This post is about gardening and sharing produce with the neighbours. But first I want to tell you this remarkable story.
When I was driving to the shop the other day, there was a black bird lying on the road. Birds usually don’t do that so I stopped the car. It was a Smooth-billed Ani. It must have been hit by a car, but it was still alive.
So I picked it up and was surprised how extremely light these relative large birds are. I couldn’t see any physical damage. I hoped it would survive and that the poor bird was just knocked about a bit. All his family was hanging around in the bushes nearby. The Anis have very strong family bonds and they are usually seen in groups. The older siblings help raising the younger chicks. You could tell they were hanging around because of the wounded bird.
Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga ani)
I put the bird on the side of the road, in the shade near a bush. By then it could already sit a little. Since there was not much else I could do, I continued on my journey.
When I drove back home I stopped to see how the bird was doing. And to my surprise I saw 7 or 8 Anis sitting all around this bird, showing support and not willing to give up on their wounded sibling. The bird was already looking much more alive so I assume it survived. The next day It was not there anymore.
I had never seen anything like this. For me this was again more proof that animals have strong emotions and feelings, just like humans. It seriously pisses me of when there are idiots out there saying that they don’t. Like recently when the Tories declared in their wisdom that all animals, except humans of course, don’t feel any pain nor emotion. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/brexit-bill-latest-animal-sentience-cannot-feel-pain-emotion-vote-mps-agree-eu-withdrawal-bill-a8064676.html
And these are the people that rule us. It’s a joke.
But back to the garden where all animals are welcome to show their feelings and emotions.
I have a Moringa tree in the garden that needs to be trimmed. I was putting it of a bit because I don’t like working on a ladder. But some workmen recently approached me and asked if they could have a few branches to grow a few trees. Of course I said yes.
A lot of people in Suriname are struggling to survive. We had massive inflation over more than a 100% in one year time. So a lot of people are working very hard to make ends meet.
These workmen are doing a bit of guerrilla farming during their lunch break. They sell their produce to the local supermarkets and on the market. Moringa trees are quite popular at the moment for obvious reasons. They are not only beautiful trees that grow easily but they are also packed with vitamins and minerals. So I told the men to come back next day and that they could have all the branches that they wanted. I also told them that I got some seeds for them as well. They were very pleased to hear that.
You can grow a new moringa by simply cutting of a branch of at least 1/2 inch thick, cut of the top and stick it into the ground. Forget all about it and keep your fingers crossed. Sometimes a new tree will grow out of it. Sometimes it won’t.
So up the ladder I went to trim the tree and collect the branches. My wife harvested the leaves to put in smoothies and dry some to make tea. We had a nice vegan lentil and moringa soup for lunch that day.
I had to do a few other things to do as well in the garden. This aloe vera has outgrown its pot. I’m going to put them in the garden so that they become big enough to start harvesting them. Aloe vera is another plant packed with goodies for the human body.
After I transplanted them in the garden, I had many little plants left. So I gave them to the workmen who were pleased with the Moringa branches, seeds and at least 20 aloe vera plants. They brought me a nice papaya and some bananas in return.
We also get fruit from the neighbours. They have a field outside town where they grow oranges and other citrus fruit. Sometimes I wake up to find a big basket of oranges sitting on the fence. We helped them out when they arrived here with water and electricity. It can take a long time before the utility companies hook you up. In this case almost nine months. So we connected their house to ours and put a meter in between. I also filled their water tank every three days.
What goes around comes around. They are very grateful for helping them out. We still get oranges. We give them medicinal herbs in return.
The multiplying of the spring onion goes really well. I started with three from the market and now I already have more than ten. I’m going to harvest them.
I dug them out to split them in order to grow more spring onion. They keep on multiplying and grow bigger if you give them more space.
In order to split them it’s best to use a sharp knife and cut the root base. Initially I tried to break them of but that didn’t work so well. Another lesson learned.
Since this post is a bit of a mixture of topics, I'll end it with this picture of the moon. Last Sunday we had a super-moon. I personally have never seen it this big. I only have a 200mm lens on a full frame body but I shot a very detailed picture. The picture has been cropped of course, but still .
Much love,
Gardenbsquared
