Category Archives: Food

Belize, Farming, Food, Philosophy, Plants, Saving Money

Car Stuff And Farm Stuff!

April 29, 2017 Munchkin

The last few days, we’ve been having a bit of car trouble; we were driving back home and the fuel warning light came up. Of course, we didn’t know what that meant so Gnome had to phone up the Toyota dealership to ask them about the light. This is what he was told over the phone: get a new fuel filter, get a car mechanic to install the fuel filter and then get the mechanic to re-set the warning light. This is what Gnome did: get a fuel filter, do a Google search on “how to install a fuel filter” and “how to reset a warning light.”

There was enough information on the Internet for a Gnome, without any car mechanic skills whatsoever, to install the fuel filter. We would ordinarily have just paid to get it done but this time Gnome said to me,

“…wait a minute…between the messing around with a mechanic and paying for it, maybe it’s just easier if I have a go at doing it myself.”

And so he did. His conclusion was that generally car stuff is quite simple and straight forward and if you actually take the time to read up instructions on the Internet, you can generally get it done yourself. He did say as an after thought:

“…I’m talking about car stuff…not medical stuff…there are too many people who get on the Internet to make a self diagnosis and get it wrong.”

That for true, I can vouch for that!! Too many people using Dr Google!!

Anyway, with the car thing, I am really glad that Gnome works with the philosophy of self-reliance and he’s not afraid to learn new things all the time.

Okay, so what’s happening on the farm? Well, we have some new harvests. This is suriname cherry which has a lovely resinous taste. I have taken a picture of one pristine cherry because we seem to have something that is biting holes in all of them. I can’t spot what is causing it but I think that we have a problem with ants.

Some nice cayenne chilli peppers. Gnome has strung these on a string in the kitchen to dry.

Oh, and these are canistel. They taste like sweet potato; we actually eat this with our meals as a carbohydrate substitute. Our tree is loaded this year! Yay!!

Ooooh…it is really punishingly hot right now!! Try to keep cool everyone!!

Belize, Food

Thank-you For The Egg Moulds!

April 20, 2017 Munchkin 2 Comments

This is a “Thank-you” post. About a year ago, I had written as an aside, in one of my posts, that I would love to make one or two of these:

What happened does go to show that we have friends that look out for us.

This is what we have received through the post; the larger one came about a month after my write up. Thank-you Joanna!

And the set of smaller ones were a Christmas gift (3 months late because of sloooow transit times from the States to Belize). Thank-you Erin!

The large one is definitely for goose eggs but we haven’t eaten any yet since we are trying to set all of them. I will have to post some food pictures but not sure if they will look as pristine as the animated picture! Cheers and Thank-you!!

Belize, Food, Pets

Happy Easter!

April 15, 2017 Munchkin 2 Comments

A Happy Easter to y’all and hope that you are enjoying a lovely weekend! We’ve had an Easter hatching so now we have two goslings.

This one has darker eyes, also has a little bump above its beak like a Chinese goose and is very talkative. As usual, they are very independent; at first they are unsteady on their feet, wobbling all over the place and falling into the container of water . After about 24 hours, they become steadier and can start eating solids quickly. In our house, they get mashed up boiled egg and chopped up greens.

Well, what are we eating for Easter? That’s actually a tough one because my cooker broke down two weeks ago. Can you believe it…the knobs (which were made of plastic) were slowly breaking off one by one. At one point, I only had 3 knobs so I could only have 3 out of 6 burners going at the same time. Alas, all last 3 knobs broke at the same time. One of the knobs was for the oven so that means I have no oven…which means no roast lamb. Having said that, you can’t get lamb for love nor money down here anyway. If you are lucky, you might find some mutton.

Anyway, we literally rushed out to buy a new stove top. This is what Gnome said,

“Oh no!! This is an emergency!! We have to get Munchkin a new stove. Otherwise she will waste away to nothing!”

