And Then the Heavens Opened

Yesterday we were sitting outside for comida and we commented to each other that it looked like we were going to get a little rain.  The previous day the skies looked ominous and the lightening and thunder were down right scary, but alas no rain.

However as we looked at this approaching storm, we thought maybe we would get some rain and so it would be good to get the burros back in their corral and close down all of the out buildings.  Well this storm moved much quicker than we thought and I was just finishing with the burros when the heavens opened.

The rain was not as hard as some that we have had previously but it was steady and a lot.  After about 30 minutes, I was out on the front poach in my rubber boots having to pump the rain water away from the house as it had flooded the entire front patio but was still a ways from entering the front door, thankfully.

Once the rains started to subside, I got my camera out and took a couple of images, here is one of the roads out of our rancho, as you can see it is fairly flooded, so without a four wheel drive, forget it.

I also looked down at one of the edges of our property that is a lot lower than the house and you can see the water just ponding where it normally will quickly soak into the ground.

After the storm and all the necessary clean up, Jo Ann and I were able to enjoy and nice evening outside, the skies were clear and the air smelled so fresh.

However during the evening we were hit with another major storm, it rained for another couple of hours and I had to get up from sleep to unplug all of my computer equipment as it was lightening and thundering again.

But in the morning I was given a major treat, the sun rise was absolutely magnificent.  As you can see from these three images the brilliant oranges contrasting the blue skies.  Absolutely wonderful.

With my camera in hand, Jo Ann and I then headed off to look at the rancho and see if there was any damage from the storms.  Luckily there was not but there was a number of new and beautiful images.

First we found this wonderful tree that we had not noticed before with these beautiful yellow flowers bursting out this morning.

Then we walked down to our arroyo which is always dry.  Well this morning it was anything but dry, as you can see the water falls were running rapidly.

Then returning to our house we found these wonderful wild flowers that were just bursting this morning.

It was an amazing 24 hours, with the heavy rains and near flooding, followed by a stunning morning.  Mexico is such a wonderful place and provides ample opportunity to take some stunning photos.

Reforestation status

It has been over three weeks since we started our first phase of our reforestation project.  In this phase we are planting over 350 native scrubs and trees and will be planting another 500 or so next year.  The ground that we are planting in is extremely hard and difficult to dig in.

After cleaning out the old brush and a bunch of garbage that had accumulated on the property over the past who knows how many years, we staged all of the plants.

Once we had purchased all of the plants that we wanted for this first stage, we started to create a design for the layout of the area.  This included creating some wind blocks, establishing areas that will have plants that will attract birds and butterflies with their flowers and aroma and finally areas that will create depth with the taller Huizaches and Mesquites.

Here we have laid out a number of the plants in one corner of the rancho that will be both a wind block and have flowers and aroma.

We have a couple of workers on our rancho that are doing the majority of the digging.  It is hard work, even though we have two gas powered augers and an assortment of other tools and aids.

As I showed earlier the ground is very hard and a good day is to get 25 plants in the ground.  There is a lot of work to dig the hole (both wide and deep enough), to properly mix composted material with the desert soil and to stake and water.  This is nothing like planting in California but the net result should be wonderful.

Although the plants are not very tall at this time, we have seen that within four years the plants can be 1 1/2 to 2 meters tall which will provide significant shade and blockage of the wind.  I can't wait to see how they progress.

Part of this project is also to provide additional protection to the newly reforested area.  Even though our property is fully fenced with the aging barbed wire we are providing an additional barrier for the new reforested area as well as moving our burros to a separate area of the rancho so we don't have to worry about them getting lose and eating the new plants.

Last week we were visited by the Directora of INIFAP so she could examine our rancho and ensure that we had acquired the right types of plants for our climate and soil conditions.  Luckily we had, but she had a couple of observations, one that we have some wonderful Huizaches Chicos as you can see below:

However down by our arroyo we also have a couple (not many) Huizaches that have the parasite Paistle in them.  This parasite does not really feed on the tree but blocks the photosynthesis and will starve the tree.

So we are half way, maybe two thirds, but the work is slow and tiring.  We also have to find the time to remove the Paistle from the existing trees before they starve the trees, but that is just one of around two hundred projects that I have on my list. 

Next week we also have a field trip for the San Miguel Down To Earth Garden Club to INIFAP.  Right now we have around 45 people signed up to listen to Directora Rosario Terrones Rincon speak about native plants and shrubs and then lead a tour of their nursery and experimental gardens.  The lecture and tour will take around 2 1/2 hours so if anyone is interested in attending on the 29th of August, just send me a note.

