# verkagj-Belize Farm Journal



## verkagj (Jan 3, 2013)

OK, I'm jumping in....
I live in Belize, Central America. We have 15 acres of old sugarcane field and lots of marl and limestone rocks. Currently, we have 3 doe goats (all of unknown heritage), 4 babies (3 bucks, 1 doe) born in November, 3 cats and 2 dogs (1 Briard and 1 Belize breed).
I'd love to upload photos but I'm not sure my Internet connection will be fast enough. We're lucky to have Internet and can only get wireless broadband at 128K on a good day with upload at much less speed.

My husband and I (married in 2006) decided to leave the US since we would never be able to quit working and move to rural Belize and start a homestead. Belize is not an island and many think. There are islands off the coast as well as a barrier reef. We live outside a village called Xaibe, which means crossroads in Mayan). 

In 2008, we drove down through Mexico with a 24' travel trailer and bought 15 acres. We left the trailer and went back to Florida to wind up details and pack up out stuff. We packed our stuff into a 24' box truck and were going to drive it down. But after experiencing the trailer getting to Belize,, we decided to ship the truck. So we've been here permanently since July 2010. We became official Belize residents a few months ago.

I was teaching computer technology at a Community College and Jim was a small engine mechanic which comes in very handy to keep stuff running here.

Life is much different here than in the states. We live off grid and are working on our house. We bought a Mennonite shell and will finish the interior ourselves. 21/2 years later, we're still in the travel trailer. Progress on the house is very slow due to many factors which I'll tell you about in future posts. The house is up on pillars for better ventilation so until the bottom is boxed in, all of our stuff is in the house and we live in the travel trailer still.

So, ask your questions about Belize and I'll find the instructions for uploading and see what I can do. 
Gloria


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## Southern by choice (Jan 3, 2013)

You just are not gonna believe this but yesterday I was thinking, you of all people, should start a journal. You are so far away... it's such a nice way to connect!
I am sure you have many challenges in farming too. BYH makes the world a little smaller. 

A Briard..    

Looking forward to reading!


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## Four Winds Ranch (Jan 3, 2013)

I am sure your journal will be very interesting!!! I am looking forward to your future updates and pictures!!!!


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## verkagj (Jan 3, 2013)

There are lots of challenges. There is no goat feed or supplies to be found. There is no hay. Locals think I'm nuts for feeding the goats. They just stick their livestock out somewhere to browse. I was very surprised to see that there are very few goats, lots of sheep, mostly Barbados Black Belly. When I was asking around for goats, everyone said that goats were everywhere. Lots of people don't know the difference when the sheep are not wooly.

Flop is probably not pure Briard but has all the characteristics and behaviors of one including the Velcro Fur. We have to keep him sheared. The travel trailer does get pretty small on rainy days when both dogs are inside along with the two of us. 

I love BYH. I met a British couple through here who lives not far from us. It really is a small world.

I hear the dogs woofing. It's time to start feeding the zoo. Dogs are in one of the goat yards because we sprayed around the trailer. I totally lost it when ants contaminated a pot of cheese working. It was fine, almost done but ants were floating on the whey. I scooped them out and came back later to find the curd floating and all full of holes. ICK! I hate using chemicals but the ants have to go.

Cats, dogs, goats, then people food.


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 3, 2013)

So happy you started a journal.  Can't wait for more.


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## jodief100 (Jan 3, 2013)

Cool!  This is going to be interesting.  We all think our lives have challenges.  Yours I am sure are far more interesting than could ever be.


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## verkagj (Jan 4, 2013)

You learn to go with patience and address everything as an adventure or you don't last living overseas. But actually our life here is pretty mundane. Example... today's excitement was the dogs escaped while trying to get OB out to his tether. Hubby went to feed and get OB to tether him out because he smells so bad and I don't want him rubbing all over me before I milk the girls. He wouldn't come to him so he just left him in the goat yard. The dogs slept in the trailer with us last night because we had to spray to try to get rid of the ants. I'm sure they needed to pee and poo so he put them in with OB. After I milked the girls, I went to get him and didn't have the latch all the way on the gate and the dogs pushed it open. Off they went. Of course, right to the neighboring farm where there are 2 penned pigs, dogs, chickens, a horse and cows to have fun with. No one lives there. They come twice a day to feed and water animals and run the pump for irrigating the onions. Anyway, D'Ogee and Flop totally ignored me calling them back so I had to tromp through the bush and go after them.
That done, I got the laundry in the washer and made yogurt.

