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Post by glen on Apr 25, 2015 14:40:54 GMT -6
Other developments. We are in a full scale drought here in Las Tablas área. We have wáter in the house only for a few hours each day. Sometimes for an hour or 2 in the evenings. First thing in the morning we have to fill up containers of wáter and do laundry if needed. Its just part of the routine now. I have a well in the back yard that I only use for irrigation. When I fill up a bucket with this wáter it is full of Green chunks because I have no filter system. I use that wáter for flushing the toilet though. Temps are in the 90's during the days and probably in the 80's in the middle of the night. My yard and plants are Green though cause I use lots and lots of what everyone else does not have(wáter). I got lots of it. Just can't drink it yet until I get a filter system and have the wáter tested etc. I almost feel guilty. I got the only Green spot in a sea of death. Death Valley this place ought to be called by the looks of it. Its real crispy here. I got several cows that hang out right behind my yard in the pasture. They live in Death Valley and they look into my yard with high hopes and empty stomachs. They try and push their way in. If only they could get in. Sigh. They would destroy everything in my yard in less 10 minutes. I mean, eat everything. Hmmm. Maybe I should take another look at my fence?
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Post by glen on Apr 26, 2015 20:00:22 GMT -6
Its Sunday April 26. I went to the agricultura Expo today that they hold every year here in Los Santos Province. Its a big fair with streets and businesses and Little tiendas and kiosk's and agri stuff. Test gardens. Cattle. Cars and equipment and everything you can think of for sale. Lots of junk. From all over Central American is for sale. Lots of nursery stock vendors. But, no seed for sale. And, no good suggestions on where you can buy seed. I did steal some sedes from the test gardens where I could that was browned out on the plants. I bought a named variety of mango tree called Tommi Atkins for 3 bucks and a few other plants. And, very important, a sling shot, hand made in Nicaraugua. This will be used to discipline the chickens that are terrorize my garden. The neighbor tells me that the chickens visit my yard because it is the only Green place with something good to eat in the Hood. Duh! Its evidently not his fault but he does appreciate the free okra and sweet potato's I give him all the time. I will be firing off my sling shot at the chickens whenever I get the chance. I have already tried it on the cattle in the back yard. Not very effective on them. They don't like it but it doesn't deter them. Oh well. The chickens probly will just laugh as well. At any rate, I have more okra coming in than I can use now. I don't know what I am going to do about that. Maybe I can reward my neighbor again for job well done about the chicken issue. I was treated tonight with dug up garden beds where I had just planted long beans and bittermelon. They also like to pick at my sweet potato's, turning fine speciman into culls. Okra that I pruned are now turning into Little bushes and putting out 3 or 4 okra at a time now. I have been eating okra almost everyday. In everything. Guess I need to freeze some.
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Post by glen on Apr 26, 2015 20:13:43 GMT -6
Oh, I was checking out the public veggy garden and did see sweet potato's growing. There is none for sale anywhere of course even though there were many veggy vendors there and products etc made from locally grown veggy's like sugar cane etc. I did see the most beautiful pile of giant sweet potatos in a shop where they sold veggy's. I asked how much? Nope. Not for sale. Just for looks. I just wanted to know how much sweet potato's were selling for. They don't sell em I guess. They are priceless. I didn't see any okra either. Anywhere. They don't know what that is. I am going to have lots and lots of priceless okra seed very soon and the only use these folks got for em is making coffee. Thats it. And, if ya want to grow sweet potato's here good luck with that as well. I have no idea where you would get slips if you didn't already have em. What a country? They do have the most wonderful hand made sling shots at the fair though and they are only 2 bucks each. If you want a coke? Thats a buck and a half. Its a no brainer.
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Post by glen on Apr 29, 2015 11:01:01 GMT -6
My okra plants are increasing production. I can't eat it all. I am trying to give it away. Maty, my partner has decided that I have grown too much and is trying to dictate how many I can plant in the future. She suggests 4 plants. Thats not going to happen though. At this time I have about 23 plants growing and I do admit that that is too much since I cannot give it away. There is just no enthusiasm for it here. So, even though I will not agree to grow just 4 plants in the future, it will be less than the current 23. I have been picking Brown zb and hh pods. There is a big pile of them in the house stacked up. Dozens more outside that will be ready in the near future and no potential home gardeners to donate them too. It is hard for me to admit that okra has no future here in Panama. I have been spurned. Rejected. I am alone in my love for okra. I might as well be growing dog turds. Maty is insisting that I make room for more worthy crops in the garden like chinese eggplant or tomato's or peanuts or beans. How boring is that? I am devastated.
