Last Saturday for Carne Asada

The construction project in West Melaque has come down to the last week so we decided to have a carne asada party on te last Saturday. Only about two months work this year because of a mix up on Seguro and a troublesome Presta Nombre. Next year should be smoother and be able to work for a full 3 months. Workers can only work while the Canadians are here to oversee the work and to pay them and Seguro.

Harris and Audrey bought the meat and for the first time I had marinated pork asada (adobada). I bought all the veggies, avocados, carbon (charcoal) and a cubeta (bucket) of cerveza. After plenty of work and plenty of food, everyone was too tired to drink many of those small Coronitas (small Coronas). I came home with 5 of the 24.

So Thursday will be the last day of work and Harris and I will get lessons on how to paint the rebar with a cement wash. We were thinking to paint with the usual orange protection paint but the Maestro says the cement won't stick to paint. When they are ready to work again and go higher .... just tap the rebar and the cement will fall off. 

Chef for the day

Beef, pork and onions

Serve yourself

Cooked and to be cooked

Why did I wait so long?

After the tomatoes expired  should have cleaned up the bed, added a little more good soil and planted some more of anything. The few herbs that were beyond useful took up the space instead. This year I planted tomatoes on either end, with peas, onions and chard in the middle. The webbing I put up to discourage my cat from using it as a bathroom will help start the climbers but they will need more support later on. Last year with shallow wide containers I had almost no luck with radishes, greens of any type or onions. Hoping with deeper and better soil I'll get something to eat.

The next issue will be trying to keep the bugs from eating everything. When white flies attacked the tomatoes last year I tried a commercial spray and a dish soap spray with little effect. That's when I read about Zote, an  insecticidal soap but the tomatoes were too far gone to bother with. I've since made a spray although a little stronger than the Mother Earth News article below. I sprayed some on my Avocado which is getting brown leaves from something.

Planted more tomatoes and Albahaca grande (Basil)

Hoja Santa, next pinapple and a tired basil 

Zote and Fels-Naptha are insecticidal

To make the insecticidal soap spray, shave one quarter of a bar of Fels-Naptha laundry soap (about 1 inch) into 1 quart of heated water and stir until dissolved. This will be your insecticidal soap concentrate. Put the soap solution into a labeled jar.

To use the soap spray, put 1 teaspoon of concentrate per quart into a sprayer. This insecticidal soap is a contact poison, so spray it directly onto the insects you want to eliminate from your home, garden or orchard. For additional killing power, add one-quarter cup of rubbing alcohol per quart.

Make Homemade Insecticidal Soap Spray