My house is a humming bird trap.   Over the months, I have devised some ways to minimize the harm like not putting flowers on my coffee table that lure them inside or remembering in the morning light not to leave the porch doors open.

The good news is that I almost always manage to rescue them and re-patriate to the forest outside. This is a baby rufus tailed humming bird.  The locals call them Lucifers - they are like little devils dashing and darting noisily around the place.

Sadly, we found this corpse when we were planting baby coffee.  This looks like a 9 ringer.  Probably the victim of a neighbors dog.  We have a lot of armadillos on the farm.  They burrow beneath the rocks and are hard to find.   As I am usually only out and about with workers or a 5 yr old I have only rarely seen them.  Others who go quietly around the farm have more luck.

We are planting rows and rows of new coffee.   There is some order to it.   Each row is planted 2 M apart and each plant in a row 1.35M apart.  There are no tape measures involved.  People here prefer to step out measurements using strides and bits of pre-cut string.     Seems to be working.

As we finish  off digging holes and planting coffee for the next couple of weeks, I am going to post pictures from around the farm.  As the rains are arriving so the fruit trees are setting fruit.

This is my first set of pictures:  These are passion fruit flowers.  They turn into oval green fruits that when they are ripe are wrinkled on the outside.  The flesh around the seeds and juice is orange.  Tart and delicious.

There is a great discussion going on @ CoffeeGeek about my latest article and controversy and opinions about coffee certifications http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/articles/columns/580186#580186

This is truly exciting to me.   These are people on the cutting edge of coffee and research and if anyone can change the coffee world they can.   Everything starts somewhere and in conversations like these great progress can be made.

Meanwhile, back on the farm, the little horse went back to his previous owner the local petting zoo.   We hope they manage OK going forward.    On the farm, the guys have planted Caturra around the rose garden and more oranges as a hedge between the main part of the farm and my bee colonies.

The little rescue horse that arrived on Sunday is improving fast.  Already he looks vastly different from three days ago http://www.boquetecoffee.com/1/post/2012/05/sunday-reflection-blessings-in-rescuing-and-being-rescued1.html.   

We now know his name is Dorado and this is a picture of him this morning.  We are using temporary electric fencing to clear areas of grass land before planting coffee.  Little Dorado is getting to do the job.  Sometimes life is a beautiful thing.   Joy the rescue dog likes to hang out with Dorado.   Two happy campers enjoying a sunny morning in the long grass.

Horses loose condition very fast.  Fortunately they can also put on weight quickly especially if tempted with nice green grass and have their sweet food amended with oil and other goodies.  It will take longer for the food to work its way from the tummy to covering those skinny ribs but in a couple of weeks he should be unrecognizable.  It will take more time to get the luster back on the coat and his hooves may show the stress for a bit.   It may even be possible that he goes through a growth spurt over the coming months.  He looks stunted to me.   Given size of his head and height of rump he should be taller.

God bless little Dorado, I will keep posting updates.

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We are planting just 500 Caturra babies on the farm.  Should be able to get these holes dug and in the ground easily over the next two days.  Today, we just have a very few bushes scattered across the farm.   Caturra is a shorter stockier plant than most coffee varietals.  It is very pretty and perfect hedging material.  As this entire farm is a coffee garden we are going to plant a Caturra border hedge around some of the rose garden.  

Here in Coffee land rescuing and being rescued is a way of life.   If you do not rescue on a fairly regular basis or are in need of rescuing yourself you are not living, you are existing in a bubble.

Everyone understands the blessing in rescuing, to be able to help others;  Harder to see the blessing in the vulnerability of being rescued but I think that is the greater blessing in the end.   To be helpless, dependent and to loose things is not easy or anything we want.  It is a mini-death experience and a very difficult blessing to receive.

Today, we were enjoying our first Chiriqui Saddle Club breakfast meet.  We all rode to the lovely Panamonte hotel for the most delicious breakfast.  Horses munching grass outide and riders enjoying a splendid feast.  Must make special mention of the complimentary strawberry and mint sherbet refresher.  That was to die for, really really good and one of the best food surprises in Boquete in a while - thank you chef!  

Half way through my fruit salad, we got an emergency call.   Sadly, 20 goats and a little palomino horse were looking for a home.  No food and they were starving.    Very thin and ribs showing.  One of the ladies has a 100 acre farm and agreed to take the goats, I agreed to take the horse.    The fabulous truck driver Alexi, who helps ferrying all sorts of goods around town was on the end of his phone came to find us all at the Panamonte and agreed to help.  Within an hour and half the little horse was in our paddock.

This is our second rescue animal.  We also have a sweet yellow rescue dog.  Our dog is the nicest dog I have ever had.  Well behaved, happy to eat anything, happy to sleep on her little bed, just happy.  Her name is Joy.   The horse that arrived this afternoon is also a nice animal, not a reject but a loved and treasured friend.    We don't even know his name yet but we have started feeding him up right away: Lots of  hay, grass and sweet feed with minerals and oil.  

So today, we rescued.  I hope when the time comes I will have the grace to be rescued and have a rescuer.   In the meantime, thoughts go out to the family who are suffering this loss and am grateful once again to my Education for Ministry friends for introducing me to the practice of theological reflection.

Yesterday, had a delightful walk through the farm with my bee mentor.   He is very knowledgeable about all the plants and the different honey harvests.   The next harvest will be flavored by Eucalyptus.  Eucalyptus gives an astringent bite to the honey.  It is supposed to be very good to clear the airways, improve breathing and in general make you well.
There are lots of Eucalyptus trees by the river.  They are enormous trees that re-claim land and pretty much line the river bank.   They are starting to flower.  These flowers were buzzing with my  honey bees.

Hasta end of May.

When things get a little tough, I make curd.  Curd as in custard, lots of different types of custard.  Sometimes I do it with whole eggs, sometimes yokes, sometimes creaming, sometimes melting.  It does not really matter which way.  Something about stirring, watching, pouring and waiting for it to set.   Such a calming ritual.

This week I have had to deal with my Gorilla gardener and his family; Deadline pressure around planting fast growing baby coffee in bolsas; Processing 100lbs of honey without centrifuge;  Assessing damage and starting to renovate a workers house and move said worker to simpler accommodation; Month 8 of trying to get a business bank account and being told next week;  Mare in season; And just the normal things about living with a five year old in the jungle.

So, time to relax and make curd.  Today, passion fruit.  I find curd really brings out the subtler flavors in sharp acidic fruits.  Passion fruit is quite a complex bouquet of flavor including strawberry and rhubarb.   

We call it 'Boquete Passion'.  Actually, not my idea, have to give credit for that one to a good friend.