February 9
Life in the jungle: First thing I published Belize blogs Part 201 (Jan 1 to 10), 202 (Jan 11 to 18), 203 (Jan 19 to 24), and 204 (Jan 25 to 31). I then headed to the village to drop off eggs and go to the museum in Bermudian Landing, where they had an extra 135 planting bags for more Mahogany seeds. This is a big deal for me, as for the last year, I have been trying to convince them of my desire to plant Mahogany trees.
On the way home on my road, I came within a quarter inch of running over a young Black-tailed Cribo snake on my bike.
After I got back home, I chopped in the coconut field. The vegetation is very thick, and it’s slow going. The last part of my day, I did some yard work and dug three footings for a passion fruit trellis. I’m making a long passion fruit trellis along my fence line to use as a shade wall for the greenhouse expansion floor that I built last year.
I almost rode my bike over this black-tailed cribo snake
February 10
Life in the jungle: I shared my A Comprehensive Guide to Living in the Jungles of Belize post on Facebook groups. It looks like last week’s adjustments to how I share my blog posts to Facebook groups have paid off – engagement is way up.
I mixed a bag of cement and made three footings and six patio stones. After a very late breakfast, I bagged 135 mahogany seeds from yesterday’s bags I picked up.
February 11
Life in the jungle: After sharing blogs on Facebook groups and feeding the chickens, I mixed half a bag of cement, making another trellis footing, and seven patio stones. I then made six more forms for more footings. In the afternoon, I chopped in the coconut field.
February 12
Life in the jungle: I got a little editing of the Canadian chapter of my memoir – The Canada That Took Me In, before heading to the city. I was a little shocked that it rained most of the time in the city. The rain was light, and I pulled out my umbrella only a few times.
Getting home, I was quite exhausted, but I forced myself to do yard work just to be productive. My guess is that there had been about five minutes of rain here on the farm while I was gone.
February 13
Life in the jungle: I again worked a little on editing my Canadian chapter. After feeding the chickens, I mixed half a bag of cement and made another passion fruit trellis footing and six patio stones. After breakfast, I headed to the village to drop off some eggs, get groceries, and arrange for a chicken food delivery.
Today was an interesting day that will require me to jump all over the place. While feeding the chickens, I couldn’t help but conclude that I am “going” to have a ridiculous number of hens laying eggs in the not-too-distant future. As in, I’m making a mistake by raising this many hens. Not to change my mind about my concerns, but I did end up with a new egg customer today, which could lead to a few more customers, so that’s good.
On the way up to the village, I saw something way down the road that looked out of place. I instantly got off my bike and started walking forward. It didn’t take long before I realized that I was watching the jaguar from two weeks ago. She was barely close enough, but I could confidently identify her as a jaguar and not a mountain lion. She disappeared pretty quickly, and even the instant I saw what it was, I knew the video would be crap, but I still pulled my phone out, but missed her. I hit the record button and kept walking forward just in case. That’s when I noticed a second jaguar (that must have been lying in the grass) follow the first one. I got really bad footage of that one. This is only my third (possibly fourth) jaguar sighting since my arrival in Belize, but the first time seeing two cats at once. I can’t believe two jaguar sightings in two weeks!
I often doubt myself here and often maintain an attitude that my life here in Belize is nothing short of a pipe dream. I see success as virtually impossible and foresee a day when, at my age, I will be homeless in Canada. But when I have experiences like this, I feel that the risk is completely worth the worst outcomes, but I also think these experiences are little gifts from God, letting me know this is where I’m supposed to be.
Returning home, I spent a few hours chopping in the coconut field. After feeding the chickens at the end of the day, I got two pots counter sunk and filled with dirt for passion fruit plants for the trellises that I’m building.
February 14
Life in the jungle: I worked a little bit on three different blog posts that I started last week, but have yet to be completed. After feeding the chickens, I mixed a half bag of cement and made another passion fruit trellis footing and six patio stones. After breakfast, I quickly went up to the village to drop off eggs and was hoping that I might get lucky with another jaguar sighting. I wasn’t lucky.
After I returned home, I chopped in the coconut field. I’m making progress, but what a mess. I have lost a few seedlings, not that died, but literally lost them in the overgrown vegetation. After feeding the chickens at the end of the day, I got another two pots counter sunk and filled with dirt for passion fruit plants.
February 15
Life in the jungle: First thing, I wrote Belize blog Part 205 (Feb 1 to 8). After feeding the chickens, I mixed half a bag of cement and did my last trellis footing. I built a total of six footings for an approximately 60 foot passion fruit trellis. I also made six patio stones with the leftover cement.
I took my Sunday morning nap and woke up ten to twelve. Yesterday, Verna Mae invited me to one of her sons’ birthday parties today. I rarely socialize, but with it being my guilt-free day off, I biked out to the village. I only stayed for a few hours, but as I rarely socialize, the experience was pretty draining for me, and it pretty much took me out for the rest of the afternoon, and I never left my hammock except to feed the chickens.
This photo shows a long line of footings and counter sunk pots for a passion fruit trellis that I’m building
The trellis will provide shade for the side of the shadecloth greenhouse.
This photo was taken in March, showing more progress on the project.
The final outcome will look something like this trellis
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 Life in Belize blog post.
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.
Top-Gallon – The local term for when the Belize River floods its banks during the rainy season.
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 rainy season starts around June 1 and goes until the end of the year. It seems June, November, and December are the wettest times of the year.
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.
I arrived at my home on November 25, 2021, by bicycle from Canada. I have journaled my daily adventures every day since. Since I have arrived, I have built a 1,000 sq-ft shade cloth greenhouse, a tiny apartment that I refer to as my greenhouse apartment. I also started and am close to completion of two small cabanas that I refer to as my smaller cabana and my larger cabana. The apartment and cabanas are for visitors and people wishing to move to my farm. I’m also getting close to completing an additional 1,600 sq-ft shade cloth greenhouse.
