Sunday, November 30, 2014

reflection.....

Do you remember these days?


http://naciriyawa.blogspot.com/2011/10/our-first-day-on-land.html

I always refer to my blog posts to remind myself of what 

Claude and I 
              have accomplished here in Fiji 
                                  on our farm....

It has been a roller coaster ride
                                Sometimes just up...and up....but Oh boy, we had 
downs...and downs....and downs 

as well. 


But I guess that is life -  

    Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is.  The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.



Sunday, November 2, 2014

where are we?

This is  the directions to our farm via Saweni Beach Road.....





These are the directions  to our farm via Dreketi Feeder Road 


 geographical coordinates are 17° 54' 0" South, 177° 48' 0" East.

                  see you there!!!

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....




left - THAT egg
middle - chicken egg
right - duck egg



 






This egg weighed 186 g !!!!

Friday, September 12, 2014

drought in the Tropics....

It is dry dry dry here in our part of the world.  In fact, the Western Division (our side of the island) is in a meteorological drought.....meaning that the rainfall is average to below average.

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.



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.....