Ha-ha, that’s a joke. It would take me a very long time to waste away to nothing. In fact, I’ve actually been counting calories lately. I am not over-weight (nor am I skinny) but I think it is healthy not to over eat. I also found it a useful exercise in devising tasty meals which don’t pack on the pounds. We don’t eat breakfast so that’s any easy one (zero calories) and lunch time, I have devised meals that are about 300 to 400 calories…Gnome eats double because he needs the energy to do physical work. Here are some examples of my low calorie lunches.

I don’t count the calories for dinner but I expect it to be about 1000. So right now I’m trying to decrease my calorie intake from 2000 (recommended energy intake for adult female) to about 1500. For junk food, I’m counting my Pringles (10 at a time costs me 100 calories) and a two finger Kit-Kat is 100 calories. So through-out the day, I weigh and juggle my intake in order to get to 1500 as my total at the end of the day.

Oh, and Gnome and I are making gelato with no sugar…with his Grandmother’s recipe which is just milk actually. That’s a great alternative to shop bought ice-cream and I don’t feel so fat after eating it!!

Have a Happy Easter. We’re having Osso Buco tonight so I really shouldn’t have lunch, should I? Ha-ha!!

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Food

A Very Hot Sunday!

April 2, 2017 Munchkin 2 Comments

This morning, we worked on the guinea pig coop, re-using concrete blocks from the goosie cabana-style nests for it. Apparently, from our personal observation of geese, they do not seem to like “sharing walls” so now we have to make single brooding nests. How funny...no semi-d’s for the geese...semi-detached houses (in the UK and Australia; don’t know if this concept is in Northern America) are houses that share walls. They are usually two houses stuck together so that the neighbours end up sharing a wall. The advantage of this housing is that they are usually less expensive than a single house. There are also many disadvantages like hearing the television next door! Anyway, I digress…my point is that we can’t be cheap with our geese and make them share walls!!

So these got taken apart…

We left a single one which incidentally has three brand new goose eggs in it. We are not sure who the girl is so we are taking bets for the next broody goose.

The guinea pig complex has been expanded upwards by one concrete block to give our duckies more head room:

Panda came to the farm this morning. He’s doing fine by the way for all you guys who are following the blog to read about his exploits. You guys must be thinking, “Oh no…not another silly Munchkin and Gnome post! Where’s Panda??”

Panda came over to help us get a pick up load of sawdust. Gnome and Panda got all red-faced and sweaty from the heat (not actually the work) whilst I brought goosie along for the ride. I was on light duty today!

After midday, Panda went off to do his own thing. We decided to have a break at the pond today. It is actually soooo hot that you have no choice but to sit around. We had crumpets and tea together sans the geese.

Cacao butter crumpets! Scrumptious!

Apparently the geese have forgotten that there is a pond (what short memories they have) and are dizzily swimming about in little 5 gallon basins around the house. Oh, well we can’t tell them what to do otherwise they will try to pick a fight with us! What hot-headed Geese we have…

Hope y’all had a nice Sunday sitting around in the inferno heat!!

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Food, Pets, Philosophy, Plants

We Have A Happy Gnome!

April 1, 2017 Munchkin 1 Comment

Yes, indeed, we have a happy Gnome so that really means that we also have a happy Munchkin! When we tell you what makes us satisfied with life, you’ll probably giggle and guffaw at the simplicity of our wants. Yes, indeed this ascetic life-style has made us put our lives into perspective (as there is time for quiet contemplation) and you realise that life can be fulfilled with very simple things. The meaningful things to us might not be everyone’s cup of tea! But, we do think that it’s good to develop new interests and passions all the time.

Yes, firstly…the worms…the worms…of course. Special thanks to Graham and Joyce for their assistance and friendship. Here we are:

Lovely, lovely…this stuff makes Gnome very happy:

Gnome has set up a wormery to increase his population. Once he is satisfied that he has enough worms, he will start his worm tower empire.

