February 12
Life in the jungle: First thing I shared my Belize’s Amphibians: An Essential Guide blog post to 20 Belize and Reptile Facebook groups
I then headed to the ponds to chop. I finished chopping around my seedlings and papayas at the first mound and a little bit of the second mound.
At the ponds, I came across a Golden Tortoise Beetle (Charidotella sexpunctata) but I was too slow to get my own photo of it.
After lunch, I headed back to the ponds and chopped and finished the third mound. On the third mound, I startled an armadillo that was hiding about four feet away from me. I couldn’t help but use an expletive when it jumped out of its hole and startled me even though I knew what it was pretty quickly.
This evening, I am exhausted from so much chopping. There was no rain and overall good working weather.
February 13
Life in the jungle: I woke up still tired, likely from all of yesterday’s chopping. I headed to the ponds and finished mound 2. All the seedlings and papayas around the ponds are chopped and cleaned. As I have been pretty good at staying on top of the chopping at the ponds the job was not a big job. That being said, I think I have been waiting over five months now for my lawnmower to get fixed and the overall maintenance of the ponds is in pretty rough conditions.
I took a bit of a nap after lunch and in the afternoon forced myself to do some yard work. Andy left this afternoon to go to the airport to pick up friends from Canada. They will be off to Caye Caulker and Hopkins until the 22nd. I am amused by how many friends in the last year have come to visit him in Belize and that he also has an aunt who now lives in San Ignacio. I have never had, nor have any anticipation of anyone I know coming to visit me in Belize in my lifetime.
Green-headed Tree Snake
February 14
Life in the jungle: First thing I wrote Belize blog Part 152. After feeding the chickens and while under the house to grab some things for the day’s work there was a short but heavy rainfall. After the rain and emerging from underneath the house, the sky did not look promising. My phone said 100% rain. With no rain the last two days I thought for sure the dry season had started.
I went back inside the house and wrote Belize blog Part 153. I then edited and added about 500 words to my jungle lifestyle discipline blog post. There was more rain during lunch. So, I continued with my blog post and was even able to publish it this evening. There was a point when I thought maybe my priorities were off being inside, and not working outside, and less than a minute later there was a light rain shower.
I have been raising chickens for almost three years, but today I hatched my very first duckling.
This evening, I researched water-glassing chicken eggs. Water-glassing eggs is a preservation technique that involves submerging unwashed eggs in a solution of pickling lime and water. The solution seals the shell, preventing microorganisms and bacteria from penetrating the egg. Water glassing allows us to preserve fresh eggs for 12 to 18 months. This sounds like the perfect solution to deal with any drops in chicken egg production.
My Crown of Thorns plant
February 15
Life in the jungle: First thing I posted, Belize blog Part 147. When I went out to feed the chickens, I discovered a second duckling had hatched. Then I slaughtered a broiler (meat) chicken. After that, I headed to the village for groceries. During lunch, there was a heavy rain shower. That kind of killed my outside plans. I posted Belize blog Part 148, and then I got drowsy and ended up in the hammock. I feel like I am battling a lack of motivation battle that I sometimes lose whenever it rains.
Later, I went out to deal with my new ducklings. To my surprise, the mother duck was out of her nest box. Upon inspection of the nesting box, the hatched ducklings were also missing. I assumed that something had gotten them, possibly Pepper (though Pepper hadn’t escaped the yard once in two months). Searching and walking around, I discovered three little ducklings following mama duck. I put the three ducklings with four broiler (meat) chicks, which I picked up the other week. Truthfully, I am not really sure what to do with these ducklings, and technically, I am expecting quite a few.
Before bed, to make up for taking this afternoon’s nap, I posted Belize blog Part 149. It’s crazy to think that I am basically only behind posting two blog posts after only having internet for the last 19 months and initially being behind 18 months of blog posts because of no internet during my first 18 months in Belize.
Another Green-headed Tree snake came into the house through a crack in the door
February 16
Life in the jungle: I shared my new The Key to Surviving the Jungle Lifestyle in Belize – Discipline blog post to 14 Belize Facebook groups.
I got one particularly nice response –
That was a great read. Thank you for sharing. I live in the jungle as well (with 50 animals and on a much smaller scale), and you painted a very clear picture of day-to-day life. It requires a certain kind of person to live this way, and it can be daunting even as a mentally strong and disciplined person! Sometimes a condo in Mexico seems like a great idea, but after living this way – I know I could never live in civilization again! Your resilience impresses me to no end. To do all of those projects with a bicycle is nothing short of amazing!
I shared it on my page as well. People are always curious about life in the jungle and you describe it perfectly.
After feeding the chickens, I headed to the ponds with two sacks of manure and fertilized my papayas and seedlings on the middle (second) mound.
After lunch, I took my mandatory Sunday afternoon nap in the hammock. Later in the afternoon, I set up two trellises for Dutchman’s pipe vine. I had received two baby vine plants before Christmas that were doing quite well. There was no rain today.
I now have 2 trellises set up for Dutchman’s Pipe vines
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 assorted 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 a 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 season (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.
