Flores Permaculture

When I arrived over a year ago to the Johnson Quinta, I found it very easy to get lost. It took me a while to learn the lands, and find my feet, but eventually I stopped falling down the mountain everyday and even started to be able to walk up the hill without feeling out of breath.  There are so many exciting aspects to this farm I have discovered along the way, with many areas showing huge potential that get added to the long list of areas Magnus needs to go through with a chainsaw. However, there is one plant that really begins to make me think my mothers habit of spraying with Roundup in only a t-shirt and denim shorts isn't really as crazy as it may seem. That plant isn't cana roca or the false tobacco plant. It is this:  Mexican Pepperleaf  Now, I have a 'to do' list that goes on forever, so if someone recommended to me that I should grow an aromatic herb that gives you superpowers, but I hadn't even heard of it, alarm bells would be ringing...

Before Christmas, we decided to harvest our sheep. As she was a tethered animal, we had to move her every couple of days, which resulted in us becoming quite attached to her. For Magnus, tethering an animal is no problem and he intended to breed from her. However, I grew up in an environment that has very high welfare standards for livestock, and so tethering an animal isn't something I wish to be a part of. We even resorted to taking the sheep for walks 😳. As she got stronger, she became able to pull her stake out of the ground, and took a likening to the strawberries and camellias. So, we had to make a quick decision. The process of harvesting the sheep went very well, and she showed no signs of distress. The meat will feed our family of four for two months. Going forward, we won't be tethering any more animals long term. In order to have an ongoing meat supply, we are going to work on setting up an area for pigs which will be crucial for our subs...

It is vitamin C overload season here, which involves endlessly juicing our oranges. I am also storing the orange zest for the year ahead. We also have many naval oranges this year, which taste like luxury oranges to us - we are cherishing them.  We have enough chayote, potatoes, and root vegetables to sustain us for a few more months. Our freezer still has some farm meat, but we will soon need to halve our chicken flock to maintain our supplies. The Chinese broccoli is also now ready to harvest, which we will be adding to our stir-frys weekly until the weather really heats up in July. It has taken some time to learn which plants are suited to which gardens. There are some gardens which have an endless supply of slugs and snails, and some which seem to be untouched (the only reason I have broccoli this year). Putting a border of Ajuga around most of the home gardens seems to have worked wonders, although I cannot do this for the 'market gardens'...

We are getting nothing done on the farm, and are behind on many projects 😞 Many seedlings have been sat on, stakes have been bent, peas have been destroyed, and gardens have been dug up. These two are to blame: Many hours have also been spent coaxing them away from the open deathtrap that runs along our home 💧. We love these two little fuzzballs, at least they don't eat my plants unlike the sheep.

The four huge Eucalyptus trees in the Zone 2 gardens (what we call - the wwoofer gardens) are no more, as motivated by the hurricane we just experienced. We wanted to get the trees down, before the hurricane did it for us. We are officially a category 2 hurricane proof farm. The cabana is fine, the animals are fine, and our structures are fine. Some of my plants got damaged, but i'm experimenting anyway - no harm replanting. The Eucalyptus sadly halved our banana patch, but it had to be done as it has vastly increased our potential garden space. The trees will remain in the ravine for many years, so we need volunteers to come help clear and plant around them - we will carve stairs into the trees to make it easier. We still have a few monster Eucalyptus to drop, but we are focusing on one space at a time.

Our most recent Wwoofers, Grace and Milena from Germany, stayed for a week on our farm. Although they were only here for a short time, they were a much needed addition to our farm as they showed interest in our projects and were committed to the tasks we gave them. We only wish they had stayed longer 💚. They renewed the Taro patch, helped remove an invasive herbal plant that is slowly spreading across our Zone 1 hillside, and went on a trip with Magnus to the local lumber mill to fetch some more sawdust for the compost. Whilst there, they collected some scrap wood to build a porch for the cabana. Now, after a hard day of work clearing jungle in the forest, our volunteers can relax with a view without the fear of our rogue rooster invading the cabana. Just watch our for the pesky blackbirds, they might fight with the cabana mirror.

Now we must build our lemonade stand for the tourist!