One of the benefits of living at Better in Belize is the weekly Garden Share program.
Every week fresh fruits and vegetables, in season, appear on tables in the Garden Share shed, and residents, if they are so inclined, can go there between 2 and 4:30 pm with a reusable bag to pick up their share. At 4:30, any homeowner can freely pick over what is left, and if anything remains at the end of the day, the workers are invited to take it home with them.
This is a good place to meet neighbors, although you might want to message them to see if they’re planning to stop by.
Produce includes everything from oranges, avocados and bananas to jackfruit and custard apples, with pineapples and all kinds of other things, such as starfruit, platanos, Jamaica limes and coconuts appearing when ripe.
Part of the Milpa has been allocated to growing vegetables, and depending on when the crops are bearing, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage and other veggies appear on the tables as well.
BIB has an upper and a lower milpa. The upper milpa is where the Garden Share shed is located. The lower milpa is mostly a field of pineapples, as hundreds of pineapples are growing there in rows. Many of the trees have been removed from both milpas to accommodate the gardening trend.
In the past, residents (and visiting owners who requested a share while at BIB) were informed of the week’s produce on Facebook Messenger. At present, the information is available only on the kiosk chalkboard at the end of the walkway leading to the Garden Share shed.