We were doing some yard work the other day trying to clear away places to plant our new fruit trees. Hacking, slashing and cutting down trees and vines.
I am Standing Under the Area to be Cleared
Well we came upon a tree that had a termite nest in it. Our attention instantly went to the termites.
OMG TERMITES!!!
We have decided that termites are undesirable due to the big wood house we have. While we haven’t seen any evidence of termites in the wood of the house, we don’t want to. We rather quickly decided that we should get rid of this nest ASAP. So we did what we heard the locals do and set it on fire. The tree was covered in vines that were attracting bees so the smoke from the fire was actually helpful in ridding the tree of the foraging bees as well.
Now I know what you’re thinking. What did they set on fire?!?!
The Wood House. It’s gone.
No, no just kidding. After the fire went out and the nest had burned, I used my saw arm, which is getting stronger every day, and started cutting on the tree. I can down a small tree in around 10-15 minutes now which is a pretty big improvement. Because it was covered in vines with bees all over it we didn’t even know what kind of tree it was. We figured it was another weed/termite attracting tree. Especially since it had a termite nest in it.
The tree fell as expected and then we noticed the leaves…..
It. Was. An. Avocado. Tree! Probably 15-20years old. Ahh man! That sucks!
A humongous “Oops!”
We are still pretty bummed about that. We reacted too quickly to the termites and the damage they had done, which could have been dealt with and was nothing even close to the damage we did. We learned a hard lesson and decided to go see a movie in Mayaguez to get our minds off it. I am sure we will make many more mistakes. It sucks, but that’s how we learn.
We have so much going on that sometimes we forget to pause and show the progress that we have made, so I thought I would write an update on the wood house and yard progress and adventures.
Britton spent the good part of three days inside the wood house getting rid of all the personal belongings of the previous owner. It was so strange how the house was left: like a time capsule dating back to fall 2001. Dishes were still in the sink, bed in the bedroom, hangers in the closet, and lots and lots and lots of old movies, tapes and books. I tried to salvage a few of the books, but many of them were toast.
A few books I have salvaged
They had either been chewed (and/or peed) on by the rats, had lizard eggs in them, had ended up in a pile of bat guano or were just completely grimy and gross…especially for Britton because he was inside the nastiness.
The kitchen was/is by far the worst. The rats had made their homes in the dead fridge and stove that we had disposed of earlier, but they had also made holes into the drywall too. We tried rat traps, but they (or the ants) just simply ate the bait. Kitty has helped a little with the rat problem, but we will probably just have to pull off all the drywall and wood boards anywhere we know they are living.
As Britton was working inside (with mask, gloves and bottles of bleach) he said it was just disgusting. Once as he was tossing all the junk into one of the big black plastic contractors’ bags, he pulled what he thought was another handful of books and things and looked down to see a mummified rat in his hands. Yuck!!
So I couldn’t argue too much with him when he said he just wanted to throw nearly everything away and start fresh.
About ten bags of trash were hauled out
We have also made some good progress on the yard. Since we have the motivation to plant our new fruit trees and plants, we have to clear out more of the jungle below. I generally work with the pruners and Britton with the machete, trimmer and saws. We have cleared a path all the way down to the edge of the property and have a small path into the lower part of the ravine too. We have planted about half of the trees so far.
Side of hill (mostly) cleared and planted
Making progress beyond the gate a ways
We also made a huge discovery (at least to us).
We thought we had lost the piña mango tree to all the growth, but as we were clearing away the jungle we came across another cement block that we had used to remind us where we had planted things. We found that what we had thought was the corazón was actually the piña mango and that THIS tree was our corazón! It has grown a lot more than the mango in the two years since we planted it. We were so happy to find it! It was like finding hidden treasure.
Corazón tree is about 5 feet tall now!
