Our tropical food and other adventures continue daily.
Fresh, delicious papaya
This month we harvested our first papayas as well as our very first pineapple. I have never been a big fan of papayas because to me they smell a little like vomit. But this variety was actually pretty good and didn’t have the smell.
Pineapples are probably up there as one of my very favorite fruit, and we’ve had such issues with root rot here that I got so excited I just had to wear our first little harvest on my head along with some home-grown bananas! Haha, poor Britton always has to put up with my silly shenanigans.
Just call me Chiquita
In addition, it’s avocado season in full steam. Nearly every meal and snack now includes fresh avocados. Each evening and sometimes morning we go scour beneath the avocado trees. We have found four large mature avocado trees and we have planted another 8 or so, that are off-season varieties so (hopefully) soon we will be so overrun with avocados we won’t know what to do! Most days we’ve collected about 5-10 large avos. It’s amazing how much you can extend a meal when you have avocados. We have them with our eggs in the morning, with salads at lunch and with pretty much anything for dinner (nachos, rice and beans, etc).
A typical daily breakfast is almost all home grown -avos, mangos, starfruit, and scrambled eggs. We look forward to growing our own peppers soon too
Large orange iguana hanging out eating our fruit too- on the parcha vine!
The animals are all doing well. The baby turkeys are now living in the coop in a smaller cage and we take them out for walks daily until they are hawk-proof (about 3 months old). And of the two chicken chicks that survived from the original 6, one was a hen and the other a rooster. The hen is a gorgeous black chicken mix of auracana and Jersey giant and lays really cool green olive-colored eggs. The rooster is beautiful and huge, working for his place in the pecking order.
The birds crowding around Britton at dinner time
There are still four large male turkeys toms, and we need to decrease numbers because they fight a lot. But we want to wait until we have a stove and fridge to properly handle them. In the mean-time they are looking more beautiful than ever.
Turkey looking good
We are in the midst of a large project that I will write about once it is completed, but we have had quite a few days off as well. We have been going to the beach, hanging out, and playing music with friends.
Afternoon rain clouds form at Steps Beach after we went snorkeling and the water turned an amazing color
September is a quiet month in Rincón. The local Puerto Rican tourists have left and the North American tourists haven’t arrived yet. There are afternoon rains nearly daily, threats of hurricanes, and the heat can be super intense to work outside. (We take LOTS of showers and have all the fans on after sweating outside!) But I still wouldn’t trade it for anything.
When we’re not working we spend a lot of time just chillin’ in the Big Sky park of our yard with its ever changing painting
Take an avocado, coconut milk, cocoa powder and agave and whir it up in a ginsu thingy or blender and you will have a delightful mousse or pudding and won’t taste the avocado. Avocado ice cream, Chuck half into a smoothy…. We only get whimsy Hass avocados now – if Puerto Rico had its act together they could ship them here since you pick them had nd it is dyes before they ripen even without cooling
You´ve got no idea how lucky you are!
And that´s coming from a Puerto Rican that moved to Spain.
I never disliked papayas but never fell in love with them either. However, after so many years without eating and doing so here I learned to miss them. Plus, you get those huge ones. Here they sell small ones quite expensive and the bigger ones even more.
…and don´t let me started with avocados. Those I love.
Also, you should start cultivating pomarrosas . That´s my favorite fruit followed by quenepas, parcha and tamarindo.
Yummy fruit! You have such a wonderful bounty on your property and your birds are looking great. I can’t imagine not having a stove and refrigerator…it must be difficult. I’m enjoying your updates, Cassie 😉
Katrina, great recipe! I love chocolate anything, so I’ll have to check it out.
Lester, believe me, we know how fortunate we are. We have been waiting for this time to come for a while. In Colorado we LOVED summer gardening and the growing season of fruit trees we had there, but it was just so short. Here we already have so much food growing all year and we will have so many more that will come online too that we just can’t wait. As for your favorites -pomarrosas, tamarind, parcha, and quenepa- we have those growing too! We just harvested our first pormarrosas this year. They are sort of strange with their rosey smell/taste but I loved the crisp texture and the beautiful color. Tamarind we love -like sweet tart! And of course the passionfruit-the tangy sweet tropical crunchy slime. Quenepas are fun to suck on when we’re driving in the truck and I’ve heard they are great for health!
Spain sounds like a cool place to live though too. Someday we’d like to travel there. Why did you leave Puerto Rico?
Barbara, haha yah, life with a mini-fridge and just a hot plate and small kitchen gadgets makes cooking an ever present challenge. The good thing is that we eat a lot of fresh food..as you can see… But I am super excited about making lasagna (or Piñon), enchiladas, pizza, roasting up a turkey and root veggies and maybe even some cookies or a cake in an actual oven! It’s the little things 🙂
I left Puerto Rico first to study in Pennsylvania. And I´ve been to New York several times. But that was never for me. I mean, NY for example, the first time you go your jaw drops of how amazing things are there…but after a while I got tired of it.
When I left for Spain was because I studied abroad and fell in love with the country.
Don´t get me wrong! I love Puerto Rico but it´s not for me; especially after I discovered “the world”. It´s great to know that I came originally from the Caribbean. Yet, to live in Europe is something else.
In your case…you´re such an example for Puerto Ricans themselves. I mean, look at you! You´re basically living out of what you cultivate and the animals you breed. And that´s something that most Puerto Ricans don´t do…AND IT´S NOT AN EXCUSE!!! Unless you´re living in the Metropolitan Area (mainly San Juan) everybody has houses! Most of them with “fincas”. And even if you don´t have the terrain to have what you do they still have patios where they can cultivate something. And that something will help minimize the cost of food. But they just don´t do it.
Since I found your blog I often mention you as an example of what Puerto Ricans are missing on.
And in your case you spent 10 years savings for that goal (and that meant sacrifice yet now look at you). That shouldn´t be the case of Puerto Ricans given their circumstances.
Have you ever thought of giving speeches around in order for Puerto Ricans to open their eyes? I think it´s a great idea and something you can get involved with like your entry regarding the stray dogs situation.
In the case of your fruits and vegetables not only do you have quite varieties and amounts but if you were to put a price on them (as you´ve done already in case of tamarinds for example) you´ll see how much it is.
And not just that…but you also get around the island enjoying all the festivals and parties. There´s always something going on…and for the most part it´s free! You just have to look around.
I´m really, really happy for you. The same way quite many Puerto Ricans move to the US there´s no reason for Americans to do the same in Puerto Rico.
One question: Hawaii was ever an option? And if so, what made you choose Puerto Rico in the end? Taking in consideration the language.
PS
You´ve adapted so well that I believe you were Puerto Ricans in previous lives. 🙂
Mini fridge and hot plate, wow! I’ve done that while on vacation and it is a challenge. We do all of our cooking as well and don’t eat out. We’re fishing eating vegetarian so we’d love all the freshness you have in abundance. Kudos to you both for all your sacrifices!