The next thing…aubergines…aubergines. We are growing the Black Beauty variety. Look at the lovely flower on this plant:

What’s next…ooooh Baby Goosie is a bundle of joy. We are certainly enjoying being Mama Munchkin and Papa Gnome. We even phoned up Gnome’s Mum to talk about the “baby” and how well it was eating and putting on weight. Gnome’s dad laughed at our conversation and said at last, we have a grand-child!

Oh, last but not least…Gnome’s beloved tomatoes. We did experience quite a set-back from the pesky birds. I can’t look at a Montezuma oropendola without feeling self-righteous indignation! Look at what they did to our lovely tomato:

Anyway, Gnome’s ingenuity has out-witted them…so far, so good! Let’s give a show of hands to Gnome for his new “Hello Birdie…there’s nothing here to eat…so go away” decoy.

The last picture has to be these: our very own Krim tomatoes. Beautifully sweet and succulent. We just sliced them and dipped them in salt. Ahhhh…wonderful….

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Food, Philosophy

Turkish Delight and All Things Nice…

March 26, 2017 Munchkin

A while back I had a conversation with Panda (he is originally from London) about British food that we missed. It was mostly a nostalgic reminiscence of biscuits and sweets because I used to have an awfully sweet tooth. We talked about McVities Chocolate Digestives, chocolate eclairs, Turkish delight, Jaffa Cakes, After Eight Mints and a whole host of sweet treats. It just so happened that his Mum was visiting soon and so he asked her to bring some of these sweets. When she did come, I was given a lovely gift of Turkish Delight and After Eight Mints.

One of the main reasons why I am talking about this is because I have noticed that this farm lifestyle in Belize has changed my eating habits and palate. With the After Eight Mints, I didn’t scoff them all down in one go…I am sure most people would never admit to this behaviour in their own blog! I found the sugar content overwhelming so I ate one or two with a cup of tea now and then. If I ate too much, I would feel thirsty and even nauseated.

I have reduced my sugar intake drastically over the last decade so my body is no longer used to large quantities of sugar.

Just to give you an idea of my sugar intake now: it is usually a teaspoon with each cup of tea and I usually have 2 cups per day. As a general rule, I don’t often buy products, unless as a treat, and so I hardly eat any hidden sugars. I don’t bake cakes and I don’t bake biscuits. In fact, most of the sugars that we consume are in the natural form of fruit. I am a not “health conscious freak” by any stretch of the imagination. I like food and I like eating!! Rather, my change in lifestyle has changed my eating habits.

As an interesting aside, we do get the feeling that sugar content of products are based on cultural wants and tastes. For instance, we have had the ubiquitous Kit-Kat from many areas of the world. The Asian Kit-Kats have considerably less sugar than the ones bought here in Central America. Similarly, if we do buy biscuits (cookies), we will opt to buy British imported ones instead of the Guatemalan/ Mexican (Central America) stuff as, in our opinion, these biscuits are just loaded with sugar and have no flavour; we do not feel that ingesting this biscuit to get high on the sugar, whizz around for ten minutes followed by a major “down” is worth it at all!

As Doctors, we are skilled in the observation of other people doing this and we see it time and time again. It’s amazing how many people don’t seem to recognise the physiological impact of eating such foods. Instead, they just keep on doing it…if it goes on for too long…this is when you get diabetes.

Gnome always says, “…beware of the white powder…”

He means sugar.

Anyway having said all of this, I am not actually trying to get anyone to stop eating what they enjoy. Rather, food should be enjoyed…as life is enjoyed…but balance is required to achieve this.

Okay…now to the Turkish Delight which is what this post is about. As soon as I bit into my first piece of Turkish Delight, I felt the sugar run into my blood and knew that my pancreas had kicked in to squirt insulin out quick smart. It was a real sugar high; I felt my head spinning and my whole body going wobbly like jelly. It was like doing some “extreme velocity sport” but my body wasn’t going anywhere! These were my thoughts during ingestion,

“Arrrghhh!!! Way too much sugar! I used to eat this by the box??!! Arrrghhh!!!”

