Category Archives: Farming

What Is Gnome Doing?

September 24, 2023 Munchkin

Gnome is always doing, fixing, repairing and figuring out anything from plumbing, electrical wiring, solar to mowing. Plus he’s the soap-maker and coconut oil presser. Oh, and a Doctor too. To add to his endless repertoire, he also draws (pen and ink) and he is a tattooist. I have probably missed many, many things but he basically tries to do everything. This goes along with our self-sufficient life-style and he likes to learn new things. However, the bottom line is that somebody has to do the work!!

Gnome…you have to do the work because somebody has to do it!

So, just to update you on a few of his projects. We have been for sometime trying to breed soldier fly larvae as a protein source for our duckies. We watched some u-tube videos and came up with a few of our own breeding contraptions. This is a ‘Black Fly Love Cage’ where hatching takes place and then they are supposed to breed and lay more eggs. The love cage is for the procurement of eggs. Well, this one didn’t work despite Gnome’s best efforts. We caught flies inside and they didn’t breed…or they just sneaked out somehow!!

This was another attempt to breed and feed the pupae. Sturdy piece of work but rain got into it!

Well, after all these efforts, you will not believe worked in the end. Just a simple plastic container filled with fermenting food stuffs; the large plastic tub is set on jars on the 4 corners and is placed on a metal tray filled with sand.

Once the larvae are mature, they crawl out of the plastic box and drop into the tray of sand …they crawl round and round in circles until they find a card-board ramp (made by Gnome) and inevitably travel through the entirety of the ramp to fall down into a collection container with smooth walls.

So, there you go. The black fly project was a success after all but there was a lot of sweat, tears and failures!

Gnome has given me the option to cook on coals…yes, we have coals…lots and lots of it because we have plenty of wood to burn…

And he has equipped me with a coal stove which is modeled from a blast furnace project that is for forging knives! He said that the fact that I got first dibs on the blast furnace for cooking meant that he loved me dearly….

Charcoal Blast Furnace For Munchkin Cooking.

As you can imagine, the fire that comes out of this is very strong…so it’s good for soup making and steaming food. Oh, and great for a real, authentic stir fry! You just have to watch your eyebrows so they don’t get singed with the blast of heat…just joking…but it is HOT!

I have plenty of other projects to talk about but let’s leave it at that for now. Here is a tattoo that Gnome designed (with collaboration with da Munchkin). The arm belongs to a friend who has since left Belize (for Scotland incidentally) and wanted to take a reminder of Belize.

This is a picture of Ixchel, Goddess of Medicine in Mayan culture. This is the outline…I can’t find a picture of the completed tattoo. But, look at the smoothness of the lines. One pass only and this is Gnome’s first tattoo. Well Done!!

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Food

A Rainy Day

September 17, 2023 Munchkin

We were poised to work this morning since the rains have been stopping us from getting outside…and there is so much work to catch up with. We heard the distant sound of thunder as we awoke…hmmm rather ominous but pretended to ignore it! At 7am we ran out and Gnome got the mower out quick smart…at the same time there was a huge clap of thunder. More signs!! We both ran around and tried to get as much done as possible and sure enough at 8am, the rain came pouring down.

We came into the house both drenched. This happens all the time…the weather just doing its thing and we have to go with it. We have been doing this for about twenty years now…this is the story of our lives! Anyway, the grass keeps growing, the bush is encroaching and the weeds need weeding. Jolly good…we are right into the swing of rainy season in Belize!

Let’s talk about what we are harvesting right now. We have (at long, long last) started getting mangoes. Mango season in Belize is July but our season seems to be later and extending through to September. In fact, all our crops always seem to be behind a couple of months!! Since Gnome is the more technical one, I asked him why all our crops were late and out of sync with the rest of the country. This is what he said:

Oh, okay, thank you Gnome for your valued input!! Let’s just talk about the mangoes then…these are the best and our favourite. They are giant slipper mangoes that can weigh anything from 2 to 5lbs. The flesh is a chunky, smooth with no fibres and the taste is absolutely mango. We were given the seed by a Taiwanese horticulturist about 4 years ago and now it has started bearing very generously. This one is a keeper.

