Mango Tango!!

Mango season is FINALLY here!!

 

On May 23, 2015, Daddy picked up 2 1/2 big sacks of mangoes from the market. There was around 100 mangos in all!! The next Monday(May 25th) Momma, Keaton, Grady and I cut up all of the ripe mangoes. It was super fun. We froze about 10 big zip lock bags. So far we have made mango

ice cream, mango turmeric smoothie, mango salsa, mango tacos, stewed mango pits and.....we just eat mango by itself. We froze the mangoes because mangoes have a season like apples do at home. we can only get them one time of the year. So we froze them so that we could have mango in the other seasons.

Cutting up 100 mangoes. .

Yummm. Mango!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have a logo for our new property business which is called 'Vista Del Sol.' Which, in Spanish, means 'view of the sun.' The logo is sort of de-shaped in my opinion because at first glance, it looks like.....nothing. If you look at it longer, you can sort of see the shape of a sun above a mountain. Momma played around with it on the computer for awhile and she made it look REALLY good.

 

 

Vista del Sol logo. D9 developments is Nery
and Marien and us.

Saturday 30, 2015, was our fist day at the market selling our micro-greens. We sold about 60 containers. We had about 20 pre-orders BEFORE we went to the market. It went really well. Guava Limb, which is a small café in San Ignacio, is definitely interested in the micros.

Red Rambo Radish micro greens.

Sorry about the short posting,

Comments welcome,

 

Paige Dietrich

Ba Ba Black Sheep, Have You Any Wool???

I thought that sheep everywhere grew wool. Many of you probably did to. Well, we're wrong. Here in Belize the sheep grow only a thin layer of hair. (not wool!) On Wednesday, May 6, 2015, Nery, Daddy and Grady went to a farm in Duck Run 1,2 or 3.(we don't remember which!) There was one bigger black one about 7 months old. There is 2 white ones about 3 1/2 to 4 months old.(they're the youngest) There is 2 light brown and black ones that are about 4 to 4 3/4 months old. There is also one brown and white spotted one. I named one of the ones with light brown and black, Tilly. Grady named the brown and white spot one, Lollipop. Keaton named one of the white ones                . Momma named the big black one, Negro and one of the white ones, Gringo. And one we still need to name. In all we got 6 lambs. We are feeding them the sprouts we are growing and they eat like pigs!!

 

This is Negro, chowing down some
sprouts.

All of our lambs in their new home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last night,(The 8th of May) we went to Nery and Mariens house to sew some dresses for us girls. When we finished cutting out the pieces, we went out back to hold the baby cats. I named one of the 1 month old ones, Pint because it was the smallest out of his litter. After that we all went and climbed the 'Belizean plum' tree. When the plums are ripe, they are about the size of a very large grape. When they are premature, they are green, but as the get older, they are a red colour. After that, we all went down closer to the road and played at their play set for a while. When we came back up to the house, Grady, Nery, Marien, Daddy and Momma went inside to get supper ready and to just sit down. Then Summer, Nikki, Keaton and picked 4 or 5 Kumquats and then climbed up the mango tree and talked about funny movies over a BIG snack of kumquats. In all I had about 8 kumquats!!! My  mouth was tingling like crazy after that from the sour/tart/sweet flavour. Then we went inside, washed up our hands, then had a nice supper of escabeche(es-ca-be-chi), stewed beans and nacho chips. Escabeche is a type of soup eaten in Belize. It is a lime broth with chicken and allspice in it. It is my favorite Belizean meal besides rice and beans. While we were eating, we had the idea to ask Marien if we could watch the new movie they got called 'Missis Doubt Fire.' It is about two people who get divorced and the court says the dad only gets visitation rights one day a week. The dad says that one day a week is not enough, but the judge says only one day a week. When the mom is looking for a nanny to watch the kids when they get home from school, Daniel, the dad, goes to his brother who is a costume designer and tells him needs to turn him into an old lady. They try many costumes and make up but nothing fits. Finally, the last costume is a perfect one. Her had to wear an old lady dress too!! When she(or he) calls the mom to get the job as a nanny, the kids fall right in love with their new 'nanny.' He goes through times that I thought the mom would find out.But finally, it all ends well with the being able to see his kids every day. It was a 5 star movie for me!!!

 

Sorry I can't tell more, but I will in a week or so. We are just off to Nery and Mariens house to feed the lambs and have some carrot cake.

 

Bye for now......

~Paige Dietrich~

OUR SEED IS HERE!!!!!!

Hey all.......

Our seed finally arrived Wednesday, 12, 2015. It was somewhere around 4,000 pounds!!! We also got our portable piano case in the shipment. it took us only 30 minutes to unload it. We got broccoli, pea, sunflower, chard, amaranth, mild mix, spicy mix, buckwheat and alfalfa. We have some of each planted in our green house. Last week the greenhouse got up to 127 Fahrenheit.


Today we went to Nery, Marien, Summer and Nikki's house to pick a 'mystery' fruit.

Guess!!! Answer will be in next paragraph.














We were picking.......................... CASHEW NUTS!!!!
We mad cashew and watermelon juice with the cashew 'apple.'




