Jungle gardener

July 18, 2009
We are trying our hand at gardening - I've always done the pretty garden but this is for food. We want to see how self sufficient we can be with 20 acres of jungle. So, we have cucumbers, tomatoes, melon, sweet pepper definitely coming up. They are rooted and thriving. Of course, we know the bush rabbits, quash and lizards will be competing for any produce so it's a crap shoot. I also have bokchoy sprouting. I've planted lettuce and red onions in the same bed and no joy with those yet. And, I planted a variety of herbs and they're coming up but after I planted the seeds in nice rows, the dog ran through it so I guess they will have to get quite big for me to tell what is what. We also got three different kinds banana trees which should grow with no problem. You just dig them up, cut off the top and plant the root stump.
Rusty's main gardening project is his coffee plants. He wants to see if we can grow enough for the lodge. But, they grow slowly so it is at least a 2 year project.
The thatch on our first garden building is done today. Now, Rusty and I have to decide exactly how we want to finish it and if we have money to do so. The nice thing about this thatch is seeing it go up helped us crystallize our plan. We needed the visual help to figure out what we want to do with the property. We want to put in two more like this one in the garden and have 3 garden cabanas. They will be simple jungle chic accommodations. and, then with the existing shack, we will tear off the top and put in 3 rooms there as well. It will give us 3 levels of accommodations and sufficient space for groups with options of room style. Now, if we could just sell that land out in San Pedro so we could do it.
We went and walked the boardwalk out to the Aguacaliente Wildlife Sanctuary. It's not for the sedentary or faint of heart. It's at least 2 miles of walking on not so well maintained boards and our problem is the rainy season has started so the swamp is up and covering the end of the walk. We couldn't get to the end where you get down to the trail leading to the lagoon. That will be a hike for another day in a few months when it's dry. I'll try to post a photo of Rusty in the clearing at the Trekforce base camp that is about a mile in.