About 4 years ago, we also bought a whole lot of ‘grafted mangoes’ from a nursery. The variety is Tommy Atkins and we were told at the time that the grafted mangoes would bear at about 1 year. Nothing happened until now and all the trees make variations of the Tommy Atkins fruit so we think that these were not grafted after all and they were just grown from seed. Tommy Atkins Mangoes are a beautiful blue-purple and then ripen to a dark red colour. Our fruits are varied…some are large, round and very fibrous and others are slimmer looking and there are ones that taste like sour pineapple! I was disappointed at first but there is no way of knowing what you end up with until it starts bearing…by that time, the merchant has legged it with your hard earned cash!

Our breadfruit trees are bearing and not only are they ‘out of season’, they are also consistently small. Most breadfruit are the size of soccer balls…ours are more like baseballs. We have tried all sorts of things like mulching and fertilising…they are still teeny weeny tiny!! That’s okay, they are still tasty and edible…

In my twenty years in Belize, the only way that I have seen this cooked is fried like french fries. They are peeled (or not), the central core is removed (sometimes not) and they are cut into about 1/2 inch slices and fried in oil. It’s very nice and tasty but if you have a bearing tree, you can’t keep up with eating fried breadfruit all the time…you will end up feeling like a greasy lump! This is what I do: I gather the harvest and prepare them in batches. The fruit is peeled, cored and cut into cubes. Then par-boiled for 6 minutes, drained in a collard and once cooled, stored in quart bags in the freezer.

So, when you want to eat breadfruit, take out a bag of frozen breadfruit and thaw it. You can put them in stews, soups, stir fries…anything you like. It is also very nice cooked in coconut milk with garlic and chili pepper. Just be imaginative…they basically taste like potato so just use them in any recipe that you would otherwise use potato. It is very versatile and yes indeed, you can even fry it in oil from the frozen form!

Okay, that is it for now. It’s sunny again and Gnome has just ran out with the mower. It is amazing what magic he can do in one hour!! Go For It, Gnome!!

Farming, Food

The Golden Goosie Egg STORY.

September 9, 2023 Munchkin

Hello Again! As you know from last time, I haven’t written blog posts for quite a while. This is what actually happened that sparked off interest and wonderment again. I like to make pickles and have all sorts of jars of indescribable food things next to my bedside (coolest place in the house). I always had this inner cultural fascination to make the perfect salted egg…I managed (kinda) with duck eggs. Please note that only the Asian readers might have a clue about what I am raving on about. To achieve a perfect salted egg, the yolk has to become golden orange/yellow and oily. If you have had a mooncake with the duck egg yolk, you might know. Anyway, I haven’t been able to achieve this same effect with a goose egg…probably because they are so big so it is hard for the salt to penetrate through the whole thing.

To salt eggs, there are two methods: one is immersion of eggs into salt solution or the second is to tightly pack eggs in salt, ash and spices. The first method did not work for the goose eggs and the salt couldn’t get into the yolk area to do its magical thing. I had to throw this experiment away which was an awful waste of eggs!! And the second technique? I have had the gallon jar sitting there for 2 years. Since I can be a bit of an Eeyore, I thought that since the first method didn’t work…why would the second? Terrible, terrible logic but there you go!! I lamented over this jar, hugged it and talked to it for 2 years and finally, I had enough of looking at a ‘failed experiment’ that I loathed to throw out.

The other day, I decided that I really should dispose of this jar of eggs and be done with all the anguish and suffering! As an after thought, I cracked open one goose egg just to see the result. This is what I got:

It looks right and it smells right and it is very Chinesy!! It actually worked!! I got my Golden Goose Egg! I cried out for joy and showed Gnome my success. He said:

‘…well, it just needed time…the Chinese do call these century eggs…at least you didn’t have to wait 100 years!!’

So, the moral of my story is:

Don’t give up on the quest for the Golden Egg!

Don’t lament at a jar of pickled eggs for 2 years and suffer needlessly for no reason!

Amusing, Belize, Farming

Surprise! We are Still Here!!

September 5, 2023 Munchkin

Well, I will sheepishly say that I don’t have a great excuse why I haven’t written much this year! Except, that we have been really, really, really busy (and that I forgot to write??) . This month, I had to renew the website fees, which was a chunk of money and thought to myself:

Oh dear! Eeeek!! I have only written about 2 blog posts and it is September already??

For Munchkin standards, this is absolutely abysmal and I apologise profusely for my lack of consistency!! Wahhhh!! (I find that a big Wahhh after an apology usually drives the message home and also, makes me feel better).

