Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Visiting a rancho

By the title you may open this up with great anticipation and hopes of pictures of baby goats, wittle chickens and amazing landscapes.

This post has none of that, as I didnt take my camera with us. Oops!!

I did want to share some thoughts on the weekend though, totally scrambled and not in any order:

-it was beautiful. They kept sayig this is their ugliest time of year because it is so dry, but I loved it. Reminded me of central Kansas, with the golden yellow and rich brown colors of the fields dotted with the green of the evergreen trees still thriving.
-baby turkeys!!
-kids drink coffee?
-the family killed three chickens for our visit and made Chicken Barbacoa (Barbacoa is usually sheep)
-have you ever had the feeling you are eating the familys food rations for a week? Thats how I felt when I noticed how little they all ate. They heated up left over pork and vegetables for lunch one day and literally served themselves 3 tablespoons of meat and 5 tablespoons of "vegetables" (which was soup). The meal we ate the chicken they served the kids consume (the liquid the chicken cooks in) and about one bite of chicken.
- homemade tortillas. Made from corn they grew themselves!
-the kids ALL helped. With everything.
-fresh eggs from their own chickens paired nicely with a fresh salsa verde with avocado
-their wood pit stove, covered in a giant comal for cooking
-their new floor in the kitchen. Outside their kitchen is a sign that reads "In my kitchen is a hard floor. Vivir Mejor" . (The MXN government came in and poured them a concrete floor in the kitchen and built the wood burning stove they use, which is a stack of bricks with a round space at the top for a comal)
Thoughts on the "Vivir Mejor" program


-we saw the stars for the first time in 11 months. And even though the "moon was hiding from us!" I still sang to my girls...

"I see the moon and the moon sees me,
The moon sees smebody I want to see..."

And I thought of Grandmother Anne while singing it, as she taught us that song. Maybe Ill call her up and let her know I taught the girls it too! Singsing calls it the moon song.

4 comments:

  1. Did you speak with the owners about vivir mejor? What were their thoughts?
    We sing the moon song here, too!
    Sasstress

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    1. Awww. Niw I can tell the girls your A is looking at the same moon ainging the same song thinking of them <3

      Their thoughts were pretty easy to follow - before they had a dirt floor. Now its concrete and easier to clean. And now they can use a contained fire which is easier to maintain and out out (previously they built fires on the floor) or used a gas stove (which they do own but dont akways have money to buy gas for it. They dont use gas to heat their bathing water as they bathe in cold water) .

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    2. Wow, that made sense- preciously they built fires on the dirt floor or used their gas stove , which they didnt alays have money for.


      Its someones bedtime! LOL

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  2. Sounds exactly like where my suegra lives. I remember the 1st time I visited, I was SHOCKED at how much coffee they gave to the kids... and babies...in their bottles. It was beautiful there though... Dusty and beautiful. They cleaned the floor constantly. Not sure if it is the same where you were, but they'd mop about 4-5 times a day b/c it gets so dusty. Reading this brought back memories.

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