How To Care For A Simple Green Home.

    When we first came to Mexico to build, we had in mind a house with land around it that reflect our respect and love for nature and its beauty, the full ecological picture, and simplicity.  We built our house with many of the features that we had researched and envisioned.  Among those that we implemented in the house were, adobe construction, passive solar orientation and elements, photovoltaic solar energy, water catchment, gray-water plumbing, a compost toilet (to avoid extra water usage and black-water), and composting of both kitchen and garden by-products (i.e., peeling, etc., from the kitchen; weeds and clippings from the garden).
     We also let the garden evolve around the house, as we were building and first living out on the property.  Once walls and terraces were in place, we designated areas which sheltered the garden or exposed it to the elements.  And then we planted like an artist dabs color onto a painting, a flourish here, a few dots there, a splash in the foreground, a foundation in the back.  And once that had settled, we looked and "Painted" some more.
      One of the most important things to remember when building and living sustainably is that the house a surrounding garden require your participation.  The most important payment that you can make is to Pay Attention.  So, doing something everyday, we Pay Attention to our house and garden, so that it gets full and complete maintenance throughout the year.  By doing a little each day, nothing is too hard and nothing is neglected.
Things to Pay Attention to When Caring for a Simple, Green Home:

1.  Every day feed the Compost Bins.  Our Worm Bin gets the Kitchen by-products and our Green Compost Bin gets the garden by-products and orange peels (because our worms don't like a lot of citrus).
2. Every day, channel the gray-water to a part of the garden (trees, bushes, etc.) that needs a drink.  Some of our gray-water is stationary, permanently directed to a specific location.  Some is directed by hose, to various parts of the garden, as needed.
3. Everyday, water something.  Until the rains come, that is.
4. Everyday, walk through your garden and see what it needs, a branch clipped here, a tree well weeded there.  By walking and maintaining the garden daily, you are stuck with a chore that keeps getting put off.
5. Once a week, flood the gray-water drains with a bucket (approx 5 gallons) of water.  The pipes are simple and direct and the flooding keeps them running freely.
6. Every week, rake the the dry compost toilet, to turn the "soil" and promote the composting process.
7. Every week, turn the Worm and Green Compost Bins.
8. If you are a serious gardener then, you are already planning the next phase of your garden, as the present one comes to fruition.  Every week, keep the garden up-to-date in terms of planting, maintaining, harvesting, digging.
9. Every 3 Months, check and refill the water in the Solar Batteries.  They get thirsty, too.  We check and fill ours on the Solstices and Equinoxes.
10. Every 6 Months, raise or lower the Solar Panels.  We do this at the Equinoxes, right after checking the Batteries.
11. Every day of every year, take time to enjoy the combined efforts of nature and your nurturing.

     For more information on Green Stuff and to See a bunch more pictures about the place we live, the homes we built [Which we are offering for Sale] visit our Website: Las Casitas: Dos Arbolitos; and Laberinto
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     Think Green.  Think Peace!

What To Do When The Networks Aren't Social

     Yesterday, the Internet was down all day.  Because we are in the process of selling our homes, I spend a couple of hours a day, pushing buttons, tweaking advertisement, making changes to the Website (Check out our Website and Pass it on to Interested Parties You Know), Twittering, Facebooking ("LIKE" Casita's Page), Writing e-zine type articles, and Blogging.  And, of course, wasting some time each day just web-surfing.  But it was not meant to be, yesterday.
     Instead, I did do some writing on the computer, made meals, read, and did my socializing with the out doors.  A good deal of every day is spent outdoors, as it is.  But, not having an Internet connection gave me a little more time to finish projects that were in limbo (this limbo being the non-spiritual euphemism for procrastination). 
     Today, we are back on-line, but have been busy, busy.  We spent morning in town, buying supplies to bring back to our home here at Casita Dos Arbolitos, in the quiet countryside of Mexico.  Quiet in the campo, the countryside, is a bragging right, especially in May.  The whole month of May is a fireworks fest, celebrating many holidays and the feast of Santa Cruz.  Each weekend, the fireworks are being set off, early in the morning, and late in the evening.  From our countryside vantage point, the sounds are muted.  Town people are always commenting on the fireworks; and we're always pointing out the peace of living out here.  Especially in the morning; fireworks begin around 5AM, sometimes earlier; while we are still sleeping.  We get up early and have coffee in the Patio Room, while listening to the faraway sounds fireworks and muted crowing of roosters of the roosters in the village.  As the sun begins to approach the horizon, various birds begin singing.  First, is the Poorwill, chirping its bouncy cadence.  Then doves and Scotts Orioles and others join in.  As the sun breaches the horizon, the woodpeckers start complaining about the fact that we have wrapped out wooden patio cover posts in mesh so that they can no longer dig holes in the posts.  The mesh doesn't stop them from trying.  Tag-teaming, the male and female take turns sitting on the posts, tapping a few times, then giving up and letting the other try.
     When we came home from town, we spent the next four hours in the kitchen.  Firstly, I had to restock my cookie supply.  Today's (and for the next few days) offering: Oatmeal Sesame Candied Sunflower Seeds Chocolate Chip.  After that, we were busy making our next Mexican Cuisine Dinner.  Tonight's Dinner was Tamales made with the Amarillo Estofado of two days ago; the sauce used to moisten the masa, and the meat and some sauce and a little Oaxacan string cheese were as filler.  Dessert was guavas basted in cinnamon syrup and filled with Coconut Creme.  I was prep cook drilling holes in the Coconuts, saving the water, then cracking the shells and saving, and then skinning, and then shredding the coconut meat.  We chilled the Aqua de Coco and added chilled rum and ice for a refreshing beverage, on this hot day.
     Now, the reverse of bird calls has nearly finished.  While I was writing this, the tiny sparrows that live in the jasmine vine on one of our Patio Roof Posts flew in and began their evening chatter.  This lasts just a few minutes then they are silent for the evening.  This evening ritual is a small scale version of the larger scale Grackle evening home coming; a tradition that has finally come to an end.  For decades, if not centuries (I'll have to look that up), the Grackles would come to roost in the large trees growing in the Jardin Principal, across from the Parroquia.  Unlike our tiny birds, with their sweet chirping that lasts a few minutes, the Grackles are big-voiced birds, with lots to say.  And while they were saying it and settling in, they would perform their evening toilet, literally, which dropped down onto the benches below and people sitting there.  As San Miguel de Allende grew into its own as a World Class Tourist Town, the Grackles were deemed a nuisance.  They had to go.  Nothing drastic, unless you were a Grackle that liked nesting in the Jardin.  The trees were modified, opened up to make them undesirable for sleeping in.  And so the Grackle moved on. 
     Just now, the sun is fully dropped below the horizon and the Poorwill has begun its evening song.  A good place to end.

