Unbelievable Acres Botanic Garden, Rainforest, WPB, Fla.

West Palm Beach, Fla.—Tour Unbelievable Acres Botanic Garden and save yourself a plane ticket to Brazil. Gene Joyner started his botanical garden in 1970 with the intention of making it into a self-sustaining rainforest. It is situated on 2.5-acres of land, with a one-mile path, and a collection of over 2000 plants, 150 of which are tropical fruit trees.

Unbelievable Acres Botanic Garden, Tropical Rainforest, West Palm Beach, Fla.
Copyright 2016 by Helen A Lockey

I’m walking with a diverse group of people, on a warm May afternoon, through a thick forest of plants with Joyner. Mulch crunches underfoot and the only other sounds are those of Joyner as he points out plants telling us about their histories, growing challenges and tips.

Gene Joyner of Unbelievable Acres Botanic Garden,
Tropical Rainforest, West Palm Beach, Fla.,
Copyright 2016 by Helen A Lockey

Grabbing hold of a thick piece of bamboo he says, “Indian bamboo can grow 80 feet in one season.” Many people in our group have questions, which he answers with ease.

“A lot of these plants haven’t seen fertilizer in 25 years,” says Joyner. He adds he only gives fertilizer to new tree plantings. And as for pesticides, he uses none except for lizards. “They are very good at controlling pests,” Joyner says with a smile.

Bamboo grove, Unbelievable Acres Botanic Garden, West Palm
Beach, Fla. Copyright 2016 Helen A Lockey

The soil was originally sugar sand but with years of mulching and allowing the plants to naturally decompose their leaves and other parts, the land now has a rich layer of dark topsoil. “I’ve built up six inches of topsoil in 30 years,” said Joyner.

Some of the results are a 80-foot tall Kapok Tree, a 40-year old cashew Nut Tree, a 40-year-old Baobab Tree and a 35-year old bamboo stand started from a single section of bamboo.

Joyner has travelled the world to source his plants for his garden. Now he also travels to educate people about plants.

Sausage Tree pods at Unbelievable Acres Botanic Garden,
West Palm Beach, Fla.
Copyright 2016 by Helen A Lockey

At the front entrance there is a large Sausage Tree with large, brown colored, hard shelled sausage shaped fruits hanging from long chord. These are inedible for humans, Joyner says but in Africa where the tree is from Giraffe and Hippos love the fruit. And the local women use it in the fermentation process of their honey beer.

If you want to go to the garden it is open to the public on the second Tuesday of every month and costs $10 a person.

But if you want to visit at any other time you have to call the garden 561-242-1686, and leave a message for a reservation.

The Unbelievable Acres Botanic Garden is located at 470 63^rd Trail N, West Palm Beach, FL 33413.

Parking is limited so if you can car pool then do so. They have mosquito spray and water available at the kiosk where you pay to get in.

Florida Grown White Asian Eggplant

Wellington, Fla.--Fresh Florida grown white Asian eggplant is delicious. They are a unique, slim, cucumber-like shaped eggplant with pale white, thin skin. Their sweet, delicate flavor lacks the bitterness usually associated with purple, Italian eggplant.

Florida grown white Asian eggplant, Wellington, Fla.
Copyright 2016 by Helen A Lockey

I bought some earlier this month, which had been picked the day before, from the Seed To Bloom booth at the Wellington Green Market in south Florida. I choose the tiniest eggplant I could find. They cost $4 a pound.

I took them home and immediately started preparing them for dinner.

I preheated the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and lined a backing sheet with aluminum foil. Next I cut off all the green tops off each eggplant and slit them, lengthways, in half from top to tail making them look like thick string beans.

Then I tossed them in safflower oil (a high smoke/heat oil). 

If you are allergic to daisies do not use this safflower oil. Instead use another high smoke oil like coconut, macadamia nut or grape seed oil.

I placed each oiled eggplant strip on the aluminum foiled baking sheet leaving about a quarter inch of gap between each strip.

Oven baked Florida grown white Asian eggplant, Wellington,
Fla. Copyright 2016 by Helen A Lockey

I put the tray into the oven and cooked the eggplant for 30 minutes until they were golden brown.

They were creamy, crunchy and slightly sweet in flavor.

Barrel Of Monks Brewing LLC, Boca Raton, Fla.

Barrel of Monks Brewing had a birthday party, with a few hundred paid guests, this past weekend. The brewery located in Boca Raton, Florida, turned one this year and they celebrated with food truck treats, guest taps and all of their delicious brewed creations.

Barrel Of Monks 1801 Mocha Kaffie Dark Saison, Barrel Of Monks Brewing,
Boca Raton, Fla.
Copyright 2016 by Helen A Lockey 

The brewery owned by Matthew Saady, Keith DeLoach and Bill McFee, Belgian beer enthusiasts and home-brewers, could not find a decent beer outside of Belgium, so they decided to start their own brewery last year. They built the only Floridian Belgian trappist style brewery. "We are the only ones dedicated to traditional Belgian style," said Tasting Room Manager Zachary Agran, during an interview last year.  

To keep the beers truly European they import their yeast from Belgium, and their grains from Belgium, England, Scotland, and Germany. And to keep the quality high they hired brewmaster Kevin Abbott who previously worked for Funky Budda's and Due South.

"Our goal is to make Belgians the right way," said Matt Saady during last year's Holiday party.

Despite all the importing they still support local by using Florida citrus in their recipes. And they follow other Florida brewery trends by giving their spent grain mash to a local animal farm for feed. "We're very much about local produce and supporting local," said Agran.

The anniversary party went from 2 to 6 p.m. and was a lot of bubbly fun. My favorite brew was the 1801 Mocha because it had deliciously bold flavors of coffee and chocolate.

You can find Barrel Of Monks beers at many South Florida restaurants and bars and at many stores but the best place to try it is at their tasting room in Boca Raton, just off of Clint Moore Road.

Barrel Of Monks Brewing is located at 1141 S. Rogers Circle #5, Boca Raton, FL 33487

Phone: (561) 510-1253

Just one note, Barrel Of Monks Brewing LLC has a strict 21 years and over policy so if you have children under that age they will not be allowed into their tasting room.