Nov 2007 Update

Hello Fellow Adventurers,

Welcome to the November Baja Report. We just celebrated the full moon. I’ve been working longer and harder every day than I imagined I would, but I’m loving every minute of it. I’ve been getting to know more of our neighbors, exploring some of the surrounding roads and towns, and basically settling in to our little piece of paradise.

Property:

We closed on the additional five acres last week. So now we own all twenty acres. This second piece gave us another pila (bigger than the fist), more mature mango, avocado, plumb, guamuchiali, and citrus trees. Now the balance in the Bio Sana account, after all banking, legal, appraisal fees, closing expenses, etc. (including Trino’s November wages is about $2800.

Max and Levi are back in town. They have put a deposit on 7 acres wedged between us, Charlene, and the aqueduct. Edgardo, the Bio-reserve gate keeper owns the land. They have asked us if we want to come in for two thirds of that land, which links to ours and runs about 800 feet along the aqueduct. I think they are a few thousand dollars short of what they need to close, and will be asking the owner to defer the closing for a few more weeks.

Community:

I plan to be here through April. I am inviting people to come and camp on the farm, to help with the project, for breathwork training, for healing, and spiritual retreat. Currently on the farm with me are: Luba from Moscow, here till Dec 9^th; Kina from London, here till Dec 5^th; Josh from USA, here till Jan 19^th; Arinna from Canada, here until….?

Several other friends and students are planning to visit in the next few weeks. Day guests so far include John Foran and his friend Simon from Canada, and Reed Stuart, USA irrigation company owner (retired), Lupe, Ernesto, and several other local farmers.

It feels as if there will always be at least five or six people living here over the next six months. Various community living ideas and issues are beginning to arise. For example: work exchange, daily meetings, personal space, sharing of food and expenses, group gatherings, rituals, trips to the city, etc.

I am creating a seminar called “Alive Alone Together” to explore individual and group issues, personal and global concerns, natural laws, sacred relationships, etc. I welcome any ideas and advice.

Clearing/camping:

We have been cutting small paths and clearing little places in the shade to sit, sleep, meditate, and gather. Two main gathering areas have naturally formed under and around the big guamuchili trees north and south of the orchard. The first one (we call the base camp) is in the area near where we created the original camp fire. The other is in the upper right corner of the orchard just southeast of the pila (we call it the pila camp).

Kina, Joshua, and Arinna have cleared little spots in the bush for their tents. When they leave, other guests will have a ready made place for camping.

We are slowly gathering stones to build with, and I bought eight 6x10 ft split woven bamboo panels from Gabriel and Kitzia at $45 each. I also plan to buy some bamboo poles to frame them for use as roof or wall sections. The structure they built with these materials is still in great shape after more than five years, and a very serious hurricane.

Compost toilet:

We’ve selected a place to build the compost toilet. It’s about a hundred feet east of the orchard camp along the path to the field. It would be great to have specific advice on what kind, how big, how deep, etc. There seem to be many options.

Trees:

I bought fig, guava, orange, grapefruit, pomegranate, papaya, citrus, chocolate zapote, Surinam cherry, coconut, meme and guanabana, (don’t know how to spell them). Some of them were placed in the orchard in the spaces left by young mangoes that never took, or died out because of moles (topos). (I bought a solar mole repeller that seems to be working pretty well.)

Gabriel noted on his visit that the pomegranate tree will be out-shaded by the surrounding mangoes over the years, and so we will probably move it at some point. I also bought the start of a grapevine, and some climbing flowering plants. I’m waiting for ideas on where to put them.

We uncovered several lemon, lime, and orange trees around the border of the orchard and on the new five acre plot. One of the trees is producing big sweet juicy limes. Delicious!

Garden:

We put in the first vegetable garden in the orchard just southwest of the pila. Trino laid out several groups of straight rows, about ten feet long and a foot wide (56 of them). There we planted sweet corn, squash, zukini, eggplant, string beans, tomatoes, basil, beets, water melon, cantaloupe, and tomatias (sweet yellow husk tomatoes).

I designed and prepared a second garden plot just east of the first one, after a workshop with Gabriel. This bed is snake shaped: one hundred feet long and four feet wide, with five heart shaped beds (about 5x7 ft) in each looping bend of “snake.”