On Flowers and Food.

     There is a hurricane, Hurricane Bud, off the western coast of Mexico.  For those along the coast, there are warnings of things to come, as early as today, but probably by tomorrow.  While the weather is a threat to the beaches, it is a promise to the central part of Mexico.  The rainy season---or potential thereof---begins with the hurricane season.  Farmers here in the highlands are looking forward to hurricanes driving near enough to both coasts to push clouds and rains upward and inward.  These first rains are crucial to "cool" the earth, la tierra, after the heat of April and May, and before the final furrowing and then planting can begin.  The three important food crops, corn and beans and squash, which still sustain many of the countries people will be planted when the earth is sufficiently moist.  Then the hope for continued rains, throughout the growing season, begins.  The word for hope is esperanza, from the verb esperar, to hope or to wait, or both.
     At Casita Dos Arbolitos, we also are waiting/hoping for the rains.  Much of our own gardening plans, beyond the Shelter Garden areas that are filled with greens and herbs, count on the rain, as well.  While we are waiting, we are always busy with one aspect of the Garden or the other, planting, watering, digging, making compost.  The most pleasurable part of the garden, however, is the walking through, the looking at, the touching, enjoying the sights and scents and tastes (especially when our Fig Tree is producing).  This week, one of our succulents celebrated spring by producing what we call its 'Little Shop of Horrors' flower.  Part of the pleasure of walking through the Garden is making these discoveries.  The flower opened Tuesday and gave a magnificent display.  That day, it also had a scent that I didn't find that appealing, but attracted numerous bees to immerse themselves in its pollen.  Today, it has become a fading star, mostly limp, soon-to-be-gone.  But in its one day of full glory, it was spectacular:

     Besides celebrating our Garden, we Celebrate Mexican Cuisine in our Kitchen.  We have many cookbooks about Mexican Cuisine.  Two are by the author Diana Kennedy.  She has lived in Mexico much of the time, since 1957.  Because we spent some time in Oaxaca, we are enjoying making thins from her Oaxaca al Gusto cookbook.  We bought it before our trip, when she was here in San Miguel de Allende for a book-signing.  The recipe for today is Amarillo, which is to say Mole Amarillo, an "esotfado," a stew made with chiles and spices, potatoes and chayote, masa, chicken and pork.  The amarillo part means it's supposed to be yellow, but the chiles that we have aren't exactly like those from Oaxaca, so the stew is more orange than yellow, but still delicious.  Que Rico!  How Rich!

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If you are interested in more about Mexico or in buying a Sustainable "Green" Home outside San Miguel de Allende, Click Here!

Buen Provecho! Good Eating!

Chop Wood, Carry Water, Stop Wood Peckers!

