Tag Archives: Tropical

Growth and Markets: Our Weekly Routine in Puerto Rico

No, I am not talking about the stock market or the GDP, but rather the original meaning of those words. Literally growing things (including a baby) and going to markets. We have a bit of a schedule and routine now, moreso than ever with a baby. We used to go out a lot more at night with the band and just to hang out at chinchorros or downtown at the ArtWalk, but we now appreciate our quiet evenings with the kiddo sound asleep. So that means our days must be a little fuller. Fridays and Sundays mean market. Fridays we go to the San Sebastian Pulguero (Flea Market) where we do some bartering and buying. Mostly we are in the market for strange exotic plants. Actually we are ALWAYS in the market for those it seems. No matter how much plant life we throw at the property, it just eats it up.

With a new flower find at the San Sebastian Market

It’s pretty fun at the San Sebastian market because we are nearly always the only “gringos” there and so we sort of stick out like sore thumbs. But people are starting to get to know us, greet us and show us what all they have available before we even have to ask. It REALLY helps to know Spanish in these sorts of environments!

Aeden is a favorite with many people at the market including this sweet woman who even sang “Que Linda Manita” to him

Aeden and the birds back at the farm

Saturdays are usually spent back at the farm unless we have something fun planned. On Saturday afternoon we harvest the fruit and flowers for the Sunday Rincon Farmer’s Market.

Look who needs to start wearing shoes soon!

Aeden is now 11 months old! Check out his latest update video

New bromeliads in bloom at the farm

Our avocado that we accidentally cut down YEARS ago, has come back and is fruiting! I am so happy! Yay for guacamole! What’s strange about it, is only one trunk has fruit. So I think it must have been grafted long ago and we’ll probably have two types on one tree. We’ll see!

At the Farmer’s Market in Rincon. Dragonfruit! We have had our dragonfruit plant flower, but it never holds onto the fruit

The Farmer’s Market on Sunday mornings is fun. We don’t make much money, but it is worth it and it’s fairly stable for being summertime. We have made a lot of great friends there. And we use the money to go out and have brunch and drive around a bit afterward. If we make any more than that we put it into buying more plants from the nurseries or flea markets around.

Taking Aeden to Yogufruti after the Farmer’s Market one Sunday

I never knew what fashion tasted like before, but it’s pretty good! haha

During the week we mostly work on the farm: mowing, planting, improving trails. We also clean and do “turnovers” if we have guests staying in the cabana. We also like to pick a day or two to go shopping or an excursion of some sort. Sometimes we go hunting for plants on the side of the road or check out a beach. Lately it has been so hot, that we have been doing everything we can to stay cool. Since we don’t have A/C that means sitting in the baby pool, finding anywhere that has air conditioning and just milling around, eating watermelon and lots of fluids and trying to avoid the heat of the middle of the day (siesta anyone?). The beach is actually too hot for me on those sizzling days since the water and sand multiply the sun’s effect.

Staying cool in our baby pool in the shade like the hillbillies we are haha!

Fun shopping day out with friend Pauline

Stop in at an authentic chinchorro for una bien friiiia

Checking out a beach in Aguada (Tablerock) -great beach for bamboo driftwood hunters!

Fun on the farm! Dad and boy

Man and his horse swimming in Anasco

Not sure, but I believe this is a cupey flower blooming at our house

Britton had a red RX7 when he was a teenager so this made him gasp when we were driving along in Aguada one day! His 17 year-old self has multiplied! haha

He probably wasn’t listening to this type of song back then though (this is a top hit currently on the radio that we turn up when it comes on, and it’s great for Spanish vocabulary!)

Buying plants at Jardines Eneida! One of our favorite nurseries!

At Jardines Eneida. Check out the video:

I call Puerto Rico “Toon Town” and it’s not without reason…Check out this vibrant little house

And this one…who is very concerned with the modesty of its columns haha

Or this awesomely strange creation seemingly out of a sci-fi movie

Driving up the hills of Mayaguez we had a majestically different view of Rincon and Desecheo in the distance

That’s it for the update. Time flies. I can’t believe that a year ago I was hugely pregnant and just waiting for our little guy to arrive and now he’s almost walking. It’s crazy. Nothing like a kid to make time really feel warped.

Here’s a quick little video of some vignettes of our daily life in Puerto Rico. Hope you enjoy. Oh, and I am trying to do a little more with Instagram if you’d like to follow along.

