What? Another year has passed by and gone? I say this every time but I mean it every year. Time passes so quickly, it is scary. Wishing all of you All the Best for the New Year. We have resumed the farm work again after a 2 week hiatus. The grass keeps on growing, the weeds need to b removed, the goosies need to be fed and watered and life goes on. This is just a quickie to start the new year since we finally got our Internet antenna replaced yesterday (it was never quite right after it fell off the roof with the storm months ago).
I will leave you with a few lovely pictures of sorrel (roselle); it is harvest time right now and this year, I picked them all and it is blooming again. We are drying them for tea and wine-making.
Sorrel Plant with Flowers.
Seed Pods Separated From the Sorrel Fruit.Fresh Sorrel.
The Spirit of spirulina has at last descended upon us. We (or rather Gnome the neophile) has been trying for some time to grow spirulina. Spirulina is a cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) that is edible and used as a dietary supplement or source of food. Spirulina has a very high protein content (about 50%) and was once used as a food by the Aztecs in the 16th Century. Furthermore, it has been documented that spirulina was once harvested from lake Chad and made into protein blocks for soups and stews.
For our purposes, we wanted to grow this algae because it had such a high protein content: first of all, I wanted to put it into our food and secondly, it is an excellent food source for our domesticated animals. Here are some pictures to show you what we have been doing with the algae:
Spirulina Tanks.
Gnome initially started growing it in plastic tanks and once it had expanded, he used a Kiddie’s swimming pool.
Spirulina in Swimming Pool.
When you look close up at spirulina, it is actually made of spiral filaments. I tried to capture this in a picture:
Spirulina Closeup.
This is harvested spirulina:
Spirulina Harvest.
It actually smells and tastes like very fresh eggs:
More Spirulina.
This is what we have done with it so far…
It turns pasta a nice green colour and as it ages, the pasta actually becomes blue-green. It does not have a strong taste so it does not impart any significant smell or flavour to the pasta.
Spirulina Pasta.
We also made spirulina ice-cream; it was okay but the blue colour made it “feel” less palatable!
Spirulina Ice-cream.
We will be doing more experiments and will keep you posted!
Hello, Hello, Hello!!! We are right here! I haven’t been writing because we are back down to sharing one computer and it’s a bit difficult sometimes to get into the mood. Gnome said,
“…just write something…my mother just needs to know that we are alive and kicking.”
Gnome Working.
Okay, yes we are alive and well. The usual news is that the brush-mower is giving us nothing but trouble, pain and suffering. The belts keep on breaking and we can never find the perfect replacement for a 50 inch belt…we have all the sizes from 47 to 54 inches and a 50 inch cannot be found in the whole of Punta Gorda. Oh what else…the starter pulley keeps on breaking and there’s more but I won’t bore you with details. We are starting to feel that there is a gremlin living inside the mower that is intent on destroying it…that’s our theory anyway. The other day, Gnome exclaimed:
“…oooooh!!! I can’t believe that my happiness is dependant upon the mower working!! Woe is me!!”
Poor Gnome!
Anyway, he will get over it…well, he will have to!! Let’s move swiftly onto the subject of bangers or sausages. As a relief from the silly mower business, we decided to make sausages. We haven’t done this for a long time…in fact, when I got out the sausage casing out, it was dated 2015! This lot of sausages were made from pork, beef, a bit of goat I found at the bottom of the freezer and shredded coconut. Seasoning included, salt, black pepper, ground bird chilli pepper, dried garlic, ground clove and ground cinnamon. We made 15 lbs of sausage in all and had a lot of fun doing it together. We must remember that this is what it is all about!! Here are some sausage making pictures:
Making Sausages.
More Sausage Pictures:
Sausage Spiral.
With a bit of experimentation, we found that the easier way of making the links was to form a spiral first. You then make single sausages by nipping both ends at once and twisting the whole sausage with one hand.
Ooooh…look at this…our own yummy sausages….
I am making a concerted effort not to fill the freezer full of food…the freezer doesn’t work well when it is stuffed right to the top!! We canned this lot; half were put straight into the jar and the other half were fried in oil first. Both were canned “dry” without broth to retain maximal flavour:
Canning Sausages.
Oh, and the tasting was magnificent!!
Cooking Sausages.
Eating sausages sure beats mowing the lawn!! We better go out to work to burn off the calories!!
Hello! I haven’t been writing because the Internet hasn’t been up to speed ever since the antenna fell off the roof. It remains temperamental with mostly “bad days” and some good days with spurts of high speed for half an hour at a time. It seems okay right now so I am taking the opportunity to write.
