Category Archives: Farming

We’re Back!!

Together.Munchking.PointingThe last few days, Gnome has got into a right tizz over everything breaking down.

Poor Gnome!
Poor Gnome!

First of all, the brush mower stopped working and it looked like the electric clutch had burnt out; Gnome explained to me that this would mean no more mowing and we would have to bring the parts in and wait another 3 months to continue clearing the bush.  Boo hoo!!  Also, for the last three days, the Internet has been down.  Again, Gnome gave me story of doom and gloom, he reckoned it was a problem with the antenna post, which is slowly splitting up the middle.  He told me that we would probably have to replace the Internet post (this is a major endeavour for us because Gnome wants to incorporate a water tower into the entire structure) and this would probably take the best part of a month…with Gnome single-mindedness and ingenuity.  Yes, you have guessed it…he wants to single-handedly put up the structure by himself with a system of pulleys, knowledge of physics and Gnome brains.  The Munchkin mind boggles…

Anyway, today started off really well with Gnome finding his 1/4 inch chisel…do you remember a previous post about “chucking a maddy” all because we couldn’t find this chisel?  Well, we finally found it and guess what…we don’t need it anymore!!

Gnome.Hand.OutThe brush mower actually miraculously sprung back to life, despite Gnome’s poor prognosis.  It turns out that it isn’t a problem with the electric clutch (yay…it would have cost $200 to replace) but some poor connection with the battery.  The problem is that the mower is not charging the battery so when the voltage on the battery drops, the clutch stops working.  So, all is well as the problem has been solved: the battery is charged with a battery charger after every use.  Oh, and there is a broken switch so Gnome “hot wires” the mower to start it up now.  I am pleased to say that the mower is working and is now thoroughly Gnome-Rigged!!

Munchkin.with.SwordAnd, yes, we are back in business with the Internet.  The technician came out today and said that the “gateway box was fried.”  Furthermore, he reassured us that the antenna was still in the right position, so the post, despite its weakness, was still doing its job.  A big thank-you to Renin, the technician…he was really quite helpful and took the time to sort things out for us.

Now, Gnome has informed me that we are still going ahead with a Gnome Tower for the Internet antenna and water back-up.  Also, we are still looking for a camera…

Gnome Foraging on The Highway.

Together.from.FrontA few weeks back when we were travelling on the highway from Belize City to Belmopan, this is what happened:

Sharp Eyes.
Sharp Eyes.

Gnome:  Oooooh look…broom corn!

Flowering.Broom.Corn

This picture makes it look deceptively big but when you are travelling in a vehicle at 110kph, everything looks green and blurry.  Gnome managed to spot a wild edible with his sharp eyes!  This is also funny because he has recently complained of  eyesight problems and thinks that he requires a new prescription for his spectacles.  Anyway, he screeched to a halt and then did a U-turn to bring us back round to the corn.  I didn’t get a chance to say anything, because it all happened so quickly.

He jumped out of the car to grab a specimen for seeds.

Broom Corn.
Broom Corn.

In the usual Gnome style, he attemped to procure a plant to take back to the farm.  You can just imagine what all the drivers were thinking as they zoomed by on the highway, catching a glimpse of Gnome on his hands and knees, digging a plant out from the ground!

Pulling Up Broom Corn.
Pulling Up Broom Corn.

Broom corn is Sorghum bicolor and is also commonly known as sorghum. It is a grass species which is cultivated for its grain.  The grain can be used to make breads and can be popped like “pop-corn.”  In large scale cultivation, it can be a source of ethanol fuel and sorghum syrup. Also, you can make brooms out of them hence the popular name.  It can be used to feed animals and guinea pigs are rather fond of this type of grass.

Well, in our usual Munchkin and Gnome Style, we were both rather chuffed  with ourselves for finding such a useful plant on the highway in Belize.  It just goes to show that you need to be on the look out all the time if you are a serious forager!!  Just drive safely while you do it!

Munchkin Jobs.

Munchkin.with.SwordI was harvesting bird chilli peppers today to dry out in the sun. It is hot and dry again. These come up as voluntary plants everywhere because the birds eat them and poop the seeds out. I like these chilli peppers so I usually let these plants come up opportunistically; these plants can grow into considerable bushes and I have at least a dozen of them scattered around the yard.

Bird Chilli Pepper.
Bird Chilli Pepper.

Well, the running joke, on the farm, is that the birds get them all because I never actually get round to harvesting any of them. Gnome says that one day when we finally have our 4 and 20 blackbird pie, they will be very hot and spicy!

Gnome.Funny.FaceIn order to put an end to the joke (it is after all at my expense) I took the time to pick some of the peppers; I probably picked close to 1000 and that wasn’t even half of them!

