Fish Fry

Yesterday afternoon, Edgar and I went to find some fish fry for a small experiment we are doing. On the way, we stopped at his place to look at his land and give some ideas. He has some beautiful land and, with some work, he can easily be self sufficient. It will take some work to plant but Edgar is a good worker. He is going to give some new hoes a trial today in the maize he is growing. Currently they are using a small, sickle shaped hoe to weed with and it looks positively painful to see them bent over like that. I will try and get a couple of other types of hoes in San Pedro for him to try. Being able to stand and hoe should speed up the process and keep the fields much cleaner. Having someone try them out is a benefit because I can find out which is best for the conditions here.

The "bag" floats on the tank to equalize water temperature and to accustom the fry to the new water.

We got to the fish rearing ponds and drove up to where we could buy the fry. The track got narrower and narrower with steeper and higher banks to look down. My truck is rear wheel drive and none too happy with slippery conditions so I drove quiet cautiously.

The young man and his wife who helped us live in a watchtower/house/storage room. They sleep in hammocks on the upper storey and have a large flashlight to scare away predating animals at night. People are not the major problem it seems. I think he is referring to racoons. They had a large pack of dogs - friendly, thankfully - to help with the task.

Bag open and water being added gradually to mix with the water from their home pond.

He had a roll of plastic tubing (1 m diameter) and cut off a length. Then he made two tie straps from a piece of old inner tube. His very sharp machete made it look positively easy to cut the inner tube. I know, from experience, just how sharp that machete had to have been to cut through rubber that quickly.

We went to the pond where he caught the fry with a net and counted them into the bag (filled with water). They had an oxygen tank by the pond so ran some oxygen into the water and the bag. We tied it off and set it in the back seat of the truck.

Edgar feeding Calliandra dried leaf powder - Fish are still too flighty to get person + fish in the same picture.

Less than an hour later, the fish were in their new home. We will divide them into three groups later.

This morning, Edgar fed them Calliandra leaf powder. They ate it. This is so exciting. We may have found a food source for families to grow their own protein. Leaf powder is easy to make, easy to store and costs nothing but time. In addition, the trees that can be used often fix nitrogen, provide firewood, are good for animal and human consumption and help with erosion control. The potential is awesome. We will see how it goes for now.

Note the entrance the Gimerito bees have constructed in the top corner of their hive.  They also use the entrance hole in the middle of the front panel. 

A group of three neighbours, including Lydia (fish farming stories) are using  the rest of the swampy land to grow Malanga. This week they sold several thousand shoots (hijos). That is exciting as it is a new source of income. I am quite pleased to see their industry and the success it is producing.

Two weeks into the tube experiement - Chaya cuttings (back two rows), Tephrosia and Pigeon Pea (front row) all doing well. Especially pleased with the chaya. 

TTYL

BB