The landlady came by unexpectedly at lunchtime to talk. Seriously. Not about the electrical issues or the leaky roof or the rent. She came to talk about fruit. Again. More specifically the wastage of fruit in the garden. She was born into the old Thai teak wooden house that her parents built about 100 years ago, and she knows the rhythms and seasons well. She was concerned that the (implied) 'ignorant white woman' might not understand what each fruit or herb was. Haha. Au contraire. But the idea that there are more important things than fruit is unfathomable to her.
Her biggest concerns? The Thai cherries are feeding the birds and need picking!! The green mangoes are ready and need picking. And two kha-noon are past their prime, should have been picked and have been "lost". Haha... if you missed my post about our jackfruit glut, you can catch up on it here: https://steemit.com/ecotrain/@artemislives/harvesting-the-kha-noon-when-fruit-becomes-a-community-asset
Are there really such things as Thai cherries? Well , sort of. Acerola cherries to be exact. Malpighia emarginata.
They originate from the Central and South America, flourish in the West Indies but yes, they also flourish here in Northern Thailand. They're tart but not really sour, and are listed frequently in the "superfood" posts which flood the internet. Yes, they really have been prized for thousands of years for their healing properties. Acerola cherries are not easy to find in markets, even village markets. Buying acerola supplements online start at $25 per pack, and yet here they are.... literally raining down on me. Cosmic lesson in there too, somewhere, about receiving, accepting and using that which rains down from above. :) Want to know more about acerola cherries? https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/fruit/acerola.html
Why have I not been picking them or collecting them from the ground??
Haha... Snakes. We appear to have a nest close to the 'cherry' tree.
In there somewhere. Lots of rain, long grass between the tree and the house, and I am seeing them almost daily, super close to the back door. Black ones with yellow stripes. Probably banded kraits. Is that good? Errr - no. They pop up as number one on the most of the deadly snakes lists. You can read more about them here: https://www.thailandsnakes.com/venomous/banded-krait-venomous-deadly/ Regular snakes I either cohabit with quite happily (the cobras in our roof are bordering on family legend), rehome if safe to handle and (very occasionally) kill if they are especially aggressive or a danger to us. Yes, I have been bitten. Yes, I can handle a machete or a throwing knife fairly well (thank you, sensei!) But kraits? I leave them to the experts. And therefore the birds have been gorging themselves.
So the upside of today's visit is I have green mangoes on my kitchen bench, plucked by an expert and have her local tips on how to make my green mango salad better than anyone else's. More "arroy" (delicious). My menu planning is sorted for several days - green mango salad, jackfruit curry and Sri Lankan green mango curry. And I have a bowl of acerola cherries sitting here on my work table to munch on. Just what my tired woman self needs for physical recovery after an intense morning. :)
Most importantly, the landlady has organised me a regular yard man who will cut the undergrowth and remove the snake nests. None other than our lovely old uncle who lives next door - also her tenant and the trusted kha-noon picker.
Life is sweet and yes, the saying that Life is a Bowl of Cherries pretty much sums up my Chiang Mai Friday morning. Several big things were released and resolved; I feel energized and renewed; I have yummy fresh organic superfood to munch on (after the landlady used her walking stick to frighten the local serpentine community); and my yard man crisis is over (it being a delicate cultural no-no for the entitled white chick to assume the respected Thai uncle might be a yard man - but the land-lady asking is fine). Grateful.
And now I just have to add VODKA to the shopping list. Because I feel making a healing rainy season acerola tincture in my weekend herbal future. AFTER I munch through some more of these yummy things!
BlissednBlessed
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