Shopping is definitely an adventure in foraging. There are no big grocery stores. They are all small shops run by Chinese or Taiwanese. You usually end up going to 4 or 5 stores to get what you want or figure out substitutions. No frozen vegs, You go to the Market for vegetables and fruits. Nice to be able to get really fresh stuff. Most of the vegs are grown by the Mennonites. They grow cauliflower, broccoli, carrots. Potatoes, celery, lettuce come from Mexico. There are also eggplant, chayote, zucchini, cilantro, bananas and plantains. Lots of papaya. We don't each those because of all the chemicals that Fruta Bomba uses. That's another story for another day.
The grocery store sells chicken. You go to the meat shop for pork and beef. Nothing is on display. You ask for pork chops, they pull the slab out of the freezer and show it to you. Pork is very lean here. So is the beef. I like it that way but it is a challenge to cook and not be tough. Although the grocery sells chicken, I go to the Caribbean Chicken store to get what I want. The grocery stores mostly carry whole fryers. I want boneless breasts. They are $4.50 BZ a pound. That's $2.25 US. They also have ground chicken that I use a lot. 
There is fish available right on the dock but it is very expensive as the fisherman have to go way out into the ocean to fish. The bay has been fished out. But it's cool to pick out a whole fish and they will clean and fillet it right there for you. The cleaner/fillet guy charges a couple of dollars to do that.
So grocery shopping is exhausting until you learn to cook differently and make use of what is readily available. But we eat much better than we ever did in the states. 
We don't live far from Chetumal, Mexico where there is a real WalMart and several other large superstores.  It only costs a few dollars to take the bus over but then you have to go through Customs back in Belize. Sometimes they go through everything to bought to determine if there will be duty charged. And it's hard to carry much back on the bus. We can drive over but don't like to since we don't have Mexican car insurance. 
Every couple of months, I go with a car load of ladies to shop in Belize City. There is a nice department stores and a few small stores that we shop at. There is more variety available there and we also have a nice lunch out together. 
Another shopping trip is in Spanish Lookout, a Mennonite community. These are the more modern Mennonites. They drive big F350 trucks, own a lot of businesses and large farms. Other areas have communities that still use horse/buggy and only speak low German. We go there for hardware stuff and to shop at Farmers Trading Center. A friend described it as the walmart of Belize. They have everything, not in variety, but you can find what you need. Funny story.....I needed some ladies underwear, found what I wanted and threw it in the shopping cart. A clerk came to me and said that she must take care of the purchase right there. She put the undies in a brown paper sack and stapled it shut. The skew number and price were then written on the bag. When I asked why...she said that some of the cashiers are young men. 

That's all for now. I need to figure out what we are eating today. There are no convenience foods, everything must be make from scratch. 
G./


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## ragdollcatlady (Jan 4, 2013)

Wow! Funny about the ladies garments! I can't wait to read more about your life. If you are ever able, I would LOVE pics of your place, towns, animals......


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## bonbean01 (Jan 4, 2013)

Great journal!!!!  And also looking forward to photos...you're on quite an adventure


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## Bridgemoof (Jan 4, 2013)

Look forward to reading your journal! What a completely different perspective on homesteading! A long, long time ago I spent some time in Costa Rica and Guatemala. I just love Central America, the sights, the people and their customs. I LOVE volcanoes! But Belize is mostly a coastal area, right? I bet it's beautiful. I remember wanting to pack up everything and buy a bunch of land in Costa Rica because it was so cheap at the time. But then realizing the infrastructure would make it so difficult to build anything.  Finding supplies, much less getting them to a remote location would be almost impossible. I'm surprised you even have internet access at all!

Well, welcome to the BYH journaling. We'll be reading anxiously!


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## verkagj (Jan 5, 2013)

DON'T EAT THE PAPAYAS!

Papayas and sugarcane are the main commercial farm crops in Northern Belize. Fruta Bomba, AKA Brooks Tropicals out of Florida have thousands of acres under lease to grow papayas. They are the main employer in this area. But why do I say not to eat the papayas?

GMO - Roundup Ready! The fruit is saturated with chemicals. They spray constantly using various insecticides and herbicides which include Paraquat (Agent Orange). 
The tree seedlings are modified to grow at an alarming rate and produce over 100 papayas from each tree. 

I bought a barrel from the company that imports the chemicals. It had been washed out and was marked only that it was not fit for potable water storage. I washed it out and where I dumped it, nothing has grown for over a year. 

