HARVEST?

We're not waiting for autumn, Thanksgiving, or any date at all. Febrero, junio, septiembre, doesn't matter! Harvest is ALL YEAR LONG in these parts! From the farm this week, may I proudly present our second ayote squash, patiently awaiting its debut in Mildred's special del almuerzo, Sopa Vegetariana.


And feast your eyes on these TANGERINES (not limes)! You can wait for them to get orangey sweet or use them green in tangy sour refrescos (fruit drinks)!

OK seriously, the weather is balmy all year so it is possible to cultivate and harvest continuously. this is obvious. However there are SEASONS here, and i'm still trying to figure them out. When i arrived here last July, it was HOT. basically summer. easy. Slowly but surely the rain showers increased in length and frequency, by Oct we welcomed La Epoca de Lluvia. again, easy. Come January, I was expecting warming temps, spring-like, and so i began planting seeds. Scarlet Runner Beans to be exact. Turns out, surprise! It's the Windy Season, silly! At first it seemed refreshing, pleasant even. Six weeks later, allow me to reflect:
Serious strong gusts of wind day AND night. Bike riding? challenging to say the least. Sleeping soundly? impossible, as doors and windows and the roof rattle and shake and shiver. Being at the farm? loose dirt in your eyes gets old FAST. Growing pole beans????? sad, sad, amateur mistake. here's hoping the winds will fade before my bean babies reach heights worthy of wind ravage.

My contribution to the ongoing harvest this week: Tons of Kombucha! Our liquor cabinet has been transformed, bottles of booze reused as bottles of 'buch. Did you spot the old Carlo Rossi wine bottle now harboring a fizzy ginger-lemon brew? (see ginger floating in the bottom)


here's a bubbly glass of kombucha de jamaica, a simple infusion of hibiscus tea. DElicious!