planting

We just returned from a little planting expedition on the upper farm. A pink jackfruit from a permaculture project in Panama, a langsat, a curry tree and a rare forest tree, related to the kasha. On the way we took cuttings of katuk to plant. The upper farm is a relatively small area nestled into secondary forest: surrounded on all sides by jungle it sits on a gentle slope with water running through it. There are maybe 3 giant fallen trees splitting it into different areas. The giants are rotting down beautifully creating new soil. Nitrogen fixers such as kasha and madera negra are planted throughout and we have lots of nutrient rich run off from the forest trees above. The area is already planted with salak, citrus, vanilla, charicheulo, pulasan, cheesecake fruit and passion fruit, as well as vegetables such as yampi, air potato, katuk, chaya, chilis and fiddlestick ferns.

The dogs came along and watched as we decided where to plant what. The winter rains have made the slopes muddy and even the dogs have to spread their toes to keep from sliding. We harvested some fiddlestick fern shoots for dinner and some ginger and made our way back just before the afternoon rain.