Since it is a Monsanto Roundup Ready plant, Fruta Bomba is very secretive and secure about them. There are guards for every field and guys on 4-wheelers ride around all night. They burn all the irrigation pipes and trees when a field is done. The plants are counted to make sure that field workers do not take any of them. 

The government of Belize is now backing them on anything they want to do or where they want to plant because they threatened to move operations to Guatamala. There would be hundreds of people out of a job if they leave. 

Since papayas have a thin skin, I don't think that washing or peeling would rid it of all the chemicals. So we don't eat any of them unless it grew from a tree in someone's back yard that I know. I'll have to grow my own.


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## bonbean01 (Jan 5, 2013)

I don't eat those things anyway...when we lived in Florida we planted two trees...grew quickly, produced quickly...tasted like dirty socks, yanked those trees out and planted Lime trees instead.

Hate all that monkeying around with GMO and heavy chemicals in the food supply, but seems to be getting more and more popular these days.


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## alsea1 (Jan 5, 2013)

Wow. 
Thats good to know about the chemical fruit. Yukkers.

Belize needs to wake up and stop them from poisoning Belize.


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## verkagj (Jan 6, 2013)

In a small 3rd world country, money to politicians is what is the norm. (I guess not much different from the US in reality). The entire country is about the size of Vermont with 350,000 people.
Darn.  Pouring rain here. We need the rain as the goat yards are pretty barren right now. But I just had hubby run the bush hog and gathered up the chop for the goats to eat. They don't like hay but when that's all there is to eat they'll get used to it. Now it will be bedding when it dries out. 
I usually tether them this time of year but with the babies I can't do that. End of the month, the boys will be ready to find new homes. I'd love to keep them all 'cause they're all so sweet but don't have enough to feed them all. Can' t afford to fence in any more field right now. I want to get moved into the house before I die.

More about us...
Jim and I married in 2006, at 56 yrs old. We decided that we couldn't afford to ever retire so we were looking for a better place to live. We came to Belize for a month to look around and both said yes, this is the place. We chose the Corozal area in Northern Belize because it is close to Chetumal, Mexico for shopping and medical care. We live 7 miles from town, off grid on 15 acres. We put solar panels on the travel trailer before we brought it down so we do have power. The house will have a 48V system so Jim can use his welder, etc. Right now there is 1 bank of panels for the house set up temporarily. 
We did have a power outage one time. The system was down and showing an error code. When he looked up the code, it had to do with being tied in with the electric grid which we don't have. So he took the charge controller apart and there was a gecko between two poles and shorted out the system. Geckos get into everything. They're good at eating bugs but can be a nuisance also.

Belize has an official language...English. That is sort of English. The area we live in is full of people who speak a sort of Spanish. More of a street slang mixed with some English. There is a lot of Chinese spoken and the Mennonite areas speak German. There is also Mayan still spoken. Ketchi and Mopan Mayan and they are very different languages. Also Garifuna which is a form of Creole in some areas. And of course, there is British English which has influenced the version of English spoken since Belize used to be British Honduras. I think it's interesting to watch some of the shop keepers go between Chinese, English and Spanish without hesitating. Much smarter than me for sure. :/


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## Pearce Pastures (Jan 6, 2013)

This is just so interesting to read.  What an adventure!  Love shopping and the undies story.  Wow on the papaya.  So cool that you live off grid!  Don't suppose you have any pictures?


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## Four Winds Ranch (Jan 6, 2013)

Thanks for the info about the papyas!!! I do remember reading something about that before!
I didn't realize there were Mennonites there there, but I guess why wouldn't there be!
You have a very interesting journal!!!
I look forward to reading more!


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## verkagj (Jan 14, 2013)

Forage Score!
Our neighbor farmer just harvested his dry bean crop yesterday. I asked him what he does with the plants, he said he was going to burn them in the field. Husband went over and brought back a pickup load. One goat loves them, one thinks their OK, other one walked away. But they're good to put into the pen at night after they have their grain dinner. 

More progress on the concrete block workshop under the house. Holes are drilled for the rebar for 2 more sections. 4 courses of blocks will go up tomorrow. Our concrete helper only works half days, two days a week. I need to check to make sure we have enough blocks. 

Made coffee ice cream yesterday. YUM! Today is garlic-red wine vinegar cheese since I'm waiting on my culture to get here. A little restaurant said they would make lasagna if I brought her some sort of cheese that would work.  

