Duckie Time Again!

March 27, 2019 Munchkin

It is that time of the year again. Duckie and Goosie time…this time, the first one out is a duckie! There won’t be any more eggs hatching for about a week so I have this one to feed and entertain until some more company comes along. This one is very quiet and well behaved.

Breakfast with Duckie:

What else? Oh yes…we re-visited the wormery project; about six weeks ago, Gnome asked me to revive the worm colony…it was sadly one of many projects that had fallen by the wayside. When I looked in the box, there wasn’t much at all…maybe about 10 survivors. Anyway, I placed all manner of chopped up food wastes in the bin and kept this going for four weeks. The other day, we went through the box and sifted out the worms. I am happy to say that there were probably about 200 to 300 baby worms. This encouraged us to persevere! We cleaned out the box and lined it with newspaper and cardboard. We them filled it up with peat moss soaked in water and placed our worms in it.

They have been chomping through hair (Gnome had a hair-cut), leaf litter and scraps from the kitchen. It has been about two weeks now since we cleaned up their box and they look like they are re-producing faster. It looks like the wormery is becoming a reality after all! We plan to use the worms to feed the ducks and make delicious gourmet meals for ourselves. Also, the compost will be soil for plants so this project is definitely worth the time and effort.

Worms:

That’s it for now. Gnome’s hand is better so we will be out and about on the farm today.

Belize, Farming

What’s New?

March 24, 2019 Munchkin

I have just realised that time has passed and I haven’t written for ages again! What’s Happening? Well, not much really…terrible way to start a post…that’s why I haven’t written!

We had another big Thursday rain this week and most importantly, Gnome has been out of action for a few days because he has hurt his hand. He had been digging holes for posts around the house and I think he got over-zealous in his efforts. I asked him if he wanted to go to Social Security to report the injury and he laughed saying:

“…if I had to report every injury, I would be a permanent feature in Social Security.”

Gnome’s hand is getting better…there was some soft tissue swelling which has now gone down. He had to make huge efforts not to use it…even simple things like opening buckets and jars…at one point we were going to put a sock over it to stop him from using it. All is well and he should be back to work on Monday.

What else? Oh, the fate of the possoms…..

If you recall, we caught five possums in two nights because they had been stealing goosie eggs…we found the cracked shells of two eggs. We went through a moral dilemma with this one. First of all, they looked at us pitifully with those beady dark eyes and my heart went out to them,

“…awhhhh…they are kinda cute in a possumy way…”

Gnome said:

“….yes, cuteness goes a long way…”

We also found that two of the captives had babies in their pouches so they were released. So, three left after that. Gnome then said:

“…hang on a minute, we have a freezer full of food…we don’t need any-more meat.”

He was right. It didn’t seem acceptable this time round to eat the possums. Last time, rogue possums had decimated our entire population of 30 guinea pigs and we had possum curry as a result of that incident. We released the last three into the bush. I shouted at them as they sped off into the rainforest,

“…don’t come back and steal any-more eggs!!”

I hope they heard me!

It is sunny and dry again today. We will probably have a rest today before starting the week afresh. I will leave you with a picture of the duckies staring curiously at a possum.

“Hello Mr Possum…we are the Duckies!! Pleased to meet you!!”

Amusing, Belize, Farming

Noisy Geese!

March 14, 2019 Munchkin

We are starting to notice a pattern with the geese. This morning, they were very, very noisy…they sounded like they were picking fights with each other. When this happens, it looks like some of the girls want to lay and are jostling for nesting space. There are three designated (designated by the goosies of course) spaces near the house. During these noisy days, we have to continually watch these spaces because the girls are liable to sit on top of each other. The other day, I found two females squashed up on the same nest…we have coined this “goosie pile-up!!” We have attempted to make more nesting locations for the geese with nice bedding material and roofing but the girls won’t have any of it. It looks like we are fully into goosie laying time. Here is a picture of a broody goose sitting on nothing; we have to put her in a cage for a week to break her broodiness…I have tried less than seven days but they always go back to their nesting spot.

There is another nesting spot closer towards the pond area which is a bit more isolated. There are different problems with this area: possums!! On top of the chaos of breeding season, we have egg thieving possums too! The cages are out and we have caught five in two days. They are quite cute!

Anyway, despite the morning rains for the last week the place is still drying up. This is the pond…it is getting quite low. It usually goes right up to the edge.

The ducks still go to the pond every morning like clockwork.

However, the geese are hanging around the house making noise and making trouble. Gnome said,

“I guess that’s why we love ’em…”

Amusing, Belize, Construction, Farming

Morning Rains.

March 12, 2019 Munchkin

We have been having morning heavy showers since Thursday. It rains so much that all the basins fill up and by about 10am the sun comes out in its full glory. This may sound pleasant but it actually feels really uncomfortable. It has happened again today! I will probably run in and out of showers to do stuff. Last week, we took advantage of the rains and planted our basil plants in all the tyres.

Since the mower is out of order, Gnome has been working on the well in the old coop. This coop has been converted into a nursery and contains all our planting beds. To get through the dry (seems like it is a wet dry season this year!) Gnome thought that he would replace the submersible pump, attach solar panels and voilà…we would be able to water our plants with a hosepipe.

(At this point, I need to pause to laugh…or even cry…you will not believe the obstacles that we have come up against!!)

