Category Archives: Belize

Amusing, Belize, Farming

The Life and Trials of Mark Goosie.

Mark Goosie (I am with-holding his real name since people might think that I named  him after some-one real) was one (of a pair) of  geese that we first introduced into our farm back in the good old days.

Mark Goosie.

Unbeknown to us, at the time, we were ruthlessly sold two boys.  So, we had asked for a breeding pair but did not get what we asked for!  Anyway, the two of them paired up (as geese do) and seemed quite happy together.  We tried to introduce female geese later on in the game but the two remained inseparable.  One female goose was found un-expectantly dead (there’s been a murder!!) under the house and we decided to put it down to a crime of passion.  The two original geese would  not let anything get in the way of their relationship.

After a while, Mark’s partner went to Great Goosie Heaven and we observed Mark Goosie mourning for a long time.  At that time we couldn’t find a new companion goosie so we introduced a white duck in the hope that he would accept him as a friend.  And he did; for a long time they walked through the farm together side by side like old buddies.  White duck died a few years later and again, Mark was left all by himself.  Five more years went by and he wondered around the farm alone occasionally honking in unison with passing honking trucks.

Goosie and Duckie.

Last year, we managed to procure some female geese and finally Mark accepted a “she” goose companion into his life.  They were really lovely  together and it was as if Mark had found a new lease of life.  During breeding season, he located a nice nesting spot for his companion and filled it with his own feather down.  He stood guard by her side, day and night, whilst she was setting.  They always walked proudly together and did not appear to mingle with the other goosie groups.

Well, a few weeks ago, we found his female companion dead in amongst a pile of rocks behind the duck coop.  We weren’t sure what had happened (a snake perhaps??).  He was so distraught…honking madly and flapping his wings.  He was in such an emotional state that we had to place him in the confinement of the duck coop; he wouldn’t leave the spot where he lost his girl.  Whilst in the coop, he continued to place feather down on the ground to make a nesting spot.  When we saw this, we felt such sadness for his loss.  Awwwhhhh!!!

Anyway, what to do with Mark Goosie??

Well I never!!  We thought that he would not recover from this last bereavement.  But, he has re-emerged like a phoenix from the ashes- and has become head bossie (sensei) for the young’uns (the five brand new geese from last year).  He acts as their sentinel, guard and teaches them “the way of the goosie.”  Every morning, we see him proudly leading his troop to the pond in an orderly straight line.  What a Champion…we love a happy ending, don’t you!!  Go Goosie Go!!

Here’s a picture of Mark Goosie leading his team of youngsters:

Head Goosie.
Belize, Farming

Dry Season Days.

Oh I haven’t been writing…it’s the usual dry season time when I just feel too hot and too tired!  We are out by 6ish every morning and it is hot by 9am.  The geese hide under the shade of the house and run off to the pond when they get the chance; I kind of get the feeling that they think we are just being plain silly for our insistence in working in this heat.  Anyway, Gnome has been clearing more of the back area; when we first arrived here, we planted a whole lot of samwood trees for timber.

Cutting up trees.

They are all bunched up and too close to the house (we were once very silly and planted willy-nilly).  Gnome is systematically removing one tree at a time, chopping the wood to dry for later charcoal making.  This is craboo wood from a wild tree that has grown into a monster…we had to take this one down too; the colour is very pretty:

Craboo Wood

The charcoal area has been moved…sort of to the side…so that it is not right in front of the house!  Of course, Gnome did not re-locate for aesthetic reasons…he simply ran out of room and needed more space.

Charcoal Area

Another reason for moving the charcoal place is because Gnome wants to build an outside kitchen bunker next to all this.  He is going to make it out of used tyres…how romantic..recycled furnishings for Munchkin.   Anyway, it will be very helpful to have another food station as my present kitchen is crammed so full of food, I can hardly get into it.

