Pruning palms....

Just behind where I sit at the computer, there is a raised area of garden which is the home of two lovely coconut palms.  As with most plants, trees and flowers in this sub-tropical climate they thrive and grow profusely and, every now and again, are in need of some severe pruning.  When the palm leaves bend and eventually drop themselves they land with a great crash and the falling of a dried coconut is to be avoided at all costs as can give a nasty 'crack on the head' if it happens to fall on you!!

So, yesterday was time to get the ladder out and, Tuly, armed with machete, started palm pruning with a vengeance.

What looks like a simple job at the outset become quite a major task when the removal of the leaves and bunches of coconuts takes place. Within minutes there was a huge pile of debris on the ground.  As usual Tuly was ably assisted by Margo who wore the glasses to save all the 'bits' going in her eyes.

Then comes clearing and cleaning up time - all being carted off to the lower fields where the rubbish is burnt on a regular basis - such a shame that we don't really like fresh coconut or the coconut water here.

All finished and tidy until the next pruning session due!!

My San Pedro Cactus...

I had never heard of the Trichocereus Pachanoi "San Pedro Cactus" before moving here but there were a number in the garden of our new home when we arrived.  It is found naturally in the Andes of Peru and Ecuador and is known as the sacred cactus of the Inca kings. I have read that if it is cut up and boiled then the residual water contains mescaline which is a hallucinogenic drug but I won't be testing that out!!

As you can see they grow in columns, about one foot a year, up to 20+ feet with many branches - cuttings are easily taken by just chopping a branch and replanting it in dry ground and, with no watering necessary, they thrive.

We thought them ugly and were tempted to cut them down until one day they started to flower.  Each year, from about April onwards, tiny buds begin to appear - every spiky prickle has the potential to produce a flower.

The buds, then flowers, continue to appear over several months, usually from May through to early August.  Sometimes there will be just a few in bloom and sometimes literally hundreds.

Each flower is very shortlived though.  The bloom doesn't appear until late evening, well after dark, in the region of 10 pm and, if not up early the following morning, they will already be wilting.

Earlier this week there was a great show one morning 

They really are a totally beautiful sight in the very early morning sunlight and this photo was captured at 6.30am as this batch will already be dying by breakfast time. Just another one of the truly magical moments for me at my home in the Dominican Republic.

Snakes alive!!

I am happy to say that there believed to be no poisonous snakes on the island which is most reassuring.  However, we do get to see a few which are mostly quite small (by snake standards, that is).  The boa constrictor can cause damage and we have been known to have one or more in the aviary of birds and, despite being able to squeeze its slim body through the small bars, should it manage to catch and devour a small bird such as a budgie or lovebird, it cannot then exit in the same way it entered as its body becomes too fat!!  The only one Charlie encountered in this scenario met its death with a machete but took some 45 minutes to catch and destroy.

The one in this photo was just a baby and enjoying life on the cactus outside so was allowed to live its life in peace.

The other most common snake here is the tree snake and comes in various colours ranging from bright blue to bright green and is actually very pretty.  

This one yesterday decided to catch a frog and take up residence in the coco palm just outside my window and, as long as he decides to stay outside of the house, he is welcome and under no threat from me.

Help! It's a rat......

The odd rat is not an unusual occurrence here and, I suppose living on a farm and quite close to the river, especially with the huge amount of rain we have had recently,  I should expect more but some of the rats that appear here seem to have some incredible audacity. No chance to use rat poison as would be too risky to the other pets so have tried distributing camphor, the smell of which they supposedly hate, but without any great success.

On numerous occasions they have got into the car/ truck engines and seem undeterred by the heat and remain there throughout journeys only to be discovered when returning home and only then because the dogs follow the vehicle and must get a whiff of a hot rat inside!  At that points it’s all eyes and, in dogs’ cases, noses in action to try to flush out the offender. Shaka, the Ridgeback, is an excellent executioner providing he is quick enough to catch the escapee.  Most times they are caught but the odd one gets away.  In one of the vehicles they had built a huge nest before we realised the problem in that wires had been severed by their sharp teeth and it was not only housing parents but also a large family of babies and the amount of twigs and straw which was concealed within the engine compartment seemed endless to remove.

Dear Annie( RIP), my small Havanese, was great in identifying where the rat was in hiding but never fast enough to capture them herself so often it has turned into a team effort.  Just recently a nest was identified under the eaves of the aviary in the garden – this followed finding a couple of dead babies on the covered terrace early morning and it was spotted by Margo on a routine walkabout and dismantled by Tuly whereby 2 full size rats ran and one hid in a water pipe until Annie succeeded in flushing him out for Shaka to kill whilst the other got away.