If we go pick again, we are going to roast the nut then we can eat it. You can also make cashew jam with it.

love,
paige J Dietrich
xxooxxooxxooxxoo

MORE VISITORS.........MORE FUN!!!!!!!!!

Greetings from the Sunny South,

sorry it's been so long since my last post. We've been busy for the last week with Uncle Kyle, Aunt Mandy, Maren and Mayelle.

They came in on Friday,  April 3, 2015. We picked them up at the airport at 11:30 our time.(1:30 your time) We had tostones, which is boiled, fried and flattened green plantains. We also had veggies and muffins. Dad had rented a big, 12 person van so that we could all fit in one car. We drove home and, as usual, showed them around the whole property then inside the whole house. We played for the rest of the day. We have a futon couch so we moved that into my room so that Maren and I could sleep on it.

On Saturday, we went to the market. Then we went to the Mayan ruins. There was the biggest bike race in Belize happening that day. The bikers started at Belize City then biked to San Ignacio and then all the way back to Belize City. We went to Hode's Place, (it's a restaurant) for lunch.

Sunday we went to church. Then we had Nery, Marien and the girls, Brendon and Asia and the girls, and Sonia and Jeremiah and the kids over for lunch. We had a good day with friends, food and music.

Monday we went to pine ridge for a good day of swimming and hiking. This time we swam a lot more than last time. (if you look in my other blog posting called Hike To Pine Ridge, there will be some pics) After that, Marien decided that we would come over to their house for supper.

Tuesday we went to Calico Jacks which is a zip lining tour company. We did the Entermedeo run. There was 7 zip line runs, 1 jungle lift, and 2 little hikes. It was really fun. It took us close to an hour to finish all the runs.

Wednesday we went to the inland blue hole. We first did a one and a half mile hike. Then we hiked 15 min to get to a cave called St. Herman's Cave. Inside was so dark that when we turned of all of the flashlights it was pitch dark.  Then we did another 20 min hike from the cave to the visitor center. From there we did another one and a half mile walk. After that we had a picnic lunch of muffins, veggies, corn tortillas, fried chicken, sausages, hard boiled eggs, plantain scones, turkey pieces and bananas. Finally we went to the swimming hole. It was as cold as lake water! We finally all got in and swam for a good half an hour to 45 minutes.  We went to the best ice-cream shop in Belize after that!! It was GOOD!


The inland blue hole.

Thursday we woke up early and drove to the Belize City port. We took a 45 min water taxi out to an island called Caye Caulker. It was about 2 miles long by 1/2 a mile wide. Small and quaint. We swam for a long time. Then we rented two stand up paddle boards. The adults had a good time on those. Then we had ice-cream! In total we were there for about eight hours! It was really nice there.

Awesome swing seats at one of the
restaurants on Ceye Caulker.

Aunt Mandy on the stand-up paddle
board.

Cool plumbing-tube slides into the crystal clear ocean.

Friday Uncle Kyle, dad, Keaton, Nery, Nikki and I went to hike the property we're thinking to buy.(read one of my postings called "Laying Hens, Possibly a New Property/House, And More Than That....Wow I Haven't Done a Post For a Long Time!") This time we hiked more into the bush to see the hills and spots we might sever off lots on. It was fun. While we were gone the others drove into town(Spanish Lookout) for some groceries. That night the adults played Settlers and the kids watched a movie called Parent Trap. It was hilarious!

Saturday we woke up early and drove to the airport in Belize City. there was lots of kisses and hugs going around for everyone. Then we came home and just chilled.

That is all that is new and now we are back to normal routine with school work and sprouts.

I hope all is well and the cold doesn't get to frustrating,
warm hugs from Belize,
Paige
xoxoxox

Weekend Of Exitment

So sorry it has been such a long time since my last posting. With nana and papa here, I didn't have time to go online and write one.
So, here it goes!

With nana and papa, we went to Jaguar Reef resort for two nights and two and a half days. We requested the same room that we had last time to have again this time. We had fun splashing in the pool, walking down the beach and sitting on beach chairs. At night, after and before supper, we watched Swiss Family Robinson. I REALLY liked it because there was a lot of funny parts in it.

Yup....our daily swimming.

IT WAS FUN.

Nana and Papa soaking up the sun.



'Happy hour' at the resort means
3 scoops of ice-cream for the
price of 2 scoops!!!!!

 

Saturday, March 14 we went to Nery and Mariens to slaughter our broiler chickens. We brought a cooler and three bins of live chickens. First Nery grabbed one chicken by the feet then chopped its head off with his machete. Then he threw the body into the grass, and boy.....they were active!!!! Backflips and summersaults....I never knew chickens could do that!! Once it was on its back and wasn't moving, Nery grabbed it and dipped it in boiling water holding it by the feet. Then came the plucking.  Out came all the feathers!!! After all 16 chickens had been plucked, we did a five second grill on both sides of the chicken. Then Daddy, Momma and Nery did the cutting-open and
de-gutting. GROSS!!!!       We all had our jobs in the chicken cleaning. The adults did the cutting, Keaton did the quick wash, I did the rinsing in lime water and bagging, Summer(our friend) kept the cats from eating the liver, heart and stomach(which we were keeping)from out of the bag. And Grady...well, half the time she was telling us she was bored and the other half she was filling up water buckets for us. After, we had a VERY delicious, home raised, chicken lunch. Then we went outside and picked some Belizean raspberries and cherries to freeze. Next we came inside and had Choco- Banana which is a banana on a stick dipped in chocolate. By 7 o'clock we were on the floor doing an 1000 piece puzzle. I have to say I surprised myself that I liked chicken butchering so much!



