Category Archives: Farming

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Medical Related, Our Products, Pets

Lime-Sulphur Pet Dip At The Farm Store!

March 14, 2016 Munchkin

Hello Everyone!!! We have the wonderful smell of brimstone pervading through our house since Gnome has made up a fresh batch of Lime-Sulphur Pet Dip for The Farm Store. Ahhh…like the Catholic Gnome that he is he feels spiritually cleansed and renewed with the richly aromatic vapours of sulphur!

The High Velocity Cleansing Power of Sulphur.

So, get your Lime-Sulphur Pet Dip at the Farm Store in Punta Gorda. Guaranteed to work regardless of religion of pet.

Ask Brian at The Farm Store. Use it for the treatment of Mange, Fleas, Ticks and Ringworm. If you can’t remember the cumbersome long name of the product, just ask for “Presidente.” You’ll know why if you look at at our cheap budget packaging.

Belize, Farming, Food

Look What The Wee Wee Ants Are Doing!

March 10, 2016 Munchkin

Munchkin.Bossie Can you believe what the wee wee ants are doing on our farm? We have one soursop tree here and the ants are systematically peeling the skins off the fruit. They leave the fruit whole and intact like this…you have to catch them before they go splattt!!

Here are some that I have rescued with a few holes on them. Look closely and you will see the ants crawling all over them.

I have written about these ants before but just in case you missed it here is a brief recap:

These leaf cutter ants (wee wee ants) usually form mounds above ground which lead down to their underground cities. I call them “cities” because these nests can grow to 100 ft (30m) across with smaller radiating mounds growing to about 260ft (80m) and can house eight million ants. Amazing!!

They cultivate a fungus by feeding it with fresh cut plant material (ie. all our lovely plants and trees). Furthermore, these ants carry a bacterium which protects the fungi from pests and molds. This is a really nice symbiotic relationship…sometimes you wish that us humans could form a better mutualistic relatiionship with the planet in the same way as these ants! The fungus is used to feed the ant larvae.

We have tried all sorts of ways to get rid of them and alas, have even resorted to ritualistic practice, dancing, singing and talking (nicely) to them. None of it works!! What to do…

Belize, Farming, Food, Our Products

Coconut Cream For Sale!

March 9, 2016 Munchkin 2 Comments

Munchkin.Shouting Hello Everyone!! We went into Punta Gorda today to deliver a fresh batch of coconut cream to Green Supaul’s. Just in case you are wondering, we make it by grating the coconut:

Next, we add some hot water to the grated coconut and squeeze the liquid out. The liquid is then left to sit for some time to allow the cream to separate and come up to the top (the coconut milk is at the bottom). The cream is skimmed off and sold in these bags. One coconut cream bag (about 4oz) is equivalent to one coconut.

This is fresh, organic, vegetarian, gluten-free, locally produced and politically correct in every way! 😉

!Sabor Natural! Ja-Ja!! 😉

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

Everything Is Blooming!

March 8, 2016 Munchkin 2 Comments

New.Munchkin.Gnome.Yellow.Boots Hello There!! More farm pictures for you all to see and the promise of wonderful exotic fruit in the next few months. The mango trees are blooming all over Toledo so it looks like it will be another wonderful “stuff-your-face-with-mango-season” this year. Our running joke on the farm is that we never started planting mango until a few years ago…which was pretty silly of us since it is our favourite fruit! Anyway, we have our first blooming mango tree!!

We have three jackfruit trees flowering this year…they should grow into giant sized monsters and we will have a bumper crop in July.

The cashews are starting too. By the way, we noticed that we have mountains to the south side which block a few hours of morning sunlight and so our trees flower about a month later than others in Toledo.

These are our cinnamon trees looking very formidable at one year. Also there is a tall ylang-ylang tree in the middle with a lemon tree to the right. I wanted to sneak this picture in to show you how good we have been at keeping the grass down this year! Ooooh…look at that!

Amusing, Belize, Construction, Farming, Pets, Philosophy

Zen Duckie Coup Is Ready!

February 22, 2016 Munchkin

Together

The Zen Garden is ready for the Zazen duckies and they are just in time for a Full Moon Meditation.

What perfect timing! The duckies wish to thank Mayor Gnome for his superb workmanship and stamina.

The Duckie Monastery is defined by specially chosen rocks and every single rock in the centrally placed pond was hand-picked and laid down by Mayor Gnome himself. Within the grounds century plants have been placed at each corner and there is a beautiful south-facing kenip tree which will provide dappled shade for meditation in the afternoon.

The duckies are very pleased and are ready for their 12 hour marathon meditation:

“We are ready to contemplate the meaning of life.”

Belize, Farming, Fermentation, Food, Our Products

Just A Thank-You.

