Winter Time in Belize!!

November 30, 2017 Munchkin

Hello!! It’s winter time in Belize so temperatures are about 20 Celsius (that’s 68 Fahrenheit for Northern Americans and oldish British people…oh dear, was that politically incorrect of me to say that). Anyway, it’s woolly hat and jumper time, that’s what I am trying to get at. It is the last day of November and I am scared of December…I feel that it is going to whizz by…and another year is gone again. Gnome’s comment:

“How can you get scared of a month…I can understand if it’s a big hairy dog or something…but there are no claws and gnashing teeth…”

Yes he’s right and I can’t do anything about it except maybe try to have some fun and magic (Ha-Ha!!). Okay, more plant pictures:

This is great way to use up discarded paper and cardboard; I tear them into strips and bits and put them in between the vegetable plants. This stops the weeds from coming up (believe me…this is a brilliant idea because it saves me from weeding everyday) and the cardboard is great mulch. We have rocket and kale on the Munchkin menu right now:

This here is a very interesting fruit, Synsepalum dulcificum, otherwise known as Miracle fruit. This fruit is amazing and great for party tricks…you give somebody a miracle fruit to eat and then you give them a sour lime; the lime will actually taste really sweet. This is because this fruit contains a natural chemical called miraculin which binds to the tongue’s taste buds causing sour things to taste sweet; the effect lasts between 15 to 30 minutes. It can probably be used as a natural sweetener for diabetics or people who want to cut down their sugar consumption. Apparently, this fruit originated from West Africa where they traditionally use this fruit to sweeten palm wine. This would be an interesting additive for one of Gnome’s fermented beverages.

We both like bitter gourd or serosi as they call it here. It appears to grow very well in buckets. We’ve managed to grow a third generation fruit (by natural selection) that is 2feet (60cm) in length. Normal fruits average about a foot in length. We are trying to grow the longest bitter gourd in the world…maybe get into the Guinness Book of World Records..Ha-Ha!!

Oh and this one is very interesting…this is the toothache plant. When you bite into the flower, you get a tingling sensation in the mouth followed by a numbing sensation. Good for toothaches hence the name. According to Wiki, the leaves can be eaten in salads; I might try experimenting with the flowers and leaves to use as flavouring for sauces and relishes.

These flowers are supposed to attract fireflies at night. I questioned the validity of the statement and said to Gnome: “I haven’t seen fireflies, have you?”

Gnome:

“We haven’t seen the fireflies at night because that’s when we close up the house and run off to bed!!”

Have a lovely Thursday and let’s all have a magical December…

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Food

Hard Work!

November 25, 2017 Munchkin

The work is never done and there isn’t enough time in the day. There isn’t enough time to write blog posts either! Okay, so what’s happening…well, I will start off with my usual joviality. Since we have been so busy on the farm, I haven’t kept up with harvesting fruits and so the place is teeming with blackbirds and jays. They’ve been stealing all the starfruit and peach palm. They are not leaving a single one for us:

Munchkin: “This is daylight robbery. The blackbirds are robbing us blind!”

Gnome:

“Sing a song of sixpence

A pocket full of rye.

FOUR AND TWENTY BLACKBIRDS,

BAKED IN A PIE!”

Oh yes, we were willing to eat iguana curry because we were losing our vegetable garden to them. Well, now we have declared war again…this time, it is the blackbirds!

The cat does his job…now and then…catching birds (I mean)…but not consistently enough…

Okay, so we are painting the veranda and putting railings up. Also, there has been so much erosion, from rains, around the house that the ground is getting washed away! Gnome has come up with a great plan to make partially raised beds, about 1/2 foot in height, and filling them up with our usual sawdust and seaweed. Since water pools in these areas around the house, we have decided to grow peppermint and taro (or any other aquatic plants that we can think of) in these beds so that they can soak up all the water. That sounds lovely…imagine the aroma of beds of mint around the house!

Next on the list, is fixing up the gate because it is falling over. The list is endless! Anyway, we still try to add a nice touch to things so today we are going to go shopping in Punta Gorda (this is a rare event for Munchkin and Gnome…the shopping, I mean) and buy some Christmas lights for our new veranda.

Have a lovely weekend!!

Amusing, Belize

People Pictures!

November 14, 2017 Munchkin

Hello, Good Morning! Just posting up some pictures of Guy Fawkes Night that a friend sent us. They have more of a human element to them ie. there are pictures of people which is very rare for our blog posts. Most of our pictures are of plants or animals or something like that. Alas (Ha-Ha!!) there are no pictures of us so that we can amuse you with our fictional character pictures (although, it has been said on many an occasion that we bare an uncanny resemblance to our anime characters).

Another amusing picture of us:

Okay, here are the real pictures!

Pre Bonfire and Bonfire:

More People:

Amusing, Belize, Philosophy

Camp Night!

November 12, 2017 Munchkin

Guy Fawkes night was such a success that we decided to spend a night over in the new camp,

“Oh, wouldn’t it be awfully nice to do an over-nighter in the spaceship.”

(Just in case you didn’t read our last blog post, Gnome fixed up a shelter that was essentially made of a tarp draped over a bending bamboo at the bamboo stand. It partially hovers a few inches above the ground so that’s why we have called it “Munchkin & Gnome’s Spaceship.”)

