My honey and my honey

CONGRATULATIONS to Lisette, Jean-Pierre and Thibaut for completing recent Ironmans!  Bon travail!

The citronella candles are lit.  I just returned from a walk around the neighborhood and could smell a few.  It is WINTER, people, and today reached 28̊C (88̊F!)

Our tomato plants at home finally stopped fruiting and it was a race against the clock to use them all.  We made green tomato chutney, a few jars of pasta sauce and some semi-dried tomatoes and basil in olive oil.  After ripping up the plants and aerating the soil a bit, I tested the pH and planted Lebanese cucumber, beetroot, hatch chili (US variety) and purple sweet potato.  I am now keeping a garden journal and trying to keep better track of what the hell is going on in there.


Last month, I traveled north to the Sunshine Coast Hinterland with two frenchies--Anne et Cyril-- to visit a few farms in Queensland.  We all enjoyed learning about growing pineapples, Swiss Brown mushrooms, broccoli and avocado trees.  Anne and I left with pineapple tops in order to try to grow one at home.  Amazingly, it takes 18 months for the plant to flower and 6 months for the pineapple to grow.  Each plant yields only 1 (sometimes 2) pineapples.  The great thing about them is that you can plant them really close together and they don't need much water.   The mushrooms grow in these windowless warehouses and it sure was a sight to see!  Because of the lack of light, I assumed that they grow better in the dark.  According to Warren, the farmer who was wearing an Arkansas Eagles shirt (maybe from Vilonia??), the lighting makes no difference whatsoever.  We took a tour through the broccoli (in Oz, it's pronounced with a long I at the end) and cauliflower.  The group continued on to an avocado farm run by a man named Bede.  He was full of practical information and entertaining stories.  Something that he clearly demonstrated to us was how selective the grocery stores can be when it comes to produce.  While walking around his property, he would pick random avocados and tell us whether or not Coles (a main grocery chain here) would buy it from him to sell in their stores.  Some were too small while others had a slight bulge in one small area (due to wind).  While they all tasted the same (delicious!),  these insignificant factors are very significant to Bede and the other farmers when it comes to farming practices and getting paid.  That is why the markets or Community Shared Agriculture groups are so great.  It allows Bede to sell more of his crop and for a more fair rate and to not feel bullied into using harmful sprays.  We as consumers have become used to expecting produce to be "perfect" even if that means ingesting more and more chemicals and fertilizers--which doesn't make sense to me at all.  I personally prefer more taste and less toxins even if that means the piece of fruit doesn't look exactly like the others.  After seeing an organic farm or running your own garden, grocery store produce aisles start looking really ODD because like fruits and veggies look exactly the same. 


A couple of weeks after the tours, my mother arrived into town!  We have visited the Sunshine Coast and Hinterland --Glasshouse Mountains, Maleny & Montville-- and even saw a kangaroo (or was it a wallaby?) very close to the road while driving home from dinner.  We stopped and it just stood there looking at us for quite some time.


The next little adventure we took was to Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast with Hugo, Cam and Macy.  It was there that we watched the Australia parliament election results come in (which was quite interesting---it's still a hung parliament until a coalition government is formed).  Also, I had my second go at surfing. Loved it.  When we returned to Brisbane, it was time for me to celebrate another birthday.  Everyone here outdid themselves and made my day very special.  I spent time with my mom during the daytime--which was great--and then all of us ate a delicious meal prepared by Hugo.  We had cake, champagne and ended the evening with some fine Cubans.  Thank you, honey!


Speaking of honey, a couple of weeks ago, I helped harvest 35 kilos/77lbs.  No joke---it was incredible.  After receiving instruction and being versed with 'smoking' the bees to keep them calm (when there is smoke, they prepare as if there is a bush fire and they gorge themselves on honey so that they could move to a different location and begin a new home if need be), I assisted with taking out the honeycomb sections of the hive, carefully shaking the bees off of it and transporting them away from the hive to harvest the honey.  It was impressive to see how many bees were in the hive.  As I lifted the top, it was like a pot of pasta boiling over--the bees just boiled over and the sound was unreal.  Because the hives were on top of a small shed with a corrugated tin roof, I couldn't help but think about all of the combination of injuries that I could sustain while being with a group of people, on top of a small structure, working with bees.  It wasn't frightening for some reason, but you know how the mind drifts...


So, the next step is to take long, hot knives to scrape the thin layer of beeswax that coats both sides of the honey-filled combs.  Wielding a knife while wearing the bee garb was the closest thing I've experienced to being a ninja, which is sad.  We put the honeycombs into this handmade steel drum that is turned by using a power drill.  The centrifugal force assists the sweet honey to fly out of the comb and collect at the bottom of the drum.  Then, we tipped the drum and bottled it all up.


The experience left me both sticky and certain that I will eventually raise bees.


Hugo is working hard on all of his projects at the university and he's doing too good of a job.  A professor there has requested Hugo to update a class manual/curriculum (on top of the responsibilities he already has).  We all knew Hugo would flourish in the phD environment, but...come on!  In addition to his studies, he has put together a training calendar for himself, me and Cam.  Mom can attest to the workouts that take place on the deck: abdomen exercises, pushups, bench press, triceps, pullups, etc.  I am working towards 10 pullups (can only do 4 at a time right now) and still focusing on strengthening my back/abs.  Cam and Hugo completed a 10k run and did very well.  We all biked to the starting point and I was able to cheer for them in both english and french. 
If I correctly understood Hugo and Cam's conversation yesterday, the three of us will bump up our training by summer so that we can successfully complete the physical requirements of a Green Beret.  I was weeding as they spoke about it, but I'm fairly sure I heard 10k run, 50 pushups, 10 pullups, benching your bodyweight (maybe it was benching the bodyweight of someone around you...like a four year old).  So, the training continues...