Struggling with this Month's Topic

I recently joined a digital photo club down here in San Miguel de Allende, having only attended one previous meeting.  During these meetings, there is discussion on photography and using digital photography tools, such as Photoshop.  Then there is a portion of the meeting for sharing of photos based upon a suggested topic, the first was People of San Miguel and this month's topic is Food in San Miguel.  Finally the meeting convenes for a social hour of appetizers and beverages.

I would classify the group as a social photography group, rather than one focused on evaluating and critiquing photos, but it is a good group with a lot of fun and interesting people.

However, my dilemma today is that I am having a very hard time in selecting some of my photos that I believe are good examples of my techniques that fit within the topic that we are to be presenting.  Being married to a trained chef we don't go out to restaurants very often so I have few photos of restaurants and food presentation at restaurants.  Thus the best that I can do is to present some images of the local tiendas and tianguis that I have taken while wondering around San Miguel.

So tell me are these worthy of sharing at the upcoming meeting or should I try harder to find something more interesting and a better representation of my work?

Here is what I am looking to present at this meeting of the group.

Then there is one image that I really do like but it is not taken down here in San Miguel.  This is a photo of Jo Ann working at the Gualala Farmers Market using my lens baby.  I really enjoy this photo and am planning to use it even though it does not totally comply with the topic of the month.

So what do you think, try harder or are these good images to share that fit with the topic of Food in San Miguel?

Jo Ann's Garden

As I mentioned last week, Jo Ann is away for another five days and although she has not said anything yet, I know that she is concerned about her garden. When we came to San Miguel de Allende, one of the first things that she wanted to do was to plant a small vegetable garden so that we could start growing our own food again.

The weather here is wonderful for growing most things, but the soils have been very depleted by over farming, so we first spent a lot of time tilling in organic compost (yes that is why we have the four burros and there seems to be a never ending source of this from them). After preparing the soil, we used our old rototiller from California and planted tomatoes, French green beans, basil, carrots, squash and much more.

We are also strong proponents of using drip irrigation and protecting the young plants with a cover cloth that allows about 85 percent of the UV in and most of the rain, but keeps the plants protected from insects and creates a humid greenhouse effect.

So how are things going, well I think pretty good, you be the judge yourself.

But of course, Jo Ann made sure that I would be properly supervised. So she made sure that Hershey and Raider would keep an eye on me and make sure I watered everything as needed!

A Beautiful Sunset

Tonight was a beautiful sunset, the colors so vibrant and brilliant. I could only sit there on our rooftop and watch the sun set. Well I did run down and get my tripod and camera.

A Turn Around Day

Last Friday my wife Jo Ann left for a week and a half to visit her parents back in Minnesota and to change the Realtor that we are using to sell our home there. I was very sad to see her leave as we have been having a wonderful time together since our move toSan Miguel de Allende in June.

I spent Friday night moping around trying to find things to do. After a while I put on a play list on iTunes that I had put together for Jo Ann and it just contributed to my sadness.

Saturday morning I woke up still feeling down and was missing Jo Ann tremendously. It was so quiet at the Rancho, we had no one working on the property that day and since we are so far from any other homes, I was feeling very isolated.

There I am cleaning up the burro pen and feeling about as down as I ever have, I mean this week I flip my bike and get ten stitches and a concussion, Jo Ann leaves for a week and a half and I am really struggling with my langage classes. But all of a sudden, the children of our maid show up at the gate of our Rancho and yell to me if I wanted to take them to a futball game in San Miguel de Allende. The youngest son's team was suppose to play but thier father had to work and they had no way to get to the match.

You would not believe how much fun it was to get away from the isolation (although the task of cleaning up the burro pen was still there when I returned). Just being around these children and all of the laughing and playing that they do, it really turned around my whole weekend.

Dual Postings on Vox and Blogger

I am trying a new blogging service called Vox and will be posting messages to both sites for a period of time.  The Vox site is located at sanmiguelphotos.vox.com so please take the time to look at this site and give me some feedback.  The reason that I am looking at this site is better integration with flickr and the ability to use tags to categorize postings.

I am also trying out a new blog authoring tool from Microsoft called Windows Live Writer.  I have written this posting using the new application and will give a more detailed review after I run it through the paces.

Hasta luego.

