Broad Leaf Thyme

Broad Leaf Thyme is a herb that grows almost wild throughout Barbados. It is a favourite in local cooking, and is commonly known as “Poor Man’s Bacon” as in the old days, people would fry and eat it as you would bacon.

As the name suggests, the leaves can get quite big - easily three or four inches. The leaf is quite thick and meaty, and is covered in a fine downy hair. The scent is strong and unmistakeable.

Broad Leaf Thyme is so easy to grow - just pop off a leaf with a bit of stem attached and stick it in the ground or in a pot. A bit of water here and there (not too much), and soon you will have a large healthy plant that will continue to spread if left untrimmed.

This variety of thyme is used liberally in local cooking, usually mixed with other herbs, salt, black pepper and probably some local hot peppers too. Everything gets chopped up together into a fine paste before being added to the pot or being used to marinate meat prior to cooking.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Christmas Flowers Are Blooming

It’s that time of year again when the flowers that come out at Christmastime are blooming.

The bright yellow Christmas Candles have been flowering for a month or so already. They are in gardens plus they grown wild, particularly in the drier parishes of St Lucy and St Phliip. A Christmas Candle in full bloom is truly spectacular.

All over the world the Poinsettia plant is associated with Christmas. Here, in Barbados, it is the time year when these shrubs are covered in vibrant red - the actual flowers are tiny white or pale yellow structures surrounded by bright red sepals.

The only Poinsettia plants that would be found indoors are the imported hybrids that are specifically used for decoration inside at this time of year, and then they die off after a few months.

I haven’t actually seen any Poinsettia outside yet that have turned red, and I seem to recall that they were quite late this year, but I’m sure we’ll see them soon.

Last but by no means least is the spectacular Snow on the Mountain. I haven’t seen any of these yet either, but they are hard to miss - a bright white shrub that really does look like a hill covered in snow.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

WALL FERN

Wall fern will spring up just about anywhere that is damp and semi sheltered. It sprouts out of cracks in the wall (hence the name), cracks in bricks, concrete yards, between flagstones, anywhere. The one pictured here was growing from between flagstones at Morgan Lewis Mill in St Andrew on the east coast of Barbados.

May people grown them in pots too as they are easy to grow and quite hardy, and they look good too. The roots tend to hold on quite tightly, so if you’re trying to pull one up, particularly if it is a more mature specimen, chances are it will break and leave the roots in the ground.

Like most ferns, when the new fronds of Wall Fern come out, they are tightly curled and gradually unfurl over a period of days. The one pictured here is quite young and tender, but the leaves and stems become quite coarse and hard as the plant matures.

Wall fern grows pretty much all over Barbados once there is enough moisture. In fact, it sprouts up much like a weed and can become a nuisance as it is so hardy, but it is very attractive in a pot.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

GARDEN SPIDERS IN BARBADOS

I know that lots of people don’t particularly like spiders, but they are a fact of life, and Barbados has it’s fair share.

The photo here is a typical Garden Spider with a leg span of about four inches. If you can look at it long enough, it’s really quite beautiful (coming from someone who used to have a spider phobia is an incredible statement).

The spider here is upside down - notice the protrusions on the abdomen - aren’t they amazing? And the striped legs. The egg sacs of these particular spiders are bright yellow, similar to the yellow stripe visible on the legs.

As the name implies, they live outside - it would be a pretty unusual occurrence for one to come inside. They spin extensive webs and many spiders live on the one large cluster of webs, and are particularly fond of cacti, sea grapes and other large shrubs.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen any around my home, and the one pictured here was on a web system between two walls and some Bougainvillea, located on the east coast of Barbados. I do, however, remember seeing a lot of them when I was a child. Perhaps there aren’t as many around nowadays, particularly in more densely populated areas.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Ghost Crabs

Ghost Crabs are quite small (maybe 5”) crabs that are very quick to get back into their holes if you get too close to them. They dig their holes on beaches all over Barbados, so very easy to spot one from yards away. Sometimes it seems like the beach is littered with them, and then they get startled and all disappear into their holes.

I feel very lucky to have got this photo before this little guy disappeared. I’m not sure if they get their names from their pale sandy colour or the fact that one moment you see one and the next moment it’s gone … or perhaps a bit of both.

Ghost Crabs tend to come out of hiding at low tide, and their holes are frequently cover by water, but some holes are above the high water mark too - I think the important thing for them is that they live in holes on the beach with superb camouflage.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Christmas Worm Invasion

Well, it’s that time of year in Barbados when the weather is a certain way that the Christmas worms (a tiny millipede) suddenly multiply and invade our homes. 

