Category Archives: Blog

Blurry Pictures!!

August 29, 2015 Munchkin

It has been about a week since I started taking photographs with my new android phone. Admittedly, it was not the most expensive top of the range phone but at that time, I just wanted a camera to take pictures for the Blog. I should have known that taking high definition pictures would be next to impossible! There is a zoom which just makes things even more blurry (maybe I haven’t got the hang of it yet) and in poor lighting, they look rather dire. In short, although I am pleased that I can achieve my main goal of providing pictures, I feel that the they really fall short of the real thing. I am hoping that the photos will get better as I get used to the new camera…it may be a question of practice and technique!

Meanwhile, here are a few baaaad pictures!! Better to laugh about it..than cry!!

This was a breadfruit hotpot…it is so disappointingly blurry!! I feel too embarrassed to post up the recipe because the picture is so crap! It did taste good though…

Out of focus akee fruit:

Bad lighting…aaarghhh!

Ground.Pelletized.Miso — Making Peach Palm Miso.

Please accept my sincere apologies for the poor picture quality!! Since starting this Blog, I have realised that I really enjoy taking photographs; I usually take about 10 to 20 pictures in one day and each picture is a potential story. My plan is to save my pennies up to buy a high quality camera so that I can continue my hobby of taking pictures. Meanwhile, let’s all have some fun with my blurry pictures!!

Belize, Blog

Internet Down!!

August 12, 2015 Munchkin 1 Comment

Hi Everyone!! This is a quick “drive by” post to let you know that we are having Internet problems. For now, we will try yo keep you posted when we can get to an Internet Cafe so you will not be hearing from us everyday.

With regards to the Internet, we do not know what is wrong with it but the only certain thing is that it is not working!

Right now, you will just have to imagine that we are up to our usual Munchkin and Gnome activities on the farm!

Belize, Blog, Farming, Food, Pets, Plants

Far From The Madding Crowd.

May 5, 2015 Munchkin

Hello Everyone!! Goosie is recovering very well from his traumatic doggy attack and was released from Farm-ICU today. He made some quiet honks through-out the day and then sounded a loud HONK in the afternoon and drew me his usual dastardly-look to tell me that he was back in action. To top it all off, our missing duckie suddenly reappeared, as if by magic, tonight for feeding time. We had no idea where she had been for the last 24 hours…we tried doing doggy sniffing and patrol all round the farm perimeter today looking for signs of her…and then she just pitched up for food tonight! No questions asked, we quickly ushered her into the coup. Wow…we are so pleased that everything has ended well and all our duckies and goosie are safe.

New things on our farm:

Gnome only uttered one word, “melomel.”

The Kun Batz (Ketchi Mayan name for Belize wild passionfruit) has ripened to an edible fruit and tastes like a cross between a lemon and water-melon…very good!

An unusual wild green pod growing, which we had been watching for 9 months, suddenly exploded. The dried pod looks like a nice ornamental for displaying (soap, maybe?!).

We are going to germinate the seeds because the vessel looks really pretty; it is boat-shaped and could be lacquered to make it last.

We are glad that we can share the highs and lows of our farm life in this Blog!

Belize, Blog, Farming, Fermentation, Our Products

Nobody is Reading Our Stuff (and it’s hot).

April 16, 2015 Munchkin 3 Comments

I am feeling a bit disheartened because I think I am writing at a brick wall. As usual, I try to write a post everyday but my Stats keep on dropping. Persistence is supposed to be the key so I will endeavour to keep on going…

It is also soooo hot here in Belize!!

Anyway, today Gnome racked the Melomel because it had stopped bubbling (or talking) to us. We had a quick taste…it was bright orange from the sapodilla and carrots…and it tasted rather orangey. Let’s see how it will evolve. He also put the last of the koji beans in jars in an attempt to make Chinese fermented black beans. We can’t find a recipe anywhere for this so we have decided to add salt to it in a jar and let it keep on fermenting. The fermentation area has been cleared up to make way for start of our soap marathon and so we shall be making a batch of chocolate soaps tomorrow. Gnome also removed the last of the barbed wire fencing which had been originally constructed for the division of large animals on the farm. We are not even going to pretend any-more…we are fine with small things like guinea pigs!

Well, I have developing more products for BotanicaBelize; this time it is Mens’ facial products. It was so hot!!! But, alas I did muster enough creativity, despite the heat, to make some nice products.

One day at a time…

I would like it to be fun all the time but sometimes the sweaty, horrible heat gets in the way!!

Belize, Blog

Links Should Be Working Now.

February 26, 2015 Munchkin

Hi Everyone, just writing to let you know that we have been doing some website administration. All links should be working for About Us, Home, The Apothecary and The Library. If anyone spots any other faults, they should let us know. We are also in the process of removing the “go back” at the bottom of all the pages; they don’t seem to be very helpful.

Have a Good Evening!!

Belize, Blog, Our Products, Soap

On-Line Apothecary is Open For Business!

February 18, 2015 Munchkin

Hello Everyone. The Apothecary is now open!! After a few false starts, over cogitation and Type A anxiety and jitters, we have decided just to get it up and running. The ordering and payment options are really basic right now so that we can see if there is actual interest in our products. Once we get some orders and feel confident with sales, we will look into more E-commerce options. There are a few tweaks to take care of but for all intents and purposes, The Apothecary is open.

Blog

Thank you to our Readers!

December 11, 2014 Munchkin

I would like to take this opportunity to Thank all our readers. We are completely new to the Blogging community having started only 5 weeks ago. It has been encouraging to have “Likes” and “Followers.” This is especially important to us because we had to really work hard to get Internet. Firstly, getting Internet connection required logistics; after all, we do live in a very isolated area in the most rural part of Belize. We had to get on a list and this took a year of weekly visits to the Telecommunications Company. Then, when we got the technicians out to our farm, they had to find a signal with their antenna. Well, that involved very tall ladders, climbing onto the roof of our house, plenty of cool drinks all around and finger food. We finally got a vague signal at about 30 feet from the ground. We were so thankful at that point because we were so close to giving up.

The next part was the installation; this entailed more waiting and weekly visits to the office. Meanwhile, Gnome erected a 40 foot post next to the house single-handedly with a clever system of pulleys and lots of time and patience. When the technicians finally arrived they took one look at the post and got scared. They said that they would have to call the boss in to permit the use of such a big post. The post was a 12 inch tree trunk!

Anyway, after a bit more time (weeks!!!) we did finally get the antenna and we had Internet happening! The final height of the antenna was 60 feet.

Before all this, we had lived without Internet connection for 10 years. We used the Internet cafe weekly to email and that was about all we could do because of the limitations of traveling into town and the slow Internet connection. Truth be told, we were actually fine with our limited technological interaction.

However, after a lot of thinking we decided to embrace technology again so that we can reach out to more people. We would like to show people that they can choose to live a simple way of life, down-size and live off the fruits of their own labour. It is my hope that our regular posts reflect our enjoyment in living a simple life. Thank you for reading our stuff!

Casa Mascia Apothecary