[/caption]Our green house has been home to most of our herbs and vegetables for the past few years. I have various vegetables but still keep an abundance of salad growing because we eat so much of it.
[caption id="attachment_2029" align="aligncenter" width="168" caption="Potatoes, Ginger and Onions"]
[/caption]The children planted some potatoes, ginger and onions in these tires.
[caption id="attachment_2031" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Papaya Seedling"]
[/caption]These pretty little seedlings were sowed from papaya seeds I collected from one of our papayas, also know as the 'fruit of the angels'. Papaya has many health benefits. It is a rich source of antioxidants and contains digestive enzymes. It promotes a healthy cardiovascular system and aids against colon cancer. I sometimes dry the leaves and give them to our livestock as a natural dewormer. Wild birds ate the leaves of our last crop and destroyed the plant, we only have a few trees left but they are fast growers and soon we will have over a 100 seedlings to plant.
[caption id="attachment_2033" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Tomato Seedlings"]
[/caption]Tomatoes grow very well here but lately we've had so much rain that they die from too much water.
[caption id="attachment_2032" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dandelion"]
[/caption]My favorite - dandelions, I only have about 5 of them because they don't grow here in the Dominican Republic. I brought the seeds over from the US and they seem to be doing quite well. I enjoy the younger leaves in salads and in herbal tea.
[caption id="attachment_1859" align="aligncenter" width="168" caption="Pineapple Plant"]
[/caption]This is a young pineapple growing in our citrus orchard. They are relatively easy to grow, they grow almost anywhere even in pots indoors if you live in a cooler climate. You can cut the top off the ones you buy in the supermarket making sure you clean away all the fruit flesh and put it in some soil. They grow with very little water and require no care at all. They are a family member of the Bromeliads and can display beautifully as an ornamental plant in the garden. The children have a few growing in their very own garden that they planted themselves. They can take between 18 to 20 months to fruit depending on your climate.
[caption id="attachment_2035" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Guanduli (Pigeon pea)"]
[/caption]Guanduli, also known as Pigeon Pea grows is in abundance here in the tropics. It has a nutty flavor. It is often blended with lentils and made into Indian daal curries or in combination with rice and other grains. We now have quite a few trees and plan to plant many more. It is also a beneficial plant as it fixes the ground with nitrogen. We will plant them as hedges, amongst our vegetables and between our fruit trees. It's a great fodder food for chickens.
[caption id="attachment_2034" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Garden Harvest"]
[/caption]A small bountiful harvest we picked from the garden today.
[caption id="attachment_1860" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fresh eggs from our chickens"]
[/caption]There is nothing like large brown eggs fresh from the chickens. Our chickens used to roam our farm freely until about 30 of them were killed by wild dogs. Two of our new dogs we saved from the streets also like to chase them so we had to build them their own little house and garden which is fairly large.
[caption id="attachment_2051" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Chicken House and Garden"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_1935" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lunch fresh from the farm"]
[/caption]One of my favorite lunch meals, quiche lorraine with our farm fresh eggs and cream. We are enjoying the season of avocados - the children climb the trees to select the fruit which are so firm and sweet mixed with our favorite dressing of olive oil, lemon and mustard (sometimes garlic) and of course our green salad that is served with every meal.
[caption id="attachment_2036" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Zinnias "]
[/caption]Some pretty zinnia growing wildly often visited by pretty butterflies.
[caption id="attachment_2025" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Royal Palm Seeds"]
[/caption]It looks like Christmas all around because all the palms are seeding, the ripened ones are red. The smaller palm seeds are eaten by the many birds we have around the farm.
[caption id="attachment_2024" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Royal Palm Flower visited by a busy bee"]
[/caption]Our bees are happy and their little pollen sacks are full. If only I could capture it on photo. The royal palm flowers are so delicate and fragrant.
[caption id="attachment_2022" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Cycad Flowering"]
[/caption]This Magestic Cycad is so pretty as its golden cone opens itself up to the heavens and crowns the plant.
