Here are some new pictures from the farm taken by Gnome! He has made improvements in leaps and bounds in his photography…his former pictures used to be blurry and out of focus. Hmmm…maybe it is because he changed his glasses?!
This is Redhead (Hamelia patens) which is known for its natural medicinal properties; The flowers, leaves and stems are boiled in water and skin conditions such as wounds, sores, rash and insect bites are bathed in the decoction. Furthermore, the oral consumption of the decoction of the flowers and leaves is supposed to relieve menstrual cramps.
Redhead Berries Forming.
The berries from this plant are also edible…get them before the birds!
Red Head Flower Buds.
Ear mushrooms (Auricularia auricular); these wild mushrooms are edible and much loved by Asians. Great in stews and stir-frys.
Ear Mushroom.Ear Mushrooms.
A beautiful ornamental. These produce seedpods that resemble woody roses.
Hi Everyone!! The heavy night time rains have stopped for a few days and there are less puddles around the farm. The grass is long (again) and we are gearing up for another big clean up. Didn’t we just do that already?? Here are some pictures which I took whilst trudging about in my rubber boots…I try not to walk in deep puddles because I have a hole in one of my boots!
We have lovely purple basil growing which will be processed into pesto:
Purple Basil.
The last of the cashew fruit for the season…we have really enjoyed cooking with them this year in savoury dishes. Note also the funny looking bug on the green fruit.
Sideways Picture of Cashew Fruit.
These are bilimbi fruit which are really, really sour. So, far I haven’t found anything too exciting to do with these except for stir frys and soups. Any ideas?? Here in Belize, some people like to make a juice out of them but I personally find them a tad too tart.
Bilimbi Fruit.
This flower is of the Aristolochia sp.; they are start off looking like this and at this stage we call them alien pods:
Aristolochia gigantea.
When they open up they look like this and they exude an odious carrion-like smell to attract flies for pollination.
Open Aristolochia.
Beautiful baby woodrose flowers. Once the flowers mature, they produce a wood-like pod which looks like a wooden rose.
Baby Woodrose.
Sometimes I have to remind myself to stop and admire the beauty on our farm rather than running around like mad trying to achieve agendas. Have a good night everyone!! We are staying in tonight and I have made another one of these Chaos Cinnamon Cakes which I will lavishly drizzle with icing:
Monster Cinnamon Goo Cake!!
Ooooh yum!! We are going through a sweet phase right now!!
Oh, and for the rest of you 93.75% of readers who haven’t voted yet for the Favourite Candidate for the Mayoral Election 2015…Hint Hint!!
