Out in the rain with nothing to wear

So for the past week, weather.com has been showing that San Miguel could be in for some wet weather, but alas we have had no rain since May.  For the past couple of days, the skies have been dark and broody and we have had a lot of thunder and lightening, but still no rain.  Yesterday weather.com said that we had a 60% chance of thundershowers and the skies were overcast but nothing looked too threatening.

With this background information in mind, around 10a Jo Ann and I saddled up the horses for a long trail ride out towards Las Cañas over to Palo Colorado and returning through Rancho Viejo.  When we left we never even considered the possibility of rain and left all of our rain gear at home.  I was kicking myself at little into the ride for not bringing my camera, but we were in for a long ride and I did not want to turn around to get it.

About half way into the ride I said to Jo Ann that the skies looked threatening and maybe we should turn around.  We continued to debate for a while until I was persuasive and we turned around instead of continuing on to Rancho Viejo.  When we were about 40 minutes from home the rains started and I am not talking about light drizzle, we are talking about large very cold drops of rain.  Within five minutes we were soaked throughout and were trying to race home as fast as we could.  The real challenge for us was having to take the horses back down into the arroyo which is a drop of about three or four meters.  This was going to be difficult with the heavy rains and the steep slope.  The other issue that I was concerned with is that the arroyo starts flowing after about one centimeter of rain and can be gushing after about two and half.

We were lucky that we had no problems transversing the slope and the arroyo had not yet started flowing although it was starting to get very wet.  We made it back to the rancho totally drenched but everyone (horses included) were calm and glad to be out of the rain.  It was still pouring after turning the horses back into their stables when I remembered that we had also left all of the windows open at the house.  So off I run in the rain to close up the house and wipe up all of the rain.

After cleaning up the house and changing into some dry clothes, wouldn't you know, the rains stopped almost immediately and the day started to dry out.  This morning it is one of those beautiful desert mornings with everything clean, crisp and very green.

Morale of the story, everything always reverts to its mean and even the weathermen get it right once in a while.  Yes I could have been more considerate of the weather, but who wants to haul around all of the rain gear if you aren't going to need it.

Entering my favorite time of the year

As the year continues to migrate from the hot and dry months of April and May we are starting to enter into the rainy and more temperate season of June through September.  It is during this time of the year that the gardens explode with fruits and vegetables, everything starts to flower and turns brilliant shades of green and best of all, Jo Ann's garden is teeming with fresh produce.

Last night we had one of Mother Nature's spectacular displays of a desert storm (no not the current administration's type).  We had lightening and thunder for several hours and yes we even got a little rain, not much, but enough to wash the dust off of all of the plants.

But what really excites me about this time of year is the ability for Jo Ann to just stroll out to her gardens and pick what ever produce is ready and to create dinner using only the freshest produce that you can get.  And it is even better to know that it has been produced using only earth sustainable techniques, compost and other organic processes.

Of course it helps that Jo Ann is a trained chef so being able to whip together a new plate based solely on what is fresh, which seems overly difficult to me, is to Jo Ann what it is like solving a cross word puzzle.  Start with some basics and experiment from there.

So to share what the gardens are looking like, here is a little virtual tour of Jo Ann's gardens.

 

One of our favorites, the french green been, better known as haricot verte, we will enjoy these through out the summer.

There is always an abundance of lettuces, we always have at least three or four different varieties.

What garden in Mexico can exist without Cilantro?

Carrots and more carrots, not only do we enjoy carrots, but we have two horses and two burros who also do.

One of the vegetables that we grow almost year round is Rainbow Chard, it is so colorful, it can be cooked or eaten raw in a salad.  The colors of the stems always are so bright.

And of course anyone who knows Jo Ann knows that she loves flowers of all types and varieties.  Here is a wonderful sunflower that just screams "look at me".

So we now have the garden in almost full production, the tomatoes are growing in front of our eyes, the melons and squashes are spreading out over the vast territories we gave them and we will soon have more produce than we can eat.  We always share it with our friends and neighbors so if you are hungry, come on by.

One final note before closing, the San Miguel Down to Earth garden club is touring the organic gardens at Rancho las Glorias del Huerto this Tuesday from 9:30 to 11a.  This is a commercial farm that produces only organic fruits and vegetables.  It is on a much grander scale than what we do, so it will be fun so see how someone else produces organic food.  If you are interested in joining this tour, please visit the groups web site here.

Earth Day Plus One

So I can now officially declare the renovation of Rancho La Luz completed as this past Monday we cut over from using electricity generated by non-renewable sources to electricity generated by solar panels.  Yes all of our electrical requirements for our house are now provided by renewable sources and that means an end to the various voltage regulators and UPS units, standing in line at the CFE offices to pay our bill, the various fluctuations in power supply, the numerous power outages and best of all not having to race home to unplug the computers when we see lighting on the horizon.

Both Jo Ann and I have wanted to do this since we lived in the Bay Area but we never had sufficient sunshine or financial resources to accomplish our objective.  But now we can say that we really made a committed effort to help sustain the source of our lives. 

