Oooooh…Irn Bru…you can get it in Belize at British Belize Foods. Cheers to all my old Glasgow friends. Very Orangey and Very Scottish!! Hope you are having a great Sunday.
Category Archives: Amusing
Cool Weather!
What a Relief…on Thursday we planted our peanut seeds and as soon as they were planted, the grey clouds starting gathering. It didn’t rain until the evening but it was lovely to get the drop in temperature. Since then, the weather has been cool and we have really enjoyed the weather change.
Look! There is a Gnome planting peanut:
We have been absolutely exhausted from the farm work coupled with the relentless heat but we are still going. That is because June is the last month to get our projects finished before it pours down in July and you can’t get out for all the sloshing and shwishing (onomatopoeia and neologism combined…ooohhhh da Munchkin is a fervent writer). I have our indoor activities already lined up for July…so Gnome, there is no need to get bored!!
Anyway, since it has been cool, I have been doing my nursery transplanting. I have twenty peach palms and a whole load of citrus which will be ready for the September planting. Plus I have started a whole lot of new stuff, courtesy of Mother of Gnome; this includes different types of aubergines, tomatillos and tomatoes. We have also started tobacco, giant granadilla and loofah.
Other things on the farm…our dandelions have come up very nicely. Thank-you so much Erin!! We have tasted the leaf already and they have a lovely bitter taste; we are growing these for seed and then we will plant a huge bed with them for green leaves and roots.
It is jackfruit time again and we just harvested a mega big baby; look at the size of this one. We put a broom (I was going to use my foot but Gnome exclaimed: no one can gauge the size of the fruit from your foot…who knows if you have little or big feet??!) next to these so that you can figure out the size; the biggest one is about 50lbs in weight (well, Gnome said it weighed like a sack of corn which is about 50lbs in weight). 😉
Have a great weekend everyone!!
They’re Here!!
Flood Flies are here!! This year is was 27th of May. Gnome says we should have a lottery next year to guess the flood fly day correctly. We could have one for every district! Anyway, quickie oats (the anchovies finished a long time ago) and we are off to bed. Lights off, wash and go to sleep. Good Night!!
The usual pictures of the blighters (as Gnome has mentioned to me: do you realise you are putting up the same pictures of flood flies every time?). Yes, Gnome, I know!! How many different pictures do I need??? They kinda of just look like a mass of flying insects invading the house.
With any luck, the clean up will be minimal tomorrow morning!!
Stuck At Home!!
Hey Everyone!! We are stuck at home because a huge monster pandanus plant fell on our gate last night. There was a big blustery storm at 3pm last night…it was really scary because things were flapping about everywhere…the roof tops and any type of top. The tops of the little goosie cage whipped off and the charcoal top came off leaving all the charcoal exposed to the torrential rain. The rain came down in buckets and in the middle of all this, the gutter went all wonky so that the water (which we dearly needed) did not flow into the tanks. Gnome had to get out and do a quickie DIY. On top of all this, our little goosies got totally drenched and I had to go out in my rain-coat (no point really, I got soaked anyway) to rescue the 4 day old geese). In the midst of all this, I was worrying about my (big) geese…perhaps they would get swept away in the wind? I screwed up my eyes to try to see through the rain and this was what I saw: big fat white geese in single file heading towards the pond lumbering like gorilla geese in the mist! Gallivanting; the geese went off gallivanting in the storm!!
Anyway, we have spent the whole day fixing up the mess…otherwise, we are doing fine!! After all that, we were too knackered to clear up the big monster plant blocking the driveway. Apologies to Panda and Mum for not making it out to meet up for lunch!
Hello There…
Well, Hello there, here is another update from Munchkin and Gnome. You see, I feel a bit sheepish because I forgot my camera for the Choc Fest (well, you know…there was so much stuff to pack into boxes, packed lunch and icy water…the camera was the last thing on my mind). Firstly, thanks to Alisa Atkinson and Tati for sharing the booth with us this year. We had a great time stuffing ourselves with their croissants and muffins and enjoyed their company very much.
This year, the fair was set up a bit differently since the town council were organising it. The stalls were packed on both sides of Front Street . Most of the stalls were not designated and so in the morning, it was first come, first served. Luckily, we found a place with a breeze from the sea so that helped with the dry season heat. As Gnome has said in the past:
“…Cacao Fest is always the hottest day of the year!!”
