Back in March, I built a small 10ft x 12ft cabana. For now, Andy will end up using the cabana for his hot sauce kitchen.
April 14
Life in the jungle: I did a little chicken coop cleaning first thing. I then joined Andy on his city trip. This is the first time joining Andy in the city. As a rule, we never leave the farm unattended, but I only needed to use an ATM, and it would have been a long day on a bus just to use an ATM.
Getting home, I was exhausted. But eventually I got my act together. I finished the little bit left on the new cabana floor (that I started last week). I then got a good portion of the toilet floor area completed.
Tongue & groove job complete
Today is the last day for Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo in Hamilton to be open. I only make a note of this in my daily post as part of my history with the reptile retail and educational business sector in Hamilton, Ontario. In 1999, I opened The Reptile Store, a reptile retail and educational facility. The business changed ownership a few times and finally closed its doors in 2023. Little Rays Reptile Zoo opened in Hamilton in 2013 and closed as of today. With over 25 years of reptile retail business history in Hamilton, as of today, there are no more businesses actively operating in Hamilton.
April 15
Life in the jungle: First thing, I mixed half a bag of cement for patio stones. Then I slaughtered a broiler (meat) chicken.
After lunch, I finished the toilet section of the floor in the cabana. I also made the cover for the septic tank opening that is in the middle of the floor. All the tongue and groove flooring is complete. This was my very first tongue and groove project. I then did another small tongue and groove floor for Andy’s compost toilet. The compost toilet is a project that I started the other week, but won’t be completed until the rainy season hits in June.
It was a long day, and I didn’t get to bed until really late (for me).
This morning, I wrote a poem called Taco Girl. I believe the last time I wrote a poem was November 2022.
Septic tank access & bathroom floor
April 16
Life in the jungle: My day didn’t go as planned. Last night I ended up going to bed very late. Even after recognizing that I have been less disciplined in my bedtimes over the last few weeks.
I mixed half a bag of cement for more patio stones. After completing and taking a break, I fell asleep in the hammock and didn’t wake up until after lunch. I was expecting a load of cement mix in the morning and knew that it would wake me up then. Except it never came, and I never woke up. Oh well.
After a late lunch, I couldn’t give the new cabana a cleaning in preparation for painting, as I knew the vacuum cleaner noise would drown out any noise from the delivery I was waiting for.
So, I worked on building a work table for inside my tool shed. Eventually, the load of sand/gravel cement mix came in the afternoon. I can’t believe that I made it through the last dump truck load delivery in only a month. Historically, I get one load of cement mix a year. [Little do I know the loads would keep coming this year.]
I felt very guilty about my nap and am determined to get to bed earlier moving forward.
Andy saw a jaguarundi on the road on his way to the city.
April 17
Life in the jungle: First thing, I mixed cement for patio stones. Then I prepped the cabana for interior painting. After lunch worked on installing the door and door knob. It was my first time doing this by myself. Sizing the door to fit and getting it hinged was a bigger job than I expected. Basically, all that is left is painting and electrical.
Cabana door installed
Because this new cabana will initially be used as Andy’s hot sauce kitchen, I am making him do the bulk of the interior painting, and he does all the electrical work on the farm already.
Andy came within 15 feet of a jaguarundi near the ponds. Lucky him.
Internet photo of a jaguarundi
April 18
Life in the jungle: First thing, I spent some time moving cement mix for the greenhouse floor expansion.
The greenhouse is about 1,000 square feet, and we soon discovered that 50% shade cloth is too much shade for hot peppers. So, I am building a 1,600 square foot cement block floor to grow the hot peppers outside the greenhouse. I call that my “greenhouse expansion floor.” I use cement mix as my base material and lay cement blocks on their sides as flooring material.
I then finished an outstanding job of expanding my patio stone walkway that goes around the back of my house. I added 33 patio stones.
After lunch, I painted primer paint in the new cabana. I’m not sure why, but towards the end of the day but with still close to an hour of daylight left, I was too exhausted to continue any kind of work.
I added 33 patio stones to finish this walkway.
Notice the patio stone piles. That is where I mix my cement.
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April 19
Life in the jungle: Today was a day of odd jobs. I slaughtered two broiler (meat) chickens and built a seedling shelf for a small seedling shed I built a long time ago. I also built some footing forms and some planting boxes. The latter part of the day was spent transplanting some seedlings (in cups) into bags. I found myself pretty exhausted by the end of the day.
Seedling shelf built
Sometimes I start seeds in small cups first
April 20
Life in the jungle: The first thing I heard was an unusual bird call. It turned out to be a Keel-billed Toucan. Unfortunately, I didn’t see it, but it is a bird that is unfortunately not common in my area.
I finished transplanting seedlings from yesterday. There weren’t many left. I was able to get in an early Sunday afternoon nap. This gave me the afternoon to write blog posts. I wrote Belize Parts 157, 158, and 159, and I posted my Taco Girl poem.
While feeding the chickens, I took the time to space out the footings for a 10ft by 20 ft ATV shed. The shed probably won’t be built for a few years, but I want to put the footings in so I can build the floor and use the floor space for raising seedlings. And then, when the time comes, when we have an ATV or two, build the shed then.
Finally, my layer chickens started laying eggs. I got my first three eggs today. These chicks were purchased in early December of last year.
They were calling for rain, which unfortunately never came. But it was a very windy day.
My Merlin app this morning
April 21
Life in the jungle: I spent the day putting in six forms for a future ATV shed. It was a lot of work digging, leveling, and squaring six forms. The latter part of the day was moving cement mix for the greenhouse floor expansion.
A future ATV shed will go here. In the meantime, I will build the floor and use it it grow my seedlings on.
Belize Part 161 (April 5 to 13)
Belize Part 160 (March 28 to April 4)
Glossary of Terms
Glossary of words or people that may or may not be part of this particular 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 at the end of 2023. When I offered Andy 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.
