Preserving Avocado Naturally

There is no need for your avocado to spoil on you anymore. 

🥑It is avocado season in our area. Make best use of it.🥑

Make it into guacamole and save it in the fridge. If you want to have some for an extended period of time, freeze it.

Avocado is packed with nutrients needed to maintain a healthy body.

Here is how to make guacamole: 

(Well - my version - based on my observation and research)

Note that I did not provide measurements. I like to work freestyle. 

You can decide on the proportions of each ingredient as you experiment.

*If you would like some guidance, kindly leave a comment below.

Ingredients 

Avocado

Garlic

Lime

Salt (to your taste)

Cilantro

Tomatoes

Jalapeno pepper

red onion

Materials/equipment

Ziploc bags or foodsaver bags or roll

Food vacuum sealer (optional)

Peal avocado and add the first 4 ingredients.

My able helper doing his thing. I must thank him for sharing in my enthusiasm. 

Enjoy!!!

 

First four ingredients only (the avocado is diced). 

This can be stored (frozen) for as long as you like. 

All ingredients on the list are added (the avocado is mashed using a potato masher). 

Store this for a shorter length of time since it carries more ingredients. 

(Freezing will allow it to last for months)

a. If you plan to save your guacamole for an extended length of time (I would recommend a maximum of 6 months), this is the time to package and freeze it.

To use, simply remove from freezer and leave out for at least half an hour. You may also put it into a bowl of warm water to speed up the thawing. If you want to save time, take it out at night and put into the cooling part of your fridge until the next day when you will use it. 

Stir it up once thawed. If you have frozen it without the second list of ingredients, add these in, mix, and move on to prepare the dish of your choice. 

b. If you plan to use it within one to two weeks, continue to add the remaining ingredients. You may also freeze the mixture at this point.

Do not throw away any fruit. 

Check in with the Dangriga Urban Farmers for ideas.

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Do not throw away the seeds too.

DUF encourages you to plant all seeds you collect after consuming local fruits. 

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See below two ways to plant an avocado seed

(1)

Plant directly into soil in a planting bag for easy transfer. 

(I do this when I plan to plant a tree somewhere else.)

(2)

This is a new method I recently learned about. It works fine too.

Suspend seed over a cup of water using 3 tooth picks. Change water every two weeks or when you see a significant change in colour of the water.

I learned that the avocado seed has health benefits. 

I have never used it. 

If you have ideas, please share.

Stay safe. Keep healthy. Practice social distancing.

God Bless. 

Dangriga Urban Farmers Market Day Update

Dangriga Urban Farmers (DUF) Market Day

July 18, 2020

THEME

To plant! To grow! To eat! To live!

MISSION STATEMENT

To promote home gardens while fostering healthy eating habits and lifestyles; instilling a sense of independence and accomplishment that can impact the community we live in.

 

OBJECTIVES

Ø  to provide practical “how to” solutions to healthy food production and sustainability

Ø  to develop strong support systems among membership

Ø  to engage in continuous training in order to keep up with current agricultural trends

Ø  to encourage community interest

Ø  to provide technical assistance in developing home gardens

Ø  to help to market products

👏  👏 👏 

Congratulations Dangriga Urban Farmers.  We did it together...strong in unity.

Thanks to all DUF members.

🙏

We give thanks to our Creator for all things. 

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We extend a sincere thank you to all persons who assisted to bring this vision to reality. 

Thanks also to all who came out to view, support, encourage, share ideas, and purchase some items from us.

 

We highly appreciate all suggestions and assistance.

Special thanks to:

Mayor Humphreys and his administrative staff

Mr. Malcohm Zabaneh 

Kent McKenzie (Ninja Mac) 

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This Market Day marks the first of many more to come. 

We will be sharing more information including the schedule of our community activities shortly.

Stay tuned and feel free to join and/or to follow us online.

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Thanks to the groups that joined with us yesterday. 

We solicit your continued support in this venture and challenge you to keep on doing a great job. Together we build our communities. 

We encourage more local entrepreneurs to join us 

Interacting with community members

DUF evaluating the event at 2p.m.

Preparing for the next event...

Thanks again to the larger community.

We look forward to see you at our future events. 

Do call, message, or visit us if you have question and suggestions for us.

Faith, Hope, Love.

Eating local challenge

Making Hudut without buying any of the main ingredients

(Hudut is mashed plantain served in a gravy made from coconut milk)

Let's look back at how communities used to live, and survived! 

I encourage you to take this on as a challenge. 

Below is a real scenario in Belize (April 2020) 

We are not asking for the impossible. We simply want you to reflect

- how are you living? 
- Is your lifestyle costing you more than you expect? 
- What lifestyle have you picked up that can be replaced by closer connections with family and friends?

We hope you will be willing to change your practice if you are finding yourself spending on things you can grow yourself or exchange with your neighbor, friend and family.

I give to you, you give to me...all of us save money, all of us benefit.

Materials needed

Green plantains (and ripe - optional). 

Dried coconuts

A source of protein (usually fish)

Mortar and pestle

Seasoning and condiment (of your choice)

I used whole hot peppers, local basil, garlic, salt. I also added okra.

 

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I got blogo plantain from my eldest sister. She grows this in her yard. I also got coconuts from her. I used these for the gravy.

                                               

My other sister makes coconut oil. I got the one I used for frying the fish from her.

                                                 

My eldest brother gave me fish. He is a fisherman and networks with other fishermen.

My other brother provided more plantains. He has a farm. He also practices backyard gardening. He gave me okra. I share with my neighbors. I also package and freeze some now and again.

I too practice urban gardening. I plant culinary herbs (including basil and garlic chives), peppers, ginger and a few vegetables and small fruit trees (including golden plum). I process crops (mostly by drying and pickling) to increase their shelf life. 

No chemical preservatives are added to any of our agro-processed goods. We simply follow traditional practices that make use of heat, salt, sugar, and acid (vinegar or lime).

 

Golden plum juice

Materials used

Ginger

Golden plum

Lime

Sugar

 

My niece has a lime tree in her yard. I get lime from her.

Additional challenge

*you can make your own sea salt - simply collect clean seawater and make it boil until the water evaporates.

*you can make your own sweetener using sugar cane (these are easy to grow) - collect the liquid and add to drinks.

 *For a colorful drink, you can blend in slices of beets to sweeten it (you can grow this in raised beds and containers if you have issue with space). 

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*you can also add stevia plant to your garden (this is easy to grow and propagate). This is a natural sweetener that is zero-calorie.

 

Always seek to limit your intake of processed sugar. 

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

2 Peter 1:3

Make sure to add your comments below 

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