BUMPER CROP AND BUMBLE BEES...

At the risk of repeating myself, it looks as through it will be a bumper mango crop this year.   Was it the chillier than normal winter that had folk shivering and complaining, and pensioners island-wide wondering if this is what hypothermeria was like, with night-time temps reaching as low as 23c?? (they have no concept of what it's like to live in a cold climate where you wake in the morning with thick ice on the INSIDE of the bedroom window, or to have your toilet cistern frozen solid for days).  Or was it the strangely windy January and February - did that aid better pollination than usual?  Whatever it was, I cannot recall the last time I saw such heavily laden mango trees.

Between my parents, brother and myself, we must surely harvest tens of thousands?  Which would mean, island-wide, there must be millions?  What will happen to all these mangoes? Generally speaking no one seems to preserve, bottle or freeze them....I am intrigued by this question and will watch with interest.

Other fruit buds and blossom are now appearing all around and we have bananas galore. I am truly thankful to see such bounty.

And with all this abundance, I was very alarmed to hear from my neighbour this week that many of his bees have died suddenly and inexplicably. Let us hope for all our sakes that our tiny island has not succumbed to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that is being experienced in many parts of the world. This would be a major blow that would come hot on the heels of the terrible devastation of many bananas plantations due to Black Sigatoka Disease which threatens to wipe out the livelihood of many St Lucian banana growers.  With no other industry to fall back on, we have to ask the question of what will happen if we lose our bananas and our bees?

In the meantime, just sharing some photos taken on a walk around my father's modest but highly productive garden at the weekend.....

I don't have a wide angle lens wide enough to capture the amount of fruit on this tree

Cashew Tree

Breadfruit

A mysterious variety grown from a seed from a garden down south

Lime buds

Limes almost ready to pick, with Bitter Melon growing through the thorny tree

A perfect specimen which was absolutely delicious!