June 14
Life in the jungle: I spent most of the day doing small modification jobs in the greenhouse and front work room, such as putting a shelf under the work table, building a hanger to hold the weed eater, etc. Being a bit of a lazy Saturday, I snuck in a nap after lunch. There were sporadic rain showers.
In the afternoon, I tackled a long-overdue job. I hung a couple of gutters at the front entrance to the greenhouse, on Andy’s apartment, and on a separate tool room I use for myself.
Today I also put a rooster in with my layer chickens. A local in the village has been buying all my “local fertilized” chicken eggs, which have slowed down production to virtually no eggs, but the layer chickens are producing a dozen (unfertilized) eggs a day. A few people in the village have been taking my layer eggs (at a reduced price), but I always have close to twenty dozen eggs in my fridge at any given time. By having my layer eggs fertilized, I can get a premium price and everything guaranteed to be sold as quickly as the eggs are laid.
June 15
Life in the jungle: There was rain in the night, and things were wet. I got my Sunday afternoon nap in before lunch. After lunch, I finally started writing blog posts again. I wrote Belize Parts 161, 162, 163, 164, and 165. I can’t even remember the last time I wrote a blog post.
Today was on and off, and sometimes very heavy rain showers all afternoon. Things are really wet.
A Unicorn Praying Mantis. My first one
June 16
Life in the jungle: A slow start to the morning. I didn’t know if workers were coming, even though it was the plan. I didn’t want to get things ready if they didn’t show up, and I didn’t want to start transplanting seedlings if they did show up. I took a light nap on the hammock until 8 AM.
After 8 AM, when I realized no one was coming, I started to spend the rest of the day planting and transplanting seedlings.
First, I planted seven young Jackfruit trees on Wayne’s side of the fence. A couple of years ago, I planted some (14) Jackfruit from seeds at the ponds. Because the fruit can grow from 35 lbs average to 100 lbs, I am sure I have enough trees for myself. But I like to plant trees, and Jackfruits attract a lot of wildlife and birds, so I am happy to plant more anywhere I can.
I then transplanted a bunch of raintree seedlings from cups to seed bags, planted some ziricote seeds, and set up seed cups for Golden Shower tree seeds.
No rain today. It was a mistake for the workers not to show up today.
June 17
Life in the jungle: The workers showed up this morning. We got the walls framed, the trusses up, the lattes up, and were just starting on the deck roof when it finally started to rain later in the afternoon.
Apparently, there are a few tropical waves (storms) hitting over the next few days.
Coming along!
June 18
Life in the jungle: It was sort of an unproductive day. The sky looked bad from the first of the morning and throughout the entire day. I headed to the village for groceries and to pay for some building materials that were delivered at the end of yesterday.
Somehow, I didn’t get rained on. With the sky the way it was, I did not attempt any outside work. I saw today as the beginning of a week of rain, and it only seemed fitting to take a nap after lunch that lasted for most of the afternoon. There was only some on-and-off light rain throughout the day.
At the end of the day, I extracted seeds from a bunch of Golden shower tree seed pods. I will try to plant the seeds tomorrow, weather permitting.
June 19
Life in the jungle: Last night was a sleepless night. It happens every once in a while. As far as I know, I don’t suffer from anxiety, but I do get it sometimes. I start to think about everything that could possibly go wrong [here] in the future. I have always known I live a pipe dream here in Belize. I am trying to pull off the impossible here in Belize, and doing everything that I am trying to do in a developing country is (in my opinion) very risky.
The biggest issue is my residency application and how much money I have invested in the farm these past 12 months. My residency should already have been approved by now. If I had my residency, I would not have had a sleepless night.
Today I built the cabana deck
Today, the sky continued to look very grey and like it would rain any minute. My only solution and cure for last night’s anxiety is to work outside.
I first did some chicken coop cleaning, and then planted a bunch of Golden Shower tree seeds. I then built the new cabana deck. I cleaned up and organized the lumber pile from the cabana build. The pile is getting smaller. I did some other odd jobs.
There were some on-and-off light showers, but as yesterday, way less than expected.
Golden Shower and papaya seed cups
Mature Golden Shower trees
June 20
Life in the jungle: I knew that the rain I had been anticipating for days would finally arrive today. I had no pressing projects today, so I decided to finally get 100% caught up on my Life in Belize blog posts. I wrote Belize blog Parts 165, 166, 167, and this one, 168.
After lunch, we had a severe rain shower blow through with heavy winds and a lot of rain. It knocked the power and internet out, right when I was about to start posting blog posts.
So, I took a nap until the power came back on. It took a while for the internet to come back on. I organized photos on my computer.
It’s been on my mind that I need to start a new blog post on the jungle lifestyle. I am expanding on a topic covered in my Disciple blog post about the importance of morning routines. I was able to get most of the post written. You can read it HERE.
It’s baby Green Iguana season.
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 parents’ 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.
