THE FLIP FLOP LIFE

We are hoping to buy a plot where we not only can enjoy the rain forest, but also plant new trees and do some vegetable and fruit farming. Well, since we now found a rental house where we are planning to stay until such plot is found – or until we have to decide to go back to Europe – we can start preparing and practicing.

Pineapple

Last week, I started the first pineapple project. Well, I started some before, one in Cañaza in 2020, and one in our previous home in Hone Creek, but I never saw the outcomes of those. I am especially curious about the one in Cañaza. Those plants are now 2,5 years old and should have fruited a long time ago. That is, if they still live. People told us it takes about half a year, so I certainly hope to see this new one bear fruit while we are still here. It takes a couple of weeks before the first little roots appear. Then it can go into the earth.

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Mango

Secondly, we are trying to raise a mango tree. The greenish bit in the pot is the actual seed. I had to take it out of its husk because it ( the husk ) got moldy. Unfortunately I damaged the seed a bit, so I have no high hopes. The seed was white, but I am not sure what to think of it turning green. Maybe I should dig it deeper into the earth?? If it germinates, it will still take years before we can harvest edible mangoes. But if they are as good as their parent, they will be worth the wait.

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Papaya

Thirdly, last Sunday, I seeded our first papayas. Personally, I find them absolutely horrible, but Cris loves them. We collected and dried the seeds of two breakfast portions of a papaya that she particularly liked. Sunday, I had time and inspiration to plant some of them. I checked the first three websites ( 1, 2, 3 ) that I could find and they more or less agreed on how to approach this. ‘Een kind kan de was doen’ as a Dutch saying goes ‘A child can do the laundry’, and it means to say how incredibly easy something is.

Sorry for the digression, but I herewith apologize for the horrible under appreciation of the work involved in doing the laundry, that this saying expresses. It must have been invented by male humans and originates from a laundry machine factory around 1900. Even with those machines the work, done by women, was extremely heavy and time consuming.

Back to the papayas. Planting papaya’s can indeed be done by a child. Punch a 1,5 cm deep hole. Drop a seed, or a few seeds. Close the hole with dirt. Walk about 1,5 meters and repeat.

I planted some in front of our veranda, so that we can hopefully see them grow. I planted some more further down ‘our’ forest road where they get a bit more sun and where the tracks of the leaf cutter ants are further away. We are doing organic farming, so one should build in contingencies against insects and other animals eating what is theirs. Inter-cropping would be more advanced, but we have not yet reached that level. Maybe alternating between pineapple and papaya works??

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Cas

Last but not least, these are the seeds of a cas fruit, a yellow fruit that is used to make frescos ( water with blended fruit, often with sugar mixed in ). Cas is slightly sweet of taste and very refreshing when served cold and without added sugar. The fruit meat sticks tightly to the seeds, so they look a bit weird when they are dried.

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Best part …

The best news about this post is that we finally have some time, rest and inspiration to get going on little projects like these and blog about it. Not to mention going to the beach, working on Lego projects, reading a book, and going out for dinner with friends.