Plucking!!!!Look at me right in there!

From living....to food. YUMMY!

 

Hike to Pine Ridge

So today we went to Mountain Pine Ridge with Nery and Marien and the girls.
Because some parts of the road were not only gravel, but dirt, it took us a good hour to drive up there. 
First we went to a destination called Rio Frio Cave. 'Rio' means river and 'frio' or fria means cold. It makes sense because the river was REALLY cold. Basically it's a mountain that had a small river running through it, and as time went on, the river ate away at the mountain and hollowed it out. Now it is a cave with beautiful stalactites and stalagmites. We walked through it on big rocks and it was really cool.

Some of the big stalactites hanging outside the cave.

This is some of the rocks inside the cave.

there was a little sandy area in the middle
beside the river that we went on. It was inside
 the cave still!
 

The next spot we went to was called Rio on Pools. I don't really know why they named it that because I don't get how the words fit.
Anyway, it is a big mix of rivers, waterfalls and big stone boulders with more than enough space for a 9 person picnic, all squished together. some of the 'pools' were shallow and some of them deep. We made big human chains to cross over waterfalls and wide streams.
we had a little picnic on the rocks then went swimming in the rivers.

Some of us sitting on the rocks.

 

The last place we went to was called Big Rock. It was a lot like Rio on Pools, but the water was deeper and the waterfalls were flowing faster. I don't think that it is a very good place for kids to play.





one of the many raging waterfalls at
Big Rock

So that was all of my journey. I hoped it would never end, but all things do.
I hope to share with you more of these fun adventures.

Love you all,
Paige

BLESSINGS FROM BELIZE

Laying hens, Posibly a new property/house...And more than that.....WOW, I havn't done a post for a long time!!!!!

Wow,
I just realized how long its been since I last wrote up a post.
Sorry to all who were itching for another one.

So we now have broilers AND laying hens. Daddy built a cage called 'the chicken tractor' for the broilers to go in. ( A Joel Salatin book is where he got it from) We kept the laying hens in their coop for about 2 weeks so that at night the hens know were to go to lay and sleep. We let them out into their pen after clipping their wings and let them be free to go were ever they wanted to in their pen. We named them all because they all look different.
There is Ruestin, who is black and white, Elsa who is light brown and dark brown, Queen LaQuichea 1 and Queen LaQuichea 2 who are light, light brown and black, Collet 1, 2, and 3, who are pure black, Blizzard, who is pure white, Uncle Kyle, who is the only hen with hairy feet,(sorry uncle Kyle!) and McFlurry, who is dark brown. Mom and I like the sound that the hens make better than what the broilers make. They make a purring sound in their throat instead of a chirping noise.
We have only gotten one egg a day so far. It seems to be the same one every time.


Two weeks ago, Our friends Nery and Marien and the girls(I talk about them in other posts to)
went and walked a 33 acre property(we walked the perimeter only) that was for sale. We are praying and asking God if it is the right place to live. I would like to because if we do we will both build on the same property.(us and Nerys family(Our best friends)) It took us about an hour and 15 minutes to walk only the perimeter. We have made some house plans already. Our house is hopefully going to be made out of earth blocks. To get more details about earth block homes, simply look up 'compressed earth block homes.'



About a week ago, Nery's family and us went to Belize City for an Aquaponics trip.
Mr. Jimmy raised big Tilapia fish. Basically you use the fish poo and pee water to water your plants. He had a big green house with lettuce and kale. It was the GREENEST plants I've seen in Belize!!!!!
To know more, just look up 'Aquaponics.'

Yesterday we went to Nery's and we hiked the forest behind their house. after that they got out the horses and we went for horse rides. Not just rides, nobody held or touched me or the horse and I used the reigns the whole time!! It was fun to ride by myself. Daddy now sais I'm a real cow girl now, but I say not quite.
While we were there, we tasted Comquats and sweet limes.
Comquats are the size of dates. They have a citrusy outside and a really sour inside.  I ate off the skin and threw away the sour middle.
Sweet limes are about the size of a big grapefruit. The outside of it is light green. The inside is about 3 quarters of the white stuff around citrus. But instead of it being floppy and bitter, it was firm and had a mild sweetness. The pulpy part had a bit more sweetness than the white, but had a very, very slight sour taste. It was pretty tasty.

Last but not least, Nana and Papa are coming in 2 weeks!!!!!! We are going to have a great time with them. They can help feed the school kids on Wednesday mornings, go to the learning centre, and come to bible study with us!!!

But that's all for now,
love you all,
Paige

BLESSINGS FROM BELIZE