First of all, whilst Gnome was pulling the entire pipe up from the well, the last 15 foot section fell into the well…the whole length of the pipe consisted of three pipes screwed end to end to make a 45 feet length. Gnome exclaimed:

“…I can’t believe the last section just fell off…it was screwed tightly when I put the pipe down!”

Okay, so now we have a 15 foot pipe stuck down the bottom of a well! Gnome has tried hooking, roping, praying and singing…so far, no success. Any ideas, anyone?

And that’s not all of it. The submersible pump is the perfect rinky-dink low wattage for our slow-trickling shallow well. It only needs a 100 Watt solar panel. When Gnome did a test run of the pump, he could not get it to work and had to take it apart. He was glad that he did it because he found that one of the springs was misaligned and wasn’t pushing the brush. Okay, then he got it working…then what happened?

The submersible pump didn’t fit down the 3 inch well casing!! Arrrghhh!! This one Gnome managed to figure out…he used a sanding drum to shave a 1/4inch all around and sanded down the screws.

There you go! That’s what has been happening. Frustrating but we are trying to keep a sense of humour!

Belize, Farming

Is It Going to Rain?

March 7, 2019 Munchkin

It is grey and overcast so we could get some rain this morning. While we are waiting for the weather to determine our day, I thought I might write something. Here is a picture of a big rain that we had last Thursday. Gnome had placed a whole line of basins along the back part of our house to catch rain off the roof. Here is a picture of the geese having fun around the water basins:

The basins also act as a barricade to prevent the geese from jumping and flying (yes! The younger ones can fly so we will have to clip their wings) onto planting tyres placed around the edge of the house. They are starting to learn that there are tasty titbits like dandelion greens growing in the tyres.

What have we been up to? We have been taking advantage of the hot, dry weather; Gnome is clearing and cutting down trees and since there is no place to store so much wood, he started making charcoal again.

Generally, I do the lighter jobs around the farm which involve maintenance and keeping all plants and animals alive and healthy. We are slap bang in the midst of goosie breeding season and have found three nesting spots so far. The younger geese are nesting close to the house and not trying to hide their locations from us. The older geese, that we did not rear from a young age, can go off very far and are sneaky and surreptitious with there egg laying activities. They are the ones that we have to keep an eye on. Here is a picture of the “Squeakies”…they are definitely No.1 on the list for sneakiness…they know when they are being watched and are capable of throwing you off the trail…

Squeakies! Where are you laying your eggs?!

I will leave you with a picture of a praying mantis that looks like a leaf. Amazing…

It really is a praying mantis…

That’s all for now…

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

March Already!!

March 5, 2019 Munchkin

March Already…what happened to January and February? Is it just me… is time going faster and faster? Anyway, we can’t turn back the time so we must proceed and keep on going. Since the mower is waiting for a part to coming whizzing its way to Belize in a few months, Gnome has decided to chain-saw and clean up the area behind our house. This is an “after” picture…look! You can actually see the mountain to the back…

What other things can I show you? We have basil coming out of our ears right now. We have about forty of these…some in pots and some in tyres around the house. I guess we need to get more tomatoes going because we like basil with tomatoes:

Oh, and this one is catnip grown especially for our lovely, lazy cat. I have read that cats go crazy for catnip. Well, not our cat!! I’ve tried giving him a few leaves and he just looks up at me like he is saying, “I don’t eat greens…where’s the meat?!”

Gnome has been chopping down some coconut palms to give more space for our mangoes and avocados. We have been eating coconut heart of palm almost everyday…there is so much of it. In my opinion, the heart of palms all taste quite similar. The commercialised one is usually from the peach palm and the main one that is eaten in Belize is the cohune palm. They all have a crunchy texture and sweet taste.

Gnome has a new modified method of baking bread: in a cast iron pot surrounded by coals in a sand pit. We both love this crusty bread and it tastes so much better than oven-baked bread.

Anyway, wishing you all a good day!!

Belize, Farming, Plants

The Usual!!

March 1, 2019 Munchkin

Well, what’s the usual? Life, environment and the usual getting in the way of farm work. The first “usual thing” was that Gnome got ready to start on his big mow around the 20 cleared acres and he was gone only for half an hour before he had trundle back to the house. A cable broke on the mower and he tried to Belize-rig it without any success. So, the mower is down!

We are back to this again…Ha-Ha!!

What else? Gnome changed tactic and decided that yesterday would be a good day for chain-sawing since the weather report stated “Nice Day.” At 6am there was a huge rain that continued all morning. Our plans had been thwarted by the Gods yet again! Did they mean “Nice Rainy Day?”

Anyway, that’s the Munchkin and Gnome usual. And here are the usual round of pictures:

This is a cutting from a voluntary tomato that just appeared in one of our tyres a couple of months ago. It is the local tomato variety but they seem to be a lot sweeter than the bought produce.

The rue (it is called ruda in Belize) is thriving. They like a dry environment similar to rosemary and sage. I also bagged some curry plant seedlings in black bags seen to the front of the picture.

This is a wild passionflower with produces a strong resin. It is used medicinally rather than for culinary purposes:

The black pepper plants are growing well in tyres…taking out new leaves:

The jackass bitters are flowering everywhere at this time of the year. This is a very popular medicinal herb of Belize which is used to treat external ulcers and sores and internal parasites.

Okay, we will tentatively attempt some farm work today!!

Casa Mascia Apothecary

Monthly Archives: March 2019