Palm Sunday

With Sydney Lint:

Too much of a good thing? At the WSJ Their Tropical Home Dilemma: Cut Down Palm Trees or Dodge Falling Coconuts? "An Arizona couple wanted to preserve the natural landscaping of their Belize vacation property. Now they’re turning coconuts into coconut water."

When Arizona residents Tim and Mary Beth Ruckman decided to convert half an acre of untouched Belize jungle into a vacation compound, they knew they wanted to save as many trees as possible. They didn’t anticipate the coconuts.

Now that their $3.65 million home is complete, the oceanfront property retains much of its original tree cover, including an atmospheric seagrape tree and about two-dozen palm trees. But every year the palms produce about 2,000—or upwards of 3 tons—of coconuts, which fall to the ground if not harvested. Figuring out how to manage them has been one of the many challenges of the project, which started construction in 2022 and was completed in the summer of 2024.

In our times in the tropics, I've been impressed at how prolific coconuts palms are. Even in relatively urban areas, it's common for fallen coconuts to root, and grow.

My own father had an aversion to coconut anything, which he allegedly acquired in WWII, when, as a young merchant marine, the Liberty Ship he was on in the South Pacific carried a cargo of copra. Apparently the smell was overpowering. 

Linked at The Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links.