Anyway, enough with the lamenting Munchkin and let’s talk about What’s Happening. To follow-up on my last post where I had some lovely goosie hatchlings on Easter Sunday, my babies have grown up a fair bit. They are about 5 to 6 months now and I have divided them into two flocks. The first flock are vigorous and healthy: the ‘ruff tuff’ group that can weather through a stormy night in Belize without a single feather getting out of place. As soon as they could start eating grass, they were out in the pasture eating like there was no tomorrow. They are delightful and friendly and I always get a unanimous ‘WEEEEEEEeeeeee!!!’ when I get close to them. I love being cheered by a gaggle of geese in the morning…a good start to a busy day on the farm. These ones eat grass 24 hours a day so I have to move them around with a moveable fence. I get yelps and cheers every time I move the fence line and usually one of them gets his silly head jammed between the bars as the excitement ensues!!

So, one of the first jobs of the day is to move the fence around amidst a cacophony of squeaks and sqwacks (not a word according to my spell check but that is the exact noise that they make) and occasional wolf whistle!

The second flock needed a little bit of help right from the get go. They are sillier (or just plain stupid??) but nevertheless adorable. They didn’t get the grass thing at all. I would plonk them in a grassy pasture and there would be puzzled looks all around!! Seriously…I thought that goosies knew by instinct to eat grass!! My goosie whispering wasn’t really up to scratch so I couldn’t find a way to say: Eat the Grass!!!

I am not sure what to call this group...The Silly Goosie Group?? Anyway, they got themselves into all manner of troubles because they didn’t eat grass and had trouble gaining weight. As a result, after any heavy rain they were shivering and bedraggled. We had an emergency goosie hospital set up in the house (we have NO more space in the house!!) where we had to put wet silly goosies in individual plastic boxes with individual feeding bowls and water. They would over-night in the house and then they would be released back into pasture. Some required more care and needed daycare also. I was bussing wounded goosies back and forth for a couple of months and we had one busy night were we had 4 admissions…I had to improvise with an extra fish tank and a cardboard box! After a while, they started getting used to seeing me bring out a box and they would all be vying to get in!! They loved the overnights with Munchkin and Gnome watching vintage ’80’s movies!! It was like a sleepover with a bunch of rowdy kids! Once they started making too much noise, we knew that they were getting better and so out to pasture they went again…

Everything has settled down now and the Silly Goosie Group are out and about…they pick at the grass dis-interestingly all day until evening time when they gorge themselves on the poultry feed that I give them. They are fattening up and at this stage, it’s important for them to get to an optimum size. Don’t worry, I am not priming them up to eat…I think these are a bunch of females so they may be my future egg layers.

And so here ends my latest blog post. I did enjoy writing it so I hope that I get into writing on a regular basis.

Belize, Farming

Happy Easter!!

April 9, 2023 Munchkin

Happy Easter Every-one!! This morning, I really had the feeling that today would be day…I barely had my cup of tea and I ran down to the coop. And sure enough, I had new babies for Easter!! They are so cute when they are young… fluffy baby goosies. It has really made my day.

Wishing you all a Lovely Easter Sunday!!

Farming, Food

The Launching of the Raft!

September 15, 2022 Munchkin

Good Morning Everyone!! It has rained every day since June and it is not relenting. What a wet year it has been…we have been unable to plant any vegetables or seedlings for three months because the water table is is always high. Anyway, every cloud has a silver lining and this year the pond filled up immediately after only drying out for 2 weeks (usually it stays dry for two months of the year). We were able to re-introduce our tilapia fingerlings into the pond and after three months, the pond is teeming with small, medium and big fishes. We had such a good harvest earlier in the year and are trying to get the fish breeding optimised so we can fish all year round.

Earlier this year, I had been fishing with a bamboo pole with dental floss string with a fish hook attached to the end. I used fish food as bait and manage to catch about one fish every minute. It was so easy since the the pond was so well stocked up. Gnome has offered to get me real fishing gear but I am okay to stick with traditional because it works fine enough. Besides, I am tired of cramming more possessions into our tiny little house.

Since I was only able to fish on the edge of the pond, Gnome has made a raft out of bamboo stick so that I can get around the pond easier. So, here it is…The launching of the raft!! We didn’t have a spare champagne bottle during the launch so just settled for loud cheers…

Here are some more pictures to show you since Gnome put a lot of time, attention and effort into making it. We have put empty plastic bottles underneath the bamboo to help it float up. It is very sturdy and takes both our body weights and we can move around by paddling with a long bamboo stick. It is really quite romantic floating about on a bamboo raft on the pond.

