Monthly Archives: March 2021

Amusing, Belize

Excitement Central!

Excitement??

Hello!! What have we been up to, you may be asking? Excitement Central?? Well, I just wanted to get my foot through the door…TRUCK PROBLEMS!!! You need to look at the picture and guffaw and laugh!! We have put our truck on a ramp to push start it manually!! Yeah, just the two of us pushing 4 tons together. We must be getting older but fitter or something!!

Truck on a Ramp!!

Okay, to get out of the farm it has been tough this month of March! We started off with the truck not starting in the middle of Punta Gorda; that was all fine and good because there were loads of tough, strong men to push start the truck for us! It turned out to be a starter problem so we decided to get it fixed straight away. We drove back home and parked it on a downward slope and made an appointment to get the truck fixed. Next day…with copious amounts of praying…we got the truck started at 5am on the dot (still have the 10pm to 4.59am curfew here) and drove all the way to Belmopan which was about 3 hours drive. So far so good, we managed to get it to our Toyota dealership for fixing. That day was not so good. There were other trucks on priority and we were forgotten; it ended up being a last minute rush job that got everyone (including ourselves) in a tizz. The starter was ‘re-modelled’ and we paid a hefty bill for this and other problems. Munchkin was not happy but at the end of the day, the truck started and we just wanted to get home.

That wasn’t the end of the story…no, there is more…

Last week, we were called on a medical emergency while we were at home. Okay, so we did our usual and ran into the truck and…and…and…it wouldn’t start!!! Oh, the stress of it all. We couldn’t believe it was the starter again (didn’t we just pay a huge bill to get it fixed!!) so Gnome checked the battery and everything else. He turned the ignition key again…nothing!! Arrrrgh!!!!

Oh Dear!

Oh dear…we finally had to call the people who had the emergency to come get us. So, that was okay.

When we got home from the medical call-out, we had to deal with our own emergency! We decided to ‘sit on it’ and think about what to do. I wasn’t in a rush to go back to our previous mechanic (they were rubbish!) and besides, we couldn’t get out of the farm. It wasn’t parked on a slope so we would have to push start it somehow.

Meanwhile…we got phone calls from people in town requiring medical appointments. Oh, more stress!! I hate letting people down. Of all the weeks that it could happen…we seemed to be very popular that week. Oh, and there was a business meeting out of town…not sure if that was anything but we are usually not in such demand!

We finally got help to push start the truck off the driveway. When the engine was running, the first thing that Gnome did was to build a ramp for the truck. Yes, let me show you again what he did…

How to push start a truck in the middle of nowhere!!

So, when we need to go for a drive, Gnome releases the hand-break and we use the momentum to push the truck out of the farm onto the main road. Gnome pushes from the left door and I am hanging onto the right door. At some point, Gnome has to turn the steering wheel to get onto the main road. We still push on both sides…this is hard work…my butt still hurts!! Then, when the truck starts moving down the main road, Gnome has to jump into the driver seat (more thrilling heroics) and I am still pushing at this stage. Once there is enough speed, Gnome starts the ignition and the engine splutters to life.

Okay, that is how we have been getting the truck started in this tiny piece of nowhere in Belize. Right now, we are only going out for emergencies!!

Belize, Farming

Gnome is Working!

Gnome Picking Peanuts.

Hey, Every-one!! A Happy Sunday to y’all (Gnome thinks it is very funny when I start getting all Southern because he says I don’t sound Southern at all! Anyway, enough of the silliness…oh, yes the new website…the first few days, Gnome was very frustrated and couldn’t get anywhere with coding our new shop (well, he has never programmed in his life until now). But, patience won out and he has nearly finished coding the brand new website. My Hero -HaHa!! We have set up the website in an extremely simple way…it is not dynamic at the moment with shopping carts and all… we are going back to old-fashioned ‘order by email’ for now. With time, we will get fancier but please be patient with us…we are also busy harvesting peanuts right now and trying to clean up 20 acres of land! Anyway, I am happy with the new website because it is more comprehensive; it is easier to code all the information onto the pages so we will have every single product available on-line. The present website does not have everything…anyway, the new one is scheduled to be up for Easter (fingers crossed!!).

It has been raining lately so we have had the time to work at the computer. However, in between that time, we are always doing stuff. We are still in the middle of cleaning up the yard and yonder 20 acres. Here is a picture from our veranda…

Coconuts and Mountains.

Still looks bushy but it is cleaned up!! the coconuts are getting really big…these ones were babies when we first came onto the land. Now they are baring heavily. Here is another picture of a coconut palm…I am amazed at how much they have grown…

Coconut Palm.

Not much else happening since we are getting ‘square eyes’ sitting in front of the computer screen. Gnome is coding whilst I am writing the page content. Oh, we have more wine…Gnome is also going through a wine- making phase…

That’s it for now. We are enjoying the rains before the dry season!

Belize, Farming, Food

Website Back Up and Other Stuff!

2 Comments

Hello!! We sorted out the casamascia.com website and it is back on-line. Having said all of that, we had a good think about the website (whilst it was lost in the ethers of Internet space) and admitted that it is a real pain to manipulate. I think that superficially, the site is okay. However, I haven’t been updating or adding anything new because the logistics behind the site are unwieldy and painstakingly tedious. It isn’t so straight-forward and it takes about thirty pages (clicks) to change one single thing on the site. Our Internet is slow so about thirty clicks between page changes takes about 2 to 3 hours. We have decided to change-over (it will take some time) to a simpler website; Gnome has embarked upon learning web-design (in amongst his already busy schedule of mowing, planting, doctoring and general gnoming). We think that if we have a simpler website, we will take more opportunity to expand and spend more time on it.

Anyway, onto other things since I have not written for a while. What have we been eating lately? The geese have started laying and we have been eating goose eggs!! We have got so used to the size (they about the size of three chicken eggs) that we think that they are normal sized. We feel blessed that we can indulge in a luxury that simply cannot be bought: fresh goose eggs with lovely yellow, runny yolks cooked in our home-pressed vegetable oils.

Goosie Eggs!

Look at that lovely yolk:

Fried Goose Eggs.

What else? February and March is pigeon pea time again. We have been collecting them green, shelling them together in a romantic Munchkin-Gnome sort of way and cooking them in stews. When they are green, the peas just need to be boiled for about 5 to 8 minutes and they are ready to eat. They retain the green colour with cooking so make a great pea substitute.

Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajun) is also known as Ganga Bean in Belize. It is a long forgotten plant and many older people remember picking the pods as young children for their mothers to cook. I don’t see much of it in Belize but it is a high protein bean that is very nutritious. It is a good animal forage food for fowl, cattle and horses. They grow easily from seed, require no maintenance and are very productive. I definitely recommend this crop for anyone who wants to grow their own food.

Pigeon Pea Pods.

Pigeon Peas:

Pigeon Peas.

We have been eating a fair bit of this too:

Pigeon Pea Meal.

Oh yum!! These are all the reasons for growing your own food!!

Wait, there is more…

We have Gnome-made sorrel (roselle) wine. Check out the colour. With all this food and drink, we don’t want to leave the farm:

Sorrel Wine.

Okay that is it for now. I am off to search for goosie eggs for lunch…

Belize, Our Products

Website Down!

Hi Guys!! Just a quickie to let you know that our Casa Mascia Apothecary website is down. We are not sure what has happened but it seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth! We are working on it! Anyway, meanwhile if any-one is looking for anything or wants to get in contact with us, please email us at info@casamascia.com. I will write soon but the Internet is really playing up right now!