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The avocados were so heavy and plentiful that they broke the branch today. Tonio and I gathered about 100 of them. At tomorrow’s Saturday market, he is going to go and see if he can sell some to vendors.  I’m going to bring guacamole to a party Saturday night, and give some to friends and to the school. I’ve made avocado soup from a recipe I got when I lived in Mexico as well as my own recipe of Caribbean gazpacho, which has a backyard lime squeezed in it. My daughter made a face mask with olive oil and gave me a facial! It would be great to use local coconut oil in the gazpacho as an experiment, but the price for local was beyond my budget.

 

Tonio looked at the sky and said that the high clouds means rain is coming, even though Leslie, which is now categorized as a hurricane 1, is in Bermuda. I guess that’s where the rain may come from. Isaac disappointed the half-full cisterns here, and the intense heat has burned up many of the seedlings Tonio planted that I got from V.I. Department of Agriculture.

 

I stopped in last week and got around 45 seedlings for $3 cash. Cantaloupe, sorrel, arugala, beets, cauliflower, cucumbers. Tomatoes were not ready yet. We talked about how every inch of St. Croix should be planted in preparation for scarcity of food worldwide because of the drought and inflation. The treasure is in the earth! One farmer said corn should be planted, and of course coconut water is all the rage in the mainland I noticed this summer. A ready market for St. Croix coconuts! I thought making seedling pots from ground coconut shells was a great business idea for this little island that is desperate for jobs and industry since Hovensa oil refinery closed in April and layed off 2,000 people.

 

I would like to grow more lemongrass and basil and herbs in general.

I’ve made so much carambola and lime juice from the trees here I am sick of it. No wonder humans invented junk food just for variety! Funny I never thought I would get sick of pesto or gazpacho or coconuts. I did pick up some fresh mango sorbet here at Jaccar’s. Lovely. I got some popsickle makers here and will make some fruit pops at some point. It is so hot here though, little wind. It’s the hottest time of the year.