Whilst I was picking them, I realised that all the Munchkin jobs involved food in some way or another. On the farm, I am in charge of food harvesting, preservation, preparation and cooking. It is quite a job because it is ongoing and if you slack off, fruit and vegetables get wasted and fall to the ground.

Yesterday, I prepared another jackfruit “baby”…believe me, this is no mean feat when you have to wrestle with such a heavy fruit with all the latex and goo sticking onto the knife and hands! The jackfruit dried beautifully into very sweet, aromatic chips.

Jackfruit Baby.
Jackfruit Baby.

More Munchkin jobs coming up:

Picking of Chinese Jujube; these are green fruit about the size of small plums.  When they turn yellow-green, they are ready to pick and at this point, have the consistency and crispness of Granny Smith apples.  When they are fully mature, they actually turn red and shrivel up like prunes.  This is a version of the Chinese red date, which can be purchased at Chinese supermarkets. This year I will have my own to cook in savoury and sweet soups.

Bamboo Shoot Starting.
Bamboo Shoot Starting.

Oh, and yes we have bamboo shoots coming up. These will be ready in about a week. It sounds like fun when you are reading it off my blog but in actual fact, it is a whole sweaty morning of cutting, slicing and boiling. You really have to be dedicated to food to do all of this!

Munchkin and Grapes.
Munchkin and Grapes.

It is all indeed a labour of love. If I didn’t love cooking and eating so much, I honestly would not do all of this. For any people out there who dream of a self-sustainable farming existence, they need to first of all, ask themselves if they are prepared to spend at least 50% of their day planting, weeding, harvesting, preserving and preparing food. Because that is all it is about. When I first moved to Belize, there were a number of couples who also bought farms and wanted to grow their own food to some extent. One couple, who had more resources than us, even got a digger to mound up 5 feet high garden rows to grow vegetables. Their idea worked wonders and they had tonnes of vegetables…the only problem was that neither of them were willing to pick or cook any of them. At the time, one of them had remarked,

“…do you know what this place (Punta Gorda) really needs?  Yes, we need a “Drive Through” so that we can just pick up our meals…in and out…without having to wait around…

This was a serious comment but nevertheless, I found it hilarious and I still to this very day, it makes me chuckle. For me, the fact that there was no “Drive Through” was one of the reasons why I came to Belize!

In the end, they gave up on the garden idea and now mostly buy all the food in, despite having all the space and resources to plant their own food.

The lesson to be learned here is to realise your own real motivations and predilections because that is your real push to do things. Also, subsistence farming does not make you rich so if you are chasing the bucks, don’t even consider this type of living. If you are looking for food security and independence, then you might think about this as a worthwhile option.

Big Rain, Lime Sulphur Bottling and Lemon Peels.

Munchkin.with.UmbrellaHi Everyone.   This morning, poor Gnome woke up with a terrible crick in his neck.  Despite this pain, he soldiered on since the weather was looking good…a bright sunny start and we were ready for a big clean up with brush-mowing and coconut palm cleaning!!  All of a sudden, grey clouds gathered and blocked out the sun and we had a down-pour at 8am this morning.

Gnome.Hand.OutAnd, so the place is still looking bushy:

Bushy Farm.
Bushy Farm.

Gnome took solace in making some more Pet Sulphur and Lime Dip:

Boiling Sulphur and Lime together.
Boiling Sulphur and Lime together.

Gnome really likes the smell of sulphur; he says he feels cleansed and invigorated from the fumes.

We received a re-order for our new pet product which is used to treat mange, fleas, ticks and ringworm: Lime.Sulphur.Pet.Dip

We have decided to recycle old beer bottles to make the product really cheap and affordable.  And, so when we went to the Farm Store in Punta Gorda last week, the manager said to Gnome,

“I’d like to order some more Presidente, please!”

Mr. Brian Cho at The Farm Store.
Mr. Brian Cho at The Farm Store.

Despite removing all the tell-tale beer stickers from the bottle, the farm store manager and workers still recognised the Presidente branded beer bottle!  This is a picture of Gnome bottling the Sulphur-Lime Dip…now, also known as Presidente!

Lime.Sulphur.Pet.Dip

Anyway, we tried to keep busy.  We harvested our lemons and put them through this cool citrus peeler, which the locals usually use for oranges.

Citrus Peeler.
Citrus Peeler.

I dry the peel and use it for flavouring of food such as stews, stir frys, soups and of course, limoncello  Also, in the process of peeling, we can catch some essential oil from the peel…about 1ml for every 4 lemons and so to get 30mls(1oz) you need 120 lemons in total!  Just goes to show the value of a tiny bottle of essential oil…the quantities of biomass never ceases to astound me!

