Winter Harvest Update

 

We are staying Healthy and Happy and VERY Busy.  Food is everywhere along with fresh air and clean water.  Enjoy the photos, more posts to come when we have more time.  All the photos below are from our farm, except the last one that comes from the nearby Sea Side.

Winter Catch

Our little farm is finally producing enough surplus to trade with the local fishermen.

These fantastic fish were caught only hours before we got them and made sushi!



Our Chestnut trees are turning a lovely color this year and producing plenty of nuts.

Summer Garden Update

This summer we have been blessed with fantastic Sunshine and ample rainfall to keep all the springs bubbling.
After a dismal Spring and lengthy winter, our gardens are making a fantastic return.

One of our tomato gardens this year has been planted with a German cultivar known as Strawberry Tomatoes. They are meaty and sweet, similiar to a watermelon. Their unique shape seems to keep Blossom End Rot from taking hold, as all the rain is diverted into a single point and allowed to fall free.



Our new retaining wall is planted with LemonGrass, BitterMelon and Congo WaterMelon.



Our Arugala Microgreens garden has Hungarian Wax Pepper and Japanese Eggplant interspersed for late summer harvesting.



Chinese Water Spinach is thriving in our new plot. First we built a stone wall and then backfilled it with compost and wood ash, afterwards we diverted a natural spring to keep a fresh supply of water in circulation.



Magnus and Soraya guard the Black Beauty Eggplant plot. In the distance can be seen the Hot Pepper patch.



Our ButterNut Squash are nearly ready for harvest. It is one of our favorite meals when combined with local Flores Butter and Honey.



More to come as the summer unfolds and time permits.

Spring Weather and Gardening

This year is the first one in over fifty years that the sun is allowed to shine fully on the Fruit Farm gardens.
We have been steadily clearing the forest around the Farm for four years. The sun now is able to come streaming through our valley without hindrance and strike our gardens as it rises from the ocean.


Below are the primary vegetable gardens that supply us with 80% of our yearly vegetable consumption. This photo was taken at 7:55 in the morning. In previous years the forest blocked the sun until nearly noon.



Magnus is renovating the Herb Garden in order to utilize the fantastic sun exposure for Tomatoes and other Sun Lovers.



Magnus is sporting his new Summer Hat that Konswan knitted for him, as he removes the Rosemary hedges for translplanting. The new hedges will be placed in one of the newly available areas recovered from forest land.

Adorable Little Thieves

"Red-Headed Thief" caught red-handed. This is the female Sylvia atricapilla. "Black-Headed Thief. This is the male Sylvia atricapilla." Tiny little things---amazing how they get here at all and from where? These guys got into the netting, but could not figure out how to get out. After untangling them from the netting, they were photographed and released. We do not know what variety of bird they are so far. If any of you know, send me a link and I will post it along with the name. (Thank you to Emily Harris Griffin for identifying our little culprits.) These little birds love to eat all of our lettuces, all greens from the Brassica family (that includes pak choi, broccoli, cauliflower, mustards, all cabbages, and much more), even the spicy mustard seedlings. As a non-lethal preventative measure, we put netting around and over the newly transplanted Chinese cabbages. Above the newly planted garden with netting is the cold frame in which we sow seeds and nurture the seedlings until they are transplanted. It is raised-bed garden covered with discarded windows. We built the stone retaining walls to take advantage of this protected space with full sun.

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.

Alfonsino Sushi

With the winter storms calming and the wind going to the North, we are getting colder weather but much calmer. Fishing season is upon us again, and we are thrilled.

These lovely little fish are properly known as Beryx splendens. They live on the bottom of the oceans and are caught using traditional hook and line techniques.



Nutrition Facts per 100g of raw productKilojoules 500 (120 clories)
Cholesterol 30mg
Sodium na
Total fat (oil) 0.5g
Saturated fat 36% of total fat
Monounsaturated fat 17% of total fat
Polyunsaturated fat 47% of total fat
Omega-3, EPA 28mg
Omega-3, DHA 151mg
Omega-6, AA 17mg
SourceSite for more information

Jerusalem Artichoke Harvest

These lovely little roots are invasive and tastey, our favorite variety of food. Why have weeds when you could have a flowering and food producing crop with the same effort?

An odd name since they are neither from Jerusalem, nor an artichoke. Properly named they are Helianthus tuberosus. They are a gift from the Native American Tribes that found there way to our little island.

Jerusalem artichokes have 650 mg potassium per 150g serving. They are also high in iron, and contain 10-12% of the daily fiber, niacin, thiamine, phosphorus and copper. Potent little guys sucking the nutrition from our volcanic soil and making it available to us, as we are not fans of eating the soil directly.

Winter Hot Pepper Harvest

Our wonderful summer weather has ended, but all the awesome solar power is now being harvested.



Konswan has been roasting spicy peppers from around the globe over our wood burning stove, creating wonderful sauces that warm the body from the inside out in these cold months.



Not only do they taste fantastic, they are excellent for the health and entertaining also.

Autumn Equinox Harvest

These sweet and succulent melons were a surprise. We planted nine vines and did not see anything until one day a fruit rolled off the vine, ready to eat! It was our first year growing Cantaloupe and we were pleasantly pleased with the ease with which they grow.


Below is an assortment of Japanese Aubergines, Pickling Cucumbers, Chayotes, and Brandy Wine Tomatoes.

September Fruit Harvest

These are heirloom tomatoes from Germany, this is our first year to grow them. They are are earliest producers, giving us pounds of flesh. We are saving seeds from these tomatoes for next year.


Below is a Purple Bush Hybrid Aubergine. An early producer. Low and bushy, they are perfect for our windy island conditions.


An array of typical garden produce, picked every three days during July, August and September.