The neighbor farmer also wants the twin buck kids. Two more weeks and they'll be gone. I'd love to keep the single buck and make him a wether but I'm trying hard not to have more animals than I have fenced forage for. 

Tried to get a photobucket account but had no luck getting the new account page to load up. Some internet days are better than others. Since we're on mobile broadband that uses a cell phone chip, we're competing with all the smart phone devices. And we're on the fringe for coverage. So I'll keep trying. I want to share the photos of the goats to see if anyone can tell me what breed they are. 

Warm but breezy out so I'm heading out to the garden or where the garden should be and try to find it. Stuff grows real fast where you don't want it to.


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## verkagj (Jan 21, 2013)

Phew! I'm exhausted. Yesterday I was out of it, major headache, eyes hurt so I could hardly blink, everything hurt. Thank You Fruta Bomba. They were spraying for 2 days. I get sick every time they do a major spray. Probably the combination of herbicide and insecticides.

And then there were ants...I've been battling ants for a while now. They are little crazy ants and are every where. Cupboards, in between  stacked towels. everywhere. I found some gel type stuff and put it out. It worked for a little while and the ants returning then steered clear of the bait. But I was able to track them to another one of their abodes. They were in every box in the bathroom. The extra toothpaste still in the box, under, around. It was nasty. So I spent most of the day eradicating ants and disinfecting the bathroom supplies. Yuck!

On the goat front...they all love the bean plants now. I have to keep them tethered in their pen while they eat them or they just chase each other around and scatter the beans in the pen. If you saw them, you would think that they were starved. They eat dry bean plants non-stop for almost an hour and that is after they have browsed all day and have eaten a bowl of grain. I have to stay out with them until at least 2 of them are done or it's chaos. 

We went out this morning and cut some jack bean vines and other leafy stuff along with palm fronds to put out in the browse yard. I had to stay out there until they were done munching. Leah has gotten really mean to the others since she kidded. No matter how many piles of chop get put out, she thinks it's all for her and her kids. She even has a new sound that almost sounds like a growl when others come near. She's been put in time out several times for being mean.

A week or so ago, I made Halloumi cheese. It is a brined cheese that is good for grilling or frying. Tried some of it last night. Taste is good but the curds weren't as done as they should have been and it melted a bit. I'll try it again. Tastes like real good Mozzarella sticks. Wish my culture order would get here soon so I can go back to making Chevre.

We were out of bananas for a couple of days. Yes, a country that grows bananas and there were no bananas at the market. Most of the bananas grown are for Frye exported to Europe. We get the leftovers. I can't complain though, 8 bananas for $1BZ ($.50US). The goats get a banana every morning after they get milked and there was a lot of stomping and grumbling of "where's my banana?" They got raisins instead.  I just cut our first hand of bananas. You cut them off the plant when the flower is drying up. They are still green. You hang them up until they are ready to eat. These are little, finger bananas. Not sure which type, regular or the apple flavor ones. We'll see soon.

I just tried to post this and I have no Internet connection. At least the post was still here. It has been doing this for the last couple of days. I guess too much traffic on the system and we get dropped.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 21, 2013)

Cheap cheap cheap bananas! 

I don't know how you live with your internet. I would die. I simply could not do it. You're a better person then me. Oh and I hope you feel better.


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## verkagj (Jan 25, 2013)

Will the sun ever shine again? This is the 4th day in a row of overcast or overcast with rain. We need the rain but so many days in a row makes a mess of the marl roads. You would think you were driving on ice. 
Not good for solar power either. We've had to run the generator a lot because we have a little freezer and a regular refrigerator so we can't go without. I had mixed up a batch of orange sherbet mix and can't use the ice cream maker so it's jello cream now. Throw a bit of Cool Whip on it and we'll eat it anyway.
The neighbor who is buying the twin bucks can over and paid for one of them. She only speaks Spanish so it took me a bit to figure out she was saying that she wanted to pay me some while she had the money. She'll pay the rest when they get paid for the 2 pigs that just went to the market.

I wasn't here to watch but hubby was since he went over to help fix the car to transport the pork to market. I love the pork here but not sure I want to eat it anymore after hearing the process. They slit the throats with a machete. Then dragged them out onto a piece of zinc to gut them out. Threw all the offal into a pot of boiling water. Don't have any idea what they do with that stuff and don't want to know. They used a machete and a claw hammer to split the pig in half, cut off the trotters and the head which don't go to the market. The pig halves then went into the back of the car and off to Belize City which is a 2 hr drive. No ice or covering on them.

