About this blog:

A blog: drinking deeply from the cup of life!
All about clueless, freestyle parenting; raising a free-range child; building a house of mud in Mexico; living the simple life with exotic tastes; commentaries on politics, food, faith and social justice!
learning, loving, dreaming, exploring!

29 June 2010

mangoes: the sweet itch

We have been overrun by mangoes.
Out at the property, the ripe mangoes fall to the ground and become smelly breeding grounds for flies and bugs. With just a few trees, the mangoes have actually become overwhelming! There is simply no way to eat all the mangoes that are there, and I love mangoes!
I decide on a two-pronged approach to beat back the mangoes. I pick up all the rotting, freshly fallen fruit, and Luis buries some of them and we make a pile to try composting the rest. Then, with a rake, I knock down all the green mangoes that I can reach, and get a crate-ful to bring to Luis' grandmother, who hopefully can help us cope with the overabundance.
What I painfully learned in the following three weeks was that mango sap is closely related to poison ivy. I noticed some stinging on my skin while harvesting the mangoes, but wrongly attributed it to insects. NOT SO! MANGOES ARE ACTUALLY POISON IVY!
The rather extensive and unattractive rash on my arms and stomach (how did it get there? It is not like I rolled in the piles of mangoes) STINGS! Sort of feels like being eaten by ants.
I bet you want to eat a mango now...

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