More Pictures:

I am really pleased with the raft and I am planning to do some fishing this weekend. It is a very nice spot out here to get away from the stress of angry, dastardly geese!!

There you go…we are trying to make our own Munchkin and Gnome paradise in the middle of nowhere!

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Food

Something New!

August 16, 2022 Munchkin

For something new, we have started learning a bit of Q’eqchi’, the main language of the Maya people in Belize. The best place to practice is Punta Gorda market where you can ask questions like: What is that called? How much for that? I would like 2 lbs please.

We have quite a bit of fun with this; Gnome said to me the other day:

‘Hah, Munchkin!…you speak Q’eqchi’ with a Scottish accent!’

He then proceeded to exemplify his statement by saying:

‘ It’s not a bad thing. It’s just like Sean Connery. He spoke everything in a Scottish accent. He even spoke Latin, Russian and Greek with a Scottish accent…’

His voice sort trailed off when I looked at at him with dismay…

Munchkin: ‘Oh, is that why nobody understands me!!’

Anyway, one must keep on trying!! I have had trouble with this accent for the all the time I have been in Belize. When I first came to the country, I think I spoke too fast and my accent was very guttural and harsh-sounding. I remember speaking to a Belizean person (in the Queen’s English), and he said to me in a sympathetic tone of voice:

‘…don’t worry dear, you will soon get the hang of speaking English if you stay in Belize for a longer time.’

Anyway, moving quickly along, I wanted to show you some exciting things that we found at the market while we were practicing our new language skills.

The root on the left is a type of yam…they call it soup yam…this is a small one because I have seen them as large as footballs. We were very excited about the one on the right…we had never seen that before and we didn’t recognise them. I showed the latter one to a Belizean friend and she posted the picture on Facebook to see if anyone would come up with a name. We were amazed to find out that it was arrowroot. I didn’t even know that they grew arrowroot here to eat as a tuber…the Maya call this ya’ootch and they like to boil it up in their famous caldo (chicken soup).

Anyway, I boiled these two roots up separately just to get an idea of texture and taste:

The soup yam tasted like a ubiquitous yam-type of tuber with no great distinguishing characteristics. It is fine as a bland carbohydrate that can be used for soups and stews. We didn’t get too excited about it but nevertheless, it is an edible, inoffensive vegetable.

The arrowroot was boiled in water and softened in about 20 minutes:

We found this one more interesting since we have only seen this vegetable in powder form used as a thickener. Yes, this was a winner!! This is sweet and crunchy and makes a good alternative for water chestnut. This is a definite keeper and we will plant a patch of this stuff.

Anyway, that’s it for now. More soon!

Belize, Elixirs, Farming, Food, Our Products, Plants, Uncategorized

A New Year!

January 4, 2022 Munchkin

A Happy New Year to you all! Let’s make 2022 a good one!! We started off on the right foot this year by planting peanut on the last day of the year and we had a big rain yesterday which will hopefully ensure that the peanuts will sprout. The January rains are usually the last rains before dry season so we are trying to get things into the ground this month. I have a few left-over pictures from last year that I would like to share with you.

For Christmas, we decided to buy a local chicken from the village. These chickens are much prized and go for about $5/lb (compare to shop bought Mennonite (battery reared) chicken that goes for about $3/lb). Apparently the Chinese really like it too and drive around the villages buying up all the chickens to eat. When I received the chicken, it looked like a pheasant with very long bones. It wasn’t fat and plump so I decided it would not make a good roasting chicken. I thought that the best thing to do was to make it into a curry in order to tenderize the meat. So, we had an impromptu Christmas Curry this time! Look at the bones on this chicken…

I was a bit concerned about the texture of the chicken and was anticipating very chewy meat. However, the curry tenderized the meat very well. The meat was flavoursome, tender and had the perfect bite. It was a very nice surprise…I wanted to show you a close up picture of the meat…it looks like game…

See…it is not white like poultry meat. Anyway, it was delicious and we would definitely buy local chicken again. This is completely different from the super soft chicken that you buy in the supermarket. This has taste!! Here in Belize, the Mayans like to use this chicken to make Caldo; this is a soup made with annatto, culantro and other spices. I think the Chinese (in Belize) boil it into a medicinal soup with Chinese herbs.

