Thursday, September 18, 2014
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
a duck? a dinosaur?....a chicken !!
If this was April 1 , I know you would have thought it to be a joke....or photoshopped.....
It is not....but what happened here, I do not know. and if there is a reader who knows..............please do tell.
the egg on the Right is a chicken egg....the one on the left.....a chicken?
the suspect egg in the foreground, a normal chicken egg behind it, and behind it a duck's egg....
This egg weighed 186 g !!!!
It is not....but what happened here, I do not know. and if there is a reader who knows..............please do tell.
the egg on the Right is a chicken egg....the one on the left.....a chicken?
the suspect egg in the foreground, a normal chicken egg behind it, and behind it a duck's egg....
left - THAT egg
middle - chicken egg
right - duck egg
This egg weighed 186 g !!!!
Friday, September 12, 2014
drought in the Tropics....
The government is urging us to save water and conserve power....
Wide cracks are appearing everywhere
It is now illegal to start a fire and people wanting to light a fire must obtain a special permit....
The next two photos are actually incredible....
This is the view in front of the cottages as today.... brown grass....
and this photo was taken during a flood....after cyclone Evan
tomorrow is 1 September and officially Spring.....so hoping for bucket loads of rain.......
Monday, September 1, 2014
fish poison tree...
I want to share with you some of our local coastal trees....
Barringtonia asiatica (Fish Poison Tree,[4][5] Putat[4] or Sea Poison Tree[4]) is a species of Barringtonia native to mangrove habitats on the tropical coasts and islands of the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean from Zanzibar east to Taiwan, the Philippines, Fiji, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, the Cook Islands, Wallis and Futuna and French Polynesia.[
It is grown along streets for decorative and shade purposes in some parts of India, for instance in some towns on southeastern shore. It is also known as Box Fruit due the distinct box-shaped fruit it produces.[6] The local name futu is the source of the name for the Polynesian island Futuna.
The type specimen was collected by botanist Pehr Osbeck on a sandy beach area on the island of Java, later to be described (and given the original name of Mammea asiatica) by Carl Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum in 1753.[3]
from Flora de Filipinas
Immature fruit (about fist size)
Flower
It is a small to medium-sized tree growing to 7–25 m tall. The leaves
are narrow obovate, 20–40 cm in length and 10–20 cm in width. Fruit
produced as mentioned earlier, is otherwise aptly known as the Box
Fruit, due to distinct square like diagonals jutting out from the cross
section of the fruit, given its semi spherical shape form from stem
altering to a subpyramidal shape at its base. The fruit measures 9–11 cm
in diameter, where a thick spongy fibrous layer covers the 4–5 cm
diameter seed.[4][8]
The fruit is dispersed in the same way as a coconut – by ocean current – and is extremely water-resistant and buoyant.[9] It can survive afloat for up to fifteen years;[6] it was one of the first plants to colonise Anak Krakatau when this island first appeared after the Krakatau eruption.[4] When washed ashore, and soaked by rainwater, the seeds germinate.
All parts of the tree are poisonous, the active poisons including saponins. Box fruits are potent enough to be used as a fish poison. The seeds have been used ground to a powder to stun or kill fish for easy capture,[4] suffocating the fish where the flesh is unaffected.[10]
Barringtonia asiatica is a common plant in the Malaysian Mangroves and wetlands such as the Kuching wetlands and Bako National Park. Barringtonia asiatica is known locally as Putat laut or Butun.
Its large pinkish-white, pom pom flowers give off a sickly sweet smell to attract bats and moths which pollinate the flowers at night.
Barringtonia asiatica (Fish Poison Tree,[4][5] Putat[4] or Sea Poison Tree[4]) is a species of Barringtonia native to mangrove habitats on the tropical coasts and islands of the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean from Zanzibar east to Taiwan, the Philippines, Fiji, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, the Cook Islands, Wallis and Futuna and French Polynesia.[
It is grown along streets for decorative and shade purposes in some parts of India, for instance in some towns on southeastern shore. It is also known as Box Fruit due the distinct box-shaped fruit it produces.[6] The local name futu is the source of the name for the Polynesian island Futuna.
The type specimen was collected by botanist Pehr Osbeck on a sandy beach area on the island of Java, later to be described (and given the original name of Mammea asiatica) by Carl Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum in 1753.[3]
The fruit is dispersed in the same way as a coconut – by ocean current – and is extremely water-resistant and buoyant.[9] It can survive afloat for up to fifteen years;[6] it was one of the first plants to colonise Anak Krakatau when this island first appeared after the Krakatau eruption.[4] When washed ashore, and soaked by rainwater, the seeds germinate.
All parts of the tree are poisonous, the active poisons including saponins. Box fruits are potent enough to be used as a fish poison. The seeds have been used ground to a powder to stun or kill fish for easy capture,[4] suffocating the fish where the flesh is unaffected.[10]
Barringtonia asiatica is a common plant in the Malaysian Mangroves and wetlands such as the Kuching wetlands and Bako National Park. Barringtonia asiatica is known locally as Putat laut or Butun.
Its large pinkish-white, pom pom flowers give off a sickly sweet smell to attract bats and moths which pollinate the flowers at night.
time for a revamp!
The bathroom was the first construction we built on the farm...(naturally ;) and by now it needed a bit of a revamp.
The old timber stand for the basin was repainted....
a new curtain added some tropical flair to the shower.....
The fish pond is still a bit of a problem....we are fighting for control over it with the frogs.....
We share our showers with banana trees...pawpaw trees....and occasionally - ducks...........
and then it all came together..........
Claude , as usual taking the pics for the blogs......
we even made a new sign.....
Cabin 1 - under construction....
Today I am just posting a few pics of the cabins in making....
I think the rustic beds are just the most gorgeous things.....made from old railway sleepers....
Took me a while to get the name of this beautiful succulent...it has been flowering for months and the little tubular bell-like flowers have changed in colour from green to corally green....awesome.
Claude made me two gorgeous little footstools.....bankies. It took him days to prepare the old wood to get this beautiful pieces of wood with the most stunning grain....
This is what the wood looked like - before.
Two beautiful foot stools....
This is what the cabin looked before....
The cabins are made from the timber of the old 1892 Town Hall from Ba. It was a colonial town and the hall was used for sports and social events....We bought the building, dismantled it and this is what we built from the oregon pine treasure......
Using old timber requires a lot ( a lot) more hard work than new timber....
We used corrugated iron to clad the walls around the space where the bed would go....
Cutting pieces of roofing iron to clad walls....
a good view of old and new on a piece of timber....
The man! Claude is soo handy....I am actually spoilt because I just assume he can make and build everything I want....
a Lovely view of the wooden table and warderobe built.... I used hessian bags to cover the shelves under the table...
We are off the grid on the farm. We have a 1000W inverter that converts solar power 12V to 220 V and can run small appliances with the power generated.
Claude hard at work.....
I am happy with the end result. Although our cottages are still under construction, it is a very rewarding experience .
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