Category Archives: Belize

Belize, Farming

Duckie Time Again!

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:

First Duckie of 2019

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.

Making the Wormery.

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:

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?

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…..

Possum.

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…”

Possum.

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!!”

Ducks Looking at Possum.
Amusing, Belize, Farming

Noisy Geese!

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.

Broody Goose.

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!

Possum.
Another Possum.

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.

Pond Drying Up.

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

Ducks in Pond.

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.

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.

Fixing Well Pump.

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?

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:

Goosies at the 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.

Making Charcoal.

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?!

The Squeakies.

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

Praying Mantis.

It really is a praying mantis…

Leaf Praying Mantis.

That’s all for now…


Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

March Already!!

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…

Backyard Cleaning Up!!

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:

Basil.

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?!”

Catnip Plant.

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.

Heart of Coconut Palm.

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.

Coal Baked Bread.

Anyway, wishing you all a good day!!

Belize, Farming, Plants

The Usual!!

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!

When it works, it’s Great!

We are back to this again…Ha-Ha!!

Manual Mower.

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.

Growing Tomatoes.

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.

Growing Rue.

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

Wild Passionflower

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

Growing Pepper.

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.

Jackass Bitters.

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

Belize, Farming

Let’S Get Crepuscular!

Last weekend was cloudy and wet. It was quite funny because I had been wingeing about the weather reports being all wrong and they had predicted “precipitation” last weekend. Of course, it was Sod’s law that they were actually correct for once. We were forced to stay in; here is a picture of the grey clouds with a double rainbow. In the picture, you can only see one distinctly…I assure you that I saw two!! It was not because I had double vision!!

Double Rainbow.

Now, everything has abruptly dried up and it is dry, dry, dry. That means the hot, sunny Real Feel 45C (113F) days will be coming. Gnome says that we better get crepuscular soon. Crepuscular animals are those that are active only during the periods of dawn and dusk. That’s right…this means getting up at 4am and running out at 6am to get work down in the coolest part of the day. By 10am, the heat will be unbearable and we will have to run under the shade of a coconut tree to sleep and rest.

The weather was hot and sunny today so we went “off road” and drove to the back area. We collected some more wood to take to the charcoal area. Oh and we have sapodillas too…not so much this year because the sapodilla orchard was partially destroyed by an accidental fire. This will be a project for later in the year: replant sapodilla orchard. Anyway, we probably have enough to make a bucket of wine.

Sapodilla.

What else have we been doing? We have been thinning the coconut palms so we have a whole ton of water coconuts. Gnome emptied the water into a 5 gallon bucket…I think it ended up being about 50 coconuts. This is going to be wine…

Green Coconuts.

Oh and I have good news. My Goosie…you know the first goosie that I looked after as Mama Goosie last year? I am such a proud parent and I don’t care that I am bragging about her…she is the most beautiful, voluptuous goosie on the farm! She has chosen a fine looking boyfriend and is laying eggs for us. I would love to see their goosie babies!! My Goosie is the grey one and the white Chiney goosie is her handsome young chap.

My Goosie and Her Boyfriend.

Okay, have a nice Sunday!!

Amusing, Belize, Farming

It’s Goosie Time!!

Hello Everyone!! Yes, it is indeed Goosie Time and they are pecking at our boots, beating our legs with their wings and generally causing mayhem and havoc on the farm. We found our first goosie egg on Chinese New Year and then our second one on Valentines’s Day. Luckily, we had saved up the first one so that we could eat one each. The eggs were huge and the yolks were a beautiful orange colour. Gnome cooked them as a Valentine’s treat Italian-style…slow-cooked in olive oil…this method involves spooning the oil over the egg to cook it. Ooooh…very tasty…each goose egg is equivalent to three chicken eggs.

Fried Goose Eggs.

This morning, we found one of our goosies in the grey water area which Gnome had caged off. He had feasted on all the forbidden peanuts!! He had systematically ripped up all the peanuts around the ditch looking for the nuts to eat. The dastardly goose!! I had to toss him out quite unceremoniously! Whilst I was doing this, other goosies crowded round trying to find the weak spot in the cage. I was soooo mad and I shook my fist at them shouting,

“…and to think that I was going to write a dedicated Blog post on how much I love my goosies!!”

These goosies are up to no good trying to find a way in…look at them..they are plotting. Will they figure it out? They have found the mound of earth…which one is clever enough to jump in!!

Goosies!!

Anyway, I have another goosie story which is a lot more heart-warming. A while ago, we swapped a male goosie (we had far too many and he was being bullied by other males) for some ducks. Well, today the guy who received the goosie hailed us down when we passed by his house. He was awfully excited and beckoned us to follow him,

“…come, come…I must show you something!”

He told us that his female goose had laid 2 eggs and set them successfully. Sure enough, we peered into his cage and there were two little-big goosies peeping up at us. Awwwwh!!!! The guy was so over-joyed and we were very pleased to see that our male goosie had done his job well. Apparently, he is guarding his female partner valiantly whilst she is setting again. He thanked us profusely for such a stud of a goose! When Gnome and I got back into the truck, we both said in unison:

“…we want more babies!!” (meaning of course, goosie babies!!)

Goosie Fever has started….

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

Farm Harvests.

The weather guess (forecast?) for today was “good day for lawn-mowing.” When we got up, it started raining and it proceeded to rain on and off until 10am. Gnome muttered to himself:

“….hmmm…not good day for lawn-mowing.”

The weather reports are becoming a joke with us and they are starting to appear like wild guesses that are about 90% wrong most of the time. We were thinking of reading tea leaves or getting a crystal ball instead…

We finally managed to get out mid-morning. Gnome dug holes and planted out the rest of the seedlings. We now have peach palm and jackfruit in the orchard area. I went harvesting today; It seems to be berry season right now on the farm.

The huckleberry plants seem to like the worst soil conditions. Last time I planted them in a prime spot on a bed with lovely dark soil and they hardly did anything, This time, I stuck them in the ground in thick, hard clay and they are thriving and producing well. Here are some fruits:

Huckleberries.

We have one miracle fruit bush and it is bearing so much this year. I have described this plant before; it contains a molecule that binds to your taste buds making sour things taste sweet. I find that I can’t use it all the time…there is only a certain amount of sour things you can consume in one day! Anyway, they are a pretty fruit:

Miracle Fruit.

This is all that I collected today. The green leaves are malabar spinach; they grow all year round and are our main greens at the moment. The orange fruits are Barbados gooseberry; I have started putting them in savoury dishes with pork…the acidity helps to balance and compliment the fattiness of the meat…very tasty!

Berry Time.

Oh, lastly…we have a harvest of black peanut. We didn’t manage to get much this time round because there was a large tree shading the peanut area which stunted the growth and production. Nevertheless, we got enough to start a bigger patch and Gnome is very pleased with his black peanuts.

Black Peanuts.

That’s it for tonight. Wishing you all a lovely weekend…there is supposed to be 6 hours of rain tomorrow…let’s wait and see!