We both enjoy being out in the yard, though I still haven’t learned my lesson about suiting up with pants and shoes as Britton does. I don’t think I’ve worn long pants since I’ve left Colorado and I don’t really want to. We’ll see how many ant piles I have to step in before that changes 🙂
Ant pile in an old tree stump
I also had an attack of sorts in the jungle. I heard a bee buzzing around my head as I chopped vines and small trees with the loppers. Then I felt the tell-tale bumping through my hat. The bee was warning me to leave! I didn’t want to yell and make a big deal out of it so I just ran off, but the bee kept bumping me. I threw off the hat to try and confuse the bee. Britton looked up from what he was doing and looked at me like I was crazy. “What is wrong with you!?” All I could muster was “Get it!” and I tried to get around Britton, but I got caught in the trip-wire vines and slipped smack! flat on my face. I just laid there for a few minutes until perplexed Britton finally figured out what had me all mussed up. The guard bee then started buzzing into Britton so we decided to call it a day at that point. The slip and the bumps were more than we needed. We didn’t need a killer bee stinging attack too!
Most of the time, however, our yard work is peaceful and enjoyable. We go out when there is a bit of cloud cover and listen to music. Kitty often sits with us and watches out for rats and lizards. Really, we love it here, adventures and all.
One thing we have been combating living here are all the biting and stinging creatures. Britton has been stung by a few bees and more than a few ants. I have stepped directly into two huge ant piles and did the ants-in-my-pants dance trying to shake them off and run from the pile at the same time as they bit and stung their fire poison into my poor feet.
We kind of expect it when we are outside, but the hardest thing to get used to are all the bugs INSIDE! Between cleaning out the perimeter around the house and Kitty killing them, most of the cockroaches have (thankfully) disappeared. So lately our biggest (little) enemies have been the mosquitoes -they especially love me! When we are working in the yard we make sure to wear strong bug repellents but usually when we come back into the cabana we shower and wash it all off because we don’t like all those chemicals inside the house or on our skin.
Darn mosquito got my leg!
So we were sort of sitting ducks for the smart little suckers- the mosquitos of Puerto Rico- because they were inside as well! In Colorado the mosquitos are pretty big, slow and dumb. You can easily smack them as they fly mid-air or when they land on your body. Here in Puerto Rico we could tell they were different. They are small, nimble and strike most often when your guard is down.
Especially at the ankles. We call them little ankle biters. That’s why I started wearing these mosquito-repelling bracelets/anklets that are infused with plant oils (like lemon eucalyptus or geranoil) that aren’t attractive to mosquitos. From ant attacks to these mosquitoes, my feet and ankles have definitely felt the brunt of the attacks and I may have scars from the scratching that ensues later.
The mosquitoes go after your feet and ankles for a couple of reasons: 1) feet are smellier and sweatier than other areas -very attractive to these little vampires and 2) you don’t notice your feet as much as other parts of your body -until too late.
One less mosquito!
So I did a little research about the mosquitos of Puerto Rico and found that they are a different species than those in Colorado. The main species you have to worry about in Colorado are the Culex variety -those that carry West Nile Virus. Here in Puerto Rico it is the Aedes mosquito, specifically the Aedes Aegypti that carry the viruses of Dengue Fever and Yellow Fever.
They are considered better flyers and found in tropical areas. They also need flooded areas to breed unlike the Colorado varieties that need still water to breed. This also explains why many times in the dry season (winter) when we have been in Puerto Rico, we didn’t see a single mosquito. The Aedes mosquito likes to hide in dark spaces -like under beds, in closets, on the floor of our truck cab and as we have found, even in our kitchen cabinets! They are like the monsters under the bed eating at our ankles when we are sitting on the bed, when climbing into the truck or chewing on us as we sleep!
So we have devised a plan against these blood suckers. Outside we use the stronger repellents including those that contain DEET (ugh). We keep the doors and truck windows shut at all times to keep them from entering and hiding out. If we see that there are some in the house, then we wear our “indoor” plant-based repellents, burn citronella candles and light incense. We also run the fans to make them lose their direction when in flight.
Our inside arsenal against mosquitoes
So far this has been working and it is nice to sleep without the buzzing in our ears that means bites are imminent. We also considered getting a mosquito net over the bed, but I think if we can just keep those doors closed we can decrease the problem greatly. Life in the tropics is ever a learning experience in things big and small.
We have finally managed to get our immediate yard area trimmed and cleared away (what they call in Spanish “cleaned”) and felt that we were ready to plant some fruit trees to begin our finca (farm). Many varieties take years before they fruit, so we wanted to get started as soon as possible. When we first bought the property we had planted a piña mango tree and a corazón tree, but so far we have only been able to find the corazón (we found our heart in Puerto Rico! 😉 ).