[caption id="attachment_2027" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pretty Pink Flowers"]
[/caption]This pretty tree known as Pied de vaca - (the leaves are shaped like the hoof of a cow), grows alongside my children's play area, shades a little bench I sit under everyday as they absorb themselves in play. It's magical to hear the rapid fluttering of the honeysuckle as they frequently visit these flowers. All day there is a chorus of bees and birds as they suck the sweet nectar from it. I believe it is better to plant flowers and plants that attract these pretty little birds, butterflies and bees instead of putting out colored sugar water which may be harmful to them. Bees of course would need it in colder climates.
[caption id="attachment_2028" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Frangipani Worm"]
[/caption]These little worms have provided hours of amusement for my children as they have been treasured as garden pets. The worms decorate our frangipani tree by the hundreds with their brilliant yellow and black stripes. At the end of the season our tree is bare after their have devoured all the leaves to become big enough to form a crysalid and flutter into an impressive grey night pollinating moth.
you are sooooo lucky! what an amazing paradise. beautiful! i miss fresh food from the garden...
ReplyDeletemmm...i loved reading every little piece of this post!
ReplyDeleteit would be pure magic to visit your beautiful family, your lush gardens and superb meals! xo
Heaven on earth..for sure. You are so blessed. What gratitude you must have.
ReplyDeleteBe well!
I savoured every bit of this post, Jeanene. My boys would be there right beside yours planting and exploring and climbing trees to look for fruit...and eating that tasty meal. As for the worms, just perfect!!!! Frangipanis are lovely. I wonder if there are worms like those in Zim..there are lots of frangipani's there. And magnificent cycads. All so interesting - thank you.
ReplyDeleteOh, how jealous I am! I loved to garden as a kid and sold my herbs to the deli. Where I live now, it's difficult to grow things. Maybe a growing dome and raised beds will be a possibility in the future :-)
ReplyDeletePetra Christensen
Parelli 2Star Junior Instructor
Parelli Central
Wow. Thanks for posting all these. It's great to see it all. That food looks super yummy! And fresh dandelions for tea! Fab!
ReplyDeleteSo much beautiful and healthy food. The thought of growing a pineapple is appealing to me! Yum-
ReplyDeleteEverything looks so beautiful there! And those veggies make me hungry for spring.
ReplyDeleteIt's just amazing seeing all the extraordinary things growing all around you and your family. No wonder you're all such a picture of glowing health! Thank you especially for the tip about growing pineapples - I had no idea. I love the shot of the little harvest on your kitchen bench. It must be so satisfying making whole meals from your own produce. I get a little kick just from using mint leaves from my own little garden in the suburbs and thinking, these grow here! So I can only imagine the satisfaction of creating that wonderful quiche. Yum :)
ReplyDeleteWow, wow, wow!! Jeanene, there is drool on my keyboard... I love Quiche lorraine too! And I miss our raw cream so bad! Those flowers are so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteWhat, what? Fresh green things growing out of the grown? Most unlikely. The way it really works is this: water falls out of the sky, lands on the frozen earth and wakes it into mud, and pocks the arena so that the horses have to tip-toe across it or risk falling on their noses. THAT is what nature is. Do be careful of those dandelion seeds. You wouldn't want them to escape into that Eden of yours - they have a tendency to take over territories they were never meant to see. I want to have lunch with you. Today. Now. All of those things. But please do not bring the worms. We have had strange summers in which little green worms have tented all the trees and made skeletal ghosts of them. Very odd.
ReplyDeleteI want to say to my sons, "Go get me an avocado, please?" and have them kick off their shoes and head out the back door.
Just love your lunch, all made from your own garden, cheers Marie
ReplyDeleteThat's so funny about the dandtlions hun, in MN where we live, we get fined by the city if we let too many grow in our yarn!!!
ReplyDelete~Samantha
Pure nature, love it all!
ReplyDeleteWishing you a lovely merry Christmastime and a happy h a p p y New Year, Jeanne xxxx
What fascinating differences between our natural environments. We're about to put up a green house & I can't wait to see how this changes our garden this year. I don't know that passionfruit will be on the menu...
ReplyDeletewishing you lots of love and a very beautiful and merry christmas!!! xoxo
ReplyDelete