Peeled Lemons.
Peeled Lemons.

Have a lovely Saturday night!!

Jungle Farm and Resurrection Metheglin Tasting.

Munchkin.Back.ViewHi Everyone!!  We have been so busy well, with life that the grass has grown up with all the rains.  The jungle has all of a suddenly sneaked up on us and bang…we feel like we are living in the middle of the bush.  Aaarghh!!  Can’t see anything for the tall grass and humongous weeds (here in Belize, they are not mere dandelions…they grow into monster plants)!!

It is time for a big mow and tidy up.  Gnome agrees with me too.

However, we have one slight problem.  The weather is not co-operating!!  It is pouring down!!

Gnome.Siaking.Wet

So, instead of farm stuff let us move swiftly onto a metheglin tasting.  During our EasterTime madness, Gnome had made a Resurrection Metheglin with the following flavourings: liquorice root, star anise and Ligusticum wallichi, also known as Chuanxiong Rhizoma in Traditional Chinese Medicine and also as Szechuan Lovage. The star anise and liquorice root add that sweetish, unctuous and mouth-coating flavour while the Rhizoma adds a more earthy, complex and spicy aroma that has hints of fennel and celery.

Resurrection.Metheglin.Herbs
Liquorice Root, Star Anise and Szechuan Lovage.
Resurrection Metheglin.
Resurrection Metheglin.

Colour is golden yellow and effervescent; medium sized bubbles with good fizz.  Slightly cloudy.  No Head.

Smells like a lager.

The first sip is thirst-quenching when served at a cold temperature.  It is mild tasting with anise and celery-like under-tones. The herbaceous flavour is light and crisp, adding a refreshing feeling to the overall taste.  The liquorice is not detectable so for next time, we will add more of this.

Very Good!!

AvatarMunchkinSo good that Munchkin has a confession to make.  There are no more bottles left…they have been systematically guzzled down …slowly…one a day (56 bottles in total).  She just had the last one today and so felt that it was time to do a “tasting” before the Resurrection Metheglin was sadly a thing of the past.

Sun-Dried Green Bananas.

Together.EatingBetween the two of us, 172 bananas in this huge bunch, is quite a bit to get through.

Bunch of Green Bananas.
Bunch of Green Bananas.

This bunch was so heavy that it broke off the tree and we found it on the ground on Saturday morning.  If you want to eat green bananas, you have to start eating them quickly, or else they start ripening within 7 days.

Luckily, the weather has been hot and dry this week, so I have been able to process the bananas for sun-drying.

This is what I have been doing the last three days.  I have been grating them with this neat grater that I found in the Taiwanese store near Belize City.

Grating Green Banana.
Grating Green Banana.

The grated bananas just need a full 8 hours in the sun to dry completely.  I have been processing 50 bananas a day which fills up a gallon jar once dried.

Fifty Dried Green Bananas.
Fifty Dried Green Bananas.

So, by the end of today, I will have three gallon jars of dried banana.  In my experience, each jar is equivalent to 20 meals and so in total, I have 60 meals in all.  That is what I call food security!

Dried banana can be re-hydrated to make porridge, rostis, fritters, fillers for sausages, vegetarian bean burgers and much much more.  Furthermore, this dehydrated stuff can be ground into fine flour for making breads, biscuits and pastries.  This dry form is so versatile!  I will post up recipes as I start cooking with it.

One last thing…this big bunch of bananas would retail at about $20 (USD$10) in this country.  $20 gets you two meals of rice and beans with stewed chicken, which is typical Belizean food fare.  To me, it really makes a lot more sense to go through the extra labour of processing the food so that I can get 60 meals out of it all.  It’s also a labour of love…home-cooked food is always the best!

Pan-Fried Green Bananas.

Bean.Red.Munchkin.EatingWe have got a lovely big bunch of green bananas. I counted…172 bananas in this bunch!!  Wow, what a lot of food!!

Bunch of Green Bananas.
Bunch of Green Bananas.

I have been cooking up Pan-Fried Green Bananas:

Pan-Fried Green Bananas.
Pan-Fried Green Bananas.

I used the local spices Tumeric and Chilli Powder (bought from Punta Gorda market, Toledo) to flavour the dish.

Tumeric and Chilli Powder.
Tumeric and Chilli Powder.

We had a yummy Sunday Brunch with these bananas:

Tuna and Avocado with Pan-Fried Green Banana.
Tuna and Avocado with Pan-Fried Green Banana.

This is a great way to eat unripe bananas; they make a hearty and satisfying food.  Definitely a tasty way to chomp your way through bananas especially when you have 172 of them!!