Anyway, I did however appreciate the aromatic rose and lemon flavours and also felt that it was a waste not to eat a gift. I thought that the intense flavour was lovely but surely there was a way to eat with fewer side effects?. This is when I thought of cutting up the Turkish Delight into small pieces and baking a bread with it. And I did:

The rose and lemon permeated through the dough to make a uniquely flavour-some bread. In other words, it was good to eat!

If you want to make this at home, just add about two cups of Turkish Delight, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes (1cm), to your favourite bread recipe.

In conclusion, I think that this farming lifestyle allows a natural progression to healthier eating. You become more sensitive to the things that you eat and in turn, you naturally stop eating crap!

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

Gnome’s Tomatoes.

March 12, 2017 Munchkin 2 Comments

I am posting up pictures of Gnome’s tomatoes because he has nursed them through odd “dry season” rain and wind, blossom-end rot, assassin bug attacks, munching caterpillars and of course, the cat stepping on them. Despite all this, the plants are doing wonderfully and the fruit are getting bigger by the day. These are Black Krim (and some Cherokee) so should get to about 300 to 450g (about a 1lb) in weight. Gnome is judiciously trimming and removing buds as he has decided on 25 fruit per plant only. This is to optimise nutrient intake and maximise size.

I think he probably looks at his tomatoes nearly every hour and I hear him muttering,

“I love my tomatoes!!”

Anyone who has tried to grow tomatoes down here (problems with wetness, rot and disease-prone) will understand why I have dedicated one post to our tomatoes!

I would also like to dedicate this post to our friend Erin (in Montana…where it is still snowing) to further inspire her to keep planting seeds in preparation for spring. I am sure it will warm up soon!!

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

Gnome Says That I Should Write Something…

March 10, 2017 Munchkin 1 Comment

Hello Everyone. Just is to give you an update on what’s happening. First of all, it has been raining for about two weeks now so our “let’s get crepuscular” thing fell flat on its face. There are heavy clouds looming over our farm so it looks like it is going to rain this weekend. Having said that, we are glad for the rains because everything was getting quite dry. And, Panda is very, very glad because his 660 gallon tank is nearly full so he is all set for the dry season.

We’ve been starting up seedlings for our nursery:

Tobacco: these are actually a lot bigger now than these teeny-weeny pictures.

All sorts of peppers including habaneros, jalapeños and cayenne peppers.

Oh, the tomatoes are looking very good. These are Gnome’s pride and joy. Growing tomatoes is a very difficult endeavour down here in Toledo because the plants are susceptible to all manner of diseases including mildews and molds. Plus the heavy rains cause stems to rot easily. We tried growing tomatoes years ago but gave up after a long struggle with disease and water-logging. We have decided to re-visit the tomato growing because we actually do like to eat them and the tomatoes that you buy here are truly tasteless.

We are growing them in buckets this time. And, Gnome is observing them every hour…he really loves his plants!!

Right now, our tray of parsley is quite a treat. Great with mashed potatoes:

You can grow herbs down here but they have to be in trays and buckets. In the rainy season, they can get damaged so you need some sort of cover. We’ve started rosemary and sage seeds too…these grow down here but also need a bit of care and attention.

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Food, Pets, Plants

Whilst Waiting…

February 24, 2017 Munchkin

Whilst waiting for my freezer (one of those huge bottomless pit kind of freezers that you can get lost in) to de-frost, I will write my blog post. I have a whole load of pictures so I will try to thread a reasonable coherent story together for you of what we are doing right now. By the way, whenever I de-frost my freezer, I come across so many lost and forgotten goodies!! Will probably have a feast this weekend!!

Found these; Chinese Sausage!! Ooooh, you have to be Chinese to get excited about this stuff!! Ha-Ha.