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Birthday Fun and other Updates

Tropical Garden Expansion

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New garden area we are working on- what we call the Hobbit Garden

One of our favorite things about living here in Puerto Rico are the tropical plants. Since our plant hobby is now paying for itself with the sales of flowers at the Sunday farmer’s market we have decided to keep expanding the gardens. It is sort of a scavenger hunt to find some of these exotic tropicals like the rare heliconias, gingers and fruit trees.

Upper garden level where we will soon be adding stairs to lead into the jungle

Our cabin in the jungle is surrounded by lush gardens!

Rare sighting of a century plant (agave) in bloom

Bees on the agave bloom

We have learned from years past that we cannot clear and maintain an area unless it has water. You would think (or at least we did naively when moving here) with it being a tropical environment that we wouldn’t need to water, but that is not the case. We can have torrential rain pours, but then 7 days of nothing and everything dries out. So in order to not just throw money and effort away on all the plants we buy and find, we have to first make sure there is water to the area. This often entails clearing out the underbrush and weedy trees and throwing them into a pile, then installing tubing above ground along the border and if the tubes go into a visible garden area, digging a trench for them as well. Then we hook up a spigot and hose.

Britton hooking up the waterline from Hawk Alley to the Hobbit Garden

Aeden hangs out with us as we work

Now that we have expanded the property we have different names of the sections of the property so that we know what we are referring to. The final (and most fun!) step is to seek out the plants and plant them. Some of these are transplants from our own property like the huge torch gingers and coconut palm starts, but many we must buy or find.

Britton and Aeden at a garden store in Hormigueros

Dragon fruit growing at one nursery

Lots and lots of plants -many of them are too small and dainty for our large-scale garden

It’s not all work out there, though. We often find weird random things like alcohol bottles from the 40s and 50s, old clothes and furniture from who knows and we also play- climbing trees and swinging from vines. Now that I am not pregnant I can help (and play) a lot more. And since it’s not so hot and humid it’s much more enjoyable in general. We have to remember when we have these pushes to the outer boundaries of the property that we will have to maintain these areas as well which means getting a mower through there or planting it thick enough that the vines and weeds are thwarted.

Swinging from the vines

New flowers we found. Not sure of the name

There are always so many iguanas around and sometimes they destroy our plants. But they are also so cool to see

New bench in the Hobbit Garden

Here’s a little walk through of some of the flower gardens

Oh and we’ve been growing more than just plants! Aeden is now 4 months old and growing, well, like a weed 🙂 Here’s his 4 month update!

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Season’s Greetings -A Photo Update from A, B, and C

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Now that we have Baby Aeden with us we are A, B and C (Aeden, Britton and Cassie)! So we thought we would make it as easy as A, B and C to say Happy Holidays and Felicidades from our home to yours! 🙂 Here are a few photos and a short video from our life recently in Puerto Rico. It has been speeding right along. I can’t believe Aeden is already 3 months old and almost sleeping through the night! Now I might have time to actually blog a little more again.

The beauty never ceases to amaze me!

Lots of yard work even in winter -Baby Aeden is lulled to sleep by the sounds of the mower haha

Cool abandoned airplane I saw off the road in Aguadilla looks like it should be in Lost

This banana tree was just asking to be photographed in this light. Gorgeous!

So was this monstera! One of my favorites in the flower bouquets and arrangements we sell

We took a little holiday photoshoot at the finca with our little Santa Baby

So cute!

Mommy’s kissing Santa!

My most precious gift!

Afterward he was tuckered out!

Check out how long this banana flower goes (with Elsa from the Farmer’s Market)

Always lots of Holiday Cheer around here (haha)

Watch out! It’s pica pica season!! eek this stuff is painfully itchy

My big boy can almost keep his head up by himself. He is growing so fast!

These prayer/blessing/curse candles are definitely a “thing” here

Close up of the “velas“

Campaign to try to prevent people from shooting guns in the air whilst celebrating the holidays -“ni una bala mas al aire” means “not even one bullet more in the air!”

He can be such a guy smiley when he wants to be. My little flower child

He IS awesome like Daddy!

Awesome Daddy trying out the Moby wrap

News Anchor Jeremy Hubbard visited us here in PR a bit ago. For those of you in Colorado, stay tuned to Fox 31 in Denver for a couple of news stories about us that should air this week and in January!