Hello, Munchkin here again! We had a terrible week of heavy rains and now it’s starting to get drier. I shouldn’t complain but I will! I’ve been having an awful time trying to get things done on the farm because it is sooooo wet. I just end up getting covered in water, mud, dirt and feeling sorry for myself. The other day, I thought of a mantra to keep myself going and it went like this: “I am a store-house of creativity….I am a store-house of creativity….I am a store-house of creativity.” Ha-Ha, I need to laugh at myself now because when I actually write it down, it sounds like a repetitive loop which totally lacks lustre and inventiveness!
Anyway, yesterday, whilst walking around on the farm, caked in wetness and dirt, I wasn’t exactly feeling great. Instead of the mantra, I was wailing and flailing with occasional huffing and puffing!! Gnome hid behind a tree nearby and stuck his yellow welly out at me and said cheekily:
“Munchkin!! Are you a store-house of creativity??!!”
He guffawed and laughed at my mantra whilst shaking about in a little dance. His yellow wellies were flailing up in the air…dare I say…like River Dance. It was such a stupid sight that I did have to laugh and that snapped me out of my dourness. So, I did get stuff done (happily) in the end…
Transplanted the tomato plants:
Tomato Seedlings.
Cleaned the Pigtail buckets…I get these from town and they start piling up under the house until I get fed up and do a huge wash up.
Pigtail Bucket.
Did the laundry in the Gnomified washing machine:
Spent some quality time with the little creatures on the farm. Whilst doing all that, I forgot about repeating the mantra and just got on with it. Better when the brain doesn’t get in the way sometimes!!
The beginnings were delicate times when we first set about procuring our first generation of guinea pigs. We were looking for new blood, so-to-speak, and made a long and arduous journey crossing borders by sea and by road, to gain our progeny. Our first piggies were only about 12 weeks old; a long-haired tawny brown called “The Kid,” a blonde girlie named “Honey” and of course, the Grandmother of all our Piggies: Vanessa aka Stumpy. Vanessa suffered a fracture of her tibia during the transportation and had a successful below knee amputation once she reached the safe house. Lovely Grandma Stumpy out-lived the other two original piggies and went on to produce generations for us. She lived a very good life and died a couple of years ago; Grandma Stumpy you will always live on in our memories.
GrandMa Stumpy.
The original concept of guinea pig rearing was for food. We had seen some rather tempting Peruvian guinea pig dishes (mostly fried in batter like fried chicken) and thought that they might be rather tasty. The first houses were coined “The Hanging Gardens of Babylon” because they were wire cages suspended from rafters. A few generations of piggies started in this first construction but it finally had to discarded after doggy sabotage. The dog would spring up from her hind legs and attempt to break the bottom of the cages with her teeth. She was eventually successful and had a feast with quite a few of them.
Meanwhile, we attempted also to sample the fine epicurean delights of guinea pig. This is Piggies Cooked in Mead:
Three Piggies Cooking in Mead.
I have written on the finer points of cleaning guinea pig carcass in previous posts so I won’t go into the detail. They are actually quite bony so actually provide a good skin for stuffing….in this case, these piggies were stuffed with marinated pork meat. Anyway, it did taste good but it was a lot of hard work. Besides, we didn’t feel quite right about eating our cute and cuddly pets. They looked so harmless and helpless…yes, we felt like such awful predators!
Cheery Guinea Pig.
After some philosophical talks and drinking of mead, we decided that the eating of piggies did not sit right for us. So what to do with them? We feel that everything on our farm should have a purpose.
For some time, we used them like cows and put them on a movable cage so that we could have sections of grass mowed naturally. There was an upstairs and ramps to go downstairs to eat grass. Gnome’s idea of course!
Guinea Pig Mower.
This was dubbed the gated community of “Paradise Pastures” and lasted quite a while. The cage was rather heavy so proved quite a chore to move. But alas, we hit a snag with the dog….there is a whole story with this one. Anyway, the dog dug a hole in the ground and managed to get her paws into the cage!
Okay, then we had to re-model the cage with security features: we decided on a condo type resort thing with majestic hilltop views but no access to the bottom.
Piggie Condos.
There was a lot of unhappiness, squeaking and squawking and general mayhem with the new changes. The piggies couldn’t find a purpose on the farm. We even set up a dance/yoga studio for them with there own teacher:
Johnny Daybreeze.
Nah…that didn’t work either. Finally….and this is where they are now…they have been placed with the Zazen Duckies in the Zen Garden.
Piggies in Zen Garden.
And then we had a surprise hatching of a lone duckie last month:
Duckie!!
Munchkin and Gnome did their best to do Duckie Parenting and placed lone duckie in the guinea pig crèche:
Duckie and Piggies.
