Category Archives: Belize

Shoppin’ in Punta Gorda.

June 10, 2017 Munchkin

Hello Every-one!! Hope y’all having a great Saturday. I ran out of photographs for the Blog posts yesterday and pondered upon what fun farm pictures to take. It then suddenly dawned on me that I haven’t taken any recent pictures of Punta Gorda. PG is the main town in Toledo District, Belize and we live about 16 miles outside this town. This is where we go for our shopping supplies. For all of our readers who haven’t been to PG before, you’ll be amazed at how “little” it is and the complete lack of shopping malls or centres (ie. there are none). The population of Punta Gorda is about 5021 (census 2010).

When I was walking through Punta Gorda yesterday thinking of what pictures to take, I realised that I was just “used to the place.” To many of you out there, you’ll just shudder at the “lack of facilities” and “lack of services” but these are some of the reasons why we are here. The place certainly does not over-burden you with a sense of consumerism! You can only buy necessities here. I think the place is conducive to adopting a healthier approach to living and there is a less of a feeling to “shop just because you want to buy something.”

It saves you a lot of money because there are no “nice things” to buy!! Gnome describes the items that you don’t need which end up gathering dust and occupying space in your house “kipple.”

Anyway, here is the centre of the town with the clock-tower.

When we first came here about 13 years ago, there were hardly any cars about. You could actually park you car in the middle of the road, run into a shop for 5 minutes and be back in your car without any car needing to get pass you. Now the streets are totally filled up with parked cars. This is Punta Gorda on a busy Friday morning. I know…I know…all you guys out there probably think that it looks dead!

This is the new Market Place. Not sure what to say…it’s just well, there. I’m a bit of a traditionalist and rather liked the previous market place which was just the road-side. But times are changing…and even Punta Gorda is changing:

Inside PG Market:

There are also stalls along the side:

If you don’t want to sell at the market, you can always just park on the side of the road and display your wares:

Clothes shopping is a tad dicey here. There are second hand stalls with clothes from the States. At least here you can attempt to find something in cotton but finding the right size is difficult (especially when you are wee like me). Also, the clothes aren’t cheap; cotton t-shirts go for a premium at BZD10 (USD5) and men’s cotton pants can go for BZD30(USD15).

I suppose you can always go to the Guatemalan stall to buy a dress instead…ooooh…I wonder which one of these would go best with my yellow wellies on the farm…

This is the Farm Supply Centre where we get our hard-ware and farm stuff:

This is Punta Gorda Post Office.

That’s all Folks…that’s Punta Gorda for you. It grows on you and it’s full of friendly faces!!

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Pets

Fun On The Farm!

June 8, 2017 Munchkin

Hello!! It’s hot , hot, hot (roasting, in fact) and then it’s raining intermittently in the afternoon and at night. I talk about the weather a lot because we are dependent on the weather in order to get projects done or not!! Anyway, here are a few photos to make you smile:

We have a little “spaddled goose.” If you are wondering what spaddle means, look at this photo. His legs are splayed out thus:

This may be a deformity or due to a vitamin deficiency. Anyway…another Google search on “how to fix a spaddle” and we came up with the solution of tying the legs together with dental floss. Another Accident & Emergency fix-up for Dr. Gnome!!

Observation is now required to see if fixing a deformity with dental floss works. We will keep you posted:

The rest of the goslings are thriving and doing well. They share their living quarters with the guinea pigs. They eat the same food: freshly cut grass and sorghum. In the mornings, we put the geese out to pasture by putting them in a movable wire cage. At night, back to the dorms with the piggies!

Oh, and last but not least we have 9 turkey eggs under the turkey. No mix and match this time with geese eggs…we are letting her hatch her own kind this time! Countdown: 30 days!!

Amusing, Belize

We Survived The Flood Flies This Year!

June 6, 2017 Munchkin

Hello!! On Sunday, we had a huge downpour at lunch time. We both looked at each other and said, “…the flood flies are going to come out tonight.” They usually come out at dusk in swarms, first of all around the house and when it gets dark, they come inside because they are attracted to the light. This is the nuptial flight of the termites when the queen and drones start mating and begin new colonies.

They leave a trail of wings in their path; it’s usually a devastating mess!!

