!

Main Street. PG.

This is the new Market Place.  Not sure what to say…it’s just well, there.  I’m a bit of a traditionalist and rather liked the previous market place which was just the road-side.  But times are changing…and even Punta Gorda is changing:

PG Market.
PG Market.

Inside PG Market:

PG Market Stall.

There are also stalls along the side:

PG Market Stalls.

If you don’t want to sell at the market, you can always just park on the side of the road and display your wares:

Pineapples For Sale.

Clothes shopping is a tad dicey here.  There are second hand stalls with clothes from the States.  At least here you can attempt to find something in cotton but finding the right size is difficult (especially when you are wee like me).  Also, the clothes aren’t cheap; cotton t-shirts go for a premium at BZD10 (USD5) and men’s cotton pants can go for BZD30(USD15).

Clothes Mall!

I suppose you can always go to the Guatemalan stall to buy a dress instead…ooooh…I wonder which one of these would go best with my yellow  wellies on the farm…

Dresses.

This is the Farm Supply Centre where we get our hard-ware and farm stuff:

Farm Store.

This is Punta Gorda Post Office.

PG Post Office.

That’s all Folks…that’s Punta Gorda for you.  It grows on you and it’s full of friendly faces!!

Punta Gorda Town.
Amusing, Belize, Farming, Pets

Fun On The Farm!

Hello!!  It’s hot , hot, hot (roasting, in fact) and then it’s raining intermittently in the afternoon and  at night.  I talk about the weather a lot because we are dependent on the weather in order to get projects done or not!!  Anyway, here are a few photos to make you smile:

We have a little “spaddled goose.”  If you are wondering what spaddle means, look at this photo.  His legs are splayed out thus:

Spaddled Goose.

This may be a deformity or due to a vitamin deficiency.  Anyway…another Google search on “how to fix a spaddle” and we came up with the solution of tying the legs together with dental floss.  Another Accident & Emergency fix-up for Dr. Gnome!!

Spaddle Goose.

Observation is now required to see if fixing a deformity with dental floss works.  We will keep you posted:

Spaddle Treated.

The rest of the goslings are thriving and doing well.  They share their living quarters with the guinea pigs.  They eat the same food: freshly cut grass and sorghum.  In the mornings, we put the geese out to pasture by putting them in a movable wire cage.  At night, back to the dorms with the piggies!

Goosies with Piggies.

Oh, and last but not least we have 9 turkey eggs under the turkey.  No mix and match this time with geese eggs…we are letting her hatch her own kind this time!  Countdown: 30 days!!

Amusing, Belize

We Survived The Flood Flies This Year!

Hello!!  On Sunday, we had a huge downpour at lunch time.  We both looked at each other and said, “…the flood flies are going to come out tonight.”  They usually come out at dusk in swarms, first of all around the house and when it gets dark, they come inside because they are attracted to the light.  This is the nuptial flight of the termites when the queen and drones start mating and  begin new colonies.

Flood Flies.

They leave a trail of wings in their path; it’s usually a devastating mess!!

Close-up Flood Flies Wings.

Not this year for us!!  We fed all the animals early at 4pm and stuck a hurricane light bang in the middle of the duckie coop.  We had a quickie dinner (still entails cooking but not my usual prolonged routine) , showered and were in bed by 6pm.  Lights off!!  The most important thing is to switch off all lights!!  That way they don’t enter the house.  The next morning: a few wings were scattered in the window areas but nowhere as awful as previous years!  We presume also that the flood flies were attracted to the duck coop light and we hoped that the ducks took the opportunity to feast on them that night.

The flood flies usually herald the beginning of the wet season.  Gnome is still busy with construction so we are trying to “get a move on.”  It’s a race against time right now and once we get into July, it is usually too wet to get anything done outside.  I am lining up the inside chores for wet season already.  This is what Gnome’s response to my scheduling:

“…don’t I get a break, woman??”

My response:

“No.”