The weather for the last 2 weeks has been relentlessly hot. Today, we finally got a break with a long overnight rain. It is overcast today and there is a comfortable coolness which we have not felt for ages. During this dry time, we have been mowing and cleaning up the farm…story of our lives! We are just about done and will be ready to plant our new seedlings out: new trees to plant include soursop, wax apple, jujube, malabar chestnut, pomegranate and Malay (Molly) apple:
Soursop
Wax Apple.
Chinese Jujube.Malabar Chestnut Pods.
We have found that September is the best time to get trees into the ground…there are enough rains to get them established. As the rains dwindle towards the end of the year heading towards dry season (Easter time), we find that it becomes harder for newly planted trees to survive. I think that this will end up being a planting weekend.
Other news: Our good Old Grandfather Goosie has taken over the rearing of our baby geese. A couple of months ago, we were very worried about his state of health because he had trouble foraging (maintaining body weight) because he was blind in one eye. We confined him under the house with “nursing-home care” thinking that he wasn’t going to make it. Anyway, after a four week period of regular nutrition, he started Honking!! and Honking!! and Honking!! like there was no tomorrow. The sound was driving us crazy because he was starting in the wee hours of the morning. We finally got the message and let him out. He has had a new lease of life since then: he’s been foraging fine, goes to the pond everyday for his daily ablutions and leads our baby geese around. It looks like he will grace us with his presence for a while longer!
Grandfather Goosie: Live Long and Prosper!
Grandfather Goosie.
Okay that’s it for now. If I catch some another half an hour of high speed Internet, I will write again.
Hello!! Again, I have to apologise for not writing; this is the continuation of the Internet antenna saga. About two months ago, the antenna fell down off the roof of the house with a great gust of wind. After two weeks of no Internet, Gnome valiantly climbed up to the roof of the house and attached the antenna back on. At first the Internet was running okay…a bit slower but good enough. Then we had another windy night and the antenna swivelled out of reception. For the last 4 weeks or so, Internet has been on and off, emails are eventually received and Internet access practically non-existent. Today, it was a bright and clear with no rain for days so Gnome decided that he would climb up once again. The antenna originally pointed towards Big Falls so Gnome brought up his compass to make sure that it was pointing North. Here we are again…back on-line.
This is also a message to Gnome’s mother….we should be able to contact this weekend!!
What has been happening? You will be pleased to hear that machinery is working once again and we are in the process of cleaning up the farm.
Farm Looking Better!
Other news…we have a goosie story to tell you…
Goosies.
Last week, I was doing my usual goosie evening feed which involves a massive goosie stampede, lots of jostling and squawking and a Munchkin with a bucket of corn. Every evening we have goosie time and all goosie factions return from the pond or foraging to congregate for the big event. This gives me a chance to do a quick head count and I immediately noticed that my five baby geese were missing. After feeding time, Gnome and I wandered through the farm (about 20 acres) scouring the area for the missing geese. There was no trace of them and we arrived back to the house upset and distraught over the disappearance. At night, we couldn’t sleep for worry…what if a jaguar or a snake took them out…or, maybe it was a snatch and grab….arrrghhh!!! The next morning, we walked down the main road towards the nearby village. Still no trace and we kept on looking up in the sky for signs of buzzards swirling. We informed somebody in the village that we had lost 5 geese and headed back home with dismay.
Every evening, I hoped that my five goosies would suddenly turn up and join the corn eating mayhem. There was still no sign of them but I still remained quietly hopeful.
One week after the geese went missing, a boy from the village hailed me at the gate. He told me that he had seen “five big ducks” behind the fence on the opposite farm. In the middle of night, he was cycling pass and stopped to hear the “five ducks” squawking at our geese on the farm. He said that in the din of the ruckus, he realised that the five geese were trying to move towards the noise of our geese. When he shone his flash-light in their direction, they quickly ran away. The boy’s account of the “five ducks” gave me renewed hope…
Gnome and I were very excited and by the turn of events. Yesterday afternoon, we attempted search and rescue ; we obtained permission from the owner of the farm and went traipsing all over the cacao fields. Gnome called “Goosie!!” and I called “Goosie, Goosie!!” as we searched high and low with no luck. After an hour, I started to feel the exhaustion from the afternoon heat…I met back with Gnome and sat down by the shade of a tree. I was ready to give up…
Tears rolled down my face and I was about to tell Gnome that I was ready to go home. I felt dizzy, tired and discouraged. At this point, we both stopped talking and heard a, “qwack!”