The Nefarious Mr. Goosie.

Munchkin.More.Another.Funny.ShotThat dastardly goosie has been casing me for the last couple of weeks; he knows my routine and most importantly, feeding times.  He has learnt the art of stalking, infiltration and acquisition of stolen food.

Goosie Stalking; hiding in the shadows of two metal barrels, plotting and scheming away:

Goosie Plotting and Scheming.
Goosie Plotting and Scheming.

Goosie Infiltration and Acquisition of Stolen Chicken Feet:

Infiltration and Quick Snatch and Grab.
Infiltration and Quick Snatch and Grab.
Cheeky Bugger: Steals Chicken Feet From the Other Bowl Too!!
Cheeky Bugger: Steals Chicken Feet From the Other Bowl Too!!

The Nefarious Mr. Goosie is stealing chicken feet from the dog bowls…whoever heard of a goose eating chicken feet?!  I was led to believe that they only ate grass.

If you ask me, the removal of the Wart of Evil “didn’t do nothing” as they say here in Belize:

Our Gander With a Wart of Evil.
Our Gander With a Wart of Evil.
Removal of Wart of Evil.
Removal of Wart of Evil.

Mr. Goosie is still displaying evil and wanton traits.  Gnome takes a philosophical stance and says that Goosie is the balance on our farm; he describes the fluffy ducks and friendly guinea pigs as the “Yin” of the “Yin and Yang” of our farm.  He explains that Goosie has to naturally balance the “good” with his “bad.”

The Yin of our farm:

Fluffy Duckies.
Fluffy Duckies.
Friendly Piggies.
Friendly Piggies.

The “Yang” of our Farm:

The Nefarious Mr. Goosie.
The Nefarious Mr. Goosie.

Gnome advice to Munchkin:  Be brave, Munchkin.  Don’t run from goosie! Show NO Fear!!

Jumping.Munchkin

 

Curried Ripe Jackfruit with Lentils

Munchkin.Eating.MeatRemember a couple of weeks ago we had the big baby?

Jackfruit Baby.
Jackfruit Baby.

And I had explicitly mentioned that all parts could be eaten…even the unformed arils:

Jackfruit Shavings.
Jackfruit Shavings.

Well, here is a recipe for this part of the jackfruit, which is usually discarded.  I recommend that you do not eat this part raw because it still has some sticky latex attached to it.  The best thing to do is to cook it and so this is a yummy recipe for Curried Ripe Jackfruit.

Curried Jackfruit with Lentils.
Curried Jackfruit with Lentils.

The ripe jackfruit caramelises nicely to compliment the mustard seeds, cumin, tumeric and paprika.  Fresh curry leaves are used to enhance the flavour of the whole “sweet and savoury dish.”

Together.EatingWe both enjoyed the curried jackfruit with lentils and agreed that NO part of the jackfruit should be thrown away!!

Paradise Piggies: Dark and Ominous Beginnings.

Munchkin.Wind.Long.HairThis morning, due to heavy rains, the maternity wing of the Paradise Pastures guinea-pig gated community was not inspected. Early afternoon, the maternity ward was found wet and sodden due to a leakage from a faulty water bottle.

All bedding was wet and most importantly, one baby was lying in the wet  grass suffering from hypothermia. The piggie was found by Dr. Munchkin (DRCOG), who had come to the facility to conduct a ward round.

Dr. Munchkin
Dr. Munchkin

Baby Rogelio was rushed to SCPU (Special Care Piggie Unit) for intensive care.

Hypothermic Piggie in Paisley Suite.
Hypothermic Piggie in Douglas (SCPU) Suite.

Despite all due care and attention, the baby was not able to be resuscitated and died at 3pm this afternoon. Mother Matilda must now be brave and strong to give her best to her remaining two babes.

Matilda Piggie with Babies.
Matilda Piggie with Babies.

When asked to comment, Mayor Gnome declined. Apparently, he was out of office and is currently on the road starting his re-election campaign.

Mayor Gnome Declined To Comment.
Mayor Gnome Declined To Comment.

This sad event brings ominous dark tones to the beginnings of the Mayor Election Campaign.

Grandma Stumpy on the right.
Grandma Stumpy on the right.

What does Grandma Stumpy have to say about all this?

Stumpy: We’ll get through this…we always have.  Since I was knee-high to a grass-hopper Mayor Gnome has always pulled us through.  He won’t let us down this time…

We hope for her sake and the community of Paradise Pastures, that she is right.

New Look Gnome.  New Look Campaign.
New Look Gnome. New Look Campaign.

The Paradise Piggies must soldier on despite the unbearable loss…what does the future hold for Paradise Pastures?