Salt Tolerant Flower Garden

 There are not that many flowering plants that are truly salt tolerant.  We are still looking and buying more to add to the garden.  Flowering plants that can thrive and bloom near salt spray, not just salt air, are hard to come by.  Several plants that had been recommended to us as salt tolerant suffered near the salt spray and had to be moved behind cover vegetation into the salt air zone.  The mix of plants in the flower garden are growing nicely and bring in a huge amount of butterflies in all shapes and colors.  The video does not capture them all as I was hoping it would.

Canal Head Clearing

 The head of the canal has also been cleared along the south side.  When you reach the end of the canal you now have a much wider view of the beach line.  This also helps to bring a bit of the beach breeze down to the pier so its not a muggy while loading and unloading the boats.

Trip Update #12 - February 2020

 To the Beach

Bluefields is a fun town to be based out of.  There are a lot of fun things to do and great places to go.  Unfortunately the beach is across the bay so you have to boat out to enjoy a good beach day.  Totally worth it even on a choppy day!

Maintaining the Power Line

The jungle grows fast.  Before the power line was installed a huge amount of hard work was done to cut the power trail in.  On our farms the power line runs along part of the estuary.  We have cleared up to where the estuary begins.  The estuary is a large flat area that is just low enough to form a huge field of reeds.

Next Canal Section to Clear

 The canal is about 800 meters long.  A portion of the upper canal that had grown in has been cleared.  You can see some of the lower section pictured below that will also need to be opened back up.

The above picture shows what about 8 years of growth looks like.  You can see the mature roots and then the flat expansion of the new growth that needs to be cleared back.

This is a feeder stream into the canal.  Its not quite halfway but makes for a good boat passing and turn around spot. 

The above pictures are some of the old growth along the canal.  Unfortunately there isn't a lot because people used to use the old stream for access to cut lumber.

Trip Update #12

Town Time

Bluefields is a great place to hang out between trips to the farm.  There are plenty of places to visit, lots of good places to eat, friends to catch up with, and a wide variety of stores to get supplies from.  Below are just a few good pictures from wandering between farm trips.

Nice looking boat build in progress.

Great view from the new hotel.  

North FaB and South FaB

The main walkway separating the north farm and south farm has been landscaped nicely and is growing in very well.  Hopefully the south farm coconuts will grow quickly and catch up to the north farm coconuts.

 

Its easy to see the difference a few years of maintenance and care  make between the north and south farms.  Choppy day so the audio is bad.

Barrel Shipping

You can get a lot of what you need in Bluefields.  Some things not in town can be ordered, and other times a trip to Managua is required to get what you need.  

But there are some things that you cant get in Nicaragua.  We have shipped boxes to Florida and then had our importer send them down to Nicaragua so we could pick the up from customs.  We even shipped a boat down, a post from long ago.  Our importer was a great lady and a friend to our family, sadly she passed away.  Her brother has started shipping things now and uses a barrel method.  He drives a freight truck from Florida to New York, drops off empty barrels and picks up full barrels.  He then ships them down to Bluefields.

The barrel was bigger than expected.  The important stuff this time was mostly building supplies and some household items you cant get down in Nicaragua.

Package well.

Play the stacking game.

A grabber comes in handy to place things neatly in the bottom, unless you have really long arms.

Then top it off with all sorts of good extras.

Will try and remember to update how everything worked out.

Trip Update #11

South False Bluff - More Planting

It was good to be able to freely walk some of the southern farms since they are partially cleared.  There are a few patches of existing coconuts but a lot more are being put in.  Lots of seagrape were left, it will be interesting to see how fast they will grow since they have been cleared around.  A roughly laid out trail has been added.  Lots of zoysia plugs have also been planted to start some protective ground cover.

Just a termite nest.

Canal Clearing

Its been almost a decade since the canal was cut in.  Over the years the tree roots have started to grow in and restrict boat access.  Our caretakers organized a group of people that regularly use the canal and had a couple of work days.  Hard work days!

Chunks of cut roots.

The big boss man!

Everyone relaxing and having a good meal.

    

Trip Update #10 - February 2020

The first trip out to the farm was a on a pretty windy day.  A good breeze makes for some very good front porch time.  The view is also pretty nice.

Need to get a few more building supplies shipped down and the interior work should be ready to start up.  

Trip Update #9 - February 2020

During the clearing of south False Bluff we were careful to leave mature trees, especially the older sea grapes.  Once they are cleared around and have space they really take off and can bulk up quickly.  They have no set growth pattern, more of a random wander, so as they mature they become very sculptural. 

Sea grapes provide nice shade and good sturdy place to tie a hammock.  They don't have a lot of middle or lower leaves when they mature so they also don't block the breeze.

Trip Update #8 - February 2020

Not much is better than fresh coconut water on a hot beach day.  The kids helped to harvest some fresh coconuts to have after lunch.  

 

  Un-husked they are almost more than the kids can carry around.  Worth the effort though and always a good experience for the kids.

Trip Update #7 - February 2020

The front yard has really transformed since the clearing years ago.  There are still some bare spots left to fill in but overall its coming along quite nicely.

Hopefully soon the new trees will mature enough to start making coconuts to harvest.