Oh and Gnome is putting these everywhere as sitting stools; they are every-where…under the house, under the rosewood trees and a couple under the bread-fruit.  His reasoning behind all this is that the common habitat for munchkins and gnomes are under trees  sitting on stumps (when it is too hot).   😉

Tree Stumps.

I will leave you with a nice picture of mushrooms growing on our samwood.  This is Ganoderma lucidum; you can grate it and make a tea out of it.  It’s one of those immune booster type things that the Chinese use in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Ganoderma Lucidum.
Amusing, Belize, Farming

Still Going!!

I can’t believe it has been ten days since I last wrote.  The days have flown by and we have taken advantage of the very dry spell…not a single drop of rain since last night’s single (literally!) drop of rain.  Gnome had to stop mowing  for a few days because of carpal tunnel but he seems okay now with it.  He has been chopping trees down to make charcoal; one tree fills up a 55 gallon drum about 2 to 3 times over, stuffed very full.  The charcoal is being stored for colder days.

Making Charcoal.

I had a slight mishap with my right middle finger when a concrete block accidentally banged down on the tip.  Ahhhhh….it was so painful (I am not good with pain and the worse patient ever).  I didn’t even bother Gnome (because he was too busy) and sorted it out myself.  I treated the initial inflammation and then came back out of the house with a huge bandage wrapped around my finger and wrist and kept on going.  What a brave Munchkin!!  I did not realise how important the tip of a middle finger was until I had difficulty opening bucket lids, washing dishes properly with a scrubber, even lighting the stove and so many other activities of daily living.  Anyway, it’s all fine now and the injury has healed.

Little Goosie is about 5 weeks old and her weight is going up everyday; she is more than 2 lbs (1kg) in weight.  I estimate that her weight will be 5lbs once she gets to 12 weeks.  That is not too much considering that if you intend to feed up a green goose (equivalent of broiler) your aim is to get them up to 10lbs in 12 weeks.

This is an old picture: Goosie is probably four times bigger now:

Goosie.

No more little goosies yet and the sneaky goosies have switched all their old nesting spots so we can’t find any-more eggs right now.

Secret Goose Nest.

We have two very broody females, sitting in nests (yes they finally figured out that the big square structures with soft natural furnishings were nests).

Nesting Boxes.

However, we don’t trust their haphazard setting abilities so they are sitting on a bunch of rocks.  We have tried de-brooding them a number of times by sticking them in the duckie coop…somehow they manage to get back out (Houdini Goosies) and plonk themselves back on their nest of rocks.

Anyway the farm is looking great with the new hair-cut.  Gnome will be getting onto the coconut area soon.  We will keep on going and have a natural break with the Iguana rains…

Dear Ms Iguana, I hope the rains come soon so that you can lay your eggs but please don’t lay them on our farm because we don’t have enough succulent greens to feed your little blighters!!

Iguana.
Amusing, Belize, Farming

I Don’t Recognise This Place!!

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We have naturally gone crepuscular this year; I think it’s partly because the first cry from the geese is about 4.30 am.  So, 4.30am has become our natural waking time.  We like to talk and have a cup of tea (or two) in the morning, plan our day and then we are out on the farm early.  Look at what’s happening!!  I don’t recognise the place…the bush has come down and we can actually see all around us!!  Ha-Ha!!

There’s Gnome charging ahead and disappearing into the bushes:

Clearing Away.

I guess I am taking pictures just for our benefit because the reader is probably none the wiser.  But you have to realise that we were practically living in bush for the last 6 months because we have had mass machinery break-down.  So, let me indulge myself with a few more pictures:

Oooooh:

Another section cleared.

Ahhhhh:

Cleared Pond.

We even found a very spiny bamboo that has grown up (into an adult size):

Spiny Bamboo.

We have re-claimed fruit trees too:

Clearing.

Also, Gnome is busy with other projects.  He woke up the other day and said:

“That’s it!!  That’s it!!  Algae is the answer to everything!!”