There we are planting broccoli, cauliflower, beans, carrots, peppers, onions, a big mix and wide variety of greens, as well as medicinal herbs, edible flowers, and more.

Bees:

I understand that we can get a local bee keeper to supply us with a hive or two—very inexpensively. It would be nice to have a bunch of those little guys living somewhere on the farm.

Water:

We’ve tapped the aqueduct with a one inch hose to give us constantly running water for washing and bathing, and to keep the pila topped off. We have been buying five gallon bottles of drinking water from local suppliers, and so a real need is to bring potable town water to the property. I am looking into that.

Compost:

Gabriel supplied us with about six bags of very rich compost which we used to prepare the garden beds. We have also started our own compost area. Wild pigs started eating up all the fruit peels and kitchen waste from the very first night! And so, I bought some chicken wire fencing to protect it.

Fencing:

One or more wild pigs have started to visit the garden at night. We’ll need several hundred feet of fencing material to enclose the garden area. I bought about sixty feet of chicken wire so far. I think we’ll need about four hundred feet in all. I have begun to sink fence posts: recycling from the barbed wire fencing located within and between several sections of the property. (Someone suggested solar electric wire fence.)

Irrigation:

After consulting with Gabriel, I bought a six-thousand-foot roll of 10mm Ro Drip tape, a five-thousand-foot roll of 13mm Ro Drip tape, and one thousand feet of 16.5mm poly-tubing (hose). Also bought various connectors, valves, fittings, “punchadoros,” etc.

The plan was to take what we need for our use, and give the rest to Gabriel in trade for his services (initial survey, workshop, consultation, irrigation set-up, planting, etc.). To date, I have paid him $600 in cash. ($300 from the Bio Sana account and $300 out of pocket) About $300 in irrigation hose and drip tape (also out of pocket) given in trade.

We installed a basic drip system for the garden. It is working pretty well. But we need to make the pila a bit taller: perhaps three more layers of cement blocks. This will give us better pressure… Right now we have six or seven pounds of pressure. We are told that ten to twelve pounds is best for our dripping needs. It shouldn’t cost much, and will only take a day or two at the most. I am looking into the cost of the materials, and a local Mexican to do it.

Another consideration for the long term is to install a sand filtration system to keep the drip tape from accumulating sand and algae. But for now, we are using a screen at the head of the hose, and being careful not to allow anything into the pila that could clog the drip tape. Gabriel tells us that the winter season should not present an algae problem.

IDEA:

Build a water tower over the existing pila to hold a water tank for permanent gravity fed irrigation of the orchard. I’m told that we need to have the tank up 20 to 25 feet. And it was suggested to use a 2500 gallon tank.

The idea is to cover the cement walls of the pila with stones, and shape it like the base of an ancient Mexican pyramid, overflow from the pila could cascade into the surrounding garden area. The tower framework/structure could be designed to support four shade/roof panels around the pila. We could plant passion fruit and or some other beautiful climbing plants that will cover the tower and tank with growth in a couple of years.

Power/Communication:

I set up a small solar panel kit which is charging a 12 volt battery, in turn, our laptop and cell phone, and two night lights.

Baja Bio Sana now has a phone number: 624 166 0883 (from USA, dial 52 1, then the number). We get a signal on most parts of the farm.

I am looking into a satellite connection for the internet and phone. The nearest internet is in the library in Agua Caliente, but it is extremely slow. It would be great to have solid connection to the world and to the founders for ongoing meeting, chats, advice, feedback, etc. It seems that something in the neighborhood of $1500 will be needed.

Supplies/inventory.

I have been buying required supplies and equipment as we go. I’d like to do more, but my living funds are beginning to dwindle. And so I am slowing down a bit. I am preparing a detailed inventory list.

After this initial push, beginning around December 10, I plan to take time to do nothing, to hike into the mountains, visit neighboring towns, be a tourist, etc. It seems that several people from Russia, USA, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Estonia will be coming for a couple of weeks over the holidays.

So, that’s the news for the moment. I welcome your ideas and advice and input, feedback, and suggestions. Sending you all love and warm wishes from Paradise!

Dan (one of nine, soon to be ten, feels like thirteen in the end!)