Bike Ride to Hospital de la Fe

Jo Ann and I headed off today for a good bike ride and went out to Palo Colorado, however on the way home, something bad happened. I really don't recall the whole chain of events but I was going too fast over a tope and the next thing I know I have a Mexican family helping me up. They were so helpful, getting some hydrogen peroxide for my cuts and some tissues for my bleeding. I have no recollection of falling or hitting the ground but I was a bloody mess.

We walked home and together with our maid we headed off to the Hospital de la Fe to get stitched up and to check on the potential of a concussion. Well six stitched later and some antibiotics and other meds, I am at least walking around albeit sore. I don't have a concussion but I have some serious sores that are going to keep me off my bike for a good week or so.

The help at the Hospital was excellent and I really want to say thanks to the family that helped me up. Jo Ann remembers where they live, even if I don't, so we are going to go over tomorrow to say thank you. This fifty plus year old body is no longer able to ride like a youngster and I better start remembering that. Maybe the sores and aches can help me.

Reforestation, Research and Social Programs?

These three words may seem like an unlikely grouping of activities. Just try googling the words and you will not find many topics that match such a request.

During the past 400 years the desertification process has progressed in central México. Where lands have previously been covered with temperate forest, sub-humid tropical forest and semi desert vegetation these have been gradually transformed into agricultural and rangeland systems, which are managed as monocultures. As a consequence, native vegetation is disappearing despite the needs for timber, forage, medicine and other derivates from native shrubs (such as honey and colorants used in local industries of rural areas).

A few weeks ago my wife Jo Ann and I commenced a project to reforest our rancho. It is located about twelve miles from San Miguel de Allende and has been severely depleted by farming, deforested and used as grazing pastures. Through this research we discovered an amazing governmental organization located just outside of Celaya. The organization is called the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agricolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP). The section of INIFAP that we have been working with is headed up by Dra. Rosario Terrones Rincón who has her Ph.D. from Cornell University and has been running the organization for the past five years.

We were first introduced to INIFAP a few weeks ago when we attended a lecture on pruning and caring for native plants at el Charco del Ingenio jardín botánico. During this lecture Kirti Mathura, curator of shrubs at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix AZ, lead a discussion on the beauty and benefits of using native plants. We have significant experience gardening and landscaping with plants native to both Northern and Southern California, but we have never landscaped with plants native to a higher desert elevation. We asked a number of questions and several people directed us to a book written by three people from INIFAP, including Rosario. The book has many photos which give great examples of the various plants and shrubs that are native to the state of Guanajuato. It is written only in Spanish so be prepared to spend some serious time with your translation dictionary as many of the topics are of a technical nature and not part of your normal Spanish conversational repartee.



After reading portions of this book we commenced our journey to Celaya to look at the nursery that is located at INIFAP and see what plants they had available to purchase. When we arrived we were directed to Rosario’s office where she spent several hours explaining the benefits of using native trees and shrubs as well as background information on her research. This is truly an amazing program where Rosario takes a team from INIFAP out to rural communities, (which have been identified by social workers). These communities have agricultural and ranching lands that have been severely deforested and can not sustain the local residents. In many of the cases these communities are maintained only by the women of the village as most of the men are up north working to provide for their families in México. During these sessions Rosario will teach the women about the benefits of planting native trees and shrubs, how to propagate seed for future plantings, what is the proper way to prune the trees for wood so that the tree is not destroyed and how to plant for agricultural production that does not diminish the land.



Rosario showed us some photos of these research sessions and explained to us that in many cases the plants had to be planted in newspaper and garbage. This is because all normal compost materials are fed to livestock and there is no other source of material to plant the trees and shrubs as the ground is tepitati and as hard as concrete.





After another week of discussions with Rosario we have now agreed to move forward with our reforestation project. We have purchased around 350 native trees and shrubs consisting of over 25 different varieties and are planning our order for next year’s plants to continue our efforts in reforestation. Rosario has asked us to assist her with her research regarding the use of drip irrigation on native plants as we have significant experience in working with this manner of irrigation. She has never had the funding to incorporate irrigation into her research so we will be jointly monitoring the effects that it has on the growth and development of the plants. At least I have a couple of months before I have to worry about installing the drip system should we have an average rainy season here in San Miguel de Allende.







I will continue to write about our progress with the plantings over the next several weeks with many photos on the plantings and the changes to our rancho. But if you want to just watch the progress, I will be posting a lot more photos than what will show up on this blog at my flickr set on reforestation at flickr reforestation

Traffic Jams in San Miguel de Allende

I wonder if they have any reported road rage?