The Flood Flies finally came last night and we were ready with Protocol Flood Flies still in place. Lock down started at 4pm and everyone (including the animals) were fed and watered by 5pm. Last minute shower and into the bedroom quick smart. Lights out! This morning, there was still some evidence of flood flies with their wings but not as much as previous years. Switching the lights off to reduce numbers really works and this year, I am actually not suffering from Post Traumatic Flood Flies Syndrome. Usually with the after-math of winged chaos, I am reduced to a depressed, quivering wreck armed with a vacuum cleaner in one hand and a snotty tissue in the other.
Phew…it’s all good! And so with rains come the planting. Gnome has bee planting sorghum:
We have planted more of the “brain” (Amorphophallus paeonilfolius) out:
Oh and Gnome has been cutting more houses for Coco-Prune Resort…there has been a sales boom and all the piggies want a luxury condo. Don’t try this at home guys…the table saw is done broke so Gnome is using a circular saw on a steel drum!! I know…cringe!!
But the Piggies want their million dollar condos! It was the Spa and Yoga that sold it!
Here is a gallery of fruits in season. We are so fortunate that even with the extended dry season, the fruit trees still continue to bear. Mangoes are my definite favourite; I remember buying them in the supermarket in Scotland and they were as hard as rocks. Sometimes they wouldn’t even ripen at all! It’s wonderful that I don’t need to buy these from the supermarket anymore…I have them in my own backyard.
You would think that money would buy you everything that you needed; not necessarily so… as we invested in new super-duper sized guttering for the house recently. We had a test run with a little rain last week and it was dripping all over the place! Gnome went out to inspect and found that that every single joint had warped with the heat of the sun!
A few months back at an Elixir Tasting at Cotton Tree Lodge, I took the liberty of describing the plethora of jobs that Gnome had undertaken in working independently on the farm. Not only has he been a medical doctor for 20 years but he is the on-site engineer, mechanic, plumber, electrician, farmer, soap-maker, wine/ liqueur maker, herbalist and generator of great and amazing ideas. One woman in the group after listening to the description said gleefully,
We have been hearing all sorts of weather predictions and looking at reports on the Internet with forecasts of hot, dry weather…forever (well, it feels like that anyway). This morning we were sitting down with our cups of tea (can’t take the Scottish out of either of us…still like a cup of tea to hit the spot) and lo and behold! Grey clouds gathered right over us and it started raining. What a relief! It wasn’t torrential but it was enough for the plants and trees to quench their thirst for a wee while. This is one of the longest dry seasons that we can remember. Every year, the season tends to end abruptly and we are usually left thinking,
The truth is that we are actually both very healthy and fit from this lifestyle…a lifestyle that we like to promote to all our patients…we reckon that the only way to give advise is to do it (not just talk).
The dry season in Belize is a great time to harvest roots. We have been pulling up cassava from our beds. Each plant has been giving us a generous 10lbs (5kg) of root. Cassava requires immediate processing because it tends to go off after 1 or 2 days. We usually peel a whole load of them in one go, boil them and then store them in the freezer.
Yip, these are most definitely habaneros. A while back, I wanted to plant Jalapeños and bought a seed packet imported from the States. When the first lot of leaves started coming out, I had some doubts because they were heart-shaped rather than elongated. Nevertheless, Gnome told me to be patient and I waited a bit longer. The plants started flowering and then I watched the formation of the fruits with great anticipation. All this time, I kept on think to myself…
