I have an abandoned 4 acre fruit farm on a Dominican rainforest plateau with only jakfruit, cacao and borojo surviving the return to jungle.  Farm is surrounded by miles of forest on 3 sides and a 20 min walk through the forest to the road on the civilized side.  Coconuts, cinnamon, coffee, cacao and vanilla still grow in the jungle where other farms were abandoned 30 yrs earlier.

If you find chempedak too slimy, you can always dry it.  No special equipment is needed. 

I got these from Oscar a few months ago, but now need the money more than the books.









USD250 including shipping to anywhere in the world.

Please contact my wife if you would like to order or ask about the books.  deyuawork at gmail dot com  I don't have much free time at the moment so can't answer any questions or take the order.

One of Belize's top collectors is Heinrich Friesen.  You can find him in Springfield which is about 2km off the road to the west,  8km south of Belmopan on the Hummingbird Highway.  Springfield is only conservative Mennonites, so everyone will know who you are looking for.  If you are traveling with a woman, put long sleeves and a long skirt on her or you might not get much love from the folks in Springfield.  There are no phones there, so you just gotta go looking.

This second one looks exactly like a Poona Kheera cucumber.

Thanks for that name.  I think that is what it is. The first and second photo might both be Poona Kheera.  The pretty one may just be a more mature version of the first.  My seeds from the yellow one germinated, though, so it wasn't immature.

This link has info describing Poona Kheera.

http://www.anniesannuals.com/plt_lst/lists/general/lst.gen.asp?prodid=3507

It's clear Red , surprised that warm air pulled down is more effective than going up .

Thanks

I was surprised too.  It is because the system is not static with warm air.  Once in the cabinet, it starts as hot air and proceeds to becoming cool air, picking up moisture and becoming denser due to decreased temperature. 

Painting the chimney black at the top will make it work better too. 

There is probably some ratio that is ideal for the cross section of the air intake : chimney, but I don't know what it is.


This is some excess fruit I dried before my Sarawak trip.  I just put it under the awning in the day and under the ceiling fan at night.  Dried in 2 days with very little direct sunlight.

The simple solar dehydrator is a sheet of roofing metal or plastic with food on it, drying in the sun, but I am assuming you want a dehydrator that protects the fruit from UV or insects or which can function without your input during rain showers.

About 15 yrs ago I made one.  It worked well in Nova Scotia in the summer for apples.  The inovative thing about the design was to have the air moving down while doing the drying.  This had been proven more effective in design trials.

So here is what you need think about when building it:

Fruit sits on a non-reactive screen in a frame.  If you already have framed fiberglass mosquito screens, you are on your way.
These frames sit one above the other in a drying cabinet.  (put door on front so you can slide screens into place)
Hot air enters cabinet at the top and exits at the bottom.  (chimney needed to pull cooled air out)

To get the hot air, build a long, shallow box, the same width as the cabinet, open at the top and 2 short sides.  Paint bottom and sides flat black and cover with a window or clear plastic.

Leaving out many details (like how to hinge doors or keep out insects), so you can see the basic idea without being overwhelmed with info.  Please let me know if the basic idea is still unclear.

This might be the Chinese winter melon which is not a Cucumis species but belongs an allied genus Benincasa. I would have to see the leaves and flowers to confirm. Winter melons, also called wax gourd, are traditionally used to make soups and sometimes candied or added to pastries.

Chinese winter melon is also sold here.  This is not a CWM.

I'm interested in getting Vitex species as well, but Silverhill doesn't have them on their list.

Here are the 2 eggplants side by side for contrast and comparison.   This morning my wife read on a blog from Sarawak that there is a belief that only indigenous Sarawakian tribespeople can grow the domestic sour eggplant.  Perhaps this simply means it is harvested before the seeds are mature.  I will try to get germination before I offer any for sale.

Now, 950km into the journey.  So far found 2 species of Dialium and 2 new-to-me Solanaceae; a big yellow one that you might call a yellow-orange eggplant.  It has been at markets for hundreds of km so far.  Today bought a small yellow Solanaceae that grows wild around Miri.  Its local name translates to little eggplant.  It is cooked with chicken.  Below is a photo of it.  I have only seen it once on the trip.

I wonder if there is another Baccaurea membranacea in a California collection.

Kepel is a beautiful tree.  Here is one near where I live.


What part of Java are your seeds from?  Kepel season was over on Dec 15 or so in the village where I was in East Java.  Those seeds are just now starting to germinate.