Tag Archives: ginger

New Flowers and Friends


Newest bloom: Evita’s Rose

We are constantly on the lookout for new plants, trees and flowers. It seems that most of the viveros have all the same common plants: trinitarias, hibiscus, bromelias, orchids, citrus, avocados. What they don’t have are heliconias, gingers, plumerias and all the exotic fruit trees. We are currently on the lookout for durian, Australian finger lime, and reina de las flores (this is a common tree, but for some reason we have a hard time finding it for sale).


Also looking for Rainbow Eucalyptus like this one seen on the side of the road

At the last pulguero in San Sebastian we had a good score! We found another Ylang Ylang tree (the fragrance is so divine, it is used in Chanel No 5), an achiote tree (a natural food dye for the color red and very cool looking fruit), a huge Tibochino espiga and a Raffy palm (that’s what the vendor called it). At Jardines Eneida we also found some new trees like a Cordia, Saman and mamayito (lemon drop mangosteen).


The meadow area after a good mow -we need to mow about every 2 weeks now that it’s raining so much


I also found this nepenthes pitcher plant that reminded me of well…you know


All the rain has brought out the mushrooms


And so we bought some garden art to commemorate them


Rainy days at the cabin. Notice the new railings!


Still not sure if we want to put rails on the bridge though


The mosquitos come out a lot more in the rain, so we put a mosquito net on Aeden’s play pen outside, that he promptly pulled down 馃檪


He’s our little farmer so we did an impromtu photo shoot with him


Our little red is getting so big! 9 months now


Aeden’s 9 month video update

In order to find the heliconias and ginger varieties we want, we have to find direct vendors. The rhizomes don’t do super well in pots for long periods of time, so they have to be directly transplanted as soon as possible into the ground. They also need a lot of space and water, that the average home gardener can’t often provide (hence why they are not commonly found in the stores around here). Well, I found someone online who specializes in them! Not only did Carlos sell us some amazing rhizomes, he also delivered them from San German and helped us identify many of our wild species. We hung out for quite a while and got to know him pretty well. We scored some plants, but even more importantly a new friend who is as geeked out about botanicals as we are! He is a student at the University in Mayaguez and knows a TON about plants.


With Carlos and the new plants


We’ve also been busy delivering flowers to friends/businesses like these that are on the way to Karibe Kombucha and Ocean State of Mind

Other than that we have been going out and having fun enjoying the scenes around the island.


In Aguada, Puerto Rico


Cool building in Aguadilla


Selling fresh chopped coconuts in Isabela


A nice Sunday brunch at the Copa Lllena in Rincon


This guy was buying sugarcane from a neighbor


At the Sunday Farmer’s market a basket maker made me a crown. I was the reina de las flores for a day! 馃檪


Man on a bicycle at the airfield in Aguadilla

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Snapshot Update: Boquer贸n, Aguadilla, Rinc贸n and Finca

Life just keeps trucking. Sometimes there’s more exciting things than others, but I always try to have my camera ready. Here are a few snapshots of recent moments聽of our life here in Puerto Rico.

seahorses-bk-ck-cropped
A fun stop in Boquer贸n (notice the bicycle with coconuts!)

aguadilla-water-beach
A beautiful beach scene in Aguadilla

aguadilla-treehouse
A cool treehouse in Aguadilla! I need to do some more exploring of this! It’s amazing!

tree-climber
Because I do love to climb trees!

banana-bunches
The finca is producing lots of food! Especially bananas and papayas right now!

turmeric-flower ginger
And also cool stuff like turmeric (curcuma) and ginger

laura-and-cassie
I did a fun photoshoot with my friend Laura聽at the Lighthouse Ruins in Aguadilla

cassie-tommy-poke
And we are super proud of our chef friend Tommy’s new Poke Shack venture in Rinc贸n!

fresh-fish-tommy poke-and-salad
With local caught tuna and many other fresh local ingredients!

rainy-day-rainbow
It has been a bit rainy lately but that means gorgeous rainbows!

silly-britton-and-cassie
And still聽lots of fun times!

Oh and check out this cool stick bug I found on the screen door of the cabana!

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Let Food Be Thy Medicine: A Farm Update

The finca is coming along great. Now that the air is getting a little cooler, it’s a little easier to be outside working. We are also starting to look more and more the part of a farmer, or I like the word j铆baro, than ever before. Britton finally broke down and bought some steel-toed rubber boots for when he was slipping all over the place building the bridge and then I got some too.

Farmer Jibarita Cassie
Me, the turkeys and my boots -also聽a huge wild papaya (aka lechosa) and plantains above

They get a little hot and sweaty, but to avoid slipping and all the ants out there, they are great. I still have a tendency to just want to wear my flip-flops, but at least I have some protection if needed.