Not this year for us!! We fed all the animals early at 4pm and stuck a hurricane light bang in the middle of the duckie coop. We had a quickie dinner (still entails cooking but not my usual prolonged routine) , showered and were in bed by 6pm. Lights off!! The most important thing is to switch off all lights!! That way they don’t enter the house. The next morning: a few wings were scattered in the window areas but nowhere as awful as previous years! We presume also that the flood flies were attracted to the duck coop light and we hoped that the ducks took the opportunity to feast on them that night.

The flood flies usually herald the beginning of the wet season. Gnome is still busy with construction so we are trying to “get a move on.” It’s a race against time right now and once we get into July, it is usually too wet to get anything done outside. I am lining up the inside chores for wet season already. This is what Gnome’s response to my scheduling:

“…don’t I get a break, woman??”

My response:

“No.”

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

Some Interesting Things to Eat.

June 2, 2017 Munchkin 2 Comments

We are always into eating on the farm and it’s always good to experiment with food. Here are a few interesting things to eat this season.

Ahhh…this first one starts with a story. For a while, the geese forgot there was a pond and hung around the house chasing us around the yard whenever the mood took them (which was very frequently). Then one day, they remembered that there was a pond and en masse trooped off to the pond. When we went to see what they were up to, they were diving under the water lilies and emerging back to the surface with round things the size of chestnuts stuffed in their beaks. They were gobbling them down like there was no tomorrow. And they were back the next day for more of the same.

Pond:

After a week or so of watching the geese stuff their faces, Gnome decided to wade into the pond to find out what they were eating. What he discovered was water lilly corms embedded in the mud. He dug up a bucket of these and told me that there was tonnes of them.

“Oh, it would be great if we could eat these too!”

And of course we did a Google search on “can you eat water lily corms” and sure enough, you can. It’s not just for geese.

To prepare, peel the outer layer to reveal a whitish carbohydrate-like food which can be boiled to eat. I will have more pictures later of the cooked corms. They taste like yam with a mild crunchy texture. Not extra-ordinary (like any carb really, you kinda dress it up for flavour) but definitely edible and worth harvesting if they are just there for the picking. Better than paying for shop bought potatoes!

The next interesting edible is the soursop. This year our tree is loaded so we are getting to experiment with it more.

From the information that I have gleaned from the Belizeans, the fruit is usually scraped over a sieve and the juice is collected to make juice, ice-cream and smoothies. The fruit has a cotton-like texture and tastes mildly sour with fine banana-like nuances. In short, it has its own particular soursop flavour and it is very difficult to liken it to any well-known food. My preparation method involves taking the seeds out of the fruit and eating the pulp as it is.

Soursop pulp:

Personally, I prefer to do this so that none of the fruit is wasted. Since Gnome and I have been going crazy with a gelato marathon right now, we have been making soursop gelato. By the way, when I say “gelato” I am not trying to appear fanciful. Gelato simply means that you are making an iced milk product with less air in it. We personally prefer this texture to the puffed up fluffiness of soft serve ice-cream. We are also not adding any sugar to the gelato so that the dessert is naturally sweetened with fruit only. In our latest experimentation we have found that a combination of banana (a variety called ice-cream banana incidentally) and soursop gives a very good texture and flavour without any sugar. Ice-cream bananas are very smooth and creamy:

Last but not least, this is an interesting edible pod. This is called Bukut in Belize and the trees are flowering every where right now. The blooms are a showy pink and make a nice ornamental if you have a very large yard! Very big tree! Anyway, the pods can get up to about 2 feet in length and to prepare, crack open and eat the pulp which are adhered to discs. (you can crunch through the whole thing). The seeds are not edible and are very hard in consistency…I think they use the seeds in Hawaii to make jewellery.

This is worth trying: the pulp of the bukut is sticky like thick syrup and tastes like molasses combined with oyster sauce. Really nice!! More for the Asian types that are used to fermented like products like miso and soya sauce. This is also very popular with the Belizeans. Gnome made a bukut frappe the other day; it was tasty….would go great with a shot of rum!! Gnome’s already thinking of using it as a flavouring for wine.

Here are some pictures. We gathered this lot from Belcampo Lodge in Toledo, Belize; our bukut tree has just started flowering this year and there are only a few pods on our tree so far.