Machetes are used for everything here. I saw a guy using a machete for "cutting" up an old car roof into pieces. I've tried to use one to cut stuff for the goats. No matter how hard I chop, I don't cut through anything. The workers we use can chop through trees with them. I guess it's an acquired skill. 

I goofed off yesterday and went to lunch/shopping with a group of ladies so I have to catch up on chores today. The dishes don't do themselves. I'm reconsidering the plan for the kitchen in the house. Electric dishwasher maybe? I wonder if they make a propane model?

Need to call the chiropractor for an appointment. I know my back and neck are out of alignment and now my fingers are tingling like when you hid your funny bone. I can't bend my right index finger which made milking this morning very painful. The chiropractor is retired from the US and charges only $20 US a visit. Doesn't have to carry expensive insurance and no paperwork to worry about. 

Greetings from the not so sunny tropics.


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## bigmike (Jan 28, 2013)

I just love this journal...I've thought several times about trying to move to Belize or some other South American country (Bolivia)...Being an expat is nothing new to me..I lived for over 10 years in Germany without coming back to the states...But I had some help since the wife is German and I was working for the US Military as a civilian....But I am finding your adventure very interesting and inspiring...But I don't think DW would go for it.....Keep up the great work..


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## verkagj (Jan 28, 2013)

Come down for a vacation. The country is so varied, mountains, rivers, flat land, islands (cayes). I only wish I had moved here years ago before I got old.


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## verkagj (Feb 2, 2013)

The rain just won't stop. Yes, we need it. Yes, it has been gentle rains and not storms. Yes, my fruit trees love it. But, the goats hate it. The roads all are a mess. Both marl and paved roads are full of pot holes and slop. The travel trailer gets real small with both dogs inside. Don't even look at the floors. The solar clothes dryer doesn't work. Mold starts growing on everything. My boots leak and I can't find any my size here. We have to run the generator and gas is very expensive.Yuck.
The sun only came out today while I was in town shopping so it turned very humid. Even the waterfront was hot and humid instead of the nice cooling breeze it usually has. Get home with the groceries and it starts raining again.

Why is it that when you are in a hurry that goats will not cooperate? I was going to town with a neighbor who wanted to check out a yard sale early so I had to be ready by 7:45. So I get up at 6, put out the cat food to thaw, get a cup of coffee, fed the dogs. Go out at 6:30 to make the goat food bowls, go to get the first goat to milk and they all backed away from the gate. Of course I had put on "going to town clothes" already. I should know better. Usually at least one of the girls is trying to help open the gate and beats me to the milking stand. I drag one of them out and get her to the stand and she just digs in her feet. Finally, by teasing her with a banana, she jumps on up. This girl usually finishes her food before I finish milking but not today. She just nibbles and shoves the food around picking out the corn. It must have been a planned conspiracy because all three of them did the same thing. Good thing the kids were being patient and DH finished the chores and let the kids out with mama's. I was ready on time and even remembered my shopping list. Got a good find at the yard sale, a small stock pot for $3 BZ ($1.50 US).

Thought I had the single buck kid sold the other day. But when the guy, from Jamaica, said he wanted the kid to make a special soup and needed only a buck because a certain part was the important part of the recipe and then wanted us to lower the price, we said no. DH said maybe we could get him wethered and he could be a buddy to OB, our little buck. I just smiled. I offered to find the recipe on the Internet and DH said he was secure in his manhood and didn't need the goat soup.

We've been putting the dogs in the goat yard with the buck. Some days they ignore him and go about doggy business. The other day, they were barking crazy. I went out to see what was going on. They were standing on either side of OB and barking every time he moved. I tried to explain to them that being a livestock guard dog was to protect the goats, not guard them like prisoners. We'll try again.


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 2, 2013)

Your life is just so interesting to read about.  What is a marl road?


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 2, 2013)

Secure in his manhood. lol

And those goats. Some days the eat it all, no inhale it all, and other days they do that. Naa I don't want that, just this, and this. Bad goats.


