This morning I went to go look at a piece of land. It’s perhaps a little over a quarter acre, but is likely pretty affordable. If it is, I am interested. Even a quarter acre in the tropics can feed a family when well-tended.

I also posted a video yesterday which I was quite happy with. I know, there’s not a lot to it – but it’s funny.

Yesterday I also made it out to a local agricultural supply place.

On one side, there are pots and seeds and tools and fertilizer… and the other side of the store is a liquor store.

That really cracks me up. I suppose if your crops fail, you can always drown your sorrows.

I bought some fine potting soil as I need to get some things going, plus some fertilizer for the bananas and the pumpkins. Though I generally go organic, in this case I’m breeding pumpkins and have a lot – a lot – of vines to care for. Hauling enough manure wasn’t possible and they need a kick at the right time. My visa here is tied to my breeding efforts, so I need results quickly so I’m going with the recommendation of the locals.

Ah well. There will be time for ideological purity later.

When I get my own place, I’m going to build soil that will amaze the locals. Biochar, organic matter, grazing animals – we’re going to make things so fertile that there will be no need for any kind of chemical supplementation. In the rocky ground where my pumpkins are sprawling this kind of soil-building would take a few years – and I simply can’t see investing all the work into land I don’t own. I am adding organic matter and leaving the ground good, but going the swales, chop-and-drop, biochar and manure route takes time I may not have. Especially since I need to present some good pumpkins to the Department of Agriculture.

You’ve seen what I did in the past with dead, Florida sand – I can do the same with hard, rocky clay!

It just takes time I don’t have right now.

For all of you in Florida, I’m praying you get through okay. Irma is nasty. We are fine here, but I have family in South Florida who have evacuated ahead of the storm, leaving behind their houses. I hope they have something they can return to after the hurricane has run its course.

God be with you all, my Floridian friends.