The Adventures of Familia Bajaboy

 Almost every day, we get out for a run, hike, bike ride and/or a swim.  Today, we opted to get an earlier start than normal.  We set the alarm for 6am and were out the door by 7am.  We drove 8 miles north to the small fishing village of San Roque.  We hiked north to San Pablo bay and then backtracked on the old and dilapidated vigilancia road and finally returned on the main .   Zeus was happy with the foggy conditions especially after yesterday's muggy and hot conditions. In addition we were treated to a wonderful show of powerful and strong waves thanks to Hurricane Olaf.  All in all, the hike was about 7.5 miles and almost 2,000 ft. of climbing.  Enjoy the trip with us!

 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

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

Bahia Asuncion, Baja California Sur, Mexico Well it finally happened....we own a home and land in Baja . We bought a lot with a small two bedroom house in Bahia Asuncion, Baja California Sur , Mexico. I've dreamed of one day having property in Baja for most of my life. My grandparents used to have a place in Rosarito Beach and I always envisioned that I would spend many years there. Unfortunately after my grandfather passed, the place was sold. So journey after journey to Baja , I would dream about if and when I might have a place and where it would be. Well the dream is now reality. Bahia Asuncion is located 70 miles south of Highway 1 and Vizcaino . The turn-off is about 50 miles from the Baja Norte / Sur border and Guerrero Negro. The town has a population of about 4,000 although it "feels" more like 2,000. Many of the residents live in the nearby fishing camps and thus could explain the disparity. The primary source of income is from the ocean. The