Seasons

They may be subtle, but Belize has definite seasons.  I can track them by the way the shadows fall on west veranda.  This afternoon of the winter solstice is shady and very pleasant.  By the end of March, the afternoon shadows will shift south, bathing (baking?) the west veranda in direct sun.  The screening that we put up to add some shade is working out very very well for the little plant nursery.  

Seedlings and kitchen herbs.

Arugula, 20 feet from the kitchen sink.  It prefers the shadier side of its little bed.

Malabar spinach seedling (back row) and Cuban thyme.

I'm very thrilled with the provision tree seedlings.  I started them from seeds I collected a tree about a quarter mile up the beach from us.  The pods are giant fuzzy brown rugby ball sized things which crack open to reveal 50 or so large seeds.

Section of a provision tree seed pod with seeds.  The seeds are golf ball sized.

I plunked each of the 8 seeds I collected into its own small pot, just nestled into the soil on 16 July.  I watered and waited.  And watered and waited.  And watered and waited.  Finally, 2 October saw the first little sprout emerge ...

The first seed sprouted!

In the end all but one sprouted, but in the meantime I planted one that washed up on the beach and it sprouted, so I wound up with 8 little trees.

Ready to plant outside. on 20 December.

I planted 4 of them out on the grounds.  They are supposed to be able to tolerate wet, brakish soil, so I was able to put a couple of them in spots that get wet when Black Creek floods during the rainy season.

Thrive, my brave little tree!

I put this one in the middle of iguana town, with prime nest sites about 12 feet to the east and west.

Provision trees have the most gorgeous flowers.  The buds look like a yellow banana and they peel open to reveal a mimosa-like spray of bright pinky red anthers.  I know I have photos of them, but I can't find them right now.  In the meantime here is a link to one that was photographed in Belize.  I can hardly wait until these trees bloom.

I also set out the Malabar spinach and the purple passion fruit that I had been nurturing in the shade nursery.

Malabar spinach is a vine and a prolific grower.  A couple of years we were able to share huge bagsfull of spinach with families in the village.  I hope we will be doing that again soon.

The purple passion fruit seedling was given to me by a friend who knows how much I adore passion fruit juice.  The trellis is half of a double security door that we no longer used.  We have a sort of pergola thing happening above this bed that passion fruit vine will spread out over.

Dennis has also been busy with various seedlings.  He started kuri squash and got them set out in a raised bed a couple of weeks ago. They seem happy.

Kuri squash, getting ready to escape the raised bed and take over the world.

A few years ago, we set out some jacks of red bananas.  They are finally coming into their own and it looks like we will have plenty to share in a few weeks.  These are not the tiny red bananas exported to supermarkets in the US.  I don't think these are suitable for shipping.  They are quite large and chunky.  I look forward to trying them.  They have the most gorgeous flowers.

The red banana plants and the bananas themselves are very robust.

Amazing flowers.

Various wild creatures also enjoy the west veranda.  

Clove stood stock still, staring at the young basilisk lizard for about 5 minutes.  She really wanted to get at it and shake it to death.  Her prey instinct is very strong.

I don't know if it is the same individual, but I have seen praying mantises on the veranda a number of times and just a couple of days found one right next to an egg case.

I love their eyes.

Same one as above, but arms up and ready to fight now.

Could be the same one - who knows? This photo was taken 10 weeks after the 2 above.

Egg case.  I will keep watch to see if I can catch them hatching.  I don't know what the incubation period is, so I will have to be vigilant.  Lucky for me, the egg case is right next to the clothes line and I can see it from the bedroom window.

So, we have been busy and now I must post this right now and take the dogs for their last walk of the day before it starts to get dark on this winter solstice!  Enjoy this longest night.

The Breadfruit Tree

In August of 2006, we bought a breadfruit tree at the plant nursery near Dangriga for $35 BZ (=$17.50 US).  Because it is sensitive to salt spray and it doesn't like wet feet, we planted it toward the northwest corner of our property at a relatively high spot as far away from the sea as possible.  We weren't sure if it would grow in even the best conditions we could provide for it, but wanted to chance it because not only are breadfruit great to eat, the trees are magnificent when they get a little age on them.

The little breadfruit tree with its 6 brave leaves on planting day.

We were told to expect it to bear fruit in about 7 years, which is why we were anxious to plant it as soon as possible before we moved here.  Each time we went down to Belize, I would take a photo of Joy standing next to the breadfruit tree to provide a sense of scale.  Photos in the collage below were taken in Jan 2008, Sept 2008 (top row), Mar 2009, Sept 2009 (middle row), and Apr 2010, Oct 2010 (bottom row).  The tree grew amazingly fast!

Is it my imagination or is Joy shrinking over time?

Breadfruit originated in New Guinea and was spread by humans, primarily Polynesians about 3500 years ago, as they migrated into new areas.  In slightly more recent history (late 18th century), breadfruit was sought by British colonial administrators and plantation owners in the West Indies as a cheap food source for slaves.  Remember Captain Bligh and The Mutiny on the Bounty?  He was tasked with securing breadfruit plantlets to bring to the West Indies on that infamous expedition.  No success that time, but on his do-over he did manage to bring live plants to the West Indies.  Ironically, all was for nought because at first the slaves refused to eat breadfruit.  Today, however, breadfruit has risen above that blight on its history and is a valued food source in the West Indies and Central America.

I took this photo in Feb 2013 looking up along the trunk.  The symmetry is quite appealing to me.

Now the tree is a little over 7 years old and is bearing its second crop of breadfruit.  The tree stands about 35 feet tall and will eventually get twice the size.  It is a little sparser than many breadfruit trees I have seen in the interior of Belize; that is probably because conditions are not optimal for it here.  The first "crop" was only 1 or 2 breadfruits and this crop is about 12.  Older, more filled out trees could have 100 or more fruits at a time.    

Tiger, in the gold-colored shirt, is deciding how to reach the breadfruit dangling near the end of the branch.  The long branches are pliable enough to bend toward him while he stays near the trunk.

Most of these fruits came in pairs.  When they go from bright green to a little yellowish, they are mature.

The breadfruits are quite large and heavy.

We'll roast this one as the initial step for many dishes.  There are other recipes that start with raw breadfruit; I'll talk about them in another post.

Cut the excess stem off first thing.  Look at all that latex pouring out!  Very sticky.

Next stab it in about 15 places to prevent it from exploding in the oven.  A great task when you are feeling particularly aggressive.

After roasting at 350 F for 1.5 hrs, it is a beautiful bronze color.

It is easier to peel if you cut it in half first.  After peeling it, remove the core.  The dark streaks are from the knife stabs.

One breadfruit goes a long way.  From this one, Dennis used half to make more than 2 quarts of chowder (similar to potato soup), I did a trial of making flour using less than a quarter, and a trial of baked chips from the remainder.  The chowder is wonderful, one of our favorite soups to keep on hand in the freezer.  The baked chips were pretty good, but need some finessing.  The key will be to use a mandolin or food processor to get them sliced consistently thin.  I will use the flour with some regular flour then next time I bake bread.  I'll keep you posted.