January to date

January has been surprisingly wet, we have had a lot of rain that has
enabled us to keep planting when we may have been spending a lot
of time with irrigation , however, a main drain required re digging.
Dasheen and tannia, sweet potato, saffron, (turmeric) ginger, cocoa,
nutmeg and the first mangoes, are all ready.
A bountiful if busy month lies ahead.

We picked the cocoa that was ripe and put the beans to dry in the sun,
on a piece of galvanise that we put back in the shed if a rain falls.
I try to limit myself to one turmeric plant per day, wash off the soil in
the river, before bringing the tubers home, to scrub, chip and dry on a tray
in the sun. When they are totally dry I will grind them, a little at a time.
The dwarf beans, either from weeding or virus, have developed a similar
mildew as sometimes afflicts the pumpkin and cucumber, but we had a
good crop and they were delicious.
We have started to weed those beds now, to plant corn and


















T has planted carrots were the sweet potato were and we began cutlassing below
the remaining 8 nutmeg trees.
The seed tray behind the house is full of cabbage, tomato, more lettuce, eggplant,
basil and oregano seedlings, I wonder if it matters that they are bedded together?
They should be ready for transplanting next week. The cauliflower that were
planted the other week are doing well, those that have not been eaten by a night
time visitor, and the celery and okra are fine. T went to town today and sold 50
lettuce and a box full of basil, which is really becoming popular now that people know
who he and what it is .
Now if we could just resolve the access road situation and maybe,
just maybe, buy a donkey.