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## bonbean01 (Feb 2, 2013)

I realize that getting to yard sales early means less picking through it all...but when my girlfriend and I go yard sale hopping...we start out around 10 am and go for breakfast first...lOLOLOLOL...oh...and when you get there late, sometimes the prices are next to nothing because they don't want to haul it all back in the house.  Of course, it is picked over pretty much...but it's more of a laughing outting for us and not for the sales.  Might want to try that sometime...it is pretty fun   We always manage to buy something ridiculous and ugly though


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## verkagj (Feb 3, 2013)

Marl is powdered limestone. It can be as hard as solid rock or just a soupy mess. Kind of like cement. In the real dry season, the marl dust just covers everything. In the rainy season, it is a mess like ceramic slip. But the paved (gravel/tar) roads are sometimes worse with potholes. There is this strange thing about the holes. When and that is not very often, the holes are patched, they never fix them all. If there are 6 holes, 4 will be patched. Our Dr friend who has been here over 35 years said it has always been that way. He can't figure out why either. The only reason I like election time here is that the roads get patched. You will see the local political candidate out supervising a patching in a village. He uses his funds to pay the workers who do the job.

There are not very many yard sales here. They are only done by expats. Locals just put an item or two out by the side of the road or take the items to the town square to sell. And it usually is nothing but junk. They just need a couple of dollars so they try to sell off their trash.  A local business tried to start a flea market and it didn't last. It really never got going. When an expat decides to leave Belize, the vultures come out in droves. The last big "everything must go" sale said no early sales. We got there at the start time and there were only a few items left. She had sold it all the day before. I did get a white metal baker's rack that she had forgotten to put a price on.  This sale was by the people who have a little bakery. He is Scottish, she Belizean but lived in Scotland for over 15 years. I thought she might have some pots or bakewear. Did get a stockpot and put it to good use today making veg soup. My stuff is still all packed in boxes. 

It has rained so much that the outdoor dog, D'Ogee, now thinks that she is an inside dog. When I asked her if she wanted to go out this morning, she turned around and went to the foot of the bed and laid down. So much for being the watch puppy. 

One of the twin bucks has scours. He didn't get much last night and his little butt was messy this morning so I'm watching him close. He's eating and had his morning mama snack so I don't know what caused the scours. I do have Pepto but that's all. Any thing else that is common household that I could give him?

I think that politicians must all go to the same school to learn how to lie, cheat and steal from the public. Reading the political news here is no different than in the states. The other party is calling for Transparency and Accountability. The party is power is blaming all the woes on the previous administration. Sound familiar?


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## verkagj (Feb 15, 2013)

It's been a hectic couple of weeks. First issue was a sick baby goat. Scours but still eating, standing all by himself away from the others. Took him to the vet. She wormed him and said to try to get a sample poo. So the next day we kept him on the patio for almost 5 hours waiting for the sample. When it finally arrived, I took it to the vet. Hookworms. Stronger wormer this time. Still had scours so I only fed him kefir for a couple of days. Still has scours but wants to eat with the others. I gave him some Imodium generic and let him have some Mill Feed. Next day he was out browsing. Not perky but better. He's finally got nugget poo so he eats with the other boys now. 

Next issue was one of the does. I brought her to the milking stand and there were hard lumps in her teat. I kept that milk separate to check it later. Doesn't seem to bother her and she lets her kid nurse that side. So I spent a lot of time researching. I didn't think it was mastitis. Vet doesn't have CMTs. Neither did the feed store in the next town. I'll have to order some. What I found out researching was interesting.
Our soil is mostly limestone/limerock having been under ocean at some distant point. We dig up a lot of old coral pieces. Goat milk has a high amount of magnesium in it. There's the balance between the calcium and magnesium that is so important to goats. Could the girls be magnesium deficient? I happened to have some magnesium powder so I mixed in a spoonful along with some Vit C into her food. Seemed to be helpful. So all the girls are getting a little magnesium in their food right now. I also wormed them all as their coats seemed shaggy and they look skinny except for still having baby bellies. They're looking better, sleeker, have more appetite and are producing more milk in just a couple of days. 

Had a lot of errands to do in town. Shopping is an adventure as is trying to pay a bill or get customer service help. I went to pay the land taxes. Taxes here are only on the land, no taxes on structures. Tax is based on how much land you have. A parcel is 30 acres - tax is $300. BZ ($150US). We have 15 acres - tax is $15 BZ ($7.50US). Up to 29 acres is $1. per acre. A city lot is $10 BZ. 
The Land Office is now computerized but it still takes months to get a Land Certificate (Title) to a piece of property. We have ours and it is in the system with all the proper information. I take my passport for ID and the parcel number and stand in line for at least 30 minutes while the clerk was working with one person. Me now. She looks up and verifies the info for me. All is correct. Now I have no idea what she was doing on the phone, going back and forth between computer screens for almost 1/2 hour. Finally she prints out the bill and gets out her calculator because there was a $.75 cent credit listed. And of course, she had to calculate the discount for paying before the due date. All said and done, I paid $14.12BZ. 