At most a Christmas worm is an inch long and the body just a millimeter wide, so they are small enough to come in through any little gap in doorways and windows. It’s near impossible to keep them out. 

They don’t do anything and they’re not harmful, but they are a nuisance, and if you happen to crush one, the smell is unmistakeable and unpleasant. 

We tend to spray around our doors periodically to try and keep them (and other tiny critters) out, and, once or twice a year, I put sevin around the outside of the house. That also helps to keep critters out.

Fortunately, Christmas worms disappear just as quickly as they appear, and they have already started to wane. I'm not sure where the name came from, but I would guess that it's because they tend to appear at the end of the year, hence "Christmas".

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Yellow Mandevilla Vine

A flourishing Mandevilla plant is truly spectacular. The one pictured here almost entirely covers a substantial wall, and even started to climb up the Casuarina Tree behind. The flowers are very similar to those of the Allamanda plant, but slightly smaller.

Mandevilla has little to no fragrance, but it is very attractive to hummingbirds, some moths and butterflies. The vine grows really easily, and if it likes the spot, it will gradually take over everything in sight, so it’s great as a wall or pergola cover and adds great privacy.

The vine does not seem bothered by close proximity to the sea and therefore salty air, but it does need a bit of water periodically. As with most vines, Mandevilla is very hardy. It makes a lovely splash of colour in any garden, and for me, the fact that it attracts birds, butterflies and other insects, is a huge plus.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Texas Sage

Texas Sage is a hardy shrub that doesn’t require much watering, trimming or tending generally, so long as it is sheltered from the wind. Every so often you will be rewarded with a stunning display of tiny purple flowers.

Texas Sage has tiny grey leaves not unlike those of Silver Dollar, just much much smaller, and they make good borders or small hedges, but the one shown here has been allowed to grow unrestricted.

The flowering stage is over in a few days, but I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to see this spectacle. A covering of purple flowers seemingly draped over the grey bush.

Blight is the only thing that may cause this shrub to falter. The one pictured here is in a very windy location but is completely sheltered by a building, otherwise it is exposed to a dry and salty environment.

Absolutely spectacular.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Purple Patrea

I remember seeing a lot of these when I was a child, and we had a huge plant growing in our yard, that would put out this splendid covering of purple flowers. Then they seemed to disappear   - I think they just went out of favor as tastes changed.

Now, these magnificent plants are coming back in again. I don’t know if they’re easy to grow or not, or how quickly, but they certainly turn heads when the flowers come out.

The leaves are quite coarse, and I don’t think the flowers do particularly well in a vase, but oh my, they do add a splash of colour to the garden.

Bees and wasps love them, so be warned if you’re planning to get up and personal with a specimen. There no particular fragrance from the flowers either, it’s just colour colour colour.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

So Many Butterflies!

There is an abundance of butterflies all over Barbados right now. So many in fact, that people are actually talking about it. The official reason is that because there is so much more bush around the island and less agricultural crops, that the butterflies that thrive on wild vegetation have exploded. Makes sense.

It seems to be mainly the Cabbage White, a similar sized yellow butterfly and a bigger orange one similar in appearance to a Monarch. But I’ve also seen some tiny little yellow ones and a bunch of others that I can’t identify. As one would expect with a lot of butterflies, there’s also a lot of moths around too. It’s kind of cool.

We’ve always had butterflies, but just a few. Now, if you go outside, there are clouds of them, literally. It’s quite spectacular. Hope you can spot the one in the photo.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Cassia & The Bumble Bees

There is a fabulous pink cassia tree on the street on which I live, and this year it bore magnificent pink flowers profusely for weeks. Every morning as I had my daily walk, I passed under this tree, and for several weeks it was buzzing … literally.

I know the sound too well and thought there must have been a hive somewhere in the tree, but I could never see one. The buzzing continued. Then I realized that it was hundreds of bumble bees feeding on the nectar of the cassia flowers. The canopy was thick with bumble bees for weeks.

Now, they’re all gone. There are still flowers on the tree, but I guess they are past the stage that appeals to the bees. I’ve lived on this street for thirteen years, and never noticed this before. Perhaps the weather conditions this year were right for producing a proliferation of flowers that attracted bees from all over the island. Kinda cool!

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Where Do the Birds Go In a Storm?