It was a very soft “qwack!” but nonetheless it was a “qwack!”
We stilled ourselves to listen again and then heard the crashing noise of heavy webbed feet on bush and then we saw five little heads peak out from the long grass behind us…
More tears rolled down my eyes, “My goosies!!”
The geese were panting and exhausted as if they had walked a long way from the back of the land to our position at the front. They were too confused and delirious to be driven or led so we ended up carrying all five geese. Just picture us walking with geese stuffed under our arms…I had three of them and Gnome had two. We could hardly get the farm gate open with our burden!
The geese are back home and safe. What a nice ending!
It is still wet and boggy outside; farm work is at a minimum right now with feeding the geese and harvesting of food for daily meals. I know that I shouldn’t be such a big moan but this is also mosquito, bot-fly and noseem time which adds to the difficulties of getting outside. That’s life…and sometimes it can be quite uncomfortable!! Anyway, needless to say, we are waiting for a spot of dry weather to get out there to mow.
Rain!!
Meanwhile, I have been looking after our Ol’ Grandfather Goosie; I am not sure how old he is but I am estimating 18 to 25 years. He has been with us right from the very start and that is the main reason why he is so special to us. He’s getting on a bit and is now blind in one eye; I think that geese can live to about 25 to 30 years…though some literature boasts of geese living for 100 years. His other eye is also giving problems (cataract) so it is hard for him to forage for food. He can see things like big kernels of corn or dog food but it is hard for him to keep up with the rest of the wily geese. These days, I find that he is eating dirt most of the time because of poor sight. A couple of months ago, I found him stuck in a hole, wedged between concrete blocks. It was a good thing that he honked faintly so that I found him…otherwise being stuck out in the sun all day…he would have eventually died of dehydration. Anyway, I have had to keep a close eye on him lately because he tends to lose weight rapidly; he is now getting his own dedicated food and from time to time, he requires “geriatric” admission for food and water.
Grandfather Goosie.
Grandfather Goosie has just had a three day admission; he still has a great appetite and will chomp away until his crop looks like a pendulous appendage. He will be wormed today and we will let him out to forage during the day.
Let’s hope that Grandfather Goosie lives to 100 years old!! I will probably write more often since I am stuck indoors with the rains!!
Yes it is that month of the year again when its wet, it rains a lot and it gets really boring. July is just awful because it rains all month and we are virtually stuck indoors. This month we have kept ourselves out of trouble with indoor work. Gnome has been working on tiling the back veranda and I have been cleaning up the inside of the house. Because we are in the middle of everything, the place looks like a bomb has hit it. Our task is to move the indoor kitchen out onto the back veranda to give us more room to prepare and cook food. It appears that processing, preparing and eating well is central to our lives on the farm. What else is there to do!!
Today was a particularly miserable day with all day rains. There are puddles everywhere:
Big Puddle.
Oh well…since we have had copious amounts of indoor time, we have both been doing our share of creative cooking. Gnome tends to do more Italian-style slow cooking. Here are some pictures of food that we have been eating.
We are so thankful for this quiet time that we have together and extremely grateful for the delicious food that we have everyday. Thanks to the Farm for producing and nourishing us.
We had Gnome’s fresh pasta sauce with our home-made pasta:
Gnome’s Fresh Pasta Sauce.
A meal with our chocolate pasta…oooh, and our lovely ducky eggs:
Chocolate Pasta Meal.
Fresh Greens From the Farm.
The rains are really helping the vegetables grow in abundance…I can’t really complain, can I? 😉
More Fresh Vegetables.
This is one of my meals: osso buco, wild rice (sorry…not ours…but planning to grow a patch of rice in the future) and steamed greens.
Munchkin Meal.
Okay, I actually have lots more food pictures to show you. I will leave it at that right now. Hope that you are all have a relaxing weekend!
We have had whole night rains for the last three days which has culminated in large ponds and pools forming on the farm. It is extremely wet; the goosies are loving the splishing and sploshing! We are stuck at home and the pasta maker done broke two days ago after a three day pasta marathon. Gnome said:
“…hmmm…things aren’t made to be used any-more…people just have these things as kitchen decoration or ‘one day I will make pasta with my pasta machine…'”
Oh dear…the poor machine did not survive the rigorous challenge of a Munchkin and Gnome marathon…we actually only got 12 hours out of it!