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Post by glen on Apr 29, 2015 11:25:17 GMT -6
Today an old man brought over a Little bag full of a fruit I had never seen before. He called it Nispero. I gave him a Brown zeebest pod full of sedes. He was not really so happy to get the okra sedes nor was I so happy to get the níspero(loquat) fruit. I promptly tasted the Brown fruits and I just couldn't wrap my taste buds around it. Maty, who is Columbian had not tried this fruit either. Very sweet in a very different way with a big black seed in the middle. We agreed that we would not be planting the sedes. Just as the old man probably will not be planting the zb sedes that he received in Exchange for this fine gift. I did admit that in an emergency I would happily eat this fruit with zero complaints. There are so many things to try in the tropics. Most of which are pretty hard to adapt to. Okra being one them I guess. Life is not all about me, but these folks do need to get on board with the okra idea darn it or I promise I will sulk and stomp my feet in protest. And no, I am not going to plant loquat. That'll teach em.
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Post by macmex on Apr 30, 2015 11:54:36 GMT -6
Glen, my wife and I sometimes disagree strongly, on things like what and how much of what to grow. God put us together, not because we are alike, but because we compliment one another I suspect you'll both be happiest with compromise! It takes time to acquire a taste for new things. But the key is to seek to try and acquire a taste by continual exposure. Here's something I wrote on our experience, in ag, in Mexico. It illustrates the time factor. And, I hope it also illustrates how the learning is mutual. ---------------------------------------------- Brother José and the Guayaba Trees
In the early 90s our family was sent to serve at the Camino de Vida Bible Institute. The mission had been after me for several years, to consider that ministry, as I had theological training and skills which would be useful in the service of the school and training of students. We arrived in 1993. Even before we arrived we had correspondence with Mark Hedinger, the new director, and knew that I would be working with “ag.” Almost immediately upon arrival we met the other staff. Brother José, who had an interest in all things growing, was to work with me and under me in that program. He, of course, had other responsibilities, as did Maria, his wife. Though not really indigeonous (Indian), José had grown up in an area that was predominantly indigeonous. Our family had just returned from a year of home ministries in the U.S.A., having previously served a five year term in a predominantly indigeonous area, in the state of Puebla. We had achieved a good level of linguistic and cultural fluency. Yet, we would never arrive at the point we could say that we had completely figured out this cross cultural thing! José and I did have much in common. I believe we started out, very much liking each other. At one point, a couple of years into our relationship, we didn't really like one another that well. Our cultural differences caused us to rub one another the wrong way. Eventually we came fast friends. But it was a journey. Like most young American missionaries I arrived with big plans! I was confident that we were going to make some revolutionary changes. In the area of ag (later I came to call it agronomy) it seemed certain we were going to make good progress, both in actual food production for the school, and in our ability to train young Mexican students to better their own lives, physically, when they returned to their places of ministry. In the end, I believe we did achieve many of our dreams. Yet, this was not without frustration, and certainly, the Lord had much to accomplish in us through the process. By the time the Lord called us back to the US, I understood that, to many of my Mexican friends, there were few more irritating things than a foreigner who related as a know-it-all. By the time we left that ministry I had come to have a healthy respect for Brother José and for many of the things he and my rural brethren knew and did. Indeed, my family and I had come to understand, and to some degree adopt, so much of his culture, that we had a few “scrapes” with new missionaries (and heard about it from the home office) when we supported a position taken by our indigenous brethren. Still, the fact remains, we foreigners did have much to offer. We just had to learn how best to share. The first fall after we arrived I found some guayaba saplings in the market and took them out to the Bible Institute. Our family, like most of the other families at the school, loved guayabas. We purchased them frequently. I was excited to think we could grow our own. I planted them alongside a small canal near the school's community wash area. They were beside the canal. But without irrigation, they would receive little or no moisture during their first year in the ground. Our school was located in a desert area and the dry season was just beginning. Brother José, besides helping me with “ag” was in charge of student labor. Every student was expected to contribute two hours a day, five days a week, to the school. We had recently planted a good many shade trees. I planted two guayabas. After a couple of weeks of classes I noticed that the guayabas were not looking very well. They were very dry. When we were together for a moment I quizzed José about the guayabas. It went something like this: Me: “Brother José, have you noticed that the guayaba trees are looking sickly?” José: “Yes, guayabas do not grow well in this region.” Me: “Really? My impression is that the climate and soil are suitable. They even sell them in the Ixmiquilpan market.” José: “That's just for well off town's people. Guayabas don't grow well here.” Me: Have you ever grown them in this region? Do you know anyone who has tried? José: No. They don't grow here. Me: “Let's give it a try! I bet they will!” José: “Sí.”