We are anticipating the arrival of Tropical Storm Bertha later today (Friday) - the breeze has dropped completely (read “disappeared”) and it’s all very quiet and still. So my question is where do the birds and other creatures go?

A few birds are tweeting and one or two might fly by as I sit outside on my deck, but where will they go for shelter? I know that they know where is the safe place to be, because things in nature know that instinctively, but I want to know too.

Living on a small island like Barbados they can’t exactly just fly to another island that’s outside of the range of the storm. Insects and frogs and lizards will just hunker down under rocks and in cracks and crevices that provide shelter. The monkeys probably go into caves and places like that. But where do the birds go? I shall keep watch this afternoon to see if I notice anything that offers a clue.

Update - TS Bertha missed us, so I still don’t know the answer.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

What Is Happening with the Blackbirds in Barbados?

Have I been missing it all these years and just suddenly noticed in the last six months or so that blackbirds fight? I don’t know, but all of a sudden I am seeing them fighting everywhere. And it’s vicious.

Perhaps I just didn’t notice, or I saw them fighting and didn’t realize what was happening. But they certainly seem to be doing it a lot now. Blackbirds always tend to be very noisy birds, so with dozens together in one area, it can be quite a cacophony of sound. And it’s not usually a nice melodic bird call, it’s more like squawking.

But it’s this fighting business that has me puzzled. I must just have been missing it, right? But what if I wasn’t, and they really are more aggressive now. What’s going on? Why’s it happening. More competition for food and nesting areas perhaps, and simple posturing is no longer enough to be the big chief? Hmmm.

I shall continue to observe the blackbirds, and perhaps other birds too, just in case there are any other changes in behavior that come to light. On the plus side, I did see a flock of at least fifty parrots yesterday, which was heartening and an unusual sight here in Barbados.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Not a Breath of Air

Today’s post is not strictly about the flora and fauna of Barbados, but it is related. It’s shortly after 6 am and there is not a breath of air outside. Not a leaf is moving and, considering the very windy conditions we have been experiencing, the drop in the breeze is a sure sign of rain coming very soon.

Even the birds are quiet and keeping a low profile, though they will be out and about in force once the rain has passed as they will be foraging on the bounty of insects brought out by the rain.

Though it is the rainy season here in Barbados, we haven’t actually had that much yet. Most of the weather has been passing to the south of us, giving Grenada, Trinidad & Tobago and parts of South America more than their fair share of rain. It’s early days yet, we’ll get our bit too. The good part about no rain is … no mosquitos@

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Cloth of Gold

We had an exceedingly dry “dry season” this year that lasted for a solid 3 months, much longer and drier than we have seen for many years. Whilst people complained about the lack of rain, some flora have blossomed in ways that we have not seen for years, and Cloth of Gold is a prime example.

Cloth of Gold is a vine that grows prolifically over trees and mill walls, amongst other things. I remember as a teenager passing a mill wall every day on my way to and from school that, at certain times of the year, was absolutely covered in a sheet of gold flowers - a magnificent sight.

Then the flowering became more sporadic and less dramatic, until this year. It is easy to see how the vine got it’s name as it really looks like a cloth of gold covering a wall, structure or tree. Absolutely stunning. 

Flamboyants have also flowered magnificently this year, and you can see one contrasting with the Cloth of Gold. I hope we don’t have to wait another 30 or so years to see this kind of colour again.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

A Bounty of Food in One Tree

I have two palm trees beside my deck, and I often sit on the deck and watch the too-ing and fro-ing of creatures to feed on the tree. The tree seems to have flowers and berries all the time, so there’s always a small zoo on hand.

Wasps, bees and banaquits love the flowers. They hover around all day long, except the banaquits - they seem to prefer mornings and evenings. Late in the evenings, the moths come out to feed.

Then there are the lizards that live on the trees and feed on ants and other insects that are passing by. The sparrows seems to like the berries when they first come out and are very small. And higher up the food chain are the monkeys. Up until yesterday evening, I saw two from our local troop eating the berries - I guess they are like miniature coconuts about the size of a pine nut when fully grown.

It’s just never a dull moment, and I know that other creatures must find things to eat too, but maybe they are too tiny for me to see, or just plain shy and elusive.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados

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Soldier Crab Houses

I’ve seen lots of soldier crabs recently, all with regular discarded crab shells of various sizes, colors and shapes as their “home”, but a few days ago, I saw one wearing a shell that topped the lot.

