September 29
Life in the jungle: As I always do a little outside work Sunday mornings before I mostly take the day off, I woke up to rain. I planned to chop at the ponds, instead, I laid in my hammock, and before deciding what to do, I was fast asleep until 12 PM. Thank goodness my day off is quilt-free.
After lunch, I wrote Belize blog posts Part 131, 132, and 133. I am so far behind on posting any blog posts. I am now up to date with my writing but I have not posted anything new since my trip to Canada over a month ago. I am just too tired in the evenings and too motivated to work outside during the day. But I am quite frustrated at my laziness in the evenings.
I also assisted Andy as he tried to connect a drinking water line to his apartment. He has had utility water for some time but has still has to fill drinking water jugs from my house for drinking water. It would seem my small pump is having difficulty pumping water all the way to his apartment, but still works slowly but surely.
Ever wondered what I eat for supper?
For the last three years, five days a week I eat chicken from the frying pan with 3/4 cup of white rice.
Only when I am lucky to I have sliced tomatoes.
Two nights a week I have spaghetti.
For breakfast, generally seven days a week – 4 fried eggs (plain omelet)
September 30
Life in the jungle: With the leftover cement from the deck repair job the other day I mixed a half bag of cement for 13 more patio stones. Then I headed to the village for groceries and to order lumber for framing/enclosing the bottom portion of my deck. During lunch, everything was delivered.
In the afternoon, there was some on-and-off rain. I took the opportunity to make a materials list for a new cabana I plan to start building soon. I want to build sooner rather than later. I even used ChatGPT to help me figure out certain materials from how many 2x4s I would need to frame the cabana to how many pounds of 3″ nails I would need to hammer the 2x4s together. A fascinating exercise. ChatGPT even explained how it reached the answers it gave.
I also slaughtered a chicken this evening. And Andy said he figured out how to tenderize duck meat – green papaya. I did not enjoy my duck the other week given how tough the meat was. Andy learned that if you marinate the duck in green papaya pulp it softens the meat considerably. This is promising as I would like to continue raising ducks, but only if I like eating it.
Back to making some patio stones to finish this section of the walkway. Keep scrolling for the finished walkway.
October 1
Life in the jungle: First thing, I mixed a half bag of cement for 13 more patio stones. When I bought the cement to fix the deck I bought two bags of cement. That would give me enough cement to make enough patio stones to finish one last patio stone project.
With Andy gone to Belmopan to get his passport stamp and not much work required around the house that I can do because of a broken lawnmower and no cement screws to work on my cement deck completion I worked on my website and posted Belize blog parts 102, 103, 104, and 105.
A Death-head or Peppered cockroach found in the chicken coop
October 2
Life in the jungle: On my way to the village to catch the bus to the city I ran into Elton on the road, only moments after his tractor broke down again. Last week he started bush-hogging the coconut field until his tractor broke down. Today I brought my bike to the city to get the front crank replaced and complete tune-up. Fortunately, the bus was not too full. I hate bringing my bike to the city because they have to load it in the back and it blocks multiple seats and the bus(es) are so full in the mornings. Today was a busy trip.
Belize City
With my bike left in the city, I had to walk home. Getting home I mixed my very last half bag of cement to make patio stones. As far as my foreseeable plans are I do not anticipate any more patio stones projects thankfully. On top of that, my patio stone molds are pretty much garbage now.
October 3
Life in the jungle: Elton showed up and finished bush-hogging the rest of the coconut field. With patio stone making completed, I worked on my patio stone walkway to get that job out of the way. I ended up spending the whole day when I thought it would only take a half day. I ended up redesigning a substantial section by cutting a bunch of stones diagonally. I ended up being able to reclaim about ten stones (for future use) and make the walkway far more aesthetically nicer.
A new patio stone walkway around a part of the house with angled corners
October 4
Life in the jungle: This morning Andy headed to San Pedro for the weekend. I always appreciate the farm to myself. First thing I chopped in the coconut field. I cut down all my coconut and fruit trees in a 75ft by 100ft area. I didn’t count how many trees that was because I didn’t want to.
