June 6
Life in the jungle: My allergies were so bad that I had to start my morning just lying in my hammock. Once they were manageable, I started working on the Belize chapter of my memoir – Alone in Belize. I am determined to get this thing written once and for all.
After feeding the chickens, I did a little work on my passion fruit trellis. I haven’t worked on this project in some time. Later, I headed to the village to drop off eggs and get groceries.
After lunch, I headed to the ponds and cut the grass on mound 3. I returned to the house absolutely soaked in sweat. I had no choice but to cool down in the shower.
Passion fruit – for juice – I love it
June 7
Life in the jungle: Last night I was tired enough that I knew I could just skip dinner and go straight to bed, which I did at 6:30 PM. At about 3 AM, the dogs woke me from what I suspect were bats. It’s the most bizarre thing. They did this last week for the first time. They get into such a frenzy that Saucy ends up escaping the yard. I have no choice but to get out of bed, go outside, and retrieve Saucy and lock both of them on the deck. Since my alarm is set for 4 AM anyways, the disruption could have been worse.
First thing, I continued working on my Belize chapter.
As per my new Sunday morning routine, I sat on my riverbank for an hour.
There was a local in a canoe just sitting in the middle of the river. After about twenty minutes, he threw a striking stick but caught nothing. He came by, and I mentioned that I thought the locals only striked fish at night. He said he was striking for turtles, and happened to have a highly endangered adult female Central American River turtle, likely full of eggs, on her back in the bottom of the canoe. I asked if the season was closed, pretty sure that it was. He said it was. I asked him about the value of the turtle locally known as Hickatee. He said $30 USD. I asked him if he would sell it to me. He knew my motivation and said it was too late to save the turtle, as the striker spike (or spear) pierces the shell all the way through, allowing water to enter the shell at the wound.
Turtles are slaughtered alive on their backs, with the plastron (bottom of the shell) being separated by repeated blows/cuts/swipes with a machete on the bridge that connects the carapace (top of the turtle shell). Once the plastron is sliced off the turtle, the meat sections (head, legs, guts) are cut into pieces, and at some point, the turtle dies. Few animals on the planet are slaughtered in such a grotesque way. I have seen firsthand a Hickatee slaughter during my first visit to Belize in 1997.
Back in 1997, I watched this Central American River turtle being slaughtered for food.
It was not a pretty sight
I took a shorter nap than typical for a Sunday, likely a result of going to bed so early last night. The afternoon was largely uneventful, as it is my guilt-free day off. I did spend a little more time on my Belize chapter. After feeding the chickens, I watered the seedlings and vegetable plants. Virtually every day, every evening, I spend about an hour watering seedlings in the greenhouse and assorted things around the house.
A few birds singing by the river this morning
June 8
Life in the jungle: First thing, I spent more time working on the Belize chapter of my memoir. After feeding the chickens, I mixed half a bag of cement for mostly patio stones. I have no immediate need for patio stones, but I do mix cement for patio stones every once in a while, to slowly build out walking areas that tend to get muddy during the rainy season. I also planted some Suriname Cherry seeds and red passion fruit seeds.
After breakfast, I headed to the village to drop off eggs and get groceries. Arriving home, Elton, the bushhog guy, had arrived to bushhog part of the coconut field.
In the afternoon, I made a PVC plumbing modification for the water tower. I had to take the tower offline last week because I discovered some dry rot in the framing that needs to be repaired in the near future.
June 9
Life in the jungle: Shared my Living Inside the Sound of the Jungle blog post to Belize Facebook groups. They are potentially calling for a tropical storm tomorrow. I focused on jobs that would be affected by the future rain.
I mixed half a bag of cement for patio stones. After breakfast, I cut some grass. The bigger job today was cleaning two chicken coops out for compost. Two of the three coops are used to collect and break down compost. With rain coming, it would have become a muddy soup disaster. I was able to bag 18 rice sacks of compost between the two coops.
Elton was supposed to come when he didn’t, so I messaged him at around 1 PM. He said tomorrow. There is a tropical storm arriving tomorrow, and that will likely be it for bushhogging until next year. Very frustrating.
18 sacks of chicken compost and fertilizer
June 10
Life in the jungle: Some rain started at 4:20 AM, and again an hour later, and then a tiny bit at the end of the day – that was it. My morning was basically a right off due to allergies. In Canada, I never had my allergies take me out the way they do here in Belize.
I basically worked on two projects today. I worked on my passion fruit trellis and planting boxes for some dragon fruit plants that I’m growing.
I’m planning to build about 18 of these planting boxes for dragon fruit
I was told that today the coconut field would be bushhogged – but it wasn’t. We are literally any minute from a rainfall that will make it impossible to cut the coconut field until next year, and I don’t even get a message. I tell myself I don’t get excited about how things work here, but I’m now two days of waiting.
At the end of the day, I worked on my Belize chapter to make up for my lack of productivity this morning.
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.
