Flora and Fauna in Thailand - A garden full of Fruit! + Bonus Video of Monkeys throwing coconuts!

in #homesteading5 years ago (edited)

We timed this trip a little badly but as it was last minute, it couldn't be helped. The fruit was just about coming into harvest and after another year's growth, the fruits of our labour seem to be really paying off!

First up, the Dragonfruit

I love Dragonfruit almost as much as I do apples, but when the Father-in-law said he had planted some seedlings 3 years ago, I didn't expect quite so many, and not across what I'd laid out as my front lawn....

Now when we first got these little plants, the thing I immediately noticed was that they were very similar to what we in the UK know as a Christmas or Easter Cactii, even the fruit look similar to the flowers so after a little googling I found that Dragonfruit are indeed a member of the Cactus family and so they are spindly plants that need support, in our case via concrete posts sunk into my lawn!

If you compare this pic of the Christmas Cactus in flower, and the development of the Dragonfruit you can see the similarity!

thanksgiving-cactus_nadezhdanesterova-ss.jpg

Christmas / Easter / Thanksgiving Cactus

dragonfruit.jpg

Ripening Dragonfruit

Anyway, we managed to get a bag full to bring back up to Bangkok with us and Father-in-law will have loads to flog on the market! Win-win....unless you're a lawn lover!

Next up, Pineapples

We don't have too many Pineapple plants growing as they take up a lot of room although an extra plant seems to have magically appeared every time we visit. These were very close to being ready but left them as I don't actually like Pineapple. See how it's one plant, one Pineapple but as you can again see, you can plant them very close together.

Passion Fruit

Now, these are definitely not ripe yet. They will turn yellow if left to ripen completely but are often eaten here just before they go completely yellow and are still a little sour but absolutely delicious if a little messy and seedy. These two plants we planted a couple of years ago in some bits of concrete pipe that were lying around to keep them off the floor (doesn't everyone have bits of concrete pipe lying around?!). They are actually vines but we just stuck them in and let them grow out and this year they have born quite a lot of fruit.

This next photo is of Cotton Fruit or Santol which I'd never actually heard of seen and it seems is only grown in SE Asia. These were 'scrumped' from Grandma's garden and as I'm a thoughtful type of person, I included a little needlework porn for @shanibeer ! That most certainly is an old fashioned treadle sewing machine belonging to the Mother-in-law that you can see in the background and still in daily use. They are very common still here in Thailand.

Jackfruit

These are horrible things and right in season now. Another spiky, slightly smelly fruit which are huge and a member of the fig family. We have three old established trees on the land which produce a lot of fruit and they mostly get sold. They are very faffy things to dress and get to the flesh that involve very big sharp knives and lost fingers.

And finally....the bloody coconuts!!

They are everywhere and my contempt for them grows ever stronger as they fall off in their attempts to split your skull open or crash through rooves. They are ubiquitous and seem to grow all year round in massive numbers. Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head....OK enough of that.

So if you want to harvest them from the highest trees, what do you do?

I am sure that everyone has seen some sort of documentary on TV at some time of guys in the Carribean shinning up a plam tree to throw down the coconuts but this is a highly dangerous game, not just from the chance of falling but a number of people are killed from getting bitten by hiding snakes too.

We just let ours fall, but some neighbours with really tall trees get a man in. A man with two monkeys on a long piece of string and I was lucky enough to see them in action and attempted to take a video. Don't get too excited. The video is rubbish but you do just about see one of the monkeys and the coconuts being flung to the ground. The video ends when I decide they are getting a little close for comfort lol!!

@nathen007

Enjoy, and thanks for dropping by :-)

PS I also stuck it on Steemitworldmap.....but not quite exactly, I don't want you all coming round to scrump!
[//]:# (!steemitworldmap 9.487852 lat 99.950179 long Flora and Fauna in Thailand - A garden full of Fruit! + Bonus Video of Monkeys throwing coconuts! d3scr)

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Nice pictures and good contribution :) thank you for sharing :)

Regarding the lawn - you know they are not very good envitonmentally? I'm turning mine into a meadow that gets mowed a couple of times a year. Jack fruit seem to be incredibly popular here now as a vegan alternative for everything. I had a jackfruit burger which seemed to have a similar texture to soft shelled crabs although I can't remember much about the taste. The local co-op is selling bbq pulled jackfruit ... I haven't tried it, I'm not mad about the bbq sauce.
Love the treadle machine! So reliable! I had one years ago as part of my collection of vintage machines, it was excellent. I had to let it go when I moved house as the new place was much smaller.
You're about as good at filming monkeys in trees as I am at photographing bees on flowers!

Well the 'lawn' is just a ryegrass we scattered on the infill which you often need to do here to raise the levels up. The 'soil' is mainly sand hence the colour.
The land is actually almost at sea level so floods easily so it had to be lifted when Fons sister built their house. The land at the back is still more or less natural but gets strimmed every now and then. I would kill for a beautiful English meadow style but never going to happen here in the tropics! The other, and very serious issue we have with letting it grow out, and it's not a problem you suffer from in suburban Leicester are snakes! You have to be careful in long overgrown scrubland as its a perfect environment for snakes and all manner of not so timorous beasties!
Jackfruit is, as you rightfully pointed out, often used these days as part of meat substitutes although I didn't realise it was a thing back home! Still not a fan though.

and yes!! I'd forgotten about your bees on the flowers! No doubt I will do better next time. Seems the old fella and his monkeys are one of only a couple of traditional coconut harvesters left on the island so no doubt our path will cross again one day and the monkeys will make a more visual appearence!

Keep cool there. See if you can find this for sale there, its excellent :-)
https://www.konvy.com/snake-brand/snake-brand-prickly-heat-original-cooling-powder-140g-classic-33043.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwyerpBRD9ARIsAH-ITn8MnO4am9T8AOGrAwdlbyrpKWJjkZ-6Wad44EiezT-xsApYhE49WfkaAtNjEALw_wcB

Monkeys on a lead collecting coconuts - I didn't expect to see that when I came to Steem this morning. Quality!

How I feel every morning I wake up here! Its the most bizarre place I've ever been! Oh look, 4 people on a scooter without helmets and a child standing on the seat between two adults waving. Is that an elephant walking down the road at night with a red light strapped to its tail? What did you say you can do with those ping pong balls?.......

:D

Yeah I miss the crazy stuff you see in Asia. I'm gutted about not being able to attend Steem Fest barring a miracle. Probably wouldn't want to leave the continent.

I'd take that lawn anyday! I am green with envy.. Speechless and also extremely happy to see you have such an abundance of fruit to take back to BKK..

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You really should go and visit your father in law more often.

Are those red or white dragon fruit?

All white ones. I don't think I've ever see the red on sale here, to be honest.
Its actually the wife's land and we have plans and permission to build but....well.....family and all that. In time!

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