As soon as the dry season arrives, I absolutely need to bring an excavator down this road to dig out my two small ponds in the front yard and to spread the dirt out over my river lot. I need that land usable for the expansion of future cabanas (or tiny houses) on the farm. To get an excavator down my road I will first have to hire a bulldozer to push back the jungle off of two miles of road.
Considering that expense and effort it only makes sense to dig a pond in the coconut field and spread that dirt to make an area for future hot pepper greenhouses. So, I chopped out the coconut and fruit trees to give a proper visual of the area. During breakfast, I did some calculations, and I figured the area could fit (hopefully) five poly greenhouses measuring 10ft wide by 80ft long which by my estimation is room for 75 – 20 gallon pots in each greenhouse.
Also, I measured out an area beside the existing greenhouse as an initial expansion area. The area is 14ft by 60ft, which by my estimation is room for close to 70 – 20 gallon pots. This should all keep Andy busy for a while.
Pepper
After breakfast, the plan was to start building an exterior frame for my cement deck now that the cement part of the deck is finally finished. Earlier this week in the city I purchased some concrete drill bits. I discovered that one bit was too big and the next bit was too small. I needed the bit in-between. I dusted off and pumped up the tires on my spare bike and headed to the village hardware store. Only to discover they don’t carry the smaller sizes of concrete bits.
On the way back, I noticed a very unusual mammal on the road. At first, I assumed that it was an agouti until I was able to notice a tail. But not a tail sticking up like a coatimundi. I can’t be 100% certain as I was too far away, I think it’s possible that it was a kinkajou, but I can’t be sure, especially as kinkajou are arboreal.
I stopped by my ponds and did a walk around. My papayas are looking good overall but things are getting very overgrown since my lawnmower broke a few weeks ago. I found a nice Central American Wood Turtle. Returning home I slaughtered a duck. I wish they slaughtered just like the chickens but their skin is very tough to peel off their bodies. I only have one more duck to slaughter and then the plan would be to keep the rest for now (3 females, 2 males).
My Muscovy Ducks
Belize Part 133 (Sept 20 to 28)
Belize Part 132 (Sept 13 to 19)
Of Note: At this time I am currently 4 months behind in posting my Belize blog posts due to having no internet for the first 18 months of living in Belize.
Glossary of Terms
Glossary of words or people that may or may not be part of this blog post. This glossary will be at the bottom of every blog post for Belize.
Wayne – He is the son of the original owners of the farm (both owners are deceased). The original farm was two – 30 acre parcels minus two – ¾ acre parcels for my house. In 2017 Wayne sold me 40 acres of land from the original 60 acres (one 30 acre parcel plus 10 acres from the second parcel). Wayne lives in his parent’s house and has a few cows on his remaining 18 acres of land.
The ponds – I have two large (300ft long x 50ft wide x 10ft deep) ponds on my 30 acre parcel of land which is basically a jungle. I have about 60 coconut trees (mostly mature) around the ponds. In my first two years of living in Belize, I also planted about 250 assort fruit tree seedlings (Lime, jackfruit, custard apple, pomegranate, and avocado).
The coconut field – I have about 400 coconut trees planted (various growth states) on about 3 acres of cleared land of my 10 acre parcel. I have planted about 350 assorted fruit trees (lemon, starfruit, mango, soursop, cashew, lime, orange) all raised from seed since my arrival in Belize in 2021.
The river lot – my house sits on an ¾ acre lot. I have a second joining ¾ acre lot that allows me river frontage on the Belize River. I call that my river lot.
The dry – Belize has two main seasons. The rainy season and the dry (no rain). The wet is obviously the rainy season.
Chopping – using my machete to clear brush, vines, weeds, and unwanted trees. Generally, when I chop I am removing unwanted vegetation around my baby fruit trees.
Andy – A fellow Canadian who rode his dirt bike from Canada to Belize. When I offered him the use of an apartment that I recently built and the use of my greenhouse Andy decided to stay in Belize permanently and start a hot sauce company here.