It has worked out so well. Duckie house-cleans for the piggies by eating up the grubs and creepy crawlies and learns to eat greens with them. They are all friends and get along very well. Duckie is getting bigger with the house cleaning:
Duckie Growing Up!
So, because of the success of this pilot project we have decided to incorporate the piggies into the cycle of duckling rearing. This is because our mallard ducks are not good mothers (very scatty, forgetful and silly…no, I mean that they are usually too busy meditating!). The piggies have a new purpose on the farm now!!
It’s been a good start to the new year because the weather has been dry and sunny (except for today, of course, there are rain clouds and it feels like it wants to rain). Anyway, with the good weather, we felt uplifted and ready to start the new year full of energy and enthusiasm. Well, it started off with Gnome fixing the washing machine! Yay, we have clean clothes now!! I’ve been doing a big spring clean inside the house and throwing all sorts of kipple and the like. It’s a lovely feeling dumping things and making a great big fire…whoopeeeeee!!
Kipple…stuff…just multiplies!!
Kipple
Anyway, Gnome has been doing some manly, physical work (so, I’ve been very nice to him…bringing out cool lemonade and dainty egg sandwiches to keep him going). He is setting up the platforms for our water tanks. This time we will be ready for the dry season and we won’t be caught out. We will have our tanks lined up to catch the rains from now to April.
Water Security!!
Water Tank.
And as usual the farm has been producing so there is the usual Munchkin harvesting….
These are Monkey Cap; the taste like peanut butter and have the consistency of peanut butter. They are nice but kinda get stuck in your teeth because they are gummy-like. Don’t eat them when you have guests around or you’ll get into a right old mess with orange gums and teeth…Ha-Ha! I wasn’t trying to put you off this fruit by the way!
Monkey Cap.
We hope that the year is starting off well for y’all out there!!
This morning, Gnome only had one mission in mind: try to get the washing machine working to avoid this Munchkin (Chinese Woman) Look:
I think he spends most of this time trying to stop me from pulling this face!! I am adept at it.
And so he got to work and took the washing machine apart:
Washing Machine.
He didn’t utter a single word as he scrutinised every single component and then went on the Internet to look up “How to repair your washing machine” and “what to do if your washing machine stops working” sites.
After about an hour of Gnomish behaviour, he finally gave me the diagnosis. He explained that the lid switch had melted; he then joined up the wires to bypass the switch and said to me,
“There you are…all done now. It still works but you don’t have a lid right now until we find a replacement lid switch.”
He smiled cheekily,
“Off you go then, you can start the first load!”
And pointed at the washing machine that looked like this:
Working Washing Machine
I shrieked at Gnome,
“What about the outside cover?”
He replied, cheekily again,
“Oh this old thing? Oh you don’t need this. It’s perfect for making a solar oven!”
and then proceeded to walk away with my washing machine cover as if he owned it…
Back to the normal Chaos on the farm!! Okay, I have to confess that I haven’t done any clothes washing for two weeks. This is because the washing machine stopped, all of a sudden in mid cycle, and wouldn’t start up again. This was at the start of the Christmas festivities, so I (We) decided to ignore it. But, now the washing is piling up and it’s hard to ignore it when you start running out of stuff to wear. I also have to admit that I have been a very messy Munchkin and had started piling obstacles in the way of the washing machine (well, I wasn’t using it so I didn’t need to get to it and we are running out of space everywhere). Today, I did an almighty clean up and the washing machine is back in clear sight! So, I’ve done my bit…now waiting for Gnome’ll Fix It (nudge, nudge, wink, wink….).
I really do hope that Gnome will fix the washing machine otherwise I will have to pound our clothes against rocks to get them cleaned!! I feel that I had enough of that experience 12 years ago when we first came here and I don’t think that I need a repeat of that. Anyway, if the washing machine has carked it I will have no choice but to start scrubbing again. Arrrgh!!!
We’ve had a lovely Festive Season this time and I made a tremendous effort to keep the celebrations going on the farm with lots of yummy food. Here are pictures of some Munchkin goodies:
Sorghum and coconut flour flat bread with Swiss cheese and bird peppers:
Flat Bread Hors D’oeuvres.
More flat bread hors d’oeuvres with sapodilla sauce and blue cheese (more Bird Peppers to add heat and give the Christmas colour!):
Sorghum Bread and Sapodilla Sauce.
For Christmas, we had ham this time, unconventionally with sorghum and vegetables and home-made sour peach jam.
Sorghum, Ham and Sour Peach Jam.
Ooooh, lots of this…Ribena and Rum!! When I was a kid, Ribena was the stuff that we had with our packed lunches at school…a kid’s drink. Now, we are grown ups, we have it as an adult’s drink! By the way, Ribena is a British cordial made from black currants.
Ribena And Rum.
For the New Year, I decided to do Chinese for a change. This is tripe with calamondin.