We have always tried to implement Earth sustainable techniques in our orchards, gardens and landscaping, using native plants and trees, composting methods, solely organic fertilizers and insecticides, drip irrigation and lots of mulch, but we have always been tied to one of the power monopolies (PG&E, MP&L and lately CFE).  Now we can say good bye as long as we keep our systems well maintained and functioning.

We used a local contractor to do all of the work, Solar and Heating Solutions here in San Miguel de Allende and they were great to work with.  The installation went very easy and the cut over almost seemed anti-climatic, I guess I expected fireworks and parades but all we got was a big drop in the spinning of the CFE meter.

Alas, this is not to say that the entire rancho is now on solar.  I still need to replace the pumps for our main well and irrigation systems so that they can also be added to the solar system, but I need to find more money before I can even think about proceeding on that next phase, but it is a big step for us here at Rancho La Luz.

Tropical Garden in the Desert

Two weeks ago the Down to Earth garden club here in San Miguel de Allende had the grand opportunity to visit one of the most spectacular gardens in San Miguel, if not in all of Mexico.  The house and garden are located very close to the Sterling Dickinson orchid gardens in a very serene setting in the hills over looking San Miguel.

What makes this garden so special is that it is practically a topical oasis in the middle of the high desert environment of San Miguel.  The garden design takes advantages of multiple levels and vistas as the property scales down a steep hillside and creates multiple "rooms" within the garden.  It is truly a joy to walk through this garden and enjoy the peace and quiet that it has created.

There is a vast combination of tropical plants, native plants (to the San Miguel area) as well as grasses, fruit trees and other wonderful plants.

So instead of trying to describe the wonder of this garden, I have presented a few of the images that I took during the tour of this beautiful garden.

 

A wonderful yucca in bloom.

 

Such a wonderful fountain.

 

The fruit trees were just loaded with fruits.

Beautiful bears breeches in blossom.

 

The paths were so wonderful and looked like they had been there for years.

 

How do you get a lily pad pond in the middle of the desert.

And where does this walk way go? 

What is truly amazing is that this garden is only three years past the completion and it is so lush and wonderful.  I sure hope that we will be able to come back to visit it sometime in the future.  For more images of this garden please visit my flickr collection here.

Color Overdose

Last weekend we went to a great party to celebrate the groundbreaking of a Chapel, which is really going to be an art gallery.  Of course the party was on April first so it was all a spoof, but a lot of fun, none the less.  One thing that really hit both Jo Ann and I was the large number of guests at this party and the diversity in all manners.  The guests spanned numerous generations, numerous economic classes and ranged from artesians to ranchers (yes we fit into that category).

The party reminded us of the many parties we use to go to in Muir Beach, which had the same bohemian type feel to the community.  In retrospect, Muir Beach and San Miguel de Allende are very similar, both are off the beaten path, outposts for people looking for adventure and nonconformist views and people who just like to have fun.

The big difference we have found between the two is that in San Miguel, there is color everywhere.  All of the buildings, all of the clothing, everything takes color to an extreme.  We really enjoy all of the sensory feelings of the use of color and the colonial feeling of San Miguel.  However, as much as we enjoy the use of color the buildings, gardens and art exhibits at this party took our senses to an overdosed level.  It is great, but maybe not for the weak of heart, when it comes to experiencing color.

So without further discussion, here are some images from the Celebration of the Groundbreaking for the Chapel for Jimmy Ray.

An image of the casa from the patio area.

 

Colors, colors and more color.

 

A self portrait?

 

One of the many gardens.

 

One of the many pieces on exhibit for the party.

 

Another of the pieces on exhibit.

 

Now this is an alter that I could pay homage to.  I enjoyed how they have used so many empty wine bottles through out their landscaping.

 

Now is this a scary scare cow or what.  I wonder if it really works.

Daylight Savings Time Changes

This past Sunday morning we finally changed over to daylight savings time here in Mexico.  This year has been even more trying than most as the US changed over to daylight savings time on March 11 and for three weeks I have been having to manually adjust different appointments that I had in the US with the times here in Mexico.

I have always looked forward to the change over to daylight savings time as it felt like the change extended the day.  This was especially true when I was working as an accountant in Southern California, during the busy season, I would leave the house in the morning darkness and return home after work in the evening darkness.  At least then it seemed that the change to daylight savings was the reprieve from the long hours and lack of sunshine. 

However with the current change in the clock, things are getting pretty crazy.  My day starts at the usual 5:30a when I boot up the computer and work on some of my consulting projects.  Before the change over of the clocks, I would take the dogs out at 7a, open the gates for the construction crews and go feed the horses and chickens.  The sun would be up and it was always an enjoyable walk around the rancho.

So now that we have sprung forward an hour, when I go out at 7a it is still dark with the sun just starting to peak over the mountains to the east.  But to my surprise the construction crews are still showing up at around 7a and start mixing cement and working even though there is not very much light.

