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.