They look great as foragable hors d’oeuvres (I just made that up but it’s the kind of thing people like to market!).

This is how we make our lives interesting on the farm. A combination of curiosity and creativity!

Belize, Farming, Pets

What Happened To Duckie-zilla?

May 31, 2017 Munchkin

We are going from dry to wet season right now and there seems to be a more apparent transition this time round. It’s raining at night and in the daytime it gets seriously hot when the water from the rain evaporates. It’s like wading about in a sauna!! Is this Paradise, by the way…

Anyway, do you remember that we had a lovely yellow duckie co-habiting with the guinea pigs because she was a one-duckie incubator hatch? She started off really small (of course ha-ha!!).

And the she got bigger and bigger in the guinea pig metropolis so we started calling her Duckie-zilla…the awkward teenage years…

She is the first of a new generation of laying duckies and so we have dubbed her Dalai Duckie. Well now she has turned into a beautiful golden yellow duck so she is also called The Golden Maiden.

Here she is and she is out with the older generation of duckies. What a beauty:

Ooooh and one more…

She has started laying already. Now we have 7 laying duckies so the plan is to start replacing the older 6 with a new generation. The old generation are still going strong despite being over 5 years old; apparently, ducks lay good numbers up until the age of 5. That’s according to information on the Internet…we have to see what real ducks actually do!!

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Food

Everything But The Onions!

May 29, 2017 Munchkin

Hello…still in the kitchen! It’s great to “boycott” the farm now and then and refuse to descend into the dirt and wetness (yes it has been raining so now time to swap the mantra over to “wet, wet, wet” instead of “dry, dry, dry.”

Gnome says,

“You can come back to the reality of the farm in your own time my dear…”

Ahhh…I think…that is so supportive of him. But then he says cheekily:

“The grass is getting longer as we speak. And little goosies are calling out for you. Oh and there’s a jackfruit dying a super squidgy death on the veranda….”

Hmmmm. I can ignore alll duties for one more day whilst I re-charge my batteries in the kitchen. Sort of like a re-boot…

Anyway, this is one of my most favourite things that I like to do. Gather lots of food on the farm and make something good to eat. I do this everyday anyway but I am making a concerted effort to ignore anything talking, quacking, wee-weeing, mee-owing, bow-wowing or honking demands at me! 🙂

Today, I have made a meal out of everything from the farm. All except the onions. Ahhh the onions…that is going to be called “Munchkin & Gnome: Plant Acre of Onions Project” and will require ingenuity on our part since it is soooo wet (there we go again with the new mantra).

Thank-you my darling duckies for the eggs; I am rather fond of them…the duckies, I mean:

The Meal of the Day! This includes onions (not ours) and aubergines, tomatoes, jalapeño peppers and duckie eggs (all ours). Oh, and thanks to Panda for his Roma tomatoes which I nicked out of his bucket! This is a great way to poach eggs…which Gnome taught me a long time ago in a land down-under: cook your dish as usual on the stove (can be anything; beans, lentils, stew, anything really) and once cooked, crack eggs on top. Place lid on pot and cook eggs, on medium heat, to desired consistency. Hard-boiled yolks require about 8 minutes; so if you want anything in between, give yourself up to this measure of time.

Okay, back to farm work tomorrow with renewed energy and inspiration…

Belize, Food

Chaya Onion Soup With Cassava Croutons.

May 28, 2017 Munchkin

Munchkin has sequestered herself in the kitchen to invent new recipes.

I said to Gnome:

“I’m not budging an inch from the kitchen!!”

He replied with:

“It’s okay my dear. Nobody is moving you out of the kitchen.”

So everything is fine and I can go Munchkin Crazy in the kitchen spilling my creative juices and stuffing my face with fine yum-yums!! Yay!! The Joys of Being a Munchkin!

Anyway, today I have for you Chaya and Onion Soup with Cassava Croutons.

You’ll get the full recipe in the above link. This is a quick walk through with nice pictures of food.

