Lal brother, helped by Blesson brother is  turning the back yard into a vegetable production area. However, it is a very challenging project.  The soil, gluggy when wet, sandy when dry, is partly against them. Trees planted around the boundary of the property shade the growing area. The area is covered in weeds. The topography of the area is not helpful either. When it rains the area turns into a pond as it is lower than the path outside the fence and  the fence line where the trees are planted.

Just before the thunderstorm last week Lal planted ladies finger and coriander seed. I went out for a look and found a number of young plants. It was very exciting to see something  growing outside in a hot climate where they are supposed to be planted. The rain had washed away some of the soil from around their roots so we replaced that.

The plants are growing fast and I would like to stay on to see them come into production. I get maybe one fruit a week off each one of my ladies finger plants growing in pots in a tunnel house at home. That is an optimistic kind of estimation. In reality that only happens when the weather is hot for days on end. It would be interesting to see how well they grow in their natural habitat.

Tomato plants, beans, chilli and egg plants are also planted. The egg plants have been slow to set fruit but now have some growing.

We are trying to come up with a plan to protect the garden from the rain that will come in the monsoon season in about June to July. I suggested building the area up and making a border around it with bricks - a kind of raised bed. There are some bricks out the back. Whatever solution we think of involves lots of time and hard work or else money. Ki korbo.

Ladies finger seedlings

The egg plants are setting fruit.

A view of the vegetable production area with tomatoes in the foreground, okra seedlings in the bare land and egg plants behind them.

I think I have been very remiss in not devoting a page to my beloved guava. The first time I remember eating guava was on a family holiday when I was very young. I'm not even sure I was at school. Mum must have bought a tin of them for us. From that moment on I have always loved them. I think it is the large seeds I like best although these days biting onto one of those could be disastrous for teeth.

Imagine my joy on arriving in Hephzibah in 1992 to discover I could buy them fresh. 

Fresh guava are a little bit like feijoa in that they have a scent and flavour that is almost like a perfume. I do not know how better to describe their unusual taste. A lot of that flavour is found in the skin so if you peel them it is not as strong. I like them ripe but the locals often eat them when they are green and crunchy with what is called chaat Masala, a salty spicy mixture. I also like them stewed for breakfast. In fact most days I have guava, dhoi ( yoghurt) and muri (rice bubbles) to start the day.

 

I usually buy them green and eat them when the skin turns lemony yellow. Sometimes the flesh is pink but more often it is white. From the outside it is impossible to tell the colour of the flesh.

They sell for about $1 a kilogramme. I was going to buy some one day and realised the price for me was different for a local person who was also buying. The seller agreed with a sheepish grin he was charging me more and let me buy the guava at the same price.

 I have had a few adventures with the fruit. Interestingly although guava was the last thing I ate before a food poisoning episode in 1992 and the first thing I brought up when the vomiting started, I have never lost the taste for guava.

In 2008 just before I flew home I made some guava jam. Foolishly I put it in my hand luggage. At Singapore airport the security people would not let me pass through because I had liquid in my hand luggage. The liquid turned out to be my guava jam. I was tired through lack of sleep and argued the jam was not liquid but to no avail. The jam stayed in Singapore. I very grumpily boarded the plane. My friends Gayleen and Angam who were with me are able to have a good chuckle about it nowadays but I can assure you at the time it was not a laughing matter.

I do not want to get into the habit of checking with google every five minutes but I found out that guava are very good for you. They are rich in Vitamin A and C, but also have other goodies including folic acid, potassium, copper, manganese Vitamin K, and an antioxidant called lycopene that helps in shielding skin against damaging UV rays.

After lunch I just so happened to look out the window and there under a tree I saw a snake. A golden brown kind of a snake, skinny but more than a metre long. I said to Asuly who was in the kitchen, “There is a snake in the garden.”

She came to look and then called Lal. Lal was dispatched outside to kill it. By the time he arrived the snake was disappearing into a pile of bricks piled up by the fence. He hit it with a stick but the snake slithered away quickly from where it had come.

When Lal came back inside he licked his lips and said the snake would be tasty to eat. I guess we will find that out another day.

He thought it was a poisonous snake but not that dangerous.

 I should have taken a photo when I had the chance. I looked up google but could not identify which snake it was. I rather wish I  had not looked up photos of snakes now. They certainly are evil looking creatures and quite a few people get bitten here each year.

I am not sure I am that impressed with there being a snake in the neighbourhood. Our front door is often left open. A snake might find its way inside.

