Heeeyho Readers! Winter season is here and tasks are piling up!
Holy Worcestershire cheese! Two weeks into winter and a cold/flu has already hammered me. And they say athletes have great immune system. Doubt. I'm stuck at home drinking lemon tea with honey and ginger, hoping that my carcass reacts.
That's a miserable perfect opportunity to update the blog with the latest tasks at the ranch, including the evolution of our compost, the first winter fruits and eating bananas.
Bananas everywhere
Banana trees take for ever to grow — 15 to 18 months in subtropical climate. Ours were there when dad bought the property, and because they aren't on the way we decided to keep as it is. They seem to grow on their own, without any intervention other than occasional pruning to remove dead or dying leaves. I posted about pruning the banana trees back in May; this time I found some ripe bananas.
Pruning
Not gonna lie... I got some mental issues with dead leaves. It's satisfying to remove them — best way is using pruning scissors, since banana fibers are incredibly strong. Our compost box is almost ready to use, otherwise I'd toss the leaves in there (banana leaves add nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium to the soil). What a big surprise when I discovered some ripe bananas hiding all the way at the top.
Organic bananas
Banana for scale
Being 100% organic, our bananas are small (no sexual pun, please) enough that one need to eat three to count as one. It doesn't matter though, organic bananas are super sweet.
Compost box
The box full of grass clippings and cow manure shrank quite a lot, so it's time to add more material. Before anything, I turned the compost to see how it looks.
Looking nice
Squeeze test
I add more kitchen waste and ashes from the wood stove. The idea is to store a lot of compost during the winter to feed the trees once spring comes our way. Last task is to rake the dry leaves from yard. Last time I thought the compost bin was too green, thus the leaves will balance the mix.
raking dry leaves
So, I'm thinking about nature's way of composting. It's basically matter piling as the seasons go by, leaves dropping during the autumn, fruits rotting, animals pooping and etc, a process that creates layers of matter over the years. We try to mimic that in a box, reason why I decided to toss the dry leaves atop the compost without mixing to see what happens.
Dry leaves
Covered compost
Fruit trees
Winter is all about citrus! From the fruit trees dad planted a year ago, the orange and tangerine are the ones bearing fruits right now. Our peach and plum trees also bore fruit during the summer, but not as heavily as these two. Isn't it funny? Our tangerine tree is no taller than a small kid and it's already loaded. Sweet and organic.
young orange tree
young tangerine tree
We have tons of tasks piling up at the ranch, but dad is also sick, which is a huge bummer. I hate to feel sick. It messes up with the bicycle training right when I'm fighting for a second place in our local competition season. Life is now always smooth sailing; gotta wait and rest.
I wish all the best for you all. Until next time (in better health, I hope).
Peace.
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~Love ya all,
Disclaimer: The author of this post is a convict broke backpacker, who has travelled more than 10.000 km hitchhiking and more than 5.000 km cycling. Following him may cause severe problems of wanderlust and inquietud. You've been warned.