February 21, 2016 Munchkin

Munchkin.More.Eating If you follow our posts, you may have realised by now that we enjoy the creativity and inventiveness of harvesting and processing our own food. Peach Palm Miso was borne out of a fusion of an Asian preservation technique with a farm grown ingredient. I would like to give a special Thank-you to Julian Obererlacher of Itz’ana, Placencia for his resourcefulness in using our Peach Palm Miso as an ingredient in his menu.

Another Thanks to Enrico Cordenons for providing us with the Itz’ana Menu as follows:

WEDNESDAY 17 FEBRUARY, 2016

Sweet/spicy soup of Belizean vegetables with masa

King Estate Pinot Gris 2013 (USA – Oregon)

Poblano pepper stuffed with arugula, lentils, Caves Branch ricotta and parmesan

Zolo Malbec 2014 (Argentina – Agrelo Valley)

Snook, Casa Mascia Peach palm miso glaze, coco yam puree, grilled zucchini Itz’ana garden chinese greens

Crimson Fetzer Pinot Noir 2012 (USA – Napa Valley)

Banana loaf, chocolate, peanut cream, belizean rum caramel, purple basil

Mayan hot chocolate or Local Rum (Belize Punta Gorda/Placencia)

It is inspiring to see a preference and a confident boldness in using local ingredients.

We have Peach Palm Miso for sale within the country. Please check out The Apothecary for more information.

Belize, Farming, Food

Home-Made Banana Flour.

February 18, 2016 Munchkin 4 Comments

Together.Eating.Fire.Pot

We are making our own banana flour right now. With huge bunches of green bananas, we find that the best way to preserve them is to process them into flour.

This actually involves quite a lengthy process but hey…that’s why we have chosen to live like this. The green bananas are peeled and then grated like so (by Munchkin of course):

The shredded bananas are then dried out in the sun. Once dehydrated, they are crushed by hand into crumbs and then milled (Gnome Job):

And this is what you get:

Eighty green bananas fills roughly half a gallon jar and weighs about 2lbs (1kg). And now Gnome has presented me with a challenge:

“Munchkin, cook something yummy with it!”

By the way, this product is not for sale because it contains too much blood and sweat! 😉

Belize, Construction, Farming

Back On Track!

February 15, 2016 Munchkin

New.Munchkin.Gnome.Yellow.Boots

The parts finally arrived for the brush-mower and Gnome has managed to install the new parts. A big Thank-you to Joanna Randolph for sending us the parts. Now, the mower no longer looks like a “bird’s nest” of wires at the back:

The ignition works (so no more hot-wiring) and it all looks very tidy with all the wires in place:

Everything is now working:

And also the chainsaw has been fixed:

The Zazen Duckie pond has been partially filled with the rains from yesterday. Next will be the fencing for the Zen Garden:

And, while Gnome is effortlessly doing all the above like a Super-Hero farmer, I think I will bake some panettone ;)! Received these in the post from Joanna as a belated Birthday present…yay and many thanks!! I may need a few tries before I get a perfect picture to post up on the Blog!

Belize, Construction, Farming, Pets

A Pond For The Duckies!

February 14, 2016 Munchkin 1 Comment

Together

Everyday for the last two weeks, Gnome has been digging out a pond for the Duckies. When Gnome was asked what machinery was used in the pond construction (I think they were expecting some sort of excavator in the answer) he replied with:

“A spade.”

The pond is situated in the middle of the Zen garden and lined with rocks. Since the weather has been so dry, we were a bit dubious over whether it would get filled with rainwater. I mentioned to Gnome with a twinkle in my eye:

“…well, since it is a Zen Garden, can we fill the pond with sand and rake ripples into it? Do you think the Duckies would notice?”

Munchkin.Cute.Shot

No need to worry though…we had a constant drizzle today and the pond is getting nicely filled up.

Oh, and we have to thank our doggy for helping Gnome every morning. She apparently thinks that a wheelbarrow should be pulled along by grasping the wheel with her teeth and dragging it along. What a funny dog she is! Gnome couldn’t resist shouting out to me to take a photograph…this is a picture of her in action.

Belize, Farming, Fermentation, Food, Plants

Sapodillas In Season!

February 11, 2016 Munchkin

Together.Tank.Top

Sapodillas (Manilkara zapote) are in season again and this year we have a bumper harvest. The fruit has a very sweet caramel-honey taste. We have been picking them every morning. For an inexperienced picker, the ripe fruit forms a taut and shiny appearance. At first it is difficult to spot but after picking hundreds of them you can get the hang of it. Here is a picture of Gnome ready for action on the farm!

This year, we are going to sun-dry some of them. We like to eat them with beef jerky!

Some more sapodilla melomel would go down nicely!

Oooooh, so many to pick and so much to make!! We will of course eat some of them too…

Casa Mascia Apothecary