I was putting out food for the tortoises, which the soldier crabs and red crabs share, when I saw a large “snail” walking around. I had to do a double take as this shell was just not moving like a snail. Then I realized that the giant african snail shell was occupied by a large soldier crab. How cool is that!

I watched for a while before proceeding with my other chores, and so sorry folks, but I didn’t have my camera with me … as seems to happen when I see the really cool stuff.

I know soldier crabs will inhabit all kinds of different things as their mobile home, but this was definitely a first for anything other than a snail occupying a giant african snail shell. A much better use that sitting empty and collecting water in which mosquitos can breed.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Swifts in Barbados? Yes We Do

One doesn’t normally think of swifts as birds found in the Caribbean, but there certainly are some here in Barbados.

I am presently working on the east coast of the island on a property that sits at the top of a 90 foot cliff. Recently, we have been noticing a family of swifts in the area. They swoop and climb and dive at high speed as they catch tiny insects. The speed and control is impressive (me and my camera cannot keep up with them … sorry).

We had a day of rain recently which brought even more insects out, so these birds were in their element. There seems to be three pairs, perhaps nesting in the cliff face itself, and they have endless energy.

I love to stand and watch them do their acrobatics - I totally get the excitement of a wing suit … hang gliding or paragliding just don’t come close.

The swifts also have a very recognizable call, especially when one of the household cats is prowling. At the end of my work day I spend a few moments watching them dive and swerve, feeling every movement as if I were a part of them, before I return to reality and start my journey home.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Budding Ball Cactus

My ball cactus obviously likes where it is located as it is set up to flower again, and this time, there are eight buds coming. The first one (maybe two) will open either tonight or tomorrow night. Once the flowers start to move it all happens very quickly, so I have to remember to look out around eight or nine o’clock tonight to check progress and snap some shots.

It looks like the opening of the other six buds will also be staggered. Wouldn’t it be amazing if all eight opened at the same time?

To think that I found the original ball growing wild in the hills on the east coast of Barbados. It was just about an inch in diameter, and within three months of putting it in a pot, the first flower was out. I was really surprised that it flowered so quickly. That was three years ago. It’s gone from one flower the first year (around October of that year), to eight magnificent specimens this year. And yes, I know they will all be magnificent. And it’s in the same pot in the same location - I would not dream of moving it.

I'll add a couple more pics as the flowers open. And here are the flowers in all their glory taken around 6 o'clock this morning.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visiting my other blog, Things Barbados. 

Seed Pods in Abundance

Right now as I sit on my deck looking over a wild and bushy area that was covered in sugar cane twenty years ago, many of the wild tamarinds that grow profusely and are very hardy, actually look like they are dead as they are all covered in brown. On closer inspection, the brown is thousands upon thousands of seed pods.

A variety of trees and shrubs are covered in seed pods right now, and from a distance, gives vegetation a very drab and almost dead appearance.

Women’s Tongue trees are covered in pale beige seed pods that are about nine or ten inches long and interspersed with dark green leaves. The wild tamarinds are almost leafless, and look like dry sticks save for a canopy of rich dark brown pods about six or seven inches in length.

I passed a Pride of India tree yesterday and thought how strange it was that the flowers had all turned brown. Then I realised that the tree’s canopy was a mass of dark brown seed pods about four or five inches long. It was quite striking.

It’s been a very interesting time in Barbados for trees and shrubs because of the lack of rain, something we haven’t experienced to this degree for several years.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Blooming Barbados

The photo above shows a huge bougainvillea bush that is blooming magnificently. This is what I mean when I talk about flowering during the dry season. Notice the very brown grass that is not actually dead, just very very dry. Once we’ve had a few showers of rain, that grass will turn green almost overnight.

Everything is covered in flowers like this at the moment and more still coming into bloom. I saw a yellow flamboyant yesterday that is just starting to flower. A week from now it will be absolutely covered in lemon yellow flowers.

I would imagine that a similar thing is happening throughout the Caribbean at the moment as everywhere has been experiencing very dry weather, something that helps bring out an abundance of flowers. 

One of my cacti has put out five flower stalks - I can’t wait to see them all. Last year we got three. And if they happened to open together ... oh my, what a sight that would be. The flowers only last a few hours, opening around 9 pm and then closing shortly after dawn. I check progress daily.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Thirsty Creatures

When things get really dry on Barbados, all living creatures have to extend their search for water. What that means for us is that things come close to and into the house.

When our cats are outside on the deck, we put out a bowl of water for them, and everything comes to share - lizards, moths, ants and even monkeys.

