With all the rains from the last two weeks or so, everything is bushy again!! The grass is growing…needs another mow…oh no, more work!
Here are some pictures;
This one was shot with a “fishbowl effect” just for fun!
We are getting lemons again this year and it looks like it will be a bumper crop…
Lots of fresh callaloo to pick…
African oil palm seeds…the piggies love these:
And this one is lemongrass; great for tea and to flavour food.
The morning started off with a torrential rain which filled up our tanks. Yay…this means that we can continue to have long hot showers and keep on using the washing machine. We are thankful for small blessings! After the rains, we walked together with a wheel-barrow of seedlings to plant out (gosh…this is Munchkin and Gnome romancing!).
We planted out Carob seedlings. We are especially excited about these because these can be a nutritional chocolate alternative and the seeds are a source of guar gum. We planted these on high ground because they are not supposed to like “wet feet.”
We also planted some good varieties of mangoes…I know that this sounds rather mundane for the tropics but on our farm we have NO mango trees! This also happens to be our favourite fruit so we are trying to catch up. When we first came to Belize ten years we spent all our time planting unusual edible tropical fruits and forgot about the ubiquitous mango.
We have found from our own personal experience as wannabee farmers that the best way to plant a seedling is to cut the bottom off the plant pot and set it in a shallow (6 inches) hole. This ensures that the roots are not disturbed and also you can weed-wack around it without damaging the plant.
Ooooh look our betel nut is flowering…not sure what to do with it so we will have to do some research on that one…
And, last but not least, the mushrooms are coming out with the rains. This is Turkey Tail mushroom which can be boiled up for a tea and is rich in anti-oxidants.
This is Chicken of The Woods. We are waiting for them to get bigger so that we can harvest them to eat. When you cook them up, they taste just like chicken. Yummy…can’t wait!!
What exciting things on the farm!!
Since we have been doing a super clean up of the farm in this fabulous weather (bright and sunny with no rain) I thought I would take this opportunity to share some pictures of the farm. It is remarkable how great it looks when it is not all bushy with high grass!
When we first came to Belize, 10 years ago we ventured into the bush in search of rosewood seeds to start a grove on our farm. Over years, there has been much logging of these magnificent trees and they are dwindling in number. We have set up this grove as a “seed bank” so that there will still be opportunity to cultivate these trees in the future. Our rosewood trees are looking good and gives a shaded place for a cool picnic area.
The first young fruits of the soursop have just started which is a much-loved fruit of the Tropics:
And this is roseapple which tastes of rose petals. They are actually very hard to spot because of the green colour…if only they would turn pink or red! I think all of our resident birdies taste of roses since they are the ones eating most of them…
Last but not least, our lovely pond area where we would like to house a gaggle of geese! One day, we shall have loads of geese a-honking in our pond!!
Gnome-Of-All-Trades is doing all sorts of things. You would think he was a super hero or something with all the work that he is getting on with. Super- Gnome (TM!!). Mmmmm, with all the Super Hero films that are being churned out of Hollywood maybe they would consider this as a movie…Ha-Ha!! Could be plausible…after-all, they have done an Ant-Man? What’s next…Mosquito-Man?
Anyway, excuse the rant and let us move swiftly onto the subject of Gnome-Rigging. This is what happens when something breaks and there is no 24 hour Amazon delivery to get parts needed urgently. The main switch for the brush-mower has fallen apart (from age, tropical weather, somebody else borrowing it and not using it properly, etc, etc) so now Gnome switches it on by fusing two wires together (like hot-wiring cars). Like so:
The main switch does not work anymore…so connections now have to be made manually. Hence the reason for the “bird’s nest” of wires attractively sticking out the back of the mower. Artistic…
Please be warned that Gnome-Rigging does not comply with safety standards and regulations. Yes, you better Belize it!!
More Gnome Rigging: No proper table to work on so he balances plywood on two crates:
Against all odds, he is doing it all on the farm! He is also panelling the inside of the house! Yippee!! Of course, all this work is intermittently interrupted by hissy fits from a poor frustrated Gnome trying to get things done despite all the imperfections of living in the bush!
Are you sure you want to….Follow us into THE JUNGLE??….