The fair started at 9am and ran on until 5pm (Saturday). The Wine and Chocolate was Saturday night instead of Friday this year. Because of this timing difference, we thought that the morning crowd was smaller; it was mostly made up of incidental tourists and Punta Gorda locals.
One thing happened that was really quite funny (maybe not funny for the people involved!!). I hope that I can describe it well so that it makes up for the lack of photographs. Late in the morning, three young Belizean girls came up to our stall dolled up to the nines with cute little skirts and heels. They were ooohing and ahhhing…at first I thought that they were complimenting us on our chocolate soaps…but, then it actually sounded like whining. Their beautiful bare legs were covered in bug bites and all three of them in unison stared woefully down at their bitten legs and then looked at the glowing container of “Copal Ointment for rash and itch.”
They pointed at that tin and uttered in feeble tones:
“…we want that…”
As soon as they received the Copal Ointment, they whipped the top open and dug right into the container…each one of them desperate to calm the itch on their legs. Oh, the poor girls!! There was more oooohing and ahhhing in front of me but this time I sensed more of a relief in their tone. Crisis over, they thanked me and went on their way. Afterwards, Gnome said to me:
“…that was perfect advertising for us…a shame we couldn’t get a picture!!”
We left the fair early afternoon to go home for a rest before attending the Wine and Chocolate. Yes, we did go this year…
(Incidentally, we were both at the the Very First Cacao Fest 2005. I ended up the kitchen cooking all night and Gnome got roped into pouring wine. That’s another story for another day!! But, never again!!)
It was nice to get out and get dressed up. It is certainly quite a job to try to get out of the farm without covering your good clothes in sticky burrs and mud. Nonetheless, we managed with a few passing pecks from the geese of course!! Much wine was drunk and we had a good evening together socialising. Good to get out once in a while…
Are They Coming or Not??
The last three nights we have been anticipating the flood flies; the nuptial flight of the termite queens (sounds very romantic, I know!) but to us it means messy wings and chaos and devastation!! A bit of sobbing too on my part because there is sooo much to clean up. Anyway, in order to overcome this awful time, we get into bed really quickly (say 6pm), close all windows and doors and switch off all lights. This minimises damage and a moaning-bad-mood- Munchkin the day after.
The last three nights, I’ve been making quickie dinners to get into bed early. When Gnome says,
“…what’s for dinner?”
The last three nights, he has been met with my 5 minute quickie dinner:
“…pasta and anchovies, darling.”
(They still haven’t come yet…but they will…it’s just a matter of time…)
Okay, right now the sky is grey and there is the distant rumble of thunder. It “feels” like it should rain which will stimulate the flight of the termites at about 5 to 6pm. Don’t get me wrong…I am not trying to tempt fate…I know they are coming sometime and I would rather be ready for them.
Okay, pasta and anchovies again tonight. We can’t really keep up with this strategy “Quick!! Run into bed” for too long because I only have two tins of anchovies left… 😉
Lots To Do!
After I got up this morning and after I had my buzz of Yorkshire tea, Gnome said to me very pointedly,
“….we are going to have a nice quiet day together. We might not achieve anything, we might not get anything done but that’s okay.”
He said this slowly and precisely so that I would not gloss over it and start doing my usual Hurricane Munchkin from kitchen to farm. Hence, I am sitting down in a Zen sort of way to try achieve balance. In my head, I am thinking:
(did he have to wait until after I had the tea??)
“…ooooh, I have ten jackfruit, or more to clean up…oh, and I have to feed my little goosies and I need to to do this and that and oh, I need to get that done before Tuesday because Wednesday will be busy…oh, and there is the Cacao Fest on Saturday too…oooh, busy busy!!”
Oh so much jackfruit this year…
And there I go again, the whole week is planned… 🙂
Anyway, it is all good and we can take a rest. Change of plan…
“…I am going to cook a Sunday roast and then…oops, I am starting the planning ahead again…”
Hee-Hee!! I will stop at the roast and take it from there.
Oh, what did you say, Gnome?? He just said something. He is going to make jackfruit wine today…Ha-Ha, he is still doing something…
Anyway, we are doing okay and are charging ahead to clean up the farm…onto the coconut area; we have so many sprouted coconuts (hundreds) that I will have to pick up (some of them rooted to the ground) so quite a lot of heavy work for the week. That is partly why Gnome has forced a break.
Okay, the tea is wearing off so I can probably sit down for a bit and watch some silly films with Gnome…
and perhaps make some wine together. Have a great restful Sunday!!
