what's growing on?

Despite devastating dryness, the farm grows on! I am holding back on too much planting for a while, as I sharply ride the learning curve of dry season farming. However, with the creative assistance of our long term visitor and farming aficionado, Payita, the farm is not just a dust bowl!

Taking advantage of the shady chayotera, where dense chayote vines enthusiastically climb and twine, Paige established a beautiful bed of arugula, cabbage, carrots, and cilantro.
Protected from the fierce sunlight yet thriving on its nourishing warmth, the seedlings enjoy the ultimate natural greenhouse!

Perhaps you remember the papaya seedlings I started almost a YEAR AGO?? Standing tall at over 6 feet high, the papaya trees are now basking in tropical sun, flowering, and finally fruiting!

The papaya fruit emerges from a pollinated female flower. I was lucky to end up with at least one male plant, identified by the long skinny flower stalks, pictured below, and at least 2 hermaphrodite plants.

A hermaphrodite or "perfect" plant is the ideal papaya variety; although in severe weather conditions, a plant may change genders! Crazy.

The papayas grew fast with little attention, and now provide desperately-needed shade along the perimeter of the garden. Superstars!

The forever hardy congo chili pepper is at home on our farm, self propagating everywhere I turn around. This is the most common chili you will run into in Nicaragua-- and don't be fooled by its tiny size either. Once a congo ripens to fire engine red, hot DAMN!

You say: papaya, I say: papaya...

Even the most gringo of gringos can pronounce papaya with the ease and elegance of well-spoken español. Try it: PAPAYA
So easy, si?
Papayas are tropical-loving plants all the way. Dr. Seuss has nothing on this tree--look at it! From their long giraffe-like trunks all the way to their enormous frog-fingery leaves, these guys make truffula trees look like your average joe oak. Not to mention those wild groovy fruits!!!

Carica papaya

If you had never seen the inside of a papaya, you might be startled by its vivid orangey innards, and even more so by the plethora of slimy black semillas. this is not the most flattering photo, but honestly papaya is a delicious fruit!

Like your other orangey-red fruits and veg, papaya contains antioxidants, as well as the digestive enzyme papain--which means that somehow, papaya is good for your digestion! The flesh isn't the only medicinal part, the SEED of papaya has also made a name for itself. Ground up maybe, or just nibbled, the seeds are reported to expel intestinal worms (around here, this is critical info, i should know),,,and others (raw foodists, who else) claim that the seeds' flavor mimics that of black pepper. i am currently drying some up to give it a try.

Over at the farm, i employed papaya seeds (from the tree shown above) to fulfill the One True Destiny of all seeds: PROPAGATION! Following the advice of friendly online tropical gardeners, i deposited somewhere between 50 and 100 seeds into a shallow, fertile bed with ample sunshine, the idea being to thin out the more scraggly guys after germination.

After almost 2 months of impatient watering, we've got papaya! In keeping with their bizarre atypical appearance, papayas are one fruit tree that will produce fruit within the first year--the countdown is on!

you can already recognize the frog-fingers on this one!