Of course the horses are confused as they don't live by a clock, they rise and rest with the sun and of course who has ever seen a rooster check the clock before claiming it is morning.  So now they are getting feed before what is normal for their body clocks, but I have too get out so I can have the rancho ready for the construction crews.

However, that is not what is exhausting me these days.  What has become the real problem is that now the sun does not set until close to 8p and we are working in the gardens until then.  It use to be that we would put the horses away around 5:30p and close them up around 7.  Now we are turning them in at 7, closing them up around 8 and coming into the house around 8:30.  This is making for a very long day as I usually still have an hour or two of work remaining on my consulting projects or my photographs.  No wonder I am exhausted and collapse into bed.

Spring Concert at el Charco

Music in outdoor settings is always so wonderful.  I think back to the Hollywood Bowl, the Pageant of the Masters, summer concerts at the UofM and the concerts at Mt. Tam.  These were always wonderful events with great music, great weather and wonderful environments.  Well now I have to add another location to this listing of great venues, that being the canyon in el Charco del Ingenio jardín botánico.

Last week the jardín botánico sponsored an outdoor concert of four saxophone musicians and the music, the setting and the ambiance were outstanding.  The group played a variety of music from baroque to jazz and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Here are some of my photos from the concert.

If you would like to check out more of my photos from the concert please click here.

Dia de Festiva en Rancho Viejo

The past weekend the local pueblo near our rancho had a weekend festival.  These are major events for the community and typically everyone in the community participates.  The pueblo of Rancho Viejo has two of these festivals each year, one in March and one in May.  The festival in March commenced on Friday which is fairly typical of these celebrations.  This festival included fireworks that ran from 6p on Friday until around midnight and then started again on Saturday morning and did not seem to stop until the festival was over on Sunday afternoon.

These festivals include the usual carnival rides and lots and lots of snacks, foods and drinks. 

Here is a couple of niños enjoying one of the rides.

 These festivals always seem to be about family and the children always have a great time. 

We did not actually venture over to the festival until Sunday, which was the day for the blessing of the horses and the charreada demonstration.

For the blessing the pueblo delgato leads all of the horses to be blessed into the chapel of the principal church in Rancho Viejo.

Upon the return from the chapel, the charreada demonstration commences.  The local cowboys demonstrate some basic horse handling and maneuvers.

Then the final phase of the demonstration is the riding of the bulls by some of the young men from the pueblo.  Here are three of the "lucky" young men who were selected for the ride.

But then here is one of the bulls that they will get to ride.

To say the least the bulls had the better time of the ride than the young men.  However it was a wonderful day out enjoying the festival, the wonderful people of Rancho Viejo and the environment in general.

el Charco del Ingenio jardín botánico

One of the jewels of San Miguel is the botanical garden in the hills over the city.  It is a place that I enjoy to visit although I don't get there enough.  In the past two months, I have been to three lectures/tours of the jardín and every time I see something new or unusual.

The past week we had a lecture on using cacti and succulents in your garden design with an add on topic of how to propagate cacti and succulents.  The lecture and tour was given by the curator of the cactus collection Martin Smith.

Other than to recommend that if you enjoy native plants and trees, cacti and succulents, you need to go and visit the jardín now as spring is hitting the desert plants and everything looks so wonderful.  Instead of my expanding on what I saw, I am only going to post a number of photos from my last trip there.  If you want to see more of my collection of images from el Charco, visit my flickr collections here and here.

Walking Around San Miguel

At least once a week I try to escape from the work around the rancho to head into San Miguel with my camera.  Having lived in many large and smaller cities, I am always amazed at the activity and congregating that occurs in San Miguel.  In Los Angeles you are always in your car and you can never just stumble upon some gathering.  In Chicago, we walked everywhere but the city is so large that at the end of the day we would hear about some great concert or street festival, but we never were even close to being there.  In San Francisco we lived across the bay on the west side of Marin County and it was a long drive (not distance, just time) to get into the city.  Then of course in Mendocino and Northern Minnesota the locations were so small and thinly populated that there never seemed to be anything going on.

But that is sure not the case in this town.  A lot of times I will come with camera in hand and just walk about the centro part of town and shoot tourists, vendors, or anything else that captures my eye.  Then there are days that I will walk up to the main jardín outside the Parroquia and be surprised at the activity going on.

Two weeks ago I was walking up Aldama to the centro jardín and I spied this man totally focused on his painting.

Upon arriving at the jardín, I found out that there was a food festival

and a rock concert by some of the young students in town.

Then walking back down to my car with all my groceries I shot a couple of other photos of people just getting around town.

Here is a vendor selling some food products

a lady walking her dog

these girls heading out after school to play some fütball

and this man also walking home after his daily shopping trip.

However, there is so much going on at our rancho and so much going on in town that I sometimes miss really good festivals and events.  This happened to me yesterday when one of my friends, Jennifer, sent me a great photo of this man in costume and head dress for the celebration of El Señor de la Conquista, that she took on Friday.  Oh boy did I miss a great photo op but it will be here again next year and there will probably a good photo op tomorrow, such is life in San Miguel.