Fruit Orchard is Operational

To date we have planted over 50 fruit trees, more than 99 hedges and about 400 flowering ground cover plants.

We have been steadily clearing away the forest and jungle for three years now.

After the initial phase of cutting is done, the second phase begins.  This consists of seperating out timber, firewood, brush piles and weeds.  Once seperated, it takes about a year to let it all dry out enough to either burn or move.  After this, the weeds attack with all the newly available sunlight to help them germinate.  After the weeds are pulled, then it comes time to plant something wonderful.



The location above is finally planted with Limes, Lemons, Avocados, Coffee, Sweet Orange, Tangerine, and Custard Apple.



Above is one of the surviving Sweet Oranges from previous owners.  Most of them died from rot or disease owning to the lack of sunshine as the jungle covered them over.  We managed to salvage 4 Sweet Oranges and 3 Plums from the jungle.



Here is a view of the upper portion of the fruit farm.  The other orchard spaces contain plums, bananas, loquats, strawberry guava, tamarillos, and apples.

Our goal is to double the number of fruiting trees over the next five years.  We have only cleared 50% of our jungle land.  From that portion of newly cleared land, we have planted trees on 30%.   We will leave the jungle clearing phase and focus on cleaing up the areas we have already cleared. in preperation for planting Apricots, Nectarines and more apple varieties.

Daikon Radish Harvest

The winter gardens are producing very well this year. This is due to the added sunlight that the gardens recieve now that the forest surrounding the homestead has been cleared. More sun is more sugar and more vigorous growth.

The word Daikon actually comes from two Japanese words: dai (meaning large) and kon (meaning root). Daikon is is root vegetable said to have originated in the Mediterranean and brought to China for cultivation around 500 B.C.

There have been studies that indicate that Daikon may have some benefit in fighting or preventing cancer. It is an excellent source of phosphorus and potassium. Daikon provides 34 percent of the RDA for vitamin C and contains active enzymes that aid digestion, particularly of starchy foods.