Silvia where is this mango festival taking place on the mangos of Cuba?

I think I'd prefer being bombarded with mangos to coconuts.

Lol...Jofus you are quite the story teller...you might want to consider writing a book yourself. Enjoyed it and had a good laugh!!

Hi Silvia!...Daniel its in Miami at the Fairchild Gardens...

http://www.fairchildgarden.org/events-community-outreach/international-mango-festival

Daniel, it is at the Fairchild Botanical gardens in South Florida, every year they highlight mangoes from different places but you can buy any mango variety that you like, they also have mango trees for sale, a lot of mango foods to try and mango tastings.

Last year's festival

Silvia

Hi Nancy! I agree with you on Jofus quality as a story teller and he is also funny. I bet the mangoes are laughing too.:)

Silvia

You are probably right Silvia :o)...GREAT picture btw!!!

There is also another mango mania July 16&17 in Cape Coral for those who live closer to that...

http://www.come-to-cape-coral.com/mango-mania.html

Hi Silvia, Tried to make that festival last year but couldn't, will try my best again this year,..looks like fun ! I actually ate a Cuban mango or two,..while in Cuba yet ! Long story,..will be looking forward to Coral Gables next month !

Well...speaking of being attacked. Found this underneath my Lychee tree...empty lychee shells and half eaten...and seeds all over! I had no choice but to pick them a little early this year. I'd rather pick them now even though it could stay on the tree another week for best quality but at the rate the critters are eating them they will be gone tomorrow!!

I am not familiar with lychees Nancy, - what specific critters are we talking about ? Do they actually climb up the tree and pull the fruits down ? Looks like more than one critter, right ? Hungry ones too ! ( smile ) Am guessing they strike at night ?

You eat the lychees as soon as they are picked, right ? How do you like the taste ?

Enough questions. From what I've gleamed online I'm surprised you can grow them up where you are. The Univ of Florida says the ideal areas are small and close to the very lower Florida coast, east or west. Hmmmm, right where I am ! Naw, won't try growing a lychee tree,..the 5 mango trees and 15 or so banana plants is all I can handle nowadays. lol Good luck !!

HOLY MACKEREL DERE ANDY !!! The wind and rain just 15 minutes ago, has quadrupled from what we've been getting doused with around here all day !!! Just had to don a rain jacket and go out and remove my big solar lantern from the shepard's hook it was hanging on,..otherwise Colin's wrath was going to do it for me ! How are youse guys out there doin' ?

We are having a lot of rain and wind in my area.

My lychee tree is in the front yard and apparently no creature near me likes them and the people don't know what they are so the ripening fruit is safe, still raining....

Silvia

Hi Jofus, its squirrels and raccoons...raccoons at night... birds and squirrels ALL day !!

As far as taste its very hard to describe, if you have access to a local fruit stand or Asian market they usually sell them for you to try. All I know is I love them,lol...Grapes is probably the closest way to describe the taste with a tropical flare...kinda like muscadine possibly...

Here is the best answer on Yahoo...

"Best Answer: It tastes like lychee i.e. it is sweet, juicy, a little crunchy like a grape, and has its own fragrance.

I prefer the longan which is crunchier, sweeter, also juicy and with its own particular fragrance.
You can buy lychee drinks, canned lychee, and lychee sweets besides the fresh fruit."

Source(s):

Silvia, You are lucky you don't have pest or people stealing your fruits...Enjoy!!

Silvia you are indeed lucky that you don't have either the " four legged " or the " two legged critters " to worry about,..wish my area here was like that, - I only have the 4 legged ones tho, and they are only a few, so can't complain too loud.

Went out early again this morning, a bit anxious after Colin blew thru here all night as well as all day yesterday. Picked up any fallen fruit right before dark but found 40 more almost ripe fruits that blew off last night from my 3 producing trees. Freshened up the fruit fly jars and now am looking at a mound of mango's piled up on my kitchen counter. Will start peeling, slicing, packing and freezing as soon as they start ripening. Right now they are all green and rock hard !

So glad to see Colin go, a calm day today, but yesterday's lashing, and windows rattling all night ? Good riddance !!!!

Jofus, I hope that your plantation was not touched by Colin...

Nancy, when I was in Manta I saw the sea turtle nests, the had decoys! maybe ten nests and only one had the eggs, they do that to avoid the predators and it works.

Going back to my lychee, I too have decoys, mulberries and other trees so I confused them,lol. In the front yard I see squirrels and bunnies very often and they ignore the lychees. As far as the people goes, most people have not seen a fig before, and the lychee not even think about it.:) When I am outside even the town workers ask what is that?

Sunny lychee and the decoys...:)

Silvia

Last year hubby put an Owl statue on the Lychee tree...moved it every 5 days and still they ate my Lychees Lol...they are too smart for their own good!! If you enlarge the picture you can see the Owl...I also had 3x more Lychees last year than this year **sigh**

Last year's picture...

Hi Nancy, I got a kick out of your fake owl and it reminded me of an incident here about 6 months ago.

Looking thru a magazine one day I spotted an ad for a solar powered plastic owl that lit up at night, supposed to be good for keeping critters away. So I ordered it, - a very real looking, white plastic owl with a small solar panel sticking out it's butt. I mounted it on the plastic spike it came with in the rear of my backyard and let it do it's thing for almost a month,..every night the 10 inch tall owl lit up bright as can be !

Then it happened ! My next door neighbor had a huge 50 ft tall pine tree on his front lawn and it was constantly inhabited by two big, and very real, dark brown owls. One night as I slept I was shocked awake by loud shouting in my backyard, coming from my owls area. It was a rapid squawking sound,.." HOOT, HOOT, HOOT, ETC, ETC " It initially had me confused, but then I realized what must be happening. The two neighboring, real life owls got sick and tired of this new guy next door who was arrogantly flaunting himself at night and also very unfriendly,..never flying over to introduce himself, etc.
That loud squawking went on for almost 10 minutes, - then silence and I could get back to sleep. The two real owls obviously flew away, satisfied that they had put my guy in his place.

Next morning I went out back and saw my guy was tilted off center a bit & slightly scratched, but otherwise OK. Not wanting anymore night time fights ( my neighbor & his wife heard it too ), I pulled my plastic solar owl out of the ground and stashed him in a shed for good.

A time or two after that I'd go outside and see one or both of the live owls sitting high up in that pine tree, looking down at me. I could swear one gave me " the feather " one time ! A true story, honestly ! ( smile )

Haha!! Wonderful story Jofus :o)...I happen to have that exact owl as well...but sadly my solar light has "died"...replaced the battery and all but can't seem to get it to work any longer...I still have it but you can only see it during the day :o)...I was a bit disappointed in the size. When I ordered it I thought it was going to be much larger,Lol...

Lucky for me and my neighbors nothing quite like what you described happened :o)