There are no name brand stores in Belize. Well, except for one ACE hardware in Bz City. We have Cinty's Corner, Cintys and New Cintys. These are all one Chinese/Belizean family run stores. They have everything you could need, Chinese quality, but decent prices. The problem arises in that all 3 stores are disaster areas. You can barely walk into them. Stuff is everywhere and there seems to be no logical order to the mess. You ask for what you want and if you can get an employee to understand what it is you want, they will bring it out to show you. 
I needed 100 feet of rope for making goat tethers. All they have is plastic braided. I should have brought a piece with me and saved some time and frustration. I asked the girl for rope. She says, "yes, we have." I tell her what I wanted. She brings electric wire. Finally, she takes me to where the spools are located. I point and tell her 100 feet. She tells me that it is sold by the pound and wants to know how many pounds I want. It's $6 a pound. I said I don't know how many pounds. I want 100 feet. She goes to the owner and the owner shouts out that rope is $6 a pound. So I ask her if she can measure out 100 feet and then weigh it. She tells the girl to do that. They use the floor tiles as a measure. 100 feet later, she puts a piece of masking tape around the rope. She then asks if she should cut it there. I don't know how they would weigh it without cutting but I said yes, cut it. Moral of the story....100 feet of that rope is 1.5 pounds. $9.BZ and I'm on my way to the next Cintys to buy boots.

Same sort of story. I ask for ladies work boots. She shows me shoes. I said rubber work boots. "We have. What size?" Now my last boots were from the US and a size 8. Boots here come from Guatamala and use European sizing. I told her 39. She must have been gone 20 minutes. I could see her in the back of the store throwing pairs of boots from one side to the other. She finally brings me a pair. Good thing they fit as my patience was running out. $14BZ.  My US WalMart boots split all the way across the sole and the toe end was flapping as I walked. 

All the rest of my stops were like this. I was glad to get to a friends house for a while to wait to get my hair cut. Judy has been working with the distributors to do some bulk buying of items that are not sold in the Corozal stores. We usually make a trip to Bz City every couple of months to buy those items. Example is butter. The stores, all Chinese run, only carry Anchor Butter in 1/2 pound package for $6.50. In the City, we could get Wisconsin butter for $7.25 a full pound. Remember Belize dollars are 2 to 1 US. Judy was able to get us the full pounds for $6.20 each. I was so grateful. The only other butter sold is in the can. And I just can't do Blue Bonnet. There must be full freight containers coming into Belize loaded with just Blue Bonnet. They sell tons of it.  She also ordered cottage cheese, sour cream, English muffins and items like that. Many of the stores don't carry refrigerated items except drinks because they turn off the power to the coolers at night to save money, and many Belizeans do not have refrigs so they wouldn't buy the items. So those of us spoiled expats must figure out creative ways to satisfy our cravings. 

So much for another day in Tropical Paradise. BTW...it's 88 degrees today.


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## verkagj (Mar 2, 2013)

Where does the time go? There never is time enough to get everything done. I've not been home much this week so when I was there I had to rush to get the basic chores done. Tuesday I went to a US Embassy meeting. My intent was to turn in my social security paperwork. Yes, I am that old. When you live out of the country you can not do it online. We only have a post office box in the states so I had to use the long form. After the meeting, the Embassy will take applications for passport renewals, extra pages, etc and save us one trip to Belmopan. I handed in my paperwork only to find out that since last year, there were more forms to fill out. Those were quick since I didn't have a pension or annuities but forgot to bring a copy of my passport ID page. So I had to mail it in the next day. Day wasn't a loss as I had lunch with a good friend along with doing a few errands.
Wednesday I had to go to town to the post office to mail off the Social Security forms. Central America forms go to Costa Rica for processing. More errands because the stores didn't have some of what I went for. "truck hasn't reached" Both my husband and I go to go to town because we had a worker at our place so we could both be gone. We went to a lunchtime party for friends that are moving to Mexico. They had lived in the same town in Florida that we had and Charles worked in the same area that I taught so we attended some meetings together. We didn't know each other then. Small world. So there went Wed.
Thursday I had lunch with the WAGS ladies. Women's Activity and Gourmet Society is a group of ladies that go on shopping adventures and have lunch out once a month just for fun. I said the acronym might also be Women Against Grumpy Spouses because living out in the bush 24-7 without TV can get to be a bit testy at times. 