All About The Goosie…
We have a (pet) goosie now that follows me everywhere I go (a bit like Mary and her lamb). She was the first egg of the year laid auspiciously on New Year’s Day all by itself, plonk just outside our house. We incubated the single egg and our little goosie hatched 28 days later. Since she was all by herself, I was designated “mother goosie” and I taught her how to eat and forage. Thinking about it now, I actually spent a substantial amount of time with her as she was growing up; an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. She always had supervised walks and I would place her up on the vegetable bed whilst I was harvesting for the day. Aha…that is why she likes bitter greens like rocket.
Another interesting thing I noticed was that she always pecked at things that I was collecting; for instance, she always watched me harvesting from the suriname cherry and has now got into the habit of eating the leaves from this plant (not a normal leafy green that geese go for). The eggplant proved to a bit of a problem because she de-nuded the whole plant!
Here is my little goosie; she is a joy to have on the farm. She is about 4 months old and doing all the normal goosie things despite having a Munchkin Mama. 🙂
Bee Electricity Problem…
Gnome’s been trying to get those stingless bees in the Gnome boxes (TM) for ages. But of course, we’ve noticed that nothing on this farm listens to us or reads the same manuals. This lot of bees decided that our electricity disconnect box was just the thing for building a nest. The BEL guys came round to inspect our meter last week and discovered the sticky bee nest. Of course, we were told that we had to replace the box.
On the upside, we managed to get a litre of honey out of the box. 😉
So we ended up having to replace the meter base too because the door was broken…two expenses!! Of course Munchkin was none too pleased…these silly metal boxes actually do cost a bit of money. Then we had to arrange for the electrician and the BEL (Belize Electricity Ltd) guys to come at the same time because the power had to be switched off for the boxes to be replaced. Gnome:
“…how in Belize can you co-ordinate two different sets of people to come to your place at the same time…the mind boggles…”
(usually you can’t even organise an appointment with one person!)
Anyway, the conjunction of stars must have been absolutely bang-on perfect and they all turned up. They were all actually really helpful because we had a lot of spiky pandanus growing around the electricity meter and pole; they assisted in chopping down the over-grown (they are about 10 metres tall!!) obstructive plants. Luckily here in Toledo, everyone carries their own machete just in case there is grass or a plant to chop down. The BEL guys even got up on their cherry picker and cut some of the plant down for us. Thank-you, thank-you we really appreciated the extra help!! Every-one left with bananas from the farm and our hand-made soap.
We are glad that it all turned out well in the end. Look at the sticky mess the bees made:
Goosie News & Misc.
Our two month old goosie has reached adolescence and is starting to feather. She has stopped calling for Mama Munchkin and is starting to make new twittering noises with the occasional Chinese goose Qwack (not quite quack, there are finer nuances to goosie language). She is out during the day and she is back in her cage at night.
She’s bigger than this now; about 4lbs (2kg).
I thought that she would be “lonely” but now I think that this is perhaps a human concept; she is perfectly content to sit by herself, twitter and preen…sleep…look for water, wander around at her leisure and eat grass whenever it takes her fancy. Animals are rather resilient little things and can face the world with such braveness and independence. It has been a great pleasure to see my goosie grow up into an adult…more so because of the short length of time! 🙂
Oh, and look at these two!! Two more to fulfil my mothering instincts. Double Easter Goosies…Very Auspicious…
The miscellaneous subject of today is suriname cherries. Last year, we had an awful time with the thieving black-birds and brown jays. Despite putting up all sorts of silvery, glittery things; the usual Internet silliness…you know…when they say, “…here’s another great idea for old CDs and aluminium cans…recycle your garbage to scare birdies away…”
Oh, and the big eyes drawn on pieces of card-board didn’t work either…it just ended up being an arts and crafts afternoon for Munchkin and Gnome…much to Gnome’s chagrin. A word of caution: Gnomes do not do Arts and Crafts!! They only want to tinker around with useful things that can make life better in some way.
Anyway(s), I am collecting a pound in weight of suriname cherries each day right now. I have started harvesting them un-ripe (yellow-reddish) EARLY morning (before the early bird) and I place the un-ripe cherries in dry season room temperature (40C/104F) during the day. Viola…they all turn plump red and ripen up very nicely by the end of the day. By the way, I didn’t get this information on the Internet…I just experimented since I was soooo mad at the birdies for eating up all my cherries. 🙂
