Who doesn't like commenting on the weather? It seems we're hard-wired that way... while my family and friends are still chatting about how long winter is lasting in Canada, we chat about how dry things are or how wet.
The norm, even during the rainy season, is that we wake up to gorgeous blue skies, then later, it clouds over and rains for an hour or two. We've only just entered the rainy season here in Costa Rica (which is a good thing: we're happy about it and so are the forests, pastures and rivers). However, for the last two days, we've woken up to really cloudy mornings and misty rain. It feels like proper fall days. We have guests staying with us, but thankfully they don't seem to be too disappointed. I guess that's the advantage of living in paradise, it's beautiful even on dull, rainy days :)
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Nearly a month has gone by since we said goodbye to our Bettys. You don't realize how much something (a routine or a living, breathing thing) becomes so woven into the fabric of your day-to-day life. We've really missed them. We were told that the new hens would be ready to pick two days later so we were scrambling to find a good home. Then, we remembered we live in Costa Rica... two days can mean two weeks... or a month as it happens. In that time, Kevin fixed the fence and posts that needed to be repaired. We cleaned out the coop, added more perches, painted the floor and so forth. Yesterday, I added fresh wood chips in the nests and on the floor. We picked up our 15 hens in Santa Maria and introduced them to their new home. I hadn't realized how must our Bettys trusted us and felt comfortable around us. We were able to pick them up without too much fuss on their part. They were curious and would come close, peck our boots... they weren't afraid of us in the least. These new hens are skittish and unsure. I do remember standing (or sitting on a bucket) in the pen for 15 minutes or so every day for the first few weeks with our Bettys... just so they would get used to my presence and not feel worried or threatened. I'd forgotten how small and thin they are at this age (the Bettys were chunky monkeys by the end). These new hens are still quite young so we may have to wait a couple of weeks before they start laying eggs. We've been buying eggs from the grocery store for the last month and they're fine, but not the same. And I loved being able to bake whenever I wanted to and know all I had to do was walk up to the hen house and get fresh eggs. We never ran out. Our neighbours have been patiently waiting as well... they keep asking us when they can buy some of ours. It's nice to know there's a demand. We've decided to call these hens Egna(s), but to be honest, I have a feeling we'll be reverting back to Bettys. We started out calling the trout "the girls" before we christened them "Trevorettes", but it never really stuck. Twenty months in, and we're still calling them 'the girls'. So, we'll see how we do with the name Egna. It seems easy enough, we shouldn't trip over it... but habits die hard. To be continued... With the rainy season around the corner, Kevin decided he would paint lines on this big rock. It sits outside our back door so it's easy for us to monitor the water levels as the river rises. The water is very low right now, but by August, it will be quite a bit higher... and by October, it can sometimes be 3 ft higher than it is now. The darker lines indicate 'feet'. Check back in a couple of months and see the difference. There's quite a trend these days with microbiotics and how they're necessary for healthy digestion and good stomach function. I eat homemade yogurt (a friend makes it from scratch), but I've heard about this special drink made with tea, sugar and a scoby (which is an acronym for 'symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast') which called Kombucha. To prepare Kombucha, I poured boiling water over the sugar then added 8 tea bags and let the tea steeped until it cooled to room temperature. Once the brew had cooled down, I added the scoby (essentially the 'starter'). A woman I met at a market gave me a piece of hers, which was really nice. You can't make Kombucha without it. It's important to use a glass bowl or pitcher. Metal or plastic should not be used. It can change the chemistry (reaction) and alter the taste. I covered the brew with a breathable cloth and let it sit at room temperature for 10 days (most recipes say between 7 to 10 days). The final result is a fizzy (naturally carbonated) drink. Some people add mint or ginger or other flavours. My first batch didn't have any extra flavour. I wanted to see if I could actually get a good batch without messing with the recipe too much. I discovered that 8 tea bags makes the drink too strong so for my second batch I've reduced it in half... we'll see if that's better. And next time, I'll experiment with ginger, maybe. This first batch was pretty good. I wouldn't say it was over the top delicious, but knowing that it's good for me, the taste isn't bad. I'll keep trying new proportions of ingredients until I have the right amount of balance. This is definitely a trial and error thing. Anyone out there ever made Kombucha? Any tips you'd like to share? Please leave a comment below. Thanks! Did you know that avocados don't ripen on the tree. They grow to full size, remain green and hard, and once you've picked them, they will ripen within a week or so. The skin turns from a bright green to a darker green to a brown/black hue when they are at their ultimate ripeness. We were warned that it's practically impossible to grow avocados without spraying chemicals... we are proving that notion wrong. And with all our tender, love and care, hopefully we'll be reaping the rewards of healthy, good-for-us, yummy fruit. I add avocados in our sandwiches, in our salads, but our favourite is guacamole. I love guacamole! (Here's a tip that many people don't know... when making guacamole, often, the mixture turns brown and looks unappetizing... if you add lemon, that will help... BUT if you take the nut of one of the avocados and place it in the centre of the bowl, it will also keep the guacamole looking fresh. That's what I do and it works!) Sometimes, but especially during the dry summer, cows run out of places to find nutritious, hydrating food. The grasses are devoid of any moisture, so they roam in hopes of finding 'greener pastures'... not so metaphorically. So, it's not unusual to find cows walking up the river and munching on whatever succulent greenery they can find. And, when they reach our property, they seem quite happy to mosey on up to the gardens. This has happened several times. Kevin has managed to block most of the obvious entrances, but there's a wider area, beside our walkway from the house to the island garden that has never had any kind of barrier, except for the steepness of the hill... yeah, lesson learned, that's no barrier for cows. Two days ago, two cows came up and we monitored the situation. Frankie would bark fiercely (little do they know) at them and they stay down by the river for several hours... helping themselves to the luscious salad. I had went to Santa Maria to by some barbed wire run while Kevin had other things to do... meanwhile, it didn't take long for the cows to climb up and start munching on our flowers. Grrr. So, yesterday, Kevin and Martin built a fence. It should prevent any straying cows from crossing over to our land. We think we've fixed the problem, we'll see. We wish our neighbour would simply put his cows in our secured pasture... we have lots of room, lots of water... it would be good for his cows (he would know where they were at all times) and they would keep our pasture 'mowed'. We're not sure why he doesn't want to, |
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