Category Archives: Farming

Belize, Farming, Food

Yummy Smelly White Cacao Fruit.

Balam Cacao Fruit.
Balam Cacao Fruit.

This is a picture of the Mayan Cacao which is called Balam in Toledo, Belize.  The latin name is Theobroma bicolor; it is an unusual variety because the beans are actually white (as opposed to black/purple) and its pulp has a strong, pungent smell and taste.  September to November is the usual harvest time and we are collecting them from our trees right now.  They are usually ready when they fall off the tree and the fruit starts showing a yellow tinge.  The fruit is esteemed by the Mayans here and they like to grind the fermented cacao beans to make a chocolate drink; in fact, they think the taste of this bean is better that the normal chocolate bean (theobroma cacao).

Toledo is hailed as a good cultivation area for cacao plantations; local farmers have been encouraged to plant normal cacao for international chocolate companies.  The current feeling on this “White Cacao” amongst the chocolate-making community is that it is not a variety that imparts a taste familiar to high standard chocolate.

Well, I don’t really care about what top chocolatiers think because I like to eat and experiment with everything we have on the farm and I am not swayed by fads and fashion.  Right now, we are drying and fermenting some beans out in the sun with a view to making our own home-made chocolate.  I will keep you posted on what happens to our white chocolate.  As an interesting aside, the pulp of the cacao has characteristic aromas similar to jack fruit (and durian) and because I like oriental smells, I think it is intensely fragrant and tasty.

Belize, Farming

Hooray For Stumpy!

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About 5 years ago, we decided to embark on a project to raise guinea pigs for food.  We had read up on it and found that it was a delicacy in Peru; our reason for choosing guinea pigs was because they are docile (after having goats, the keeping of guinea pigs sounded very nice) and they also eat lots of grass and greenery without the need for bought food.  Besides, we saw varoius tasty Peruvian recipes which looked very appetising; most of them looked like variations of deep-fried guinea pig with the head left on!

We started off with three guinea pigs in our breeding program which consisted of one male and two females.  The male was a long-haired, dark brown type; he was very boisterous and friendly and he liked to wiggle his bottom at the other two girls whilst making ddddrrrrr overtures.  We called him “The Boy”.  Both girls had a patch-work of different colours and they were also long-haired.  Penelope had blonde and white patches and was very friendly and liked to petted.  The other girl had red and white patches and her personality was the complete opposite of the other girl.  She was very shy and liked to hide in the corners of the cage; she was deadly quiet except for when I approached the cage with freshly cut sweet grass; she would call out with a shrill weeeeeee!  And, as soon as I was in view, she would stop as though she had never been making any noise.  I never heard a peep out of her whenever she saw that I was looking at her.  Her name was Stumpy and she is the only one that remains alive out of all three.

GrandMa Stumpy.
GrandMa Stumpy.

She was aptly named Stumpy as her left rear leg unfortunately broke on the first day, when we were transporting her back home.  By the time we got home, we ended up having to do an above-knee amputation (there was no choice) and then we dipped her stump in copal oil and dressed it.  Her recovery was remarkable and to this very day, she is my testimony for the wonderful healing benefits of Copal Oil.

Through out the years, Stumpy bred like a champion and mothered many guinea pigs (at a guess, it has probably been about 20).  The leg has never been an impediment and has continued to be a piggy with a winning personality.  We call her GrandMa Stumpy now and she has her own cage because she can be a bit irritated by the other noisy guinea pigs.

Other Noisy Piggies.
Other Noisy Piggies.

She is retired now and every day we give her fresh sweet grass (Mombassa is her favourite) and even some small doggy food pellets as a treat.  Because of her age, she does get a bit smelly and unkempt so every three months, we take her out of the cage to give her a haircut, trim her toe-nails and clean out her hairy ears.

I wanted to write a special article on Stumpy because she is the Grandma of our farm and she deserves a mention because she is such a sweet little creature.  Hooray for Stumpy!

If you want to read a cool and entertaining article on Guinea Pigs, Click Here.

Belize, Farming

A Piece Of Land.

Our beginnings in Belize started with Ideals and when we started looking for land, we always kept our philosophy in mind.

People always ask us why we moved to Belize.  When we were living in Scotland, we definitely caught the bug to be outdoors all the time.  Any spare moment we had, in between hospital shifts, we were running about in the Scottish Woodlands.  It got to the point that our days revolved around synchronising work shifts in order to get the free time together to enjoy the great out-doors.  Our enthusiasm was so great that we learned to forage for all our greens in the wild; we made nettle soup, dandelion salad, steamed burdock and not to mention a whole plethora of home-made wines from gooseberries to elderberries.  Anything that we read up on that was edible, we ranged the countryside in search for that delectable and I think we have tried every documented wild edible green in Scotland.  The foraging of edible mushrooms deserves a mention as I still have fond memories of wandering through birch forest with baskets of chanterelles and boletes.  One very memorable time for us involved secretly tapping maple trees in the centre of Glasgow; early in the morning, we would don our green hats and wellies and place tapping paraphernalia onto maple trees and covertly hide all this equipment with branches and leaves.  By the light of the morning, we would be whipping off our green hats, assuming the role of doctors again, and high-tailing it all the way to hospital.   And so this was the start of our discovery of the great outdoors and it became part of a neccessary way of life for us in between the stressful long working hours.

Read the rest here.

Belize, Farming

Challenging Routine and Boredom on a Farm.

 

Gathering Food For the Guinea Pigs.
Gathering Food For the Guinea Pigs.

Routine is difficult when you work for yourself on a farm and your responsibilties are minimised. This is when you ask yourself very important questions like:  Aside from providing food and shelter for my partner and I and keeping the animals fed and healthy, what else actually needs to be done? If my needs for survival are met and nobody is ‘on my back” administrating 8 to 24 hour shifts for me, how do I live in a practical way ensuring that I am doing life with reason.

If you are interested in reading more please go to:

Challenging Routine and Boredom on a Farm.

in Essays and Other Musings.