He went on about a super big protein source, survival food and natural solar panels.  He said quite a lot and then said he wanted to cultivate algae; and, so he did:

Culturing Algae.

Well, this is what I said:

“Well okay, you can breed your algae in your spare time…but first clean the farm up!”

(That is the Chinese in me coming out which he tells me is endearing at times).

So, more pictures of cleared up farm…

The Pond Area.

Look, I can actually walk about:

Farm Cleared.
Amusing, Belize, Farming

Cleaning Up!!

Gnome is boldly going where no Gnome has gone before (well, he has been there before but it was a very, very long time ago).  He is re-claiming the farm territory and expanding into the unknown.  Phew…we have never, ever been able to clear up the farm in one go so here’s hoping that all goes well this time!

So, more silly tales from Munchkin and Gnome: Grey goosie (aka  April Jones of the Jonesey sisters…yes, you have to keep up with our goosie soap opera!) went missing a few days ago.  We searched high and low for her but to no avail since it was still very bushy at that time.  We figured that she was laying eggs in the back of beyond (somewhere!) and was most likely sitting on a clutch of eggs.  Anyway, Gnome stumbled across her in some dense bush yesterday…she was hissing and carrying on and was none too pleased with the disturbance of noisy machinery and grass flying every-where.

Grey Goosie.

So, Gnome called me over and asked what we should do.  This is what we ended up doing: we mowed around her and left her a little island of dense bush!!  I think that we love our goosies too much and are catering to their whims…don’t you think?  This is not how you run a farm!!

Anyway, at the beginning of the year we had decided to put out nesting boxes for the geese.  There are many of these washing machine coverings filled up with nesting material and smooth rocks scattered around the farm designed to entice the discerning, broody goose.  Any takers??  Of course not…the goosies didn’t come to our “lay your eggs in our lovely nesting boxes made out of white goods” meeting.  They would much rather go au naturel…

Nesting Boxes.

Oh well, that’s the usual kinda stuff that happens on the farm.  Oh and we caught this funny looking possum which was the size of a rat.  Gnome’s immediate response was that it wasn’t big enough to eat!  I think that the bigger variety that we caught first time round was a Virginia Opossum (the ones that can “play dead”).  This scary looking thing is a Grey Four-Eyed Possum.  Anyway, since we raged war against the possums they seem to have vacated the area quick smart.  No more possums to be found…that’s a good thing!

Possum.
Belize, Farming

Goosies, Duckies and Possums.

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With Goosies, Duckies and Possums we are being kept busy; on top of all that, Gnome has mowed all the grass to the pond area.  It’s really helpful because we (the animals and I can move about more)!!  Anyway, little big goosie was getting a tad too big for the house creche so we had to put her outside; in the daytime she grazes on perennial peanut under a wire cage and at night, we place her in  a possum trap( by herself) with a water dish, plenty of doggy biscuits and a bunch of grass.  On the first night she kept on calling for us (we are Mum and Dad to her) so we went downstairs to try to calm her down.  As soon as she saw our familiar wellies (because at her height all that she sees are two pairs of walking wellies) she immediately started her happy noise.  That was when I realised that if I stuck a pair of wellies outside her cage she would feel safe…and it worked!  We have a happy goosie…Goosie ‘n” Boots!!

Goosie with Wellie Boots.

Little duckie is getting bigger and still in the house creche…which is essentially just  a big glass fish tank.  She is still small enough to handle but I anticipate that she will be going out soon in a weeks time.  Every night we spend two hours quality time with duckie…

Duckie.

Oh yes the possums.  I spent three days making my special Bengali curry…the sauce is made of twenty medium onions very, very thinly sliced (by yours truly) with ginger, cardamom, cumin seed, yellow ginger, star anise, cinnamon and little bird peppers.  The meat was soaked in brine for 24 hours, simmered in curry for 8 hours and left over-night for all flavours to do their thing.  Phew, it was a lot of work but totally worth it.  We had it with sliced green jackfruit.  Very Good!!