Anyway, Gnome has already taken the whole contraption apart and is in the process of fixing it. Meanwhile, I will sneak in a few more of our pasta pictures…
Mafaldine Pasta
Another Picture:
Tagliatelle Pasta
This one was an experiment. We put yeasted dough, flavoured with cinnamon and sugar, through the pasta maker and made long mafaldine strips. They puffed up very nicely when fried in oil.
Chiacchere Experiment.
Gnome tells me that this type of fried dough is called chiacherre in Italy. His Mum says that it is called frappe’ in Rome. You can use vodka, dry martini or even white wine to make the dough. I had never considered using alcohol in dough (what a waste of a perfectly good beverage!) but it actually gives a distinctive flavour to it and is worth doing if you like good food! A definite thumbs up from Munchkin who has been experiencing the joys of Italian food making and eating for the last few days.
Have a Great Weekend. Oh, I nearly forgot to tell you…we think the Flood Flies are coming out tonight. There has been so much rain that we think that this will stimulate the flight of the termite queens. From our point of view, it just means that there will be a right old mess of wings to clean up the next day! Remember to switch all lights off, close all doors and windows! Early to bed tonight…
Hello Again! My apologies for not writing for a long time but I went through a “I don’t feel like writing phase.” Anyway, I thought it was best to try to get back into the flow of things and besides I have lots of goosie pictures! Okay, what’s been happening on the farm? Firstly, we still haven’t got the brush-mower working (story of our lives!) ; we got a part shipped to us a few weeks ago and Gnome put it in place. No sooner had he gone 10 yards with the machine, a ball-bearing flew out and shattered into tiny little pieces. Yes…we are yet again waiting for another part so that we can do the big mow “before the first rains start.” Ha-Ha…the rains have started already but luckily this year, our wonderful gaggle of geese are keeping the grass down for us.
These are my three month old geese…not babies any-more. They are friendly and follow me everywhere. In this picture, all four of them were trying to get into a basin but alas, the fourth one couldn’t fit in!
Goosies in Basin.
The last three days have been muggy and hot so we decided to take a few days off from farm work. We got out the pasta making machine and started a pasta-making marathon.
Here are some pictures:
We made a whole bunch of vermicelli:
Vermicelli.
We made yellow pasta with tumeric:
Yellow Ginger Tagliatelle.
We have been storing them in jars; it is nice to admire the fruits of our labour! So far with have 12 jars filled up with assorted pasta shapes and colours.
Pasta Jars.
Oh, and we made chocolate pasta; Gnome rolls the sheets out first:
Cacao Pasta.Worked Cacao Pasta.
The pasta is cut into shapes and laid out in trays. We put them out to dry in the sun and by the end of the day, they are dry enough to be stored in jars.
Chocolate Mafaldine.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I will write again with a goosie update!
We ave been starting super early with farm work since it has been very hot. We are out by 6am and back in at 10am. Sunday was supposed to be a relaxing and “let’s do a few odd jobs outside” day. Gnome started a fire on a pile of palm leaves and it burnt without a problem. The fire went out and I added some new palm fronds hoping to get this lot cleared up too…well, it started…a tiny spark of fire came out from my new pile and jumped onto the front fence line. Before my very eyes, the fence line was up in roaring flames about 18 foot high and touching the electricity lines. It was scary to see such an enormous wall of fire. Gnome came to the rescue and we ended up pouring a thick line of water on both sides of the fire to stop the fire from proceeding either way. One side was going towards the front gate so Gnome doused the wood in water and the other side was heading all the way to San Felipe Village. Luckily this strategy worked and we only needed about 5 pigtail buckets of water to get everything under control. Phew…it was touch and go for a bit and thank God, there was no damage. By the time we finished, we were hot and exhausted…it was still only 9.30am! The ironic thing was that my frond pile didn’t catch fire at all!
I don’t have any pictures of the fire because I was too busy carrying buckets of water! Anyway, we are not lighting any more fires…at this late point in the dry season, it can get too dry and there is serious danger of bush catching fire very quickly. We have learnt our lesson!
We have been clearing behind the house. Gnome felled an enormous tree which will give us a full week’s work of moving wood and piling. This tree is a legume so we are collecting the leaves to use as mulch for the vegetable beds. Just as an aside, Gnome strained his back again using the chain-saw so he is only on light duty right now. Oh, the life of a Gnome! 😉
Look, you can see the mountains behind:
Cleaning up.
Big tree; I have included a bit of the truck in the photo so that you can get an idea of the size of the tree:
