living wreaths

Graves are decorated to the hilt for All Saints Day and Day of the Dead....here's a glimpse of the living wreaths that gorgeously adorn the graves in Xela Cemetario a week into November.

Simple. Beautiful. Amazing.

assam tea

Assam is a north-eastern state of India surrounded by 6 sister states also bordering Bangledesh and Bhutan. The area is known for it's gorgeous geography, preserved wildlife such as the one horned Indian Rhinoceros, Assam silk and Assam tea. Of course that's not all it's known for but, those are a few big ones. I am just chomping at the bit to visit or possibly live in the culturally rich area.

Assam tea is a black tea clearly named for it being produced in Assam. It is a tea that is known for its robustness and strong bright colour. This is the world's largest tea producing area. It seems to be of the perfect land lying between two significant rivers, the perfect altitude, with the perfect amount of rainfall which is heavy in the monsoon season and the perfect temperature! It's this combination of elements that gives Assam tea such a strong unique flavour for a black tea.

I know it's my favourite black tea!!

tomatillos

2 lbs. tomatillos Q4

to·ma·til·lo

   /ˌtoʊməˈtioʊ, -ˈtilyoʊ/ Show Spelled[toh-muh-tee-oh, -teel-yoh] Show IPA

noun, plural -loes, -los.

a plant, Physalis ixocarpa,of the nightshade family, native to Mexico, having yellow flowers with five blackish spots in the throat and bluish, sticky berries in a purple-veined calyx.

I love green sauce whether it's for a hot dish or just a green salsa! Both of which are super easy to make. For green salsa just blend tomatillos, onions, garlic, cilantro and lime. For green sauce just boil tomatillos, onions, garlic 8-10 minutes then blend with lime and cilantro. YUM!!!

Cutting them in half isn't necessary. I just can't resist.

mini succulent rock garden

I've been collecting little snippets of succulents here and there throughout Guatemala and planted the cutest little succulent garden from them. This is such a great outlet for snipping really small little tid bits off plants. It is really hard for me to pass up a fine looking succulent and not pinch a lil nub to take home. 

A few months back I did a fun package exchange with a pal in Tampa and I got a nice little bunch of crystals-rocks-gems. Housing them in my little succulent garden that basks in the moonlight and lulls in the sunshine has them super posi charged! I use them to enhance my special powers when needed by plucking the right one and lovingly carrying it around in my pocket. If I could I'd be teeny tiny & hang out in this lil succulent rock garden, I would lounge around in there all the time.

amazing worms love mustard

Isn't this the prettiest worm you've ever seen? It was for me when we found them snarfing on our mustard plants. We tried to keep them alive to see what they would 'grow' into but, they didn't make it.

fresh herbs....nothing like em.

There are so very many things that are fresh and amazing about Guatemala; fresh herbs being one of them!

Mind you it's really hard to find fresh Basil and that's a bummer but, this bunch of fresh Cilantro is what you get for Q1 (which is about 1/7 of a dollar). ...you can not beat that!

Fresh herbs are so healthful to eat and now I can easily eat them up with every meal! It's a good thing as you know who would say. Oh! And they are grown organically......sweet!

hydrangea :: life-long favourite

I grew up with a giant wonderous Hydrangea bush in my Grandmother's yard situated right at a quiet corner of her house. It was always a small place of refuge as a small child sitting under and behind that magnificent flowering goddess of a bush!

I feel so super lucky to have a gorgeous one in our little courtyard!!!

lovey plants from the market

I ran into these little dears for sale by an even more enchantingly dear lady from Chajul. She dug these plants up out of her garden, nestled them in a leaf secured with another plant fiber and brought them all the way to Xela. I of course could not resist purchasing one of each from her. The grassy plant I'm told will have beautifuly scented white flowers! And I'm a total sucker for succulents. I have to say I love love love the packaging. The cheese I buy at the market comes wrapped in leaves as do a few other things, I think it's rad!


Here's a map (below) showing where Chajul is in realtion to Xela (Quetzaltenango). It's a hellva chicken bus ride, a beautiful one no doubt but, it's a haul! Bless her dear darling heart.

I've never been in love with a peoples or place like I am with the lands and folks in Guatemala...I have immense love for Mayans of their ways and attitudes of life...it's a beautiful thing.

Happy Grass

Yesterday while out 'running' the dogs I decided to pluck up some fresh grass for my Guinea Girls, Esme & Enid. I've never given them straight grass before, they loved it!!

Starting a hay bale garden.

I did the research and decided on making a hay bale garden instead of building a raised bed garden or do a container garden here at the warehouse.

Zach's family gave us 6 bales to start with!! Yay, for awesome familia!!

We are using organic bone meal to speed up the breaking down of the bales which is the first step to creating a hay bale garden.

We'll be ready to plant the seedlings and sow the seeds this weekend!

Mike will accompany us every step of the way! He loves his new job guarding the warehouse and fenced in lot. He's an official lot dog. You can see our little composting sections behind and to the right of the bales. We started those when we first moved in, it's great they had a head start on the garden. It isn't suggested anywhere but, we are going to experiment by having squash and other creepy crawler vegetables grow out of the side of the bales, especially the ends! We'll see how it goes. We are pretty excited about the whole garden.

Here's what we are planting:

Tomatoes

Hot Peppers

Chinese Broccoli

Chinese Celery

Celery

Arugula/Mizuna/Red Mustard/Curly Endive

Collards

Squash

Lettuces

Rape

Swiss Chard

Cherry Tomatoes

Behind the bale garden on the chain link fence we plan on having beans run amock!!! We have our fingers crossed that they'll provide a nice privacy fence for us this summer. We are going to grow these in containers.

green!