I had a small one in the living room some time ago which was eventually caught by one of the cats but, far worse, was one which took up residence in my bedroom one night having presumably entered via a six inch opening of the lounge window left as such for Annie to use as a dog flap.  I heard slight commotion by one of the cats but the other seemed unperturbed so I went back to sleep but in the morning Annie showed us there was something in the area of the large chair which when moved revealed a large furry fellow who somehow managed to avoid Tuly and escape the house by climbing the wire netting on the back door gate.  He didn’t however get far as Shaka saw him go to the bottom garden and between Tuly and Shaka this one was soon caught and disposed of.

So, in conclusion, I was sitting here at my computer last night and saw George, the retired ratting cat, with a fixed stare at the window behind me.  Lo and behold, there was a really cheeky one right on the window bars and looking straight in at me!  Where he is now, I have no idea but there was no evidence that he was caught although Shaka bounced at the window until I thought it would break - have made mental note to shut windows and doors early tonight.

The workers....

Tuly and Margo are my workers at the finca.  Tuly works on the farm, tends the animals and keeps the gardens and pool in great order whilst Margo helps out in the house 4 mornings a week.  

They have their own small casita on the property so they are also my ‘security force’! The rusty part of the the roof has been replaced since this photo was taken and they are more fortunate than many 'campo' (country) workers as it is concrete built with three bedrooms, kitchen and small indoor living area as well as the outside terrace where most of their relaxation time is spent. It has running water with a proper toilet and shower and free mains electricity (when it is on which is about 12 hours in every 24!)

Tuly and Margo saved their money and bought an inverter and batteries so they are considered quite 'posh' in being able to play their TV, music and have lights on even when the street power is off.  

Their home is accessed via a separate track which runs along the most western side of the property and they always receive many visitors, especially on Sundays.

Just beyond their home is a tributary of the large River Yasica from which water is pumped across three fields up to my house and also to theirs.  Despite some long dry spells the river has never dried up on us as yet!  Some parts are wider and deeper providing a great place to swim and playtime for dogs.

The locals drive their cattle down the track to drink twice a day and their donkey makes his daily trip returning heavily laden with recycled plastic one gallon bottles filled with river water for use in their homes.

Dominican optimism....

So, my workers, Margo and Tuly decided to have a fiesta at their little casita.  Dominicans don't do things by halves and their small fiesta was planned with a 100 lb bbq'd pig with lots of yummy side dishes plus the usual rice/ beans, plantains and yucca.  Only hiccup was the possibility of rain..... had loads lately and it rained very heavily again on Saturday then, as usual, the sun came out for a while.

On Sunday morning, it was pissing down once again so the offer was made to transfer fiesta to the larger covered terrace here but I was told it would not be necessary and just to arrive by 2 pm.  How they knew that it would stop raining and would all dry out and it would be far to hot to sit out in the sun by 2 pm onwards I have no idea but it did and a great time was had by all.  After nightfall, the heavens opened again with loads more rain!

For the love of Archie!!

For those who don't know a 'finca' is a farm here.  And, as am sure you have noticed the bigpalm bit is an anagram of pig and lamb!!

Having a small farm in the Dominican Republic is rather different to one in England.  It is not commonplace to raise your animals, send them off to market from where they are taken to the slaughterhouse and then you buy a joint of pork or lamb securely wrapped in cling film from the supermarket shelf.  It is more normal to be breeder, farmer, slaughterer and consumer all under one roof. And so, one of the things we did on our 'finca' was make sure all that was done properly.  When the young are born, they are not given a name as then they become pets just like the dogs and cats.

And then came Archie..... when he was just two weeks old his mother died of an infection.  There were no other female sheep prepared to raise the little one so he was brought out of the pasture to me at the house.  There was a baby's bottle and some formula milk in the cupboard and it took no time at all for the little lamb to realise that this is where his food was to now come from.  From the very start, Archie had no fear of the dogs or cats and he nuzzled them as his new family.  A large washing up bowl lined with a towel became his bed and, to keep a good eye on the little soul and for ease of coping with the 4 hourly feeds (24/7), his nights were spent with us in our bedroom.

Still small enough to walk through the bars on the gates, he wandered in and out of the house as he chose and sunbathed in the garden areas.  As he grew up he behaved more and more like a dog -when someone approached the main gates, and the dogs ran down barking, Archie went too. He even chased sticks in the field. We went to a party at a friend's penthouse and Archie came too on collar and lead. He developed a passion for Ritz biscuits which he maintains even now.

The one thing he did not like to eat was grass but, as a sheep, he had to overcome that problem and so, when Archie was about 4.5 months old, he was introduced back to his own kind.  He did not take kindly to the wrench from home comfort life and for a while would escape through the gate and run back and bleat to come in.  Gradually, Archie learned to become a sheep again and live in a field with the rest of the group and, now, at almost 4 years old he is a fine looking fellow and will be running around at bigpalmfinca until he dies of natural causes.