Papayas, Cashews and it is a Hibiscus

Going to nurseries here is really fun. If you give yourself 15 or 20 dollars you can have a blast and come home with a lot of new things. On the other hand, 15 dollars is the water bill for the month so it really is a lot. I limited myself to $12 on this last trip and got 3 more of the Brazilian gigantic parcha and this "Pajuil" tree which is a cashew! There is a nursery just south of Home Depot and they have a cashew that has the false fruits and nuts on it right now. I was pretty sure it was a cashew, but they wrote down Pajuil and when I looked it up I was right. They were telling me that you eat the fruit but it is kind of like the "stinky sock" tree they call Hog tree (or hogue tree or something). The flesh is really weird, but out of it comes one hook like little cashew which you have to roast to eat. The tree isn't really pretty, but hey - the fruit is a weird one! For $3? We have space.

When we arrived there was a pathetic little shrub with totally contorted bug eaten leaves. Before cutting things down or digging them out I wait for them to do something. After cutting it back severely it has gotten new leaves and pushed out this double hibiscus! Worth keeping and making cuttings of definitely. It is hard to see, but we planted papayas from seed about 3 months ago on the contour of our lower slope. As they grow I am clearing around them and cutting in terraces so it will be easier to walk and maintain. I am staggering a row of papaya, a row of guineos, row of papayas and zig zagging them to maximize soil holding abilities and keep them from interfering with each other. We have 30 or more papayas and if they all fruit if it is at the same time we will really need a dehydrator. With the bananas it is easy to understand why you do things with them at all stages - green, amarillo, maduro, black spotted etc. They all ripen at once. At night I watch the bats hang on the ripe clusters and fly between the bananas and mango in Coqui Valley. The papayas are starting to bloom so it is time to start figuring out who is who.


It might be too early to tell, but I believe these are female flowers. They are close to the stalk and are opening.

These are male flowers, hanging on a long stem in clusters. We cut this one and it did not change sex but I am keeping it because it is green, not interfering with anything and the flowers are very fragrant!

We planted papayas from the seeds of three different papayas that all had a different color flesh and different taste. To our surprise just about everything germinated. How many papayas does a person need? Not this many, but we'll cull them when they do or don't do something. In the beginning I water things every day for the first week, every few days after that and then I don't unless I happen to be watering a new thing nearby. We are still waiting for the "rainy season." In the dry season we had rain every day around 2 or 3 for an hour or two. Right now? De nada. So out I go to water the vetiver grass, the watermelon, peppers, and batata amarilla...


A word on spacing...I didn't expect a lot of the seeds to grow so I planted things too close. Nothing here should be closer than 5 feet and "little" trees and shrubs I suggest a 15 foot at center minimum. Our mature trees overlap and merge at this spacing. Overlapping and the understory thing is great unless you want heavy fruiting. But hey, how much fruit can two people and neighbors eat?

Stuff from Around the Yard

It is wonderful to have flowers to cut and bring in. Sometimes I just use foliage from the crotons and it makes a really nice display.

This tiny fruit is an acerola. It has more vitamin C in it than any other fruit. You can chuck it into a smoothie or just nibble when cruising around the yard.

This is a new one for us. It looks like some kind of annon...same family as corazons and llang llang. The fruit has very interesting scale like skin...wonder what it will taste like?

Plop plop, down go the breadfruit - the seed ones. I was watching them and checked just yesterday and they were hard. Today they plopped on their own and I got them before the bugs did!

Here are the seeds cleaned up. Next stop is the boiling water, then the fridge, then under the knife to get the outer coating off and then the salt. They taste like little potatoes and are good to snack on!

Los Animales Cerca Mi Casa...

Finally we have got everything painted and the guardian toads installed. Makes me smile when I drive up...

Chicken the cat (and all the others) just love to play and this is their favorite play toy - a stick with a piece of metal and part of a bathing suit tie on it! I can amuse myself (I mean them) for hours twirling in a circle with the little cats chasing the stick like greyhounds! Great fun.


These guys have decided they live here. So I guess we are pseudo responsible for a tumble of kitties! They are really good friends or family...who knows?



This is another neighborhood animal at the bottom of the driveway. Sometimes it is "moo-fest" with all kinds of racket but today was just grass munching.

This is Princess (aka Holstein Junior). She survived her surgeries just fine. We survived her surgeries as well. She is really feral and Jeff got pretty scratched up trying to catch her. She was cleaning herself and I saw that she had a large open gash under her arm - not something a little kitty should have. I wanted it taken care of and since we'd never be able to catch her again we had her spayed as well. She lived in the shower for 7 long nights and hissed at us, meowed, and recovered. Getting her out of the shower was the hard part. We popped open the doors and she climbed INTO the medicine cabinet (she is very very small), then up on top of it. She wouldn't come for food, didn't run for her cat friend voices, it was difficult but she was finally freed! Now she hangs out in the yard but we still can't touch her.

Mmmm, Fresh Fish

I have been trying to get out and go free diving and spearfishing since we moved here. Yesterday I finally got out and got a fish. I met a fellow free diver through Spear board on the Internet. He also just moved to PR a few months ago. He was kind enough to take me out and teach me a few things. I had a great time and we plan on going frequently. I am not big on killing things but I do enjoy the hunt. I love eating fish and lobster. I can't kill a chicken for dinner but I will spear a fish or boil a lobster. As we snorkeled out to the reef a large school of Yellowtail Jack swam past us. Julio picked out a nice one and shot it. I shot at one and missed. These fish are fast! I am used to spearing fish that don't move! We went back to the boat to put some fish in the cooler. You don't want to drag bloody fish around with you for longer than you need to. On the way back out again I managed to shoot a cero mackerel. Again, these fish are fast. I got in a great shot. It's a small fish but tastes great. In the picture I am holding the fish Julio speared. The picture of the silver fish in the cooler is the one I shot.

And this is what it looks like all cooked up. The fish tasted great! We are very happy with it. Katrina made a nice mango sauce from the mangoes in the yard. The limes are also from the yard.

I took a picture as we were leaving. What a nice area.

I had great fun and look forward to doing it again. Thanks Julio!