Possum Curry.
Amusing, Belize, Farming

Munchkin & Gnome Crèche!

Hey everyone!!  We don’t have a guinea pig creche any-more for our young’uns  so Munchkin and Gnome are running a temporary creche in the house (as-well as doing a multitude of things including cleaning up the farm, cooking up possum, making stuff to sell and of course, doctoring).  Since we have to baby-sit them we have spent a lot more time with new goosie and duckie.  Look at goosie…she likes to sit at the table with us; cuteness goes a long way!!

Goosie.

Duckie likes to sit in front of my computer monitor and keep me company.  Here is duckie in our temporary crèche facilities watching a film with me:

Duckie.

There is a huge size difference between the two of them; Goosie-zilla is a monster next to the little one…we have to watch her carefully so that she does not trample over the little one…she’s a bit of a cute clutz.

Goosie vs Duckie.

Sometimes we have to hid the duckie in a box so that she can stay safe:

Duckie in Box.

It’s all fun (mostly) but the tremendous amount of poop does get in the way of the fun.  They will have to go outside soon and meet the rest of the gang.  There are no more new ones since the possums have stolen all our eggs…hopefully with possum control, we can get a few more…

Belize, Farming

Catching Up!

It’s all go and we have started cleaning up the farm…the grass is down around the yard and Gnome is moving out to re-claim the land.  The weather is hot and dry (mostly) so it is perfect for getting out.  Having said that, there is a big rain this morning and we are waiting for it to stop (Why Oh Why Oh Why!!).

The farm is producing and this year we have three jackfruit trees with fruit; this one is loaded:

Jackfruit.

Gnome says that we should harvest some of these green so that we can have bigger mature fruit.  Preparing green jackfruit is quite messy because there is so much gummy latex.  Anyway, I will still do it since it is food after-all.

I had to sneak this one in.  I made bao!!  Sometimes I surprise even myself; I didn’t realise that my brain was stuffed full of so many recipes learnt passively from helping my mum out in the kitchen as a kid.  I am more Chinese than I actually think…Ha-Ha!!  Sometimes I am Scottish when I feel like it…well, when I make haggis.

Bao

Anyway, moving swiftly onto farm pictures.  These are a harvest of flying yam.  These grow as a vine so you don’t have to dig around in the dirt.  I am playing around with taking pictures as if they are for coffee-table books…can’t seem to get the sepia look that Panda does. 🙂

Air Potatoes.

More Coffee-table attempts:

Tomatillo
Tomatillo
Tomatillo

Hope the rain stops.  We are “sorting out” the o(possums) today because they are looking so sorry for themselves.  I will keep you posted.

Belize, Farming

Gotcha!!

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If anyone has been following our posts, they will know that we were absolutely devastated over Christmas because we lost our whole guinea pig community to pesky possums.  They were practically wiped out over-night; not a single piggie was left; some were eaten up and the rest were just killed.  Anyway, the story continued with Gnome trying the bait the possum(s) with a bucket of food at night which involved sitting in the dark with a pellet gun.  Well, that didn’t work and all we caught was our cat rummaging about in the bucket looking for a midnight snack.

Oh, but look what we have here: Gotcha!!  We’ve got the little blighter…had to trap it in the end.

Possum.

And you won’t believe it!!  We found a shrubby, dense area scattered with egg shells (yes, we have lost a whole tonne of goose and duck eggs to them!) so we decided to put a trap out every night and we have caught a possum every time.  We have three in total and can’t catch any-more because we have run out of traps.  Now, I am feeding the three possums with rice for a week, to clean them out in preparation for possum curry at the weekend.  I have mixed feelings about having to dispatch these little blighters (they kinda look cute in a possum kinda way) but I realise that they have  devastated our farm and we do need to get rid of them. 🙂