-Bohol, December 16 2021
Thursday 30 December 2021:
After breakfast, work started on clearing up in the South West Corner of the garden.
The stalks from decapitated banana trees were cut up in preparation for feeding to the pigs.
The path on the side of Pinkies pen also cleared of debris. Then the path along the wall was also cleared of debris -up to the banana trees. Rain stopped work at around 2:15 pm.... Later, clearing the path along the wall was continued.
We have an early dinner
Friday 31 December 2021:
Our helper Penny says that in her home town of Catigbigan there is a great shortage of rice -because of people buying and hoarding. Rain prevents work on the garden from continuing.
Fatima goes shopping for fresh food.
After lunch, work continues in the Southern garden area. Two trees by the side of the pig pen are returned, as much as possible, to an upright position.
By the evening, the Southern Area is finally cleared of debris -except for a few large tree branches. Rain prevents further work at around 4 pm.
Penny makes Chicken Soup
Some More work in the garden
Then we celebrate the end of the year with Chicken Noodle Soup .There are few fireworks, and none from us.....
Saturday 01 January 2022:
New Ducklings
Yesterday, Fatima had bought two chickens and asked Penny to make stew from it. However, it seems the stew had not been heated slowly enough and it was already starting to ferment. A bad start to the New Year -with food intended for three days already starting to spoil! However, after adding some chilies from the garden and some shop bought curry powder, Fatima slowly reheated the stew and we had a nice chicken curry for lunch.
Before lunch, I managed to clear up some of the mess the in the Southern Area.
The Native Cacao Tree was fruiting nicely.
However, I noticed that some of the pods were turning black from the mold. These were removed from the tree, cut open and planted in pots to see if they would still grow.
After lunch, two different types of string bean and some patola and home grown bitter gourd seeds were planted in pots too.
Sunday 02 January 2022:
The stored water supply was replenished by rain in the night and early morning. We celebrated with coffee, omelette and fried rice -together with fresh grapefruit.
Finally managed to clear the Southern Garden of debris. However, some large logs still need to be removed.
In the plant nursery area, the recently planted beans were sprouting in the pots. Generally, new seedlings seem to be doing remarkably well, the weather has been kind to them -if not to us.
Chicken Curry Soup for lunch!
The rain started again....
After lunch Fatima set aside dry banana leaves ready for when Beans starts farrowing (expected to be 7 or 8 January).
Some mini-fencing materials were collected from various parts of the garden -ready to protect new seedlings when transplanted.
Chicken Curry for dinner!
Early to bed, early to rise.....
Monday 03 January 2022:
A grey morning -but no rain (yet). Omelette and Chinese (dried) sausage for breakfast.
Fatima has been facing problems getting animal feed-stuffs. But is expecting a delivery tomorrow. Our sow is expected to farrow on Friday or Saturday -so the delivery is essential. Hopefully, the long queues for the ATM machines will be gone by tomorrow when we go shopping. The local government has introduced some restrictions to prevent petrol hoarding. Hopefully, this will reduce the long queues at the petrol station.
Started clearing the Southern vegetable patch in preparation fro planting.
Corned beef and rice for lunch.
After lunch, work clearing the Southern area near the house was halted by rain.
After the rain stopped, work continued. With a coffee Break around 3 pm....
More work on the Southern area after the break.
Tinned Bean Stew with rice for dinner.....
Tuesday 04 January 2022:
Out shopping: The unsuccessful search for filtered drinking water continues. There are still long queues at the ATM machines -luckily we had some reserve cash at home, but our reserves are now getting dangerously low. Candles are also still in short supply. However, our favorite Italian restaurant (Al Fresco Bay, in Tagbilaran) should be opening again soon -after fixing their generator.
We return to the solar powered Toku Cafe to recharge the batteries in our camera and mobile phone.
In the supermarket, we managed to buy two of the remaining three loaves of bread. We also bought some more chicken and beef bones for soup. Most of the products we needed seem to be reasonably available in the supermarket.
Around the park in Tagbilaran several trees had been blown over. Our driver told us that a coconut plantation in Northern Bohol had only 500 trees left standing from the 4,500 trees they'd had before the typhoon hit.
We managed to refill some large water bottles at a municipal pumping station. A sudden shower of rain also helped to refill our buckets and reservoirs. Fortunately, the necessary animal feed-stuffs arrive!
The rain permitted a short rest after our return, I transplanted some new seedlings and then had another (longer) rest and a snack. I was obviously quite tired after working hard in the garden the last few days. We also needed to prepare ourselves for the farrowing which was expected soon.
Beef Bone Stew for diner. A pleasant but not spectacular sunset. Maybe a nice day tomorrow.
Wednesday 05 January 2022:
Omelette with Corned Beer for breakfast.
The Animal Feed-stuffs Arrive
This time work focused on clearing the area around (what was earlier) our Southern gate -which has now disintegrated entirely.
Beef Bone Stew for lunch, using some of the remaining bottled water.
Fatima tries to make an oil lamp for Beans when she farrows. However, it doesn't work we decide to use candles in glass jars.
A few drops of rain -but nothing too significant.
More work on the area around the Southern gate -which is now completely blocked off.
Beef Bone Stew for dinner....
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-End of Third Week;
