Hi There! Just something short and sweet…pictures from the farm. We find that the farm just keeps on producing and doing its own thing. Even although we have taken a few days from farm work it doesn’t stop it all from growing up…aagghhh…the bush and the grass are all coming back with the rains!  Anyway, here are some things that make us feel that it is all worth it in the end.

Mulberry is in season; you would naturally consider this as a temperate fruit but it actually grows in Belize very well. The yields are very high…the only thing is that you have to pick them early morning before all the birds get them.

The bees are polinating the African oil palm. Again, this is a favourite with wild animals so you have to grab them while you can. The palm nuts are actually really nice boiled in soups and stews. Oh, and another thing, the dog likes them too. So much competition…we don’t mind sharing but the problem is that the rest of the other critters have no concept of leaving a few behind for us!

This is a nice specimen of wild mushroom. They are Lepiota sp. unfortunately, not edible.

These yellow fruit are called abiu. They have a clear, whitish pulp with some similarity to the texture of persimmon. A tasty fruit which can only be picked once there is a tinge of yellow on the outer shell. The birds seem to be able to eat them green so we tend to lose a lot of them to our little friends. Here is a nice picture of two surprisingly intact specimens:

It is mango season and the trees in Toledo are totally loaded. We are lamenting over this because when we initially started planting fruit trees on our farm, ten years ago, we were so excited about planting weird and exotic trees that we completely overlooked the common back-yard mango. So, now we have no mangoes on our farm and they are actually our favourite fruit. We are making up for it this year by planting seedlings but it is going to be quite a wait to have our own farm-fresh mango…about 5 years! Here is a picture of mangoes on a tree (not on our farm).

Oh, and this is an unusual fruit called velvet apple. They are furry red balls with a yellow/orange pulp which we have actually never tasted before. They have a very nice peachy smell to them. This picture was taken from a friend’s farm; they look like Christmas decorations:

Hope you enjoy the pictures. Now is the time to stuff yourself silly with mangoes until July…then it will be avocado season! Lots of wonderful fruit to look forward to.