It has been cold this winter (18C/64F) so we had the pleasure of mulled wine for Christmas. Of course, we made it Belizean style with herbs and spices that we gathered from the farm. This year, we used the following: sorrel (roselle), all-spice, cinnamon, cardamom and orange peel.

We have had some winter harvests as the farm keeps on producing generously. Presently, we have long gourds growing on trellises. This one is a Sicilian gourd which can grow up to 5 to 6 feet. When it is completely mature, it hardens and looks like a very long baseball bat. This gourd is very tasty…I like it steamed or cooked in stir frys.

The next picture shows a Python Bean. It can grow to about 6 feet long but has a curled look to it. The outside skin is striped. It tastes like a very large long bean. It has a nutty taste and I like it best raw in salads in order to preserve the crispiness of the texture. This is definitely another winner and we will be planting more.

I will leave you with a picture of a passion fruit flower. We planted these from seed about a year ago and they are now producing. I am hoping to make Passion Fruit Elixir from this harvest. Our Elixirs are made from from a base of white rum, muscovado sugar or cane sugar and herbs and spices. In this case, it will be made from fresh passion fruit pulp!

Wishing you all a Lovely Day. Make it a good start to 2022!!

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

We Really Should Keep Writing!

September 24, 2021 Munchkin

Yes, Hello!! We should keep the Blog going, don’t you think? Life seems to get in the way…everyday… and waiting for the mood to write just doesn’t work! I went out on the farm to take a whole load of pictures so I can play catch up (again)! We are generally doing fine on the farm; there is the usual equipment failure, too much rain, too little rain and hot, hot, hot days. That basically sums up Belize if you interested in weather, plants and farming. Sorry…I should add a bit more oomph and enthusiasm to get you all out planting vegetables…after all, this is what my Blog posts are about. Right now, in Belize, we are on a 7pm to 4am COVID curfew so there is plenty of time to stay at home and grow something to eat!! Let’s show you some pictures. Gnome has prepared the land for more melons since we both love cantaloupes.

We have a nice little okra garden going. If you like your own freshly picked vegetables with the minimum of work, I urge you to grow okra. They are an easy crop.

This is a ditch that Gnome dug a few years ago for water chestnut. Our kitchen water drains into the ditch to fertilise and maintain the plants. As you can see, they are looking healthy and we will hopefully have a good harvest at Christmas time.

Oh, and I found an old picture of the pond above so you can get an idea of how deep it is. There you go…the ditch has served its purpose and is producing food.

We have started lotus in basins again. The last time we had lotus, the dastardly geese ate or destroyed them all. Now that we have the geese in fenced areas, our plan is to plant the lotus in the pond so that we can harvest lotus root and seeds.

I will save the other pictures for another post. I know you don’t believe me but I will write again soon. One last picture…honestly, we do look like this! Ha-Ha!! Actually, I jokingly asked Gnome if we looked like this and he said:

‘…uhuh…twenty years ago, dear!’

Belize, Farming

Farm Pictures!

August 1, 2021 Munchkin

Hello Everyone!! I spoke too soon the last time about how little it had rained in wet season! We had a huge downpour last night and I think we are probably flooded in. I haven’t heard any traffic on the road this morning which probably means that the Jacinto River is high and has flooded the junction onto the highway. Everywhere on the farm is wet and yes, the puddles have coalesced into ponds! I took a few pictures a couple of days ago when it was nice and dry. The farm is actually cleaned up…we just need to do the pond area and then we need to re-do the coconut area again. So far, so good…yay!!

This is a picture of the rosewood grove…we planted rosewood about 16 years ago. This part looks like a shaded woodland area. Gnome mentioned that it might be a good place to plant cacao as an under storey.

This is the pathway leading to the pond area with oil palms to the left and rosewoods on the right. We are actually thinking of getting rid of the oil palms because they take up premium space. We might replace them with avocados or mangoes.

This is a picture of the pond. The grass is still high here and we plan to mow this area as soon as it dries up again. Check out the ‘fishing rod’ bamboo…it looks like an afro…needs a haircut!!

After we clean up the pond area, we will go straight back to cleaning up the coconut area…look…he grass is growing up already after a month!

The farm is looking good for the first time in ages!! I hope you enjoyed a quick tour of the farm.! 😉 Have a great weekend!

Casa Mascia Apothecary