Tripe and Calamondin.
Also, we had Venison with Lotus Root. And a yummy sauce made from home-made chocolate miso, calamondin zest and bird pepper.
Venison with Lotus Root.
Okay, we’ve had our fun!! Now, back to work diggin’ in the dirt!!
Hello Everyone. I am sure everyone is getting into The Christmas Spirit! We certainly got into it yesterday when we visited a friend in Punta Gorda and had a Scotch at 10am in the morning! Wow…my head was spinning! Nevertheless, it was a lovely gesture for this time of the year. Anyway, I wanted to squeeze in another plant post before Christmas. We call this The Christmas Bobble Plant:
Christmas Bobble Plant.
Every year, at this time of the year, these plants come up around the house. I remember procuring the seeds from a friend about 10 years ago and I didn’t even plant them. I think they just fell out of my pocket. Since then, they have voluntarily come up for Christmas time. The picture really does not do it justice…if you actually saw them, the balls are about 5cm (2 inches) in diameter; they start off green and slowly turn red. These plants are from the Solanum sp. or Eggplant species. Well, who needs the sparkly lights and bobbles when you have this right at your door-step! Have Fun Everyone!!
Hello, everyone, here’s an update on our surprise lone duckie that came out of a failed incubator project (because the cat sat on the incubator!). Yes, I know, the pitfalls of having animals on a farm!!
Duckie!!
Just to give you a quick background on our duckies, of the mallard type, we had to incubate the eggs because these ducks refused to set. Aha…you might say (if you know anything about the duckie world)…Why didn’t you use the local broody ducks (of the Muscovy type) to set? And, Aha once again…the pitfalls of having animals on the farm…we have a dog with a ferocious appetite for muscovy ducks!
Anyway, to get to the point: we have, in the past, incubated duck eggs with success. However, we found ourselves somewhat at a loss in being duckie parents. We were inexperienced, young and ignorant of The Way of The Duckie Dabble. The result was a bunch of useless duckies waiting for corn mash at the end of each day with no knowledge of eating the good things in life like slugs, caterpillars, ants, creepy crawlies and grass. What a disaster!!
Anyway, we have spent many a day observing The Way of The Duckie Dabble and this is the All New Munchkin & Gnome Classical Duckie Education.
It’s important to keep duckie in a safe, warm environment where he can freely survey the outside world. We used a fish tank with a 100 watt bulb.
Warm Secure Environment.
2. Spend lots and lots of quality time with duckie. At Day 2, Start him on a diet of protein (we used boiled eggs) and lots of chopped greens. Let him splash about in a bowl of water like a duckie.
Splashing Duckie.
3. From Day 3, allow supervised walks so he gets used to pecking at creepy crawlies and eating green things. According to Gnome, it helps to wear yellow wellies so that he thinks you are just one of his kind!
Supervised Duckie Walks.Wear Yellow Wellies.
4. Introduce Duckie to other farm members in a controlled manner:
Meet the Cat.
5. It is of utmost importance in a Duckie Classical Education to introduce other animals (or cultures) into his everyday world as quickly as possible. From Day 7, take Duckie to the Piggie Creche (9am to 5pm) for pre-school education. This will enable fluency in a foreign language at a young age.
It’s that time of the year again. The Christmasy feeling is a bit more down-to earth here in Punta Gorda, Belize. You don’t get the awful (or perhaps nostalgic for some) ’80’s Festive songs blaring out of shops…you know what I mean: “Last Christmas,” and “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” and all that. I heard them at Brodie’s (in the big city) last week and it finally clicked that it was Christmas time again. Not here, it’s pure down here with none of that manufactured, marketed stuff around. What Bliss! Anyway, let’s talk about plants because that’s what I like talking about.
About a month ago, a friend give us some seeds from Guatemala and they are coming up.
These are Santol; Sandoricum koetjape. This is a Southeast Asian fruit that looks a bit peachy and tastes a bit peachy…according to Wiki…not with these words of course…they were a bit more eloquent.
Santol Seedlings.
These are Langsat; Lansium parasiticum. Another Southeast Asian fruit that looks a bit like a lychee but tastes like grapefruit/grape. I never believe these taste quantifying reports by the way. They might as-well say that they taste like chicken. I’m going to wait until I get the fruit bearing in 5 years and see if it’s grapefruit or grape or something else!!
Langsat Seedlings.
These ones are from a different friend and very, very much appreciated too!
Oooooh Durian; if you have been in Asia, you would have smelt the lovely aroma of durian. We managed to sprout 3 out of 4 of these seeds. So excited because these are “The King of Fruit” in Asia. We’ve got to wait 5 to 10 years for the fruit!!
Durian Seeds.
Galangal root; this is an Indonesian rhizome from the Ginger Family. It has more of a camphor-like taste. Great for teas and curries.
