On a REAL Strawberry

Twice already I’d been to the Vivero or Green House vendor in La Tortuga for strawberry plants. No luck. While I will not discriminate against California produced strawberries, plump and fat, but seriously lacking in flavour, juiciness, and sweetness, I am yearning for the incredible taste of connoisseur strawberries from l’Ile d’Orléans (near Québec City), the landing place in 1654 of my earliest ancestor Gabriel from Normandy, France, himself a descendant of the early Vikings who’d invaded France and the British Isles a thousand or so years ago. Anyone who has tasted strawberries from l'Ile d’Orléans will forsake all others in favour of a single one of these! Guess I’ll try once more next Saturday. While Mexican strawberry plants might not be from l’Ile d’Orléans, they’ll grow naturally without help from growth hormones or chemicals. Mine will. Perhaps then I’ll savour the real taste of a natural strawberry, my favourite fruit.

This week, Teodoro, a magnificent artisan with stones and building materials, is here to build up the stone base for a typical Mexican fence made of cement blocks. The erection of the fence itself will take place next week. In turn, it will eventually be the backdrop to a festival of all hues of bougainvilleas, trumpet vines, and others I’ll be delighted to discover. Then, if I can afford it, the bodega or shed, over the concrete platform covering the septic tank. Then, construction will have to be on hold until the fall, or until after the rainy season. But, not to worry, I’ll still have plenty to report on my blog. Meanwhile, I’m having a hard time with all the sand, cement dust, and cal dust constantly flying. They trigger serious asthma attacks.

A word about posting. One of the puppies chewed up my camera cable, the one that permits me to download photos. I had taken some of the ranchers marching their sheep and cows back from the pastures, but cannot download them. I had taken some of the ongoing construction, again no way to download them. Went to San Juan del Rio but the standards in Mexico are a bit different and the connection into the camera did not fit. Must try again next Saturday when they will have received some kind of universal multi-fittings. At least that’s what I was given to understand.

Sorry about the photos. All in good time, I guess.

Planting a Seed or Two

Ever since I’ve been in Tequisquiapan, renting a little casita close to town, I noticed how incredibly fertile the soil is in this part of the world. For example, geraniums reseed themselves, even growing in the most improbable places like a crack between two patio stones. A wonder to a Northerner’s mind. Tiny yellow flowers grow in sidewalk cracks. Vacant lots left to themselves sport all kinds of new-to-me flowers of all hues, shapes, and heights, attracting a bevy of birds, bees, and butterflies. No wonder all art and handicrafts from Mexico are chockfull of vibrant colours! They obviously aim to replicate what Nature generously gives in such abundance.

I know little about summer here, which is supposed to be the rainy season from May to September, as I’ve been here since September only; but the winter impressed the daylights out of me. Poinsettias, called Noche Buena grow to adult height. A double species even grows to the height of a lilac tree, loses its leaves, keeping only the deep red double flowers towering over fences. For the purists, I know that they are really bracts, not the real flowers, which are tiny and yellow. Did you know that poinsettias are native to Mexico? Quite a sight to behold. So I ask you, who could resist planting a garden?

Not me, no Sirree Bob! So I started with a few fruit trees. A limon, which translates as a lime tree of the small green variety and apparently one that will produce fruit without seeds. Then I prematurely planted a tiny apple tree and am a bit sorry that I did. It is barely 4 inches tall and will take eons to grow. Beyond appearing in a photo. There’s a tree mistakenly identified as a cherry tree, which finally ended up being a ciruela tree. I take it to be a small sweet red plum fruit tree. Also,  there’s a peach tree, a pear tree, and a guava tree. Oh, and blackberries. A neat tidy beginning on my small lot.

Finding seeds was altogether another matter. The closest Home Depot is in Queretaro, about 75 kms from Tequis. An odyssey. So I had to be satisfied with whatever was put up for sale here and there is only one place; a Veterinary Pharmacy with an assortment of pets, hens and roosters, hamsters, budgerigars, and even a grey parrot. I must admit going a bit crazy here. If I can afford one of the artisan-made gigantic cages sold in Bordo Blanco, I think I’ll get the parrot and settle it between fruit trees. Seeds? Oh. . .  yeah. Seeds! Sweet corn, Swiss chard, Gherkin cucumbers, both for eating fresh and pickling, sweet peppers, chives, parsley, zucchini, spinach, Cosmos (one of my favourite flowers), sweet alyssum, white irises, first time I plant irises from seeds instead of bulbs, and a few others whose name I don’t know in English.

I can’t wait until I see a green shoot sprouting from the soil.

Sorry about the photos. One of the pups chewed my camera’s wire that lets me download the pics. Will have to go to San Juan del Rio to get another one. Oh well.