Pages

Friday, August 2, 2013

Day 24: Food

Today, Tom left for the airport very early in the morning. I went along for the ride to Kingston. Tom gave me an informal "out of the trunk" talk about his bees and showed me lots of pictures in the car. So fascinating! His methods for keeping his Africanized bees are amazing and innovative (and very handy). He also has some really great pictures of his apiaries in Honduras.

Here are some pictures of food that I took the other day just for fun.
Agape removing the seeds from a farm Papaya (they keep the seeds):
 Freshly cut watermelon:
 The result when I come back three minutes later:
 Sour sop, yummy!

 My dinner tonight, one of my favorites. Beans with garlic and carrots, green beans, and dumplings:

Day 23: Still hot, hot, hot

Kylie left this morning. So sad! She, Taylor and I had all shared a room as interns. Now they are both gone. It was really fun and great to know them. We had lots of great times here at the farm!

Before she went, she did a test for different extracts on leaves with worms to see if it could be an insecticide.
Worm:
 Kylie applying the different extracts, which included Bougainvillea and papaya leaf:
 Curious observers looking at the result:

Thursday, August 1, 2013

ABOUT COMMENTING

Please choose the drop-down menu BEFORE you publish the comment, otherwise it will not publish. It is very easy to just use the "Anonymous user" option. To comment, click to orange "No comments" below the post.
Click the "publish" after you write a comment and pick from the drop-down menu. Like so, indicated with the red arrow.Thanks.

Day 22: Hot day in the bees


Got up early today to go and feed the bees while it was cooler. Getting the smoker ready:




  A monkey was eating and watching us get ready:
  Kylie getting the smoker going:
  The bags of feed that we took into the two apiaries:
  We used plastic bags, which work just fine for the bees. They chew a small hole in the bag, enough to get droplets of sugar water out. Some people have poked holes in the bags but that gets too messy. Placing the feed bags into the hives:
  We sorted out and counted the bags we needed for each hive. Here are the bags sitting on top of the hives, ready to go:
  Going into the top-bar hives:
  Placing the bag near the end of the comb (typically in the middle bars):
  We just put the bags on the bottom of the hive:



 One of the best things to happen in a day is getting a bunch of mangoes on the kitchen table for everyone to eat:

Day 21: Bittersweet


We had to make food for the bees today. Kwao bought a big bag of sugar, as well as some small plastic bags. Kylie and I mixed equal parts sugar and water in a big tub to make the solution. Then, we poured individual feed bags for the bees. We had to do it at night so that the bees would not be all over us while we were doing it. We are feeding them becuase it is the dearth season. There is little food and a lot of the hives are still fairly new or do not have reserves since the last hurricane.
The buckets of feed bags:

Cody and Christie left today which was very sad. I will really miss their energy and company. I hope to stay in touch with all that they are doing! After they go home to Kentucky, their next stop is New Zealand. They had some really neat backpacks that served as luggage (very smart travelers).

Kylie and I also went to the beach to swim. After, we walked to another beach close by to collect some sea glass. Kylie leaves on Thursday so this was one of her last days to go to the beach.
I tried some mimosa seeds today. They were extremely bitter tasting. Some people liked them, but it made me queasy.
You can see Agape opening the pod:
The seeds:

 Some silly onlookers:
 

Day 20: Training again

Did another training in Kingston today.I am halfway through my stay here. Wow, time flies!
Pollen traps, hive building, and comb saver building. The place we went to was quite different, just on the side of the road outside. It was pretty hot but everyone was enthusiastic. We had some car trouble but got out of there just fine.

Some cultural notes from today:
The woman at the training told Kylie that she can't help push the car but that the "lazy" men should do it.
Also, I've noticed that anyone you meet the men ask if you are alright and if you need food or water and the women ask if you are feeling alright and if you need a bathroom. It's quite nice, actually. People everywhere care for you and you can always ask for help.

We also went for jerk chicken and ice-cream.


Monday, July 29, 2013

Day 19: Out and About

Went to Annotto Bay today for jerk chicken and ice-cream. We stayed on the farm for most of the day so Cody proposed going out for a bit. I think the interns needed it because it was a slow day. The jerk place we went to was having a "Customer Appreciation Day". If you bought a drink to support the shop, then you got free food. I got jerk chicken, some sort of Indian bread (like naan but more doughy and dense), and jerk pork. People were just hanging out outside with family and friends, like a picnic. Some women were dressed a lot differently than I am used to. They are not from the rural area and spend a lot of time and money on how they look. I quite enjoyed a lot of people watching today. One woman had bright blue hair. All the women had hair that was done up with color and braids. Many had brightly colored, long nails with bright jewelry. Very festive!
There were HUGE speakers set up with a DJ that supplied all the donkey, baby, and alarm noises that you could ever want. It was mostly American pop music that we all knew. It surprised me initially, but the music here can be a mix of American and Jamaican with weird, sudden noises played by a DJ in the middle of the song. It is not with the beat at all and the noises are very loud.
I like being part of the culture here in Jamaica. It has been interesting living a certain lifestyle, learning about values, and being a part of life. More about this later.
Pictures of us at the jerk place.
Me and Kylie (does this count as our tall person picture?):
 Kylie and I with our driver, Jimmy:
 Kylie, Tom, and I:
 Jimmy, me, Kylie, Christie, and Cody eating ice-cream:
 Inside the ice-cream shop, too cute:

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Day 18: Hair

Got my hair braided today! The very talented Jessica braided my hair for me. It took around 3 hours and looks great. Getting your hair braided is part of the "intern experience" here at Yerba Buena Farms if you so choose. I have never done it before and it feels great. I didn't tell Jessica what I wanted, I just left it up to her very capable hands. I love the style that she did (parted down the middle). It hurt a little initially, but feels great now. It feels like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Having to deal with  my hair is usually a sticky, sweaty business. My neck would get hot and my hair would get tangles at least twice a day even if it was braided. Now, I don't really have to worry about it. It also feels great to have the breeze touch my scalp and cool me down.
Jessica starting my hair:

 Up close:
 Halfway through:


 Finished:



Day 18: Sunken Treasure

Snorkeled again today, but right outside our cabin. We swam to a site of a sunken ship. It was really neat! I could still see the round, metal cannons on the bottom. It was only about 12 feet underneath us and the water was clear. I could also see other round and square pieces that were unidentifiable. Inside one structure was a huge puffer fish. It had to beat least 10 inches long and very fat. Kwao said they are a pain to fish for because if you spear them in a hole and if puff up they are impossible to get out. The ocean was getting a little rough, so we swam to the shore next door and walked back. Also did lots of reading today.

And here is a picture of Kofi asleep on the kitchen table (just for laughs):