We are still growing a lot of food:

Bucket of avocadosNew Avocado
Bucket of avocados and starfruit and our “new” avocado

Since August we have eaten avocados EVERY. SINGLE. DAY! Not that I am complaining! I love avos. We even found another tree that is a different variety and super smooth and creamy. So we have a very prolific one that is great for guacamole and a less prolific one that is nice for pretty slices with the eggs in the morning. There are other avocado trees聽as well, but they are little deep in the jungle. We constantly聽harvest lots of bananas, coconuts and passionfruit. Occasionally we can reach a breadfruit before it drops, but it’s a super tall tree. Besides all this great healthy聽food, though, we also grow our “medicine.”

Medicinal plants turmeric ginger garlic
Three of the most important medicines you could have: ginger, turmeric and garlic

The famous quote by Hippocrates is still true today: Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. What you consume is important to your health! Junk food makes for junky health but on the other side, there聽are so many great foods out there to help it! In fact, at least 50% of pharmaceuticals were at one point derived from plants!

turmeric plant Ginger plant
Turmeric and ginger growing -notice the small flower on the ginger

Here are some medicinal plants I wouldn’t want to be without:

Turmeric:
This is just an all-time super star. A powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. It’s used to treat or help with just about everything聽from heartburn to聽diabetes! Many diseases are caused by oxidative stress and inflammation, so this root helps on both fronts. What I am most impressed with are the studies聽showing it could help in preventing, treating, and possibly even curing聽cancer! I use it any time I cook. It adds a great flavor to meals as well as a yellow color. Some of the oldest people in the world drink a turmeric tea daily. Just be careful as it can stain.

Garlic:
Recently Britton got a splinter in his finger and over the course of a couple of days it swelled up huge! He said it was hurting and beginning to spread. We were just about to the point of going to the pharmacy for some antibiotics, but decided to try garlic first. He ate about two raw cloves a day as well as placed some chopped garlic under a Band-Aid on the splinter area. Within about 4 days, he was completely healed! Garlic is a great antibacterial, anti-microbial, and anti-viral agent in addition to antioxidant and general health tonic. It is also super great for the cardio-vascular system. In addition to the turmeric, I always add garlic to our meals. Cooked is fine, but it’s a little more powerful raw, such as in our guacamole!

Ginger:
I just love the smell and taste of ginger. Another great general health tonic, ginger is probably most well known for helping with stomach aches and nausea. And like turmeric it is also useful for inflammatory issues like arthritis. I often add it to our meals or make a tea or juice mixed with carrots out of it.

Chia:
We aren’t growing this yet, but I would like to because of all the great health benefits, especially to the digestive tract and antioxidants (more even than the powerhouse blueberry). It has the best fatty acids and is super high in fiber. Everyone should eat a spoonful of chia daily or make chia pudding for a refreshing and healthy snack.

Milk Thistle: We grew this in Colorado聽but I don’t know of a tropical substitute, so I use a supplement for this. I mention it because it is one of the best聽treatments for a hangover or any type of liver problems or just to maintain a healthy liver. When our聽young little dog Schnoodle nearly died of jaundice, this saved her life. It was what got me interested in herbal medicine in the first place!

Recently, I have heard of another plant that I was super interested in. It is called Moringa and is often called the Tree of Life.

Moringa2
Moringa sapling ready to be planted

Moringa:
This sounds like the most useful tree ever! You can eat just about every part of it. The leaves can be cooked or eaten like salad greens. The seed pods, called drumsticks, can be cooked as a vegetable. The seeds themselves make a great oil and the root is supposed to taste like horseradish.聽You can even use it for water purification! In addition to all of these fantastic qualities, it has a ton of health benefits most notably increased vitality in general.

Cabin planting trees
Britton and I planted the moringa and mav铆 trees (as well as a durian) by the cabin

Mav铆:
I haven’t had the famous Puerto Rican drink, mav铆, yet, but I’ve heard it’s a little like rootbeer or sarsaparilla in flavor. It’s also supposed to have great health effects including lowering blood pressure. Like cinnamon (another powerhouse mainly for lowering blood sugar/avoiding diabetes), you use the bark of the tree and then make a sort of tea out of it!

I love plants of all types and there is a place here at the farm and in the gardens for them all! From the showy and ornamental to the common fruits and vegetables and all the way to the understated beauty of the medicinals.聽聽They聽are all welcome here!

Plumeria
Plumeria flower: a beauty and edible too!

Our new lifestyle suits us well. We love being outside in nature and with all the plants and animals. We eat food from聽the land probably close to聽50% of our intake. Some of this food聽we聽planted or raised, some were here already聽and others聽like papaya just show up as a gift from the wild. We get a lot of movement naturally working and sweating outside聽and we eat food as medicine. We are much more聽social and also聽much more relaxed. Living this way, without really trying聽we have both lost about 15 pounds more or less (we don’t have a scale, so not exactly sure) and thanks to all of these factors we feel healthier than ever. Yep, I’d say green acres is the life for me!

On the farm with turkeys and a papaya
Tropical farm life is the sweet life!

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