Homegrown Coconut

I pulled down a coconut from one of our trees today. After spending about 5 minutes futilely hacking at the husk with my machete, I stopped and sharpened up my machete again. I then realized I was hacking at the husk the wrong direction; I had been hitting the coconut from the bottom of the husk, which doesn’t do much except dent the husk. Switching and hitting the coconut from the top of the fruit allowed the husk to start to peel. Having accomplished this, I then grabbed the partially separated pieces of husk and pulled to separate the husk pieces from the actual nut. The picture is of the husk pieces, the nut, my machete, and the file I was using to sharpen the machete (I was using a whetstone, but the machete was so dull it was not making much of a difference, so I switched to the file).

From there it was the same as a coconut from the store; puncture two holes with a nail to drain the coconut water, then “tap” (actually whack quite hard) around the shell until it breaks.

The coconut is actually the first “good” one that I have had in a couple of years… the ones I had bought in the store (both here and in the states) had fermented… which, although they might be edible, fermented coconuts are not what I want.

I also started to cut the fabric for our bedroom curtains. Kendra had found a website that sells the curtains that we are trying to make, but since we already have the fabric we figured we might as well try to make them and save ourselves the cost of buying them. I think that it will be slow going without a sewing machine, but we shall see…

Oh, also, I am (tentatively) scheduled to go out on a tour with VI Eco-tours so that I can check out what they do (I have applied to be a photographer and/or guide there).