20201026 Puja flowers

 

This is a picture that Giri produced from one of the pujas that he went to over the weekend.

I love it.

20201025 Easy butterflies

 

Usually I find it really difficult to take pictures of butterflies as they move around so much.  By contrast this picture was very easy.  In the forest there were two jasmine bushes covered in blossom.

The butterflies were having a ball and were moving very slowly – either over fed or drunk with nectar I think.

20201024 Saraswati Devi Puja

 

Tomorrow is the actual celebration day but we had our puja for Saraswati Devi today.

Everything was made sparkling clean and tidy.

Everyone was very pleased with the small pressure cookers that we got them as a present.

20201023 Found this day last year

 

Today I found that my camera battery is completely unusable.  Not surprising as I have been using it for at least two years and the camera got quite wet a week or so ago.

I found this picture from last year which is what I call ‘cuckoo spit’ but which doesn’t seem to have a name here.  Within the foam are the eggs of some insect.

As always, looking at things that happened last year 'before covid', is like looking at things that happened on another planet.

20201022 Trees planted

 

It was pouring with rain during our work time although it did get sunny a bit later.  As a result we managed to plant some trees in the forest with the help of two workers who came in later.

It was very wet and heavy work for them as the soil was saturated with water.

20201021 the new gate

 

Rajan has been organizing the installing of the new gate which now leads into three areas at one end of Buddha Garden – the stone circle, the ponds and the recently planted forest.

It still needs a lot of clearing up work but it is going to transform the area.  It will now be much easier to access all three areas and see what is going on there.

20201020 Still wet

 

It still feels very wet everywhere despite it not having rained again since Sunday.

These holes are still full of water and we are not sure whether we are going to be able to plant them any time soon.

20201019 Growth

 

After all the rain everything is growing as fast as it can.  I love the new leaves on this cashew tree although the ones on this picture are not as red as some of the new leaves.  The red fades very quickly.

20201018 A very rainy day

 

Today was an exceptionally rainy day – first of the 'official' monsoon here - although apparently its from the end of the SW monsoon, not the first of the SE monsoon.  I walked around taking videos and pictures and am now quite worried about the camera that got a bit wet.  This despite me keeping it covered up when I wasn’t taking pictures.

20201017 New life

These are extremely small masumbi oranges on a masumbi orange tree sapling which we planted a day or two ago in the cashew orchard.

I hope the fact that they on the tree now bodes well for the future.

 

20201016 Sunset

 

We have been having some beautiful sunsets these last few nights but I am finding them very difficult to catch.  Either I miss the most intense colours in the sky or they don’t come out on the photo.  I expect I need some fancy filters or something like that.  I feel that manipulating the image afterwards is cheating!

 

20201015 Mango tree explosion

 

When I walked around the farm this evening I was amazed to see how this mango tree had exploded with new life.  New leaves of many colours were growing from most of the tips of the branches.

20201014 Sprouts and micro greens

 

I spent quite some time today creating different pictures of sprouts and micro greens.  A restaurant to whom we supply wanted pictures for their walls. 

I enjoyed doing it a lot and I think this is my favourite although I also liked the other pictures that includes hibiscus and other flowers.  I think I like the blue flowers in this picture which seem to be a more intense colour in the picture than they were in real life.

20201013 Nearly monsoon

 

First roccolla planting of the new season – meaning the upcoming monsoon season.  We have planted roccolla in the last few months but its struggled a bit in the heat.  Hopefully these plants will do better as the temperature goes down.

A lucky boot 20201012

 

One of my daughters is doing an important exam today so I thought I would send her a lucky boot.  This is it – which was sitting there when I was looking around this morning for a boot to photograph.

I remember when I was young my mother threw the boot after me as I went out the gate to go to school.  Now of course it has to be done digitally and I hope it works as well as the real one.

20201011 A restful day

 

I think this picture expresses that I had quite a restful day today.  Which made a nice change.

20201010 A big box

 

This is clearly a case of over packaging, yet I am SO grateful for the huge box.  It will be perfect for sending Christmas presents to family in the UK later this year.  And its not plastic so will recycle.

Four varieties 20201009

 

Today for the first time we picked all four different varieties of spinach that we planted just over a month ago.

With sun and rain it is perfect growing weather.

More of the same 20201008

 

Had another session planting and mulching in the cashew orchard.  We cut a lot of very overgrown glyricidea bushes for mulch which was hard work but very satisfying.

I love all the different shades of green around at this time of year.

Planting 20201007

 

Today we did a lot of work in the cashew orchard.  As well as planting new cashew trees we are also planting moringa and other fruit trees between them. 

This will make the orchard more diverse and the cashew trees hopefully less open to pests.

 

Today's harvest 20201006

 

Today we had our first harvest of the spinach which we planted about a month ago.

We have four different varieties but we picked three today as the fourth wasn’t quite ready.

A lot of seed 20201005

 

We had a busy day today planting more sweet potato cuttings and a lot of different seeds in different places.  The picture is of coriander seed in the new Seed Garden nursery.

We have decided to keep some workers on until all the holes are filled.  Then as soon as it rains again we can go out and plant all our trees.  I’m worried that if we leave the holes open when it rains the holes will flood again.  Then we have to wait until the water recedes a bit before we can plant.

Flowers 20201004

 

On Friday I planted these flower seedlings in one of my ring gardens which are just outside my door.  Now, two days later, they are flowering.  Its wonderful.

I think they are just the type of tough plant that I want in my garden.

Embroidery 20201003

 

This is my latest embroidery which I would like to turn into a card.  Not sure how to do it though.

Its something I made up as I went along which isn’t how I normally work.

Light on the ponds 20201002

 

As it is Gandhi’s birthday today it was a day off.  So I took the opportunity to go to the ponds which after the heavy rain the night before last are now full.

They all looked beautiful in the early morning light.

A tangled path 20201001

 

This is the original path which went by the side of Buddha Garden and is now full of thorns. Now the path has been blocked off by buildings we have taken it back.

Looking at it I felt my path in life has, probably like a lot of other people, got a bit like that.  I have to pick my way carefully along it.

Perky plumaria 20200930

 

All the recent rain has been perfect for this plumeria cutting in the Garden of Unseen Helpers.  I thought it would be a lot more droopy.  Usualy cutting like this droop for some time before growing roots and starting to look like plants.

Holes everywhere! 20200929

 

This is what part of the forest area looks like now all the holes have been dug.

We will need help to prepare and then plant all the tree saplings we have grown.

In the old well 20200928

 

Today we had the JCB from the Road Service come to dig holes for trees in the forest area and cashew orchard.  Rajan couldn’t resist asking him to dig into the old well to see if there was anything there. 

No water so far but the old brick lining of the well is very evident.  Could this eventually be a supplementary well for us?

Revelation 20200927

 

As I was walking around the farm today I came across these pineapple plants and newly planted papaya trees.  They had been revealed by Vasantha and Mala’s clearing up work yesterday morning in the cashew orchard.

First tree planting of the season 20200926

 

After a reasonable amount of rain last night we planted our first trees this morning in the Garden of Unseen Helpers.

By the evening they all looked, like this one, very alive and doing well.

Found 20200925

 

I found this today.  Apparently a feather with this colour means I am protected.  Oh yes! And that change is on the way. 

Sounds about right!