At least in rural Mexican Spanish, there is more than one kind of “sí.” (Translated “yes.”) One “sí” means “I agree.” Another means “I will comply.” But by far the most common “sí” means “I heard you.” That's it. It neither indicates compliance, acceptance, rejection or rebellion.” It simply means “I hear you.” José heard me, but, as the weeks went by, it was obvioius that he was not going to comply. I took to watering the trees, a couple of times a week, while on my lunch break. José ignored the trees. I let the matter drop with him, though I did comment to my family on how puzzled I was about his lack of receptiveness. In about a year the trees began to grow. Their roots had reached the water table. Sometime around the third year they started to produce a trickle of fruit. For eight years we continued serving with our Mexican brethren. During the last couple of years the school went into nationalization mode. Our family was the last expatriot family on staff. José continued in his role, though, we all knew that eventually he would stand in my place. We worked many projects together. Projects like rabbitry consumed much more of our time and produced more spectacular results. But the guayabas did keep growing.... In 2000 my home church in NJ contacted me with a call to the pastorate. They were having problems and leadership decided they needed my gifts at home. This was the only church which could have called us from the field. We prepared to leave. We had about six months to make those preparations. One day, toward the end of our time at the Bible Institute, our sixteen year old son happened upon Brother José giving a tour of campus to a visiting family. When they walked by the canal he stopped and indicated the guayaba trees, which were now about 10' tall and covered in fruit. Ben overheard him exclaiming about how excited “we were” with the discovery of guayaba production on our campus. José mentioned that he had begun making cuttings and giving them to various brethren, as they would come in from the villages. Ben remembered my puzzlement over Agustins' poor reception of the intial planting. His sense of justice was arroused. But wisely he said nothing. Not only would it have been very discourteous, but also, he was extremely fond of José. He held his tongue, mentioning it to us at dinner that night. We rejoiced! This was as good an outcome as we could have hoped for! Brother José a respected leader in the national church was sold on guayabas. Not only that, he was promoting them among brethren from the villages! The guayaba bushes stand in our minds as a symbol of successful ministry among those who share these cultural traits. The “technology” was accepted. It just took much longer than we originally envisioned. Along the way we became lifelong friends and fellow laborers in the gospel. By the time the “technology” was accepted, the original “conflict” was irrelevant. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:3-8 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 2 Corinthians 3:1-4
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Post by glen on May 1, 2015 9:16:44 GMT -6
Thats a great story George and very applicable to my Little garden as well. I had dreams of introducing okra into this área but I know now that they just don't like it. I will get over it. As far as the Guayaba goes. I have a tree in the back yard called gaunabana. That's different isn't it? I just asked Maty about this. We also have a guava tree in the yard. Maty says that this is guayava. I planted both of these tree's in the last year. The gaunabana fruit tree is already producing 2 fruits which is extremely rare for them to produce this early in my área. They usually drop all blooms and sometimes they continue to drop blooms for many years before producing the first fruits. My Gauva tree has not bloomed yet but it is still small. I understand that pests are a serious problema for gauva in my área and you need to bag up the tiny fruits to protect them. I planted a Tommi Atkins mango day before yesterday and we also have a beautiful avocado tree that is about 10 foot tall already. I have various citrus tres. Also a chirimoya or sweetsop and a Wax Jambu or Aqua de manzana in the back yard. Everything has been planted in the past year. I have high hopes and a wáter hose for this Little tropical garden. And, lots of excess okra.
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Post by glen on May 1, 2015 9:21:49 GMT -6
Yesterday we got the first rain! At least 3 inches. We hadn't recieved a drop of rain since early last Dec 2014. In fact, I just Heard a Little thunder in the background so we might even get some more. It was driving rain, lots of thunder and lightning and rain blew into our front porch and flooded our living room. That was a reminder that I need to install an awning type roof in front of our house but that still has to wait awhile. At any rate, we got rain! Very good news.
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Post by macmex on May 2, 2015 5:29:55 GMT -6
Glen,
I am sure that guava is the same as guayaba. The difference in name is simply due to regional differences, and, perhaps, going back and forth, in my thinking, from Spanish to English. I think the main point of that story is that it takes time; much more time than we would like, sometimes, to introduce something new in many cultures. Their are two keys to doing it: 1) time (lots of it) and 2) relationship. If one is content in their relationship with the people, showing mutual respect, and enjoying that which they wish to introduce, sooner or later, someone there will take it up and champion it. The expatriot can introduce something. But it will take someone who is really part of the host culture, to take it forward and get others to really seriously adopt the new food/crop. So, enjoy your okra. Enjoy your neighbors and the people who come into your life, down there. Learn from them and they will, eventually, learn from you. My guess is that the Chinese, who live near you, will faster to adopt new things.