I usually take Chevre cheese and goat milk when I go to town as I usually run into someone who wants it. I'm getting known as The Goat Lady. After being a teacher and called every sort of nasty term available, Goat Lady is rather nice.

Thursday was a bit of a rough day as Bruno, the buckling, had a bit of an accident. His mother had weaned him off and I noticed that he was doing mating behaviors so I moved him in with the big buck. Bruno also was learning to be put on a tether. No problem after you get him where he will be tethered. Just getting there is the issue. Husband fed them and was taking Bruno out. Well, mostly dragging him when Bruno took a big leap just as Jim gave a tug on the leash. Bruno crashed into the fence post really hard. Actually broke the post which was rotted at the bottom. Got him out for the rest of the day without issue. When I brought them in at evening, I saw there was blood around his horn. I dumped some sulfa powder all around it. Looks like he knocked both his horns partly loose so I'm watching carefully. Been adding Vit C and an aspirin to his food. I hope it all heals well. Poor little guy. Away from mama, have to wear a collar, put on leash and then tied up for the day. And a headache to boot.

We've had weird weather. Really windy for several days, then hot with absolutely no breeze, then overcast and rain with gusty winds. It was 92 on Thursday and got down to 66 last night with cold northerly winds. Had to bring the dog in for the night.

I've been emailing with someone who lives near the Guatemala border about the buckling. He lives on 75 acres in the jungle. Now has 30 goats, 13 milkers, 2 bucks and the rest wethers. They are off-grid and use kerosene lanterns. No refrig. His mother cans the goat meat and makes cheese. I'm curious how she keeps the milk cold or ages the cheeses. Anyway, he needs a new buck. I had to figure out a way to get pictures off my phone and emailed to him. I don't have a card reader small enough for the phone chip so I took it to an Internet cafe and got them transferred to a flash drive. I tried to attach the photos to an email, our laptop is too slow to do that so back to the cafe. Finally I got the photos sent to him. He only gets on the Internet on Saturday when he goes to do the weekly shopping. I hope he wants to buy Bruno but then we have to figure out how to get him to Benque.

We had someone come and look at Bruno but wanted us to come down on the price. The guy was Jamaican and has a few goats. He needed a buck he said. When he came to look he said that the buckling was too small and wouldn't be ready for some holiday. He needed a buck for a special soup. Had to be a buck as the main ingredient was the penis. Husband said no to the price reduction because he didn't want Bruno to be soup. So I'm hoping he can become the new stud boy for the farm in Benque.

Husband is in town today buying steel and brackets to make the door for the secure workshop. Yeah! As soon as the workshop is secured, he can move a lot of his stuff from the house into there. Then I can work on caulking the wood where my kitchen will be and get that project under way. I am so tired of living in the travel trailer with no room to move around. 

Got to close up right now. A farmer parks his equipment at our place when he is working nearby fields. Right now there's a bean harvester out there. He said he was going to bring me some fresh dry beans. Here they pick the bean plants by hand and toss them into the harvester because of all the rocks that would ruin the pickup rails on the machine. So some modernization along with old fashioned hard labor. From a 30 acre field, he said they got 400 bags of beans so far and a bit more to do. Those are 100 pound bags. Amazing.


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## Pearce Pastures (Mar 3, 2013)

> After being a teacher and called every sort of nasty term available, Goat Lady is rather nice.


  Yup, I knew I had "arrived" when I had my name written in the bathroom with an endearing label next to it.


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## Kitsara (Mar 3, 2013)

verkagj said:
			
		

> I've been emailing with someone who lives near the Guatemala border about the buckling. He lives on 75 acres in the jungle. Now has 30 goats, 13 milkers, 2 bucks and the rest wethers. They are off-grid and use kerosene lanterns. No refrig. His mother cans the goat meat and makes cheese. I'm curious how she keeps the milk cold or ages the cheeses.


If you find out, pass the information on. I've been looking at various means of keeping milk cold myself since we don't have any electricity except to the well house, which is 1/2 mile away. This winter wasn't so bad since things stayed cold enough with the cooler I have. Though I've read something about running coils of hose around a container and having cold water run through it.


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## verkagj (Mar 4, 2013)

I sent the photos but haven't heard back from him yet. I'm really curious about how they keep the milk products cold. I'm a wimp. We have solar and I have a regular refrigerator and a little freezer, washing machine. I use the microwave, crockpot, ice cream maker and other appliances. This time of year, because of the angle of the sun, the house shades the solar panels in the late afternoon so we usually run the generator after we watch a DVD after dinner.


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