     This is just a note about how living a Sustainable Lifestyle helps to create a new way of thinking, a new way of looking at things.  One of the concepts of Permaculture, one of the Sustainable Living Philosophies, is to use "Stacking," wherever possible.  Stacking is the only form of multitasking one should implement.
     Regular Multitasking, doing numerous things at once, like answering phones, cooking, Tweeting your latest recipe, and washing your dog, all at once, is distracting and doesn't allow you to........oops, I have to go check to see if the cookies are fully baked yet.  Just kidding!  Multitasking doesn't allow you to focus on each individual action, giving it the attention that it needs to be completed successfully.  Multitaskers will tell you that they CAN do five things at once, completing them all successfully.  However, when put to the test, multitasking individuals, if successful with their tasks, use as much or more time to complete them; it just seems that they are doing it all at once and, therefore, faster.  Usually, they just make mistakes along the way.
     Stacking is a form of multitasking only in that, when properly designed, a system does two or more jobs at the same time.  A classic example is a gray-water system.  If designed correctly, every time someone does the laundry or takes a shower, the water is then channeled to a plant well or green area.  This system creates a three-way multitask: washing; a reuse of water; and plant watering.  The system save, as mentioned in other posts, water and time.
     Today's multitasking event occurred as we were trying to stop the woodpeckers from destroying the wood poles that hold up our patio roof.  At the base of each pole, we have vines growing and have been stringing them up to encourage their vertical growth.  The woodpeckers are trying to make their homes further up the poles, above the vines, by testing various spots and making lots of holes.  On one pole that has fully grown to the top, the woodpeckers stay away.  To discourage their continued hammering and hole drilling, we looked around for something that might work.  To that end, we found some wire mesh that was leftover from the construction of the house.  By cutting strips of the mesh and wrapping them around the upper parts of the poles, we performed an act of Stacking.  We were able to accomplish three things: the close knit mesh keeps the birds from being able to peck the wood; the mesh will, when the vines reach it, give them a tentacle-hold; we were able to use most of the leftover mesh, thus not wasting it.
     So, there you have it.  Stacking.  The only form of multitasking you should be doing.  Now how are those cookies doing............?

Chop Wood, Carry Water Part 107.35 Still waiting for the rains.

     Because we chose to make a conscious effort of live a sustainable lifestyle, we built our house to function simply.  Our water is "captured" when the rains hit the roof tops and are directed to our cisterns.  The water is pumped up to a tank on the roof.  From there, gravity does the work and sends the water back down to the faucets and shower head, and outdoor spigots.
     Because we have a compost toilet, we don't use water to flush out human waste products.  These compost into a dry material which we use as a safe material to supplement the green and kitchen composts that we spread under trees.  By using a composting system for human waste, the water saved can be directed elsewhere, as needed.
    Besides saving water, we also reuse water.  All shower, dish and laundry "gray-water'' is directed on to plants and trees and bushes.  This second usage, save water (by not having to rely solely on first water usage) and time (the gray-water and gravity do the work; the water flows directly onto the intended area).
     While we are waiting for the rains, we are careful with our water usage, to avoid, where possible, supplemental water purchases.  Still, May is a month that we want our plants to get through without stress, so we are giving them what we can.  According to one of our campesino (a person who lives in the countryside) neighbors, Genaro, the rainy season has started, even if the rains haven't appeared, yet.  At first I thought that this was some country wisdom that he was passing on, but he clarified it and told me that he had heard it on television.  So much for romanticizing country living.....

Waiting for the Rains!

     It's May in the Campo, the Countryside, here in San Jose de Gracia.  As you can see from my last post, I have been neglecting my "Corazon" of Mexico; this, having abandoned it for the quicker Social Medium of Twitter. [See my Twitter Feed on the Right Hand Side]  Still, as we wait to sell our houses (visit our Website Our Homes For Sale!), we are enjoying our time here and have declared a creative sabbatical.  To that end, we are following our own creative urges.  Each of us has different "art" forms that we like to pursue.  Two areas where we come together are cooking (and eating, of course) Mexican and Mexican Fusion Cuisine, and Gardening.
     In terms of cooking, for example, tonight we are having one of our favorites, Stuffed Chile Poblanos.  When the the Chile Poblanos are filled with cheese, dredge in an egg batter and fried, they are the well known, served in every restaurant, Chiles Rellenos.  But Poblanos and other chiles, both fresh and dried, can be stuffed with a variety of fillings and baked, or fried with or without a batter.  A few nights ago, we had Poblanos stuffed with shrimp and goat cheese and served with a Chipotle reduction sauce.  Tonight, the chiles are being stuffed with a mixture of fried potatoes, sauteed onions and garlic, goat cheese, and the ubiquitous and delicious sausage called chorizo.  To complete the plate, we are having slices of mango, black beans with feta cheese, and a roasted tomato/serrano chile marinara.
     Gardening at this time of year is mostly watering our trees and plants, and planting and growing a limited food garden in the sheltered areas that are shaded and have walls blocking the fierce winds.  Our fruit and olive trees are all trying to hold on to their fruit, until the rains; these are due anytime between now and the end of June.  Our prodigious Fig tree is in a holding pattern, with numerous figs ready to spring forth at the rains.  Even though it is getting regular water, it requires that extra measure to encourage it to make its final push.  Until the, we'll wait for the rains and dream of fresh figs and fig chutney and fig bars and..........

And Check out Spring in Our Garden: Spring 2012