Stump of a dead citrus with the starfruit completely fine (and flowering again!)
We have read that Puerto Rico (among other places) is experiencing some major citrus diseases, such as citrus greening, that are affecting fruit yield and killing off the citrus trees. We found that to be true on our property as well, though we aren’t sure of the cause of death. We had to remove 3 old growth citrus trees that were completely dead.
We could tell they were citrus by the thorns on their deadened branches. It is unfortunate because those trees would have been probably 10-15 feet tall by now and producing like mad. But we do have a few other citrus trees that are still alive, at least for now. We are going to fertilize and prune them and see if there is any hope for them.
We do have some other old growth trees like the huge coconut trees, the carabola (starfruit) and an avocado tree. We even had to get a big tree trimmer in order to get the coconuts down and to trim the palm fronds.
We are not sure what else we have on the property because we don’t know too much about what grows here, but we were determined to find out or know it because we put it there. With about 4 acres of land, we would have to plant a lot before it could ever be filled.
So we talked with some of the local fruit venders and they said they get their plants at a place called Jardines Eneida in Cabo Rojo which is a beautiful little seaside town on the farthest southwest of the island. We looked up the address to the nursery and followed the map directions they had on their website. Big mistake! Their website lists completely different map directions than where they are actually located!
We drove around in circles for half an hour pointing at the spot it SHOULD be but obviously was not. Finally we pulled the truck aside so I could ask for the correct directions in Spanish from two middle aged women who were having a conversation under a large shade tree. They both knew where it was and said we were definitely in the wrong area. After giving us the directions we still felt very turned around and one of the women could tell. She offered to lead us straight to it! How nice is that!?
We followed her to the nursery and I thanked her profusely. We offered to buy her a small plant if she would like, but she refused only saying “a sus ordenes” meaning loosely that she was at our service and happy to help.
At Jardines Eneida we were in our element. We loved looking around at all the different plants–most of which we have no idea what they taste like or look like as full grown trees/plants. The prices were reasonable with most things in the $5 to $8 range for fruit trees. We loaded up a little wagon with nearly 20 different species of plants.
This is a real bird! I thought it was so cute sitting on the topiary
Then it started to rain -hard! We waited under the shelter area for about 45 minutes until it let up. Finally we were able to pay and load up the truck. We laid the plants on their sides so that they wouldn’t get too wind-whipped in the approximately 60 minute drive back.
When we returned we looked at their website again to see if we had just written the directions wrong, but nope, it was on their site that way with the wrong map (right address though). Too bad we hadn’t seen this post by CA2PR beforehand. It seems that Jardines Eneida is a right of passage for anyone looking to grow their own food and plants on the west side of the island!
The best way to actually find Jardines Eneida from the north is to stay on the 100 until the 308 and then turn left and go until you see a little store called The Tropical Corner, turn right on that road which is 103 and follow until you see Jardines Eneida on the right.
Here is a list of all the plants we bought. The total for everything was less than $150 which we thought was reasonable for this many trees/plants:
Cacao Rojo (Red Cocoa/Chocolate tree)
Aguacate Candalaria (avocado)
Pink and red trinitaria/bougainvillea
Canna
Platano (plantain) -We still want bananas but they were out
Guayabana (Soursop)
Naranja agria (sour orange)
Fruta maravillosa (Miracle Fruit)
Philodendrum Monstera
Granada (Pomegranate)
Toronja Red blush (Grapefruit)
Guayaba (Guava)
Carambola (Starfruit)
Café (coffee)
China del país -citrus sinensis -country orange
Mangostán -Mangosteen
Limón del país -country lime
We also have bought from other venders:
Chironja (grapefruit/orange mix)
Jobo (Not sure name in English)
Another cacao/chocolate tree
Finding a home for the aguacate
We have started to plant them but it is a lot of work clearing out the lower 1-2 acres and removing the old dead trees and sawing down the termite trees, so it might take us a while! As for the new citrus, we are looking for organic (or less toxic) ways to deal with and prevent these plant diseases. We’ll let you know what we find. So far, we are having so much fun making our own real tropical “Farmville” out here.
The two planted chocolate trees (immediate left and directly under BK)