On Thursday, we made preparations to spend a night out at our camp by the pond. We put the animals to bed (geese, ducks and guinea pigs) and wheel-barrowed our supplies to the camp. I had a beef heart stew ready to put on the fire, hot-chocolate and marshmallows and some home-made sorghum beer.

Gnome set up the fire just outside the spaceship so that the bugs would be kept at bay and to keep the shelter warm and comfortable. We sat together and talked, mesmerized by the fire.

It was refreshing to do something different from our usual messing around on the Internet or watching a film for the hundredth time. Good food, good company!

When we finally settled for the night, we laid blankets down on the ground of the shelter with cushions. It did look quite cosy and romantic by the light of the camp-fire.

We did manage to spend the night out at the spaceship; however, we did have a few minor complaints. The first one was that some stray mosquitoes did get into the shelter so they did start to buzz around our ears which was really quite annoying. However, Gnome was feeling positive about the whole experience and said,

“…we can get a mosquito net…that’s okay…we can sort that one out.”

The second problem was that we woke in the morning with hip pain since we were lying on the hard ground. Ouch…soooo so many aches and pains!! We just laughed at each other and Gnome said,

“…ohhh the aches…that’s NOT okay if it’s due to old age…and there’s nothing we can do about that.”

Overall, the overnighter was a success and we have a pleasant time together. Next time we will be equipped with a mosquito net…and a mattress!!

Belize, Philosophy

Camping with Munchkin and Gnome!

November 10, 2017 Munchkin

Hello Everyone! I thought that I should post my Guy Fawkes pictures before it got too late. This year, we had our traditional 5th of November at the pond area again. It’s been raining on and off so Gnome had to do another quick fix-it shelter this year. I am very pleased with this years efforts; it is actually a huge tarp wrapped over a bending bamboo at the bamboo stand. I am proud to present Munchkin and Gnome’s Bamboo Spaceship; because it is attached to a live bamboo, it actually hovers a few inches above the ground…hence the name…it’s also silver… 🙂

It was a very cosy shelter and we (six people in total) ended up sitting inside it because it was so comfortable. We had the food fire directly in front of the spaceship so that the inside was kept warm and toasty for the entire time.

Oh and here is the Guy…thank-you to Panda for making it..this one looks quite jolly and relaxed.

This year, we had two fires going (Gnome like fires!!). So there was the bonfire for the guy a few metres from the camp site and a food fire at the camp.

Much fun was had by all. We had some of our home-made sorghum beer, hor d’oeuvre (see below) and of course, our famous M & G waffles.

I made these starters with moringa biscuits that I found in the Chinese supermarket; I used our home-made pesto sauce and sprinkled toasted sunflowers seeds on top.

Gnome was of course in charge of Fire 1 and Fire 2 (self-designated) and he also made the waffles. We made yeasted waffles this time…they are a lot more crunchy and crisp when done on the fire…definitely the best way to eat them:

Yummy:

Ooooh, every year Guy Fawkes Night gets better!

Amusing, Belize, Plants

Shampoo Ginger.

November 4, 2017 Munchkin 4 Comments

Gnome is a neophile and so he always likes to try new things:

“Munchkin, howz about you try using the shampoo ginger on your hair?”

Munchkin is a neophobe and does not like new things,

“Eh…why don’t you try it first?”

He kinda of gave me a funny look and then I realised that he had just shaved his head again so there was no hair to wash. I had to change tact:

“Okay then, let’s try the cat…”

I got the same funny look. He didn’t need to say anything. We haven’t washed the cat for five years so I think that the cat bossie would be none too pleased to be grabbed and washed with a flower. There would be a lot of scratching and clawing…

Okay, so I realised that I was the prime candidate to use shampoo ginger (Zingiber zerumbet) ; the root and the leaves of this ginger are edible and can be used as aromatic flavouring in cooking. The red flower heads can be squeezed to extrude a soapy liquid which feels like diluted soap and smells like soap. Apparently the Hawaiians use this as shampoo and conditioner for hair. We always find that the same information (usually from Wiki) just gets re-hashed from one blog to another without anyone actually trying it out. Gnome reckons that it is important to write from personal experience so I decided to be the “guinea pig.”

I was a bit tentative at first because I have so many problems with itchy scalp in the past from hair products. I had to end up using dermatological preparations until Gnome formularised the coconut castile soap (AKA Can’t Believe it’s not DB’s) for my hair. Anyway, I harvested the “shampoo” by squeezing the flower heads into a bucket.

I managed to get about 1 litre (1 quart) of liquid from about 6 flower heads. I thoroughly wet my hair in the shower and poured the whole lot of juice onto my head. It was mildly soapy; I massaged my scalp for a bit and rubbed the juice into my hair right to the very ends. My hair felt very smooth with it. After drying my hair, my hair was clean, shiny and felt a lot softer and well conditioned. Oh, and no itchy scalp so I was doubly pleased. Okay so it does work so I recommend it and we might even make a hair product with it in the future.

Oh by the way, according to Wiki you can drink this juice as a refreshing drink. We tried that too…only drink under survival conditions…it tastes like mild soap. It’s drinkable but not exactly as thirst-quenching as a cold lemonade!

Casa Mascia Apothecary

Monthly Archives: November 2017