Early Autumn Harvest Photos

With two children in our lives, we are finding it difficult to find much time for the blog.  Please forgive the brief  posts, and enjoy the photographs.

Most of the photos are from our Zone 1 gardens to use Permaculture lingo.

This time of year, the peppers are finishing up and ready to be harvested.

Odin is helping to process a Luffa Gourd. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luffa

Shiso has been allowed to self seed and now is growing in most of our vegetable gardens.

Peppers, Aubergines, and Shiso out compete the weeds and taste great.

We have our composting toiled fully operational now and in daily use, creating amazing HOT COMPOST.

Steve and Barbara lent a helping hand this summer and we closed off another section of cleared jungle for a chicken run.  With 30 birds, the first run is a dust field now and needs to be replanted with a Nitrogen fixer, maybe alfalfa for the chickens to eat.

More Aubergines, yum-yum!

Well that is it for now.  More to come as time allows.

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.

Early Autumn Garden

Our hot pepper garden is thriving under plastic. We have Serrano, Thai, Jalapeno, Habanero, and Hungarian Wax, all turning red now and ready to eat.


Black Beauty Aubergines are getting huge this time of year. One is enough to feed the both of us for dinner.


The Sweet Basil is still producing more than we can eat, and some is going to flower already. We have found the flower heads are fantastic in soups.

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.