A few days ago, my coconut field was partially cut with a bushhog, but it never returned to complete the job. This was likely the last chance for the grass to get cut this year.
I also continue to be focused on finishing my memoir.
June 11
Life in the jungle: The rain started before 4 AM, and I knew, I just knew. After a few hours, the Mexican Burrowing toads started the very distinctive mating calls – the official call of the beginning of the rainy season. My coconut field will now be too wet for a bushhog, likely until January. This just caused me a lot of grief and work.
It basically rained the whole day. The south of Belize experienced quite a bit of flooding. I worked on the Belize chapter of my memoir all day. For the last little while, I have been scanning all my blog posts specifically for wildlife encounters to include them in my memoir. Today, I organized and drafted all my added notes into the chapter.
There was a break in the rain later in the afternoon, and I quickly ran up some eggs to the village to check on the road. My road has a lot of water on it. Future vehicle traffic will determine how much mud is created this year.
I could hear Mexican Burrowing toads last night
June 12
Life in the jungle: I woke up pretty tired. I did go to bed a little later than usual. I predicted a nap at some point today. I decided to take it pretty much first thing. I worked on the Canadian chapter of my memoir.
During breakfast, I got a message from Elton that he was headed down on the bushhog to finish cutting the coconut field. I was certain that, because of yesterday’s heavy rainfall, it was not an option until next year. It turned out that the ground was still hard enough to handle the tractor. I was quite relieved about being able to get that job done.
After he was finished, I decided to chop in the coconut field and stake some future tree planting spots. I’m quite pleased by the growth of the majority of my fruit trees, but I do have a lot of open spots for replacements.
The open spots in the coconut field were created by two situations: the heavy equipment work the other year, and the weed growth from last year getting so out of control that I could no longer find baby trees amongst the vines and weeds.
The road is nicely bushhogged
June 13
Life in the jungle: I started my morning by writing Belize blog Part 220. After feeding the chickens, I chopped and composted seedling trees in the coconut field.
After breakfast, I headed down the road and filled a bad rut with rock from one of the loads that was spread the other month.
I then planted six Mahogany seedlings by the ponds. The last part of the afternoon, I did some more work on my passion fruit trellis.
Today was overcast all day.
Fixing the next worst section of the road
June 14
Life in the jungle: This morning, I started out writing Belize blog Part 221. After feeding the chickens, I sat on the riverbank for an hour as per my Sunday morning routine. I then took my mandatory Sunday morning nap in the hammock.
I ended up having a video chat with an American who would like to plan a trip to Belize to visit multiple cayes in search of island boa constrictors. This has actually been a dream for almost 20 years. This adventure looks quite likely to happen this fall.
Planning a trip to the cayes this coming fall to look for Boa Constrictors
The rest of the afternoon was largely uneventful. I did a little greenhouse work after feeding the chickens. This afternoon, I happened to witness a Lineated woodpecker take a sand bath in one of my piles of dirt. I have only ever witnessed chickens doing this.
The Belize River this Sunday
June 15
Life in the jungle: First thing, I worked on the Canadian chapter of my memoir. After feeding the chickens, I did a little bit of chopping and composting in the coconut field. I then headed to the village to deliver eggs.
Returning home to get a call that the Baboon Museum that they wanted to come by to purchase 150 trees. They came by and purchased 100 Mahogany and 50 Provision and Raintree mix. This all happened kind of suddenly, but in a sense was a huge event for me, as this was always the passion and dream of living in Belize. The question is, will they come back for the remaining 700 Mahoganies that I have?
I spent the rest of the afternoon cutting grass in the yard.
Some birds on the road today
June 16
Life in the jungle: This morning, I shared my The Six-Month Commitment: Your Best Protection Against Costly Mistakes in Belize blog post to Belize Facebook groups. After feeding the chickens, I mixed half a bag of cement for patio stones.
I ended up needing to go back to the village to arrange a delivery of chicken food, a few pieces of lumber, and a few bags of cement.
My afternoon, unfortunately, was not as productive as I had hoped or needed it to be. Yesterday, my lawnmower kept stalling. I went through the go-to steps to try to troubleshoot, but I was unsuccessful.
I did get holes dug and molds placed to build three footings for a new gate into the coconut field.
June 17
Life in the jungle: After feeding the chickens, I mixed half a bag of cement and made two of three footings for the new coconut field gate.
In the afternoon, I finally finished installing sheep wire on my new 60-foot passion fruit trellis. I started making this trellis a long time ago, possibly last year, and it shouldn’t have been such a big job except I was refurbishing sections of sheep wire that had been used as mini trellis for Andy’s old 20-gallon cloth hot pepper pots. The challenge had been that he wired the sections of sheep wire into columns that were tightly wired together. So tightly that I had to use the grinder and needle-nose pliers to separate the column.
It was a very hot day.
June 18
Life in the jungle: I mixed half a bag of cement and poured the last footing for the new coconut field gate. I then cleaned and chopped around the new passion fruit trellis and cut and placed the braces to hold the trellis firmly in place. I also slaughtered a broiler (meat) chicken.
Another very hot day. I wonder what happened to the rainy season? I’m really tired, I’m always tired.
Footings I built for a new coconut field gate
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.