It’s nice to think that we are helping them in times of drought, but we don’t put water out just for them - don’t want to encourage that, especially with the monkeys. They are very cute, but they are also very smart and inquisitive wild animals and show way too much interest in us and our cats.

Hopefully the rains will be along soon and there will be plenty of water and food for all.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Fighting Blackbirds

I was out having my walk one morning a few days ago and heard the familiar racket of blackbirds. As I got closer, I noticed that two males were fighting - nothing new about that, but how they were fighting was what struck me and I’d never seen before.

The two birds leapt at each other feet first scrabbling at chest feathers and heads. At some point the feet of the two birds became locked together and they both fell back onto their tail ends with their feet still locked together.

After a bit of struggling they freed themselves and then proceeded to repeat the procedure. This went on for a few minutes before they finally separated and went pecking around for food with the other blackbirds that watched the fighting for a few seconds before continuing in their search for food.

It was quite fascinating to watch this aggressive behaviour with raised feet trying to do damage to the opponent. Learn something new every day.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Close Encounter with Green Monkey

So I had a really close encounter with a green monkey yesterday evening, and it was so exciting. I was sitting on my back deck enjoying the late afternoon/early evening with a drink, and noticed a family of monkeys playing at the foot of a huge tree behind my property.

There was a mother with a tiny new baby, a couple juveniles swinging from low hanging branches, and there was a male with an injured foot. At first I was just paying attention to this male to try and get an idea of the extent of his injury, and eventually figured out that it was literally his foot. There was no sign of blood or obvious distortion and his leg seemed fine, but there had been lots of bush fires recently, so I guess it’s possible that he stepped on a bit of hot debris.

Anyhow, I decided to get the binoculars to get a better look at the mother and baby, so I went inside as quietly as possible to fetch them. By the time I came back a minute later, one of the juveniles was on my deck railing just sitting and looking around with interest. One of our cats was sitting nearby and paying attention but did not seem to be remotely distressed.

I stood there at the door for a long while just watching. I didn’t want to frighten him/her away. The monkey went back and forth on the deck railing a bit, checking things out, and then jumped down onto the deck, went straight to the cat water bowl that was just a few feet away from me, and had a drink of fresh water. He/she seemed to know exactly where it was going, so I presume it’s done this before. He looked up at me, saw me and continued drinking - too comfortable around humans for his/her own safety I think.

Then it jumped up onto the side railing and climbed the nearby palm tree to eat some of the peanut-sized nuts. Once it had gone out of view up the tree, I quietly opened my screen door and went onto the deck and sat on my little bench where I had been earlier. The monkey heard me and peeped down to see what had made a noise and continued eating the little nuts. So I just sat and watched.

When the monkey was done eating, it scampered back to re-join the family that was still at the base of the tree. Meanwhile, the male with the bad foot had gone around the side of the building and was no longer in view.

With binoculars in hand I proceeded to examine the mother and baby plus the juveniles that were still playing in the lower branches. It was fascinating. With my binoculars trained on one of the juveniles, it started to come towards me. Back it came onto my deck and up into the palm tree to grab some more nuts, before scampering off into the tree. The sun had set by this time and all the remaining monkeys climbed up into the tree to settle for the night. And this morning, bright and early, my little juvenile friend was back on my deck drinking water.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Fruit Trees Are Flowering

Already mango and avocado trees around Barbados are covered in flowers. Last year, the avocados were few and far between, but I can see that this is going to be a bountiful year.

My mum’s mango trees look like they won’t be producing a lot of fruit this year, but oh my, last year was the best ever. And everyone’s trees bore well last year.

But it’s not only avocados and mangoes. Plum and golden apple trees are also flowering profusely, as are guava and sugar apple. Looks like conditions are right for lots of local fruit, and I can’t wait!

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Pawpaw (Papaya) Trees

Pawpaw (papaya) trees will sprout up just about anywhere on Barbados. I have one growing wild behind my house next to a tree stump. I would guess that a bird (or could’ve been a monkey) that had eaten some pawpaw including at least one seed, perched on the stump and pooped out a seed. That seed that arrived on the ground complete with fertilizer, has now sprouted to become a young tree about four feet tall and growing.

I will have to keep a close eye on this tree as it gets bigger to ascertain whether it is a male or a female tree (yes, that’s right), and if it’s the latter, it won’t produce any fruit unless there is a male tree nearby ... which there isn’t. Unfortunately, this one may already be showing signs of disease.