So far I have resisted the temptation to look under my bed but I am not sure how much longer I can hold out.

These interesting  fruit are called kul- pronounced cool. I did a Google search because no-one could tell me the English name for them. I  found out they are also called jujube, Indian plum, Indian cherry or red date.

You may find this hard to believe but Chinese labourers known as coolies brought  jujube plants from China to the Caribbean and when the English found the plants growing in India they called it the coolie plum. The locals shortened it to kul.

They have a stone like a plum but have the texture of an apple.  There are several different varieties for sale in the market and these ones are about the size of an egg. They belong to the buckthorn family.

They are quite refreshing to eat. The ones I bought cost 25 rupees a kilogramme which is about 50 cents. Someone told me the ones I bought  were not very sweet. They tasted as sweet to me as any others I have eaten so I don't know about that. When they are ripe they turn red. The only ones I have seen in the market have been very green so maybe I will have to keep them for a while to see the change of colour.

Apparently jujube contain 18 of the 24 amino acids the body needs, are high in vitamin C and antioxidants. What did we do before Google?

 

Someone small gingery and furry is trying to climb into my lap as I sit down to type this. The tablet is perched on my knees and there is just enough room for a small someone to sit in the space between my bent legs and lap.

No Winnie Whiskers- I have not replaced you.

It keeps miaowing in the kind of way you do when you are trying to sleep but someone else is disturbing your rest.

It is a little wild kitty the young people here have befriended. It is very skinny, full of fleas and no doubt full of worms as well. No Winnie Whiskers it is not as pretty as you.

This morning when it was sitting on my knee it spat a leech out of its mouth onto the bottom of my dress. That was a bit gross. I initially thought it was some kind of worm it had vomited up but  Lal said it had tried to eat the leech but the leech had managed to latch onto the cats mouth so it was not swallowed. Apparently the kitten eats all manner of insects. It's hungry Winnie Whiskers.

We were about to start worship and I found it very hard concentrating for the next hour. The image of the leech on my dress, then it inching its way across the floor kept flashing across my mind. Fortunately I was able to think about how Jesus deals with our parasites.

It is quite a friendly wee kitty but not nearly as lovely as my Winnie Whiskers.
The worrying thing for me is that I am more concerned this little scraggly kitty is hungry than the people I see.
 

"Better do your washing today brother. There are going to be thunderstorms tomorrow," I told Lal, my young friend.

That was Tuesday. Sure enough about 10am the next day the rain started falling and I remembered my washing was still on the clothes line.

I rushed out to get it in and ended up being very wet. Fortunately the washing was more dry than wet. It dried out on the rope I have strung up in my room.

The rain continued all day on and off. Thunder and lightening also.

The thunder and lightening was spectacular. There were times the lightening must have been very near as the time lapse between flashes and peals of thunder was very close.

The rain brought an increase in humidity but lower temperatures.

The power went on and off all day but then about 7pm it stayed off until about 12pm Thursday.

 

There seem to be several billion mosquitoes buzzing around our house. It is not surprising because there are ponds and a canal nearby. According to local legend which is completely unsubstantiated as yet, these mosquitoes do not give people malaria.

I know what Mr Ripley would say to that.

I personally feel obligated to kill as many of them as I can. These mosquitoes deserve no mercy for they do not abide by the Geneva Convention's code of biting insect conduct. For example they feed at any time of day. Everyone knows that mosquitoes are only allowed to bite at dusk and dawn. These mercenaries feed whenever they want.

They also have no decorum about  appropriate times to feed. They attack when I shower and when I am on the toilet. They have no respect for my privacy.

My friends have provided me with a lovely mosquito free zone for sleeping in. For all that several non-law abiding mosquitoes have violated the sanctity of that space. Fortunately they show up in the light of my head torch and I am able to take them out with some hand to hand combat.

I also have started  smoking incense sticks which also kills off the mosquitoes. They come in a packet of ten and are made of something which is 100% herbal. Sleep well tonight with peace is written on the packet underneath a sleeping baby.












And my latest addition to my arsenal of weapons is a can of fly spray. I am not convinced of its effectiveness. However it is very therapeutic being able to aim a shot of spray at a flying insect.

 

 

Despite my best attempts to stay bite free, which is extremely challenging, probably my best friend is the doxycycline pill I take every morning which is supposed to prevent malaria. I notice it also helps treat anthrax. That is a relief to know I won't be catching anthrax while I am away.