October 19
Life in the jungle: My allergies were fine today (last week they were bad). The weather continues to be nice (not too hot). I am trying a young guy out from the village to do property maintenance (chopping at the ponds and in the coconut field). Of course, he showed up an hour late for his first day. [Only in Belize, and in the end, it didn’t work out between us.] Between yesterday’s work and the work we accomplished today, we basically got the ponds completely chopped today. This is the best condition the ponds have ever been.
One of my jackfruit fruit trees at my ponds
I almost killed a baby Fer de Lance with my machete at the ponds. I winged him but did not cut him. He was stunned but came back around. A real beauty.
A beautiful baby Fer de Lance
At the end of the day, I was physically drained and sore. I’m not sure exactly why, but I was beat. Things are very dry. We need some rain badly.
I have noticed a transition in my mood lately. Overall, I am feeling good mentally and with a more positive attitude. I am probably in the best place since everything started going wrong almost two years ago. I am sure my little vacation helped but I feel that getting a life coach may have something to do with things also. I have only had one session so far (this week’s session was canceled due to my coach being under the weather.) However, I suspect that the intentional decision to try to improve my situation with a life coach has shifted my attitude in a better direction.
October 20
Life in the jungle: First thing this morning I went to the village for groceries and corn for my chickens. My morning in the village became longer than planned by visiting Verna Mae. After lunch, I started working on my Belize residency paperwork. I had done my medical tests last year but because of last year’s challenges, I abandoned my residency application. But I am now in a place where I can now proceed. Technically, I was eligible to apply almost a year ago. So, I need to prioritize and get on this.
A species of asps caterpillar
October 21
Life in the jungle: I have been home for 1 week since my visit to San Pedro. I am still marveling at the peace and quiet around my farm. The first thing I did was bike up to the village to get a sack of cracked corn for the chickens. Yesterday I got a 50lb sack of whole corn. Today was a 50lb sack of cracked corn. I can only carry one sack at a time. Thank goodness for my trailer.
After breakfast, I finished putting all my Belize residency paperwork together and made a list of what I still needed to put together. I spent the better part of the rest of the day watching YouTube videos about growing my Instagram channel, along with a few YouTube videos on creating website content.
Last year in Belize City I saw this tree with seed pods and collected some. I got about half a dozen seeds to germinate. Anyway, it just flowered and the tree is only 3 ft high. Apparently, it is called a Pride of Barbados tree.
Pride of Barbados
October 22
Life in the jungle: It’s Sunday, my day off but the bush-hog guy who was supposed to come many weeks ago finally came to cut the coconut field today. Unfortunately, he had a breakdown partway through the day and only got about ¾ of the field cut. (Rrr.)
No laundry or housework for me today. The weather has continued to be nice since last week. I spent most of the day finally finishing and posting a blog post I started about a month ago. Now that my greenhouse floor is complete, I want to attempt to attract like-minded people to live on my farm in their own tiny houses. I have zero time to maintain the farm and some help would be nice. It was a time-consuming post to write. If you are interested in a unique opportunity to live in Belize, check it out HERE.
Last week Joseph brought me a bantam chicken as a gift. The chicken seems half crazy. I kept him in the coop most of the week to orient him where to return in the evening. Except she doesn’t show much interest in sleeping in the coop. This evening I watched her climb 20 ft into my breadfruit tree and fly across into another tree to roost for the night. If I was a chicken, I would be like her as she keeps away from all the other chickens at night. But I wonder how long she will live roosting up in a tree in the jungle. [Nine months later I still have this little bantam hen.]
My little bantam hen
I also have a pullet (young hen) that I since have recognized as the pullet Joseph brought home because he thought was sick. Anyways, this pullet is extremely affectionate (for a chicken) and every time I enter the coop, she follows me in and jumps on the nest boxes to get as close to me as possible I assume for a petting. [Unfortunately, in a few days I would realize this pullet is missing (eaten).] I also have a pullet that likes to peck my back leg muscles when I reach into my feed bin to scoop corn for feeding.
An unusual praying mantis species
October 23
Life in the jungle: Today was a visit to the city. I am now focusing on my Belize residency. I got my tuberculosis test. I then printed off any forms that needed to be filled out. I have to come back to the city on Wednesday to complete my tuberculosis test. The medical clinic was too busy to pursue my medical test today. And since I have to return on Wednesday anyway that was enough of an excuse to not deal with that today. So, after that, it was the usual running around for groceries and supplies.
During my time in the city, I thought of two new potential revenue streams that would parallel the life coaching idea I am looking to pursue. This evening, I worked on one of those new ideas. [In this coming February I will get so busy with the farm that I will have to stop pursuing the idea of becoming a life coach for the foreseeable future.]
While in the city they came for Jill’s stuff. Jill is 74 and was the wife of my property manager who left her almost two years ago to return to Canada. He was only supposed to leave Belize for six months. Days after he left, he declared “war” on me from Canada. Many months ago (now) Jill almost died because she broke her leg badly and was left half naked lying on a cement floor for almost four days before she was discovered. Stupidly her caregivers returned her to her cabana and then a month or two ago she hurt her back badly. They had to carry her out again. This time for good. Today they finally collected all her stuff. She lived in a cabana a couple of hundred feet from my house out of sight. Her husband Jack never returned even after she almost died. I wonder who won this war he declared on me? Anyway, I guess this means that they are both officially out of my life forever.
The boa that killed one of my chickens last week
Belize Part 96 (Sept 25 to Oct 3)
Of Note: At this time I am currently 11 to 12 months behind in posting my Belize blog posts due to having no internet for the first 18 months of living in Belize.
Glossary of Terms
Glossary of words or people that may or may not be part of this 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 2 – 30 acre pieces minus 2 – ¾ acre parcels for my house and 2 – ¾ acre parcels that Jack & Jill own which were all originally purchased from the original owners. In 2017 Wayne sold me 40 acres of land from the original 60 acres (30 acres plus 10 acres). Wayne lives in his parent’s house and has a few cows on his remaining 17 acres of land.
Jack & Jill – These are my ex-property managers (names changed). They are Canadian, they introduced me to Belize in 1997, sold me their house in Belize in 2003, and rebuilt my house from 2014 to 2018. I have known them for over 30 years. After almost 20 years of me supporting their life here in Belize Jack decided quite unexpectedly to declare “war” on me right before Christmas 2021. They would end up stealing my business license and causing me a lot of grief. They live on the farm, but not on my land.
The ponds – I have 2 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 2 years of living in Belize, I also planted about 250 assort 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 the 10 acre parcel. I plan to add various fruit trees to the same field as soon as I can.
The river lot – my house sits on an 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 2 main seasons. The rainy season and the dry (no rain). The wet is obviously the rainy season.
Chopping – using my machete to clear brush, vines, weeds and unwanted trees.
