The Adventures of Familia Bajaboy

 Zac and I both value education, and in particular, the value of public education.  We believe there is so much to learn from teachers, but additionally, from the interaction with other students in a school setting.  We anticpate our children continuing their education here at school in Bahia Asuncion, when the time is right.  However, we also firmly believe there is so much learning that can happen each and every day, wherever you are!  As for now, we've switched our role to homeschool teachers and are super proud of the learning we are seeing. For those of you who know Gabriel well, he's really a self starter.  He's very meticulous, task oriented, and wants to finish his work to move on to the next thing.  Mikayla is a great student as well, but at times, a little less organized.  However, we were so proud of how she took to this week of school.  First, she woke up earlier than normal.  She had a "first day of school outfit" ready to go, and instisted on the fir

 Instead of writing about our garden, I thought I'd take you on a walk through it.  Enjoy!

Just a quick tour through the garden this morning.  Everything is so happy!  To date, we have the following items growing:  ·          Multiple varieties of tomatoes ·          Potatoes ·          Strawberries ·          Cucumbers ·          Orange and red butternut squash ·          Peruvian peppers ·          Bell peppers ·          Spaghetti squash ·          Brussel sprouts ·          Cantaloupe ·          Lemon drop melons ·          Beets ·          Pumpkin ·          Grapes           Dragon fruit           Chard As for trees, we have ·          Lime ·          Sapote ·          Mango ·          Blood orange           Peach ·          Mandarin ·          Pomegranate We are in the early stages of building a new planter box.   We intend to plant ·          Broccoli ·          Cauliflower ·          Banana peppers ·          Basil ·          Kale Tracy and I are having fun repurposing scraps from our neighbor's building proje

 Yesterday we went to a neighbor’s birthday party.  It was a fun afternoon of laughter, food, and of course lots of cold beer.  My neighbor, Tarraya, was busy cleaning a crate of radishes, or rábanos in Spanish.  I asked him where he got them and why would anyone want a crate of them.  He began to tell me a story that only seems normal for here. He said he got a call from a ship’s captain.   The ship was headed for Hawaii but was sidelined due to a hurricane or poor weather, I don’t exactly recall which.   The ship was full of produce that was spoiling and the captain asked Tarraya if they wanted to make a trade.   I’m not exactly sure of the details but it involved cases of beer in exchange for the produce and diesel fuel.   I guess late at night the exchange was made.   I noticed about five crates of produce in the back of Tarraya’s truck.   It was spoiled and he was going to take it to the dump.   I suggested I would take it off his hands.   He agreed in disbelief.   This morni

 We have been pretty consistent with our daily workouts.  Most days we hike, run, or mountain bike.  And now, most afternoons we boogie board and get in some swimming, too.  Today we drove out to the mostly abandoned fishing village of San Roque for our hike.  The loop starts with a climb of about a mile before the trail heads west to a small house used by the vigilancia.  Our town has two fishing cooperatives.   Each one has people who patrol the coast looking for potential poachers and to keep an eye on their fishing grounds.   There are fishing cooperatives up and down the coast of Baja and Baja Sur.   It’s reassuring knowing someone is around especially when in the middle of nowhere.   If you come across one of the vigilancia, I recommend saying hola and maybe offering up something cold to drink.   I have been rewarded more than once over the years with a bit of kindness. Once at the house, the trail loops back to the village.   The coast here is so beautiful and reminds me a l

In the 14+ years of owning our casa, we have longed to have a thriving garden.  We have had mixed success, though, primarily due to inconsistent watering and harsh, windy weather.  Now that we live here full time, we are up the challenge. Good dirt is really difficult to come by and is definitely one of our biggest challenges here.    In order to get decent dirt, we drive out to the desert and up an arroyo looking for a mesquite tree.   Normally, the dirt underneath has nutrients although the dirt can still be sandy or full of clay.   We bring the dirt back and place it in our “dirt” planter.   We mix in seaweed, pieces of torn up paper, compost, spent grains and hops, and worm tea from our worm composter.   We water and mix up the dirt a few times per week.   Trust me, this is very time consuming but so far is paying off. This morning, I planted some seedlings into one of our new planters.     We have a variety of tomatoes, orange butternut squash, and lemon drop melons.   We also

We recently went to one of our favorite little markets in town, Escondido.   They have a great selection of meat so we decided to pick up some hamburger on a friend’s suggestion.   The young man went back to a freezer and pulled out some cardboard patties.   We were dumbfounded.                 We reached out to our friend to confirm we were at the correct market.   She said yes but the meat we wanted is called carne molido.   We  went back and this time asked for a kilo of carne molido.   The young man pulled out some lean meat and threw it into a meat grinder.   The meat came out very fine and had no fat.   It definitely was not what I was expecting.  It also did not have the expensive price tag of a US meat market.                 After a few days of contemplation, I came up with a game plan for the meat.   I cut up an Italian sausage to add some fat to the meat.   I also added bread crumbs along with my standard seasonings.    The meat now had a consistency a bit closer to wh