May 29
Life in the jungle: In the middle of the night, a heavy lightning and thunder shower hit. My allergies were also pretty bad.
At the beginning of the month, I pulled a muscle in my back. This is the first time I ever did that, and it’s been a pretty painful experience for me. Yesterday I went to the city and really overdid myself. This morning was largely spent still recuperating from yesterday. I noticed all day that I was in even more discomfort than in the last few days.
I spent the day continuing to edit my American chapter – America the Beautiful – of my memoir. There was a heavy and very loud thunder and lightning shower this afternoon.
Yesterday, I was told I was getting a dump truck delivery of black dirt as part of the microgrant I recently received. It never arrived, and I fear that after this afternoon, my road will be closed to dump trucks until at least February of next year. I warned them that they needed to put a rush on it, and they said yesterday.
Because of all the rain, after supper, I took a night walk around the ponds looking for snakes. No luck.
I think the rainy season is on.
May 30
Life in the jungle: I started my morning by working on my memoir. The rain started at 5 AM, and the power went out at 6. It was still too dark from being overcast that I couldn’t see my keyboard anymore
I ran up to the village quickly to drop off eggs. I ran my Merlin app on the way back.
Lots of bird species singing on my road
After breakfast, I planted some watermelon and tomato plants I had been raising. I also planted tomato, pepper, lettuce, and cucumber seeds. The other month, I planted the same seeds. Except for the beefsteak tomatoes, nothing else germinated. [Again, nothing germinated except the tomatoes.]
No more rain today. My back was pretty sore multiple times during the day, requiring regular breaks. Because of my constant need for breaks, I also finished reading Jaguar, a book I started reading on my Sundays the other month.
A good book – finished
May 31
Life in the jungle: It’s now been four weeks since I pulled a back muscle. Yesterday, I saw a short reel of three stretches that help strengthen your back muscles. This morning, I started a stretching routine that I guess will now be a part of my morning routine until the day I die or am too old to physically move anymore. [I continue to do stretches, and I assume they are doing their job. One other benefit that I wasn’t expecting is that my occasional leg cramps have disappeared.]
No rain in the night, but there was thunder this morning. I wrote Belize blog Part 219.
I thought my Sunday morning hour on the riverbank might not happen. I risked it, and there was no rain. While on the riverbank, I wrote two poems – Thank you, and I don’t remember.
Back at the house, I took my mandatory Sunday morning nap in the hammock. After lunch, I started reading a new book called Bold by Peter Diamandis.
My next book to read
After feeding the chickens at the end of the day, I did a little bit of coop cleaning.
The Belize River this morning
June 1
Life in the jungle: I did a little work on the Belize chapter of my memoir – Alone in Belize. I then posted Belize blog Parts 217 and 218
After lunch, I headed to the village to deliver eggs and pick up groceries. I had to wait until later in the day to head to the village because I needed to wait for today’s eggs to be laid to fill orders.
Returning home, I get grass around the house. No rain today.
My Tamarind seeds that I planted 2 weeks ago are starting to germinate
June 2
Life in the jungle: Last night, the dogs kept me awake; I think they were barking at bats of all things. Anything flying or in the sky drives them nuts.
I shared my The Fer-de-Lance Snake of Belize: A Complete Guide blog post to Belize Facebook groups. I then started editing my American memoir chapter, but got sleepy, likely as a result of last night, when the dogs kept me awake. Instead of submitting and taking a nap in the hammock, I chopped in the coconut field. Later this month and next month, I need to plant seedlings. So, I need the field to be prepared.
After breakfast, I refocused my efforts on memoir editing. I was determined to get my American chapter completed once and for all, and I did.
Except for a tiny bit of drizzle this morning, no rain.
Planting passion fruit has paid off handsomely
June 3
Life in the jungle: I did a little yard work before breakfast to help stretch my back. After breakfast and the rest of the afternoon, I risked my back and chopped in the coconut field. I’m going through the field kind of quickly, as I realized with the forecast, there is a window to have the bushhog come and cut the field, so I need to get it ready as quickly as possible. Interestingly enough, my back was fine, but I’m pretty exhausted.
June 4
Life in the jungle: I chopped in the coconut field, and after breakfast, for most of the afternoon. The field is ready for the bushhog. Not ready the way it’s usually ready, but good enough. Normally, I take a few weeks, and it’s much cleaner. But this was sort of a last-minute decision to get things bushhogged.
I discovered that a supporting post for the water tower of my shade cloth greenhouse has some really bad dry rot. This is really not good. I drained the vat to take the weight off the support posts.
I discovered dry rot in one of my support posts
June 5
Life in the jungle: I worked on the Belize chapter of my memoir. After feeding the chickens, I mixed half a bag of cement, and then I had to mix another half a bag to fill in a hole in my greenhouse expansion floor. There was approximately a 4ft by 4ft hole in the floor because, the other year, I removed a coconut tree, and I was trying to burn the stump down.
After breakfast, that load of black dirt was delivered as part of my microgrant that I was approved for the other week. I thought I might not get it this year because of last week’s rain.
The rest of the afternoon was somehow filled with assorted jobs. I was exhausted by the end of the day, but possibly because I haven’t been sleeping great these last few nights.
I’m so glad the dump truck made it down my road
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.
