I had an unevenful trip back home to Belize. Long layovers proved to be a blessing as weather was delaying flights in and out of San Francisco. No worry for me, just shortened my layover time. No problem with Belize customs as residents are allowed to bring in $200 worth of goods and I only bo't a couple of small items, so breezed thru. I did ship a few boxes of "stuff" to Belize, via Houston. Nothing important, just memory things to remind us of our previous life. I'm anxiously awaiting a few books from those boxes.
I've been home a week and am just starting to get my balance again. It was such a difficult time in Oregon and the weather was cold and when I arrived back in Belize it was hot and humid. I've had a tough time sleeping and have just felt disoriented. It was so good tho' to get back home and find my place again. One thing that helped was that Marco bro't us 700 more cacao seeds and some bags the day after I got home. It was great to have a project and to jump right in. This time we've changed our tactics. We're pre-sprouting the seeds to be sure that they're viable. We've put them under the house on screen and are keeping them wet. As they start to sprout, we put them in the bags giving us a much better success rate. We gave Rene some seeds and have about 500 in bags. We already have about 270 seedlings growing for root stock. Now we just need budwood to start grafting.
Belize's hot spell seems to have broken and it's started raining. We're getting lots of thunder during evenings and nights and then lots of rain. This is really good for the seedlings, but the trees we hoped to get budwood from have sprouted too fast, so we're left waiting, again. We made the base for our nursery from a pile of marl we had from digging our cistern. The rain makes this slippery and it splashed up on the bags. Cacao hates marl. Marco suggested we put sand on top, but it tracks and washes away. Instead we've opted for shavings. We get them either for free in bags, or they bring us a trailer load for $20 for fuel. It's really tidied up the nursery making it easier to water and much less messy. Hope we don't find that this has an adverse affect on the plants.
My brother wrote that it sounds as tho' we're working hard and getting blisters. Instead, we work a little in fits and starts and then just watch to see if something is sprouting. All this rain makes it hard to do much else outside, so we're back to reading.
I've been home a week and am just starting to get my balance again. It was such a difficult time in Oregon and the weather was cold and when I arrived back in Belize it was hot and humid. I've had a tough time sleeping and have just felt disoriented. It was so good tho' to get back home and find my place again. One thing that helped was that Marco bro't us 700 more cacao seeds and some bags the day after I got home. It was great to have a project and to jump right in. This time we've changed our tactics. We're pre-sprouting the seeds to be sure that they're viable. We've put them under the house on screen and are keeping them wet. As they start to sprout, we put them in the bags giving us a much better success rate. We gave Rene some seeds and have about 500 in bags. We already have about 270 seedlings growing for root stock. Now we just need budwood to start grafting.
Belize's hot spell seems to have broken and it's started raining. We're getting lots of thunder during evenings and nights and then lots of rain. This is really good for the seedlings, but the trees we hoped to get budwood from have sprouted too fast, so we're left waiting, again. We made the base for our nursery from a pile of marl we had from digging our cistern. The rain makes this slippery and it splashed up on the bags. Cacao hates marl. Marco suggested we put sand on top, but it tracks and washes away. Instead we've opted for shavings. We get them either for free in bags, or they bring us a trailer load for $20 for fuel. It's really tidied up the nursery making it easier to water and much less messy. Hope we don't find that this has an adverse affect on the plants.
My brother wrote that it sounds as tho' we're working hard and getting blisters. Instead, we work a little in fits and starts and then just watch to see if something is sprouting. All this rain makes it hard to do much else outside, so we're back to reading.
Wow - your setup looks so professional! The shavings were a great idea.
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