One of my projects this week was planting vanilla orchids:

Pollinating the flowers and processing the vanilla beans will be complicated but I’m going to give it a try. We likely won’t see any blooms for a few years, though – and I may not even live here then, so I’ll have to plant again. Yet I can’t leave well enough alone. I have to plant.

My method of planting vanilla orchids was based on this video:

I admit, I didn’t follow the phases of the moon exactly but still managed to be in the right part. I had the cuttings and needed to plant them. I would have planted them better if it weren’t for the stinging ants that infest organic matter here. They’re nasty. I should have gotten some gloves.

It will be interesting watching the vanilla grow. I’ll share updates.