The pawpaws in Barbados have been devastated by Bunchy Top Disease in recent years. Entire crops of trees have been wiped out, and the few trees that are still around are struggling to survive. It’s easy to tell if the tree is infected as the leaves at the bottom start to turn brown and shrivel (like the one in the photo), and then it gradually takes over the entire tree. One is supposed to cut down the tree immediately it becomes apparent that it is diseased, but most people wait and harvest the few fruits that are produced before the entire tree is overtaken by the disease. However, a few trees around the island have survived, but the vast majority of pawpaws available for purchase are now imported.

The pawpaw is a milk tree, and the sap is poisonous, stains clothing and will blister your skin if not washed off thoroughly. If you pick the green fruit, you must score the skin with a knife to let the milk drain out or the fruit will be bitter when it ripens. Green pawpaws are made into a delicious stew using brown sugar, molasses, a piece of cinnamon stick and some vanilla - yummy served warm with some ice cream.

The leaves are large and fingered, similar to those found on the breadfruit family of trees. The stalk of the tree is ridged with growth circles and the flowers are a non-descript pale yellow-green colour, flowers that become magnificent dark green and then orange fruit as they ripen. The size and shape of the fruit can vary quite a lot from small pear-shaped specimens to enormous 3 lb fruits with thick flesh. I have had delicious pawpaws that are just a few inches in length but are oh so sweet. A squeeze of lime on the fruit can enhance the flavour too. It’s hard to beat a good pawpaw!

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Aloe

Aloe is a very common ingredient in all kinds of skin care products, and it grows in many gardens around Barbados (my own included), and wild in some parts of the island. Locally made soaps and body lotions may contain local aloe.

As with most succulents, aloe is very easy to grow, and it flourishes with little or no care. Aloe stalks are barbed along the edges and, though the sap is healing, it also stains clothes and skin a dark yellow-brown colour. The sap also has a funky oniony smell.

Aloe flowers appear on a long stalk and are very attractive to bees and wasps. The plant is usually 18 - 24 inches in height and spreads outwards quite quickly. If you can safely get at a sucker, just stick it in a pot and it will grow.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Barbados Sugar Cane

Barbados has been well know for it’s sugar and rum for literally hundreds of years. Crop is about to begin so I thought it would be a good time to talk about the plant from which these things come, sugar cane.

Sugar cane is a member of the grass family, a very tall and robust species of grass, and it is the stalks that are crushed between heavy rollers to produce sugar cane juice, which is then boiled down to produce sugar and molasses. Molasses is made into rum, and is a great addition to things like banana bread and coconut sugar cakes.

The sugar cane is cut at the base by a harvester (only that growing on steeper slopes is harvested by hand nowadays), and a tractor-drawn cart drives alongside the harvester to collect the cane stalks that are automatically cut into two foot lengths. The leaves (or trash) fall to the ground where they remain unless the field is being ploughed.

The sugar cane plants put out long feathery flower stalks late in the year, at which point the cane plants are “ripe”, however, they are not harvested until several months later as they are given time to mature and the stalks to fatten with more juice.

The sugar cane harvest in Barbados lasts for a period of three to four months, during which time much of the island is denuded of the rolling green fields of cane. At the moment there is one working sugar factory on the island, Portvale Sugar Factory, and there are plans for a second (Andrews) to be renovated and converted into a multi-purpose factory for processing the entire sugar cane plant including all the bi-products that presently go to waste.

If you would like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Birds in Barbados

Barbados is not known as a birdwatching destination, and avid birdwatchers might find the island a bit tame in relation to the avian world. However, in just half an hour this morning as I walked within 1/4 mile of my home on the street where I live, I spotted a variety of birds.

The blackbirds (grackles) are always around in abundance, followed closely by the sparrows (bullfinches) and various doves. But I also saw ramier pigeons, egrets flying overhead on their way to somewhere, king birds (rain birds) with their very melodic call, and parrots.

Parrots are in their element now as there are so many choices for them to feed on - trees and shrubs are covered in seed pods that appeal to the parrot’s palette.

As I walked today, I did not see any bananaquits (maybe I missed them as there are a lot around generally), hummingbirds, herons, gauhlins, canaries (very hard to find nowadays), nor did I see the flock of homing pigeons that are let out to stretch their wings first thing every morning.

But I don’t think I did too badly for just 30 minutes within a quarter mile of my home, without looking and without any special equipment.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.