Our cacao trees have done extremely well and have caught the attention of Ruben and his brother. Ruben asked if they could do some air layering on a few branches of our cacao trees. Air layering is when you take a healthy branch and get it to root. First you strip back some of the bark, then pack it with wet soil and moss and wrap it in plastic. If all goes well, in a month or so, roots will grow inside the moss ball and the branch can be cut off and planted. By doing this you are basically cloning a mature tree, and the new branch will produce fruit a lot faster than a tree that was planted from seed.

A few years ago, we sectioned off a small area in the middle of our yard as a flower bed to attract birds and butterflies. We painted some blocks and used log poles to make a small fence. We planted a lot of plants, as well as more flower seeds than you can imagine, but they never really took off like we thought they would. I think the main reason was that during the rains, the area held too much water and the plants didn’t like it. So we decided to salvage what plants we could and take the fence down.

Recently Kelley has started a new herb garden in a bunch of different containers. We have moved the herbs all around the yard to different spots to see where we think they will do best. In their current spot, they have been doing very well. So we decided to move the old fence from the flower bed to where the herb garden will permanently be. Hopefully, in the future this little area will be full of herbs.

We are still working on our new garden paths, mostly clearing some stumps and keeping unwanted plants down. For the past few months we have been trimming and potting a lot of cuttings in preparation for when they root and can be put in the ground. At this point we are in the dry season, so we are keeping everything in pots so that we can keep them watered. Once the rains come, we will have our work cut out for us, as we’ll have a ton more plants to put in the ground.

There are a few of our fruit trees that haven’t produced anything yet. One of them is our Malay Apple trees. They are a pear-shaped tropical fruit with a dark red skin and crisp, juicy white flesh. The flavor and texture is somewhere between an apple and a pear. Finally one of them is starting to bloom with vibrant pink flowers. I can’t wait till the trees start producing, as they are one of my favorite fruits to pick and eat right off the tree. I know I say that pineapple, dragon fruit or mangos are my favorite, but I just love all fruits. When I was a kid, all I heard was “eat your vegetables”. I never once heard eat all your fruit.

This year there were quite a few custard apples on the tree, and we can only eat so many when they ripen. So we decided to try and make some ice cream with a few, since they are creamy like a custard. Kelley got a few all cleaned up, the seeds removed, swirled it up in the blender and then into the ice cream machine they went. She added some vanilla bean, raspberries and some homemade chocolate. Although it froze a little hard, the flavor was great. Next time I think the best way to do it would be to make them into popsicles. And to think all the ingredients we grew in the garden, which means it must be good for you.

We had a rare visitor the other day, the Eastern Casquehead Iguana. What makes them rare is not because of low population, but that they are rarely ever seen. They live high in the jungle canopy, staying immobile as a “sit and wait” predator. They also have great camouflage and are capable of rapid color change. They can go from bright green to brown to shades of blue and are known as the forest chameleon. So spotting one of these in the wild is very difficult and quite rare.

We were lucky enough to see one of these the other day on the ground, digging a nest to lay her eggs. It says that they will usually lay 4-9 eggs, 2-4 times a year with a two-month hatch period. They have a remarkable reproductive capability. If there are no males around, the females can reproduce healthy, fertile offspring through asexual reproduction without mating. If asexual reproduction does happen, then all the offspring will be females. It was very special to see this rare, bright green, 24″ lizard digging a nest in our garden area next to the house. As soon as she was done, she buried the nest, hopped on a tree and headed back up to the canopy. Four years ago, about this time, we also saw one here, so hopefully in the future we will have more sightings of these rarely seen iguanas.

There are a lot of beautiful and interesting creatures here in the jungle, but there’s one we could do without: scorpions. They are big, black, and seem to be everywhere this time of year. I’ve been stung a few times, and it’s more like a bee sting, unlike the bark scorpions back in the desert that will be painful for days or longer. We try to keep them under control in and around the house, but that doesn’t always work. The other night as we were getting into bed, there was a big scorpion on the floor at the head of the bed. By the time we got some spray and a long pair of pliers, he was gone. We sprayed under the bed and looked for him for about half an hour, but never found him till the next day. Then a few days later we’re getting into bed, and there under my pillow was another one, which we managed to get. It’s a little unnerving getting into bed knowing there are 4″ scorpions around where you sleep. I guess that’s part of sharing the jungle with all these creatures, even though we really don’t like it!

You know what they say about all work and no play, well that’s not going to happen to us. So we decided to escape down to Hopkins for a day and then onto Placencia for a couple more days. It was a chance to see Ron & Rhonda, a few other friends, and just unwind on the beach for a few days. We really didn’t do much, just hung around a couple beach bars, spent some time in a pool, ate some good food and enjoyed some cold Belikins on the beach. It was a great chance for us to unwind for a few days, but now we’re back in the jungle doing what we do.

I know everyone is dealing with the high gas prices in the States, and prices in Belize have always been a lot higher. But with everything going on in the world today, the price of gas in Belize has gotten a little ridiculous. The Belizean dollar is 2:1 to the U.S. dollar, which means we are paying $8 U.S. dollars a gallon for diesel. The only decent thing is that our truck gets 30 mpg and we really don’t have to drive it that much.

It’s a little warm here now, but hopefully next month, when the rains come, it will all cool back down. Hope to see you soon.