Ooooh…first of all. Here’s a picture of my soup cauldron. It is one of my most favourite possessions…

Chaya is a spinach which grows in Belize. It is sometimes quite tough in texture but loaded with nutrients. Blending chaya is a great way to get the best out of this vegetable:

Blending Chaya:

Making Chaya Onion Soup:

Oh and cassava croutons are amazing. Well, let’s face it…anything fried is rather good!! Cut into crouton like cubes to mimic croutons:

Our Lovely Cassava:

Cassava Croutons:

Et Viola…

Chaya Onion Soup with Cassava Croutons:

Lovely in this cooler weather!! Have a Great Sunday!! 🙂

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

What A Relief!!

May 27, 2017 Munchkin

Ahhhh!!! It’s actually cool today…what a relief from the unrelenting hot, dry weather. When it’s blistering hot every day, you always feel that there is no end in sight. So today we had already decided not to have our 4am wake up alarm and wake up with the light. Waking up naturally is such a lovely thing and we had the added bonus of a cool weather change. Great stuff: we are both in better spirits with the cool weather; heat makes you hot-headed and tense all the time…it’s maddening!!

Anyway, I took the time to walk around the farm to take some pictures to give you an update on what’s happening.

Oh, the garden is getting very bushy; despite the dryness this year, we have managed to get plenty of greens from our bucket garden.

The fennel is flowering. We can collect seeds and start a whole load of these:

Gnome’s tobacco: Not fi eat!! That’s flowering too:

Jalapeño peppers are doing really well:

The farm keeps on producing and we feel so fortunate that we have an abundance of food.

Jackfruit is loaded:

It’s been a good year for soursop:

(Hi Tanya!! I’ll let you know when some are ready!! 🙂 )

Belize, Farming, Philosophy, Plants

Twisting With Gnome.

May 24, 2017 Munchkin 1 Comment

I think it always good to encourage everyone to be artistic; it is a form of expression. I have been trying to help Gnome make the time to relax and do more activities just for the sake of passion and fun. With some of the physical labour on the farm, he does sometimes feel that the work is never-ending…it just ends up being a to-do list. He actually does the farm work out of necessity (who else is going to do it?) and to keep himself very healthy and strong. Pulling out heavy logs and brush-mowing are not his primary goals in life.

His likes are very simple though. he loves growing vegetables especially tomatoes and aubergines. And one of the things that he does for sheer pleasure is just to walk about his garden, taking the time to look at the fruits of his labour.

He enjoys the process of making things. He likes to make wine: the pressing of fruit, the fermentation and bubbling away and then waiting for something special. It’s all about time and love and I don’t mean it in a wishy-washy sort of way…it’s solid. It’s not for the end product anyway because he rarely drinks.

Another thing that I am encouraging him to do is to grow tobacco. This is again about making something good and proper. He enjoys the curing process which takes about a year: hanging it up inside the house (yes, we need a barn or we’ve ended up making our house into a barn!), the flavouring, curing and blending.

This allows Gnome to express himself and these are his arts. Yes, he will have lovely, aromatic pipe tobacco and cigars in the end but its the artful journey that releases the joyful spirit.

Gnome has been making rope twists with his tobacco; it is a form of pressure curing. Once he’s done his work of art, he gives them to Munchkin to store away for a year or more.

I have written about the history of tobacco. Click on link if interested. Personally, I really enjoy the presence of the plant (not sure if you understand what I mean). You almost form an affinity towards certain plants and they draw you to them and you can sit for long lengths of time just staring at the beautiful velvety leaves or inhaling the spicy aromatic scent of the flowers. That’s what I mean.

These are the things that we should be doing in our lives. It’s a fine balance of labour properly done to meet your necessities (shelter/food/clothing/energy requirements) and after that, we should foster an attitude of relaxation and enjoyment without filling up our lives with only monetary orientated deeds. And we need each other to remind ourselves that we are supposed to be having fun on this journey of self-discovery.

Belize

Thanks!!

May 23, 2017 Munchkin

Back to the grind for Munchkin & Gnome as we resume our farm activities…yes, we are disappearing into the woodwork again!! So, the Chocolate Festival was our chance to see everyone and it was good to see some “old faces.” Thank-you everyone for all your continued support and we are glad that we continue to survive (and thrive) in this environment. A special thanks to Alisa Atkinson and Tati for sharing a stall with us; it was a lot more fun this year with the jolly good company! See y’all again next year!!

Casa Mascia Apothecary