I hadn't seen a cherimoya for nearly 20 years. But I did recognize it in your pictures! I'll try to get a couple of your pictures posted soon.
George
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Post by glen on May 2, 2015 8:50:38 GMT -6
George, the fruit in the photo was a gaunabano. Cherimoya is closely related but looks much different. I am sure you have seen and eaten both fruits. There are just so many different ones.
I agree with you about people not wanting to try new things. Culture is complex. Heck, lots of people in the US don't eat okra either.
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Post by glen on May 2, 2015 15:55:38 GMT -6
Ok, I have a quick update. I have been giving some okra to a couple of nice Chinese men that work in a store down the Street. They have a giant garden in the back of the store, much bigger than mine. I just asked one of them if they liked the okra. One said not so much, the other man said he loved it. I think I have a conversión! Maty, my girlfriend told me that I was wasting my time since the Mom and Dad are gone, and will be away for a few months. Maty says that Chinese men don't cook. She was wrong! I am excited now that I finally found someone in Panama that likes okra. And,he will probably plant some. Kind of awkward trying to talk to this guy since we both use the same broken Spanish buy hey, I will take what I can get. A new okra convert who just might start growing some zeebest and Heavy hitter okra in the near future. Yeeeess! George is right, Chinese people will try something new. Very open minded in comparison to Latino's. No offense of course to any Latino's that might read this material. I like everybody.
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Post by glen on May 8, 2015 17:58:21 GMT -6
Today I discovered that I have an infestation of White fly's in the garden. They are attacking long beans, bittermelon, tomato's and a few other things. I am spraying with a permithrin based spray but have not had much affect on them. Looks like problems ahead! I dug up a couple of sweet potato plants just to see how they are doing. One spud was over 2 lbs but the other plant I dug had only a few, small potato's. The plants are 3 and a half months old in that part of the garden. I am going to wait a couple of weeks to continue digging em up I guess. The May 1st rain was a fluke. Haven't had a drop since and it is hot as the devil. I am having to wáter as much as ever. Okra production has slowed down. Many of the plants have been pruned. I do not know if the plants will continue to produce much more. I am trying to source a new species of okra called Abelmoshus Caillei, or African okra. I will let you know if I can source it and have it shipped to me. Probably be a few months before I can get some. This African okra is supposed to be short day okra. A completely different species of okra that is commonly grown in parts of Africa. This plant grows big, starts producing later, for a longer harvest period, in short day climates. Well, thats how it is being touted. We'll see.
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Post by glen on May 10, 2015 12:36:20 GMT -6
It appears that the White fly problema, or blanco mosque issue is affecting more plants than I thought. I am finding it now in my petunia's and some other delicate ornamental plants. I have hundreds of plants growing now. Hard to keep up with everything. I checked the long beans and bittermelon this morning. The permithrin seems to be having at least some effect on controlling them. I need to find a different solution and fast. Oh, I had neighbors over yesterday and they bought some ornamentals that we have growing in containers and I donated a big bag of okra to them as well as some seed. The lady actually knew what okra was and how to use it. Very surprising. Maybe she will plant some. Who knows? I might have also found a source for the Abelmoshus Caillei okra seeds. I will have to wait a few months to get it. I believe that this okra is already in Panama and I might have even grown some. I thought it was just an inferiour okra and ended up pulling them out after just getting disgusted with them. The plants needed zero wáter, got big but never game me a satisfactory crop. After seeing a photo of this african okra and Reading about it it made me think that I had african okra in the yard and didn't even know it! At any rate, the new sedes should be better seed stock than what I had before. On another note. I was outside and noticed that I have a lemon tree in the yard, only one year in the ground and it is already producing a few lemons. Amazing! I never in my life have ever seen citrus tree's start producing this fast. Weird.
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Post by macmex on May 11, 2015 8:47:19 GMT -6
White flies can be a real problem. But I bet they will clear up when the rains start.
Lemons! Probably the most useful fruit tree on earth! Wish we could grow them in Oklahoma! Wait! My wife asked me for two, just yesterday! Guess, we're going to try bringing them in during the winter!
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Post by glen on May 12, 2015 8:41:54 GMT -6
George, I hope you are right about the White fly's. Yes, lemons are my favorite citrus fruit since I use it for making tea. We don't know exactly what kind of lemon we have yet. We have been taking fruits off of tree's we find on the side of the road and in vacant lots. They have a variety here they call naranjilla which has no market value but is actually pretty good to use in iced tea. That might be the variety we have as well. Lemons aren't in season now unfortuneately. I even use sour oranges when I can get them. They grow very Hardy citrus here and the quality is different than what I am used to. But, the Price is right. Soon, the mango's will be in season. Mango's are everywhere here and they have no market value. You just stop and pick them from feral tree's.
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