Anyway, do you remember that at Chinese New Year, our darling little duckies gave us a gift of 8 eggs? It turns out to be even more special because on asking other local people, their ducks aren’t laying at all and don’t lay until March when the number of hours of day light increase. Anyway, so far there has been success with the incubator ie. the cat hasn’t sat on it this time round. This is because I deftly used Secret Invisibility Technique by sticking a vacuum cleaner in front of the incubator. Aha, I fooled the cat!!

The eggs were candled on day 3 to check if the embryos were forming; 6 out of the 8 eggs at that time appeared viable. Right now, two eggs have pipped and we are waiting to see how many actually hatch. Should be some fun, excitement and peep-peeping at the weekend!! With regards to our other darling little baby duckie (the lone duckie that hatched by itself despite the cat sitting on the incubator) he/she (we think “she” actually but have not properly sexed her) thinks she is a guinea pig now…sometimes a human being and definitely not one of those loud quacky things that quack around the yard. Yip, he/ she duckie is spending too much time with the piggies and loves to fall asleep to the dulcet tones of cavy noises.

I would also like to take this time to apologise for neglecting my food posts; I am either too busy or too lazy and can’t find the “in-between” state to re-start the food parades. We are still eating really well…I just haven’t written about them. With the dry season, there should be new harvests so I will endeavour to start again. I also want to post up my sorghum recipes…we eat it almost everyday now and is proving to be a very interesting, versatile and tasty grain. Look still eating great food:

Sorghum with Bamboo Shoots and Sweet Potato Greens.

It’s the usual stuff on the farm…always something to harvest…seeds to plant…and it comes round in cycles. You have to really like doing this to do it!!

Belize, Farming, Food, Saving Money

Ten Coconuts and Security.

February 21, 2017 Munchkin

One of the main reasons why I write posts on self-sustainable farming is to encourage others to do the same. I would like people to realise that yes, it is hard work (you can’t just sit around and talk all day) but also, you can use your brains to be innovative.

Spending the time doing things on the farm cuts down the need for money to buy things. Basically you are exchanging your physical labour in order to be less of a consumer.

Oh by the way, just in case you haven’t realised, we do all our own work on the farm. We do not hire anyone to do our work, in any aspect of our lives, because part of our philosophy is independence and healthy living.

The way that we process ten coconuts at a time is a perfect example of time well spent on the farm. Ideally, we would like to this every morning but life does get in the way, as it always does, and we are thwarted by weather, other pressing farm jobs, general maintenance, machinery that needs fixing, Apothecary orders and of course, medical call-outs.

If you sell 10 coconuts at the market, you will get $10 Belize Dollars. We have chosen not to do that because you can get so much more out from each coconut.

The husks and shells can be used for mulch on the farm:

Shells can be used as vessels to hold food for poultry:

When you crack open the coconuts, there is coconut water. You still get water from oil coconuts…of course, you get more from water coconuts. This can be consumed or it can actually be used as a highly nutritional plant irrigation water (contains sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium).

The coconuts are grated by hand by Gnome:

Coconut milk and coconut cream can be squeezed from this; Munchkin’s job:

Coconut milk has a high protein content; it can be added to stews, breads and anything really to boost protein content and flavour. In addition, coconut milk (and cream) can be used to make very nice desserts.

Coconut Haupia:

We bag the coconut cream to use in cooking; it can be used in stews, curries, desserts, anything really! At this point, the cream can be further processed into coconut oil to make our soaps and stuff. If we have excess, we sell these in Supaul’s in Punta Gorda.

Okay, still not done yet!! After squeezing out the cream and milk, you get the left over coconut meal. Once the fat has been extracted, it now becomes a very high protein product(12 to 14%…compare to corn which is between 9 to 11%). This can be sun-dried and then milled to make coconut flour:

Or, it also makes great animal feed. All manner of poultry like it and even our guinea pigs are quite partial to it too:

Go on then…plant a few coconuts in your back yard for food security…it’s great stuff!!

Casa Mascia Apothecary