Surviving Mexico

October 30, 2022 · 12:29 pm

Big Mama’s Crew and the Quest Giver

About a month ago, my husband brought home two very large pregnant goats that my son christened Betty and Marge. Instead of easing into things, my husband shooed them out to make nice with the other goats. Well, they weren’t having that. Before you could say Jack Robinson, they were off and running, and it was up to my son to hunt them down.

He tracked them to the defunct water tower, where he spied both peering from behind one of the supports. Bear in mind that my son was a stranger to them, and Betty and Marge had been schooled in the perils of stranger danger. So even though he tried to calmly work his way to their location, they were having none of that. They took off in opposite directions.

Fortunately, their size meant they left an easily followed trail. He was able to find Marge up the hill and in the tall grass. He wrestled her part-way down the hill toward the house and stopped at my father-in-law’s house to ask to borrow a rope to tie up Marge temporarily so he could track down Betty.

Betty was on the other side of the fence that borders La Yacata. She and my son regarded each other for a bit. Finally, my son started talking to her, introducing himself and the like, so that stranger danger would no longer be an issue. Finally, he was able to approach close enough to lasso her. He tied her to a fence post and set about trying to find a way to get her back over the fence. She weighed too much for him to throw over his neck and haul back.

No opening big enough for Betty presented itself. However, she loosened the post enough in her struggle to escape that he was able to knock the post down, pull her across, and then set it back up again.

Triumphant, he collected Marge and brought both white behemoths back to the house. They weren’t going to have outdoor privileges the rest of the day. The next day, Betty had her baby, and a few days after that, my husband sold the trio.

Our herd of goats has undergone other drastic changes recently as well. All the baby boys were exchanged for a new macho, which my husband likes to do periodically to maintain genetic diversity. This macho is a bit strange looking, in my opinion. His face is so long and angular that I’ve dubbed him Longshanks (from Braveheart), although my husband keeps trying to call him Barbas (bearded). Anyway, Longshanks has revealed himself to be a quest-giver.

What’s a quest giver? You may well ask. Every time my son and I loop the block with the dogs, Longshanks pops out of nowhere and approaches. So my son said he must have a backstory. In our warped humor, we’ve imagined that he comes out to give us a side quest. He begins with, “Long ago my kingdom was stolen from me. An evil witch turned me into a goat. Now I wait until….,” and we take turns making up the conditions of the quest. It tickles our funny bones and adds to the enjoyment of the dog walks. We haven’t had a good “walk game” since Spot the Cat. (Sadly, washed-out Garfield is no longer a resident in La Yacata.)

Big Mama, with Brown Mama and babies and in the back Furry Mama.

Then, every so often, my husband gets a bee in his bonnet about having borregas (sheep) even though every time we’ve tried, it’s been an unmitigated failure. The terrain in La Yacata isn’t conducive to the more delicate sensibilities of borregas. They don’t like what there is to forage, they easily scare and run off, and they are generally unhappy campers.

Notwithstanding this recent adventure, my husband brought more borregas into the mix this week. Big Mama, Brown Mama, and Furry Mama are HUGE! Big Mama was obviously the leader of the crew of pregnant ewes. Nobody messes with Big Mama! I suppose my husband learned something from Betty and Marge’s great escape because he hasn’t tried to integrate the borregas with the goats. He even divided the corral so that each species had its own space.

Brown Mama, the smallest of the posse, was the first to give birth. She had twins, a boy and a girl, which have yet to be named. I expect it won’t be too long before Big Mama’s crew becomes an unmanageable number. Sigh.

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Filed under Animal Husbandry

Tagged as goat raising, homesteading, sheep raising

October 3, 2022 · 6:26 am

Natural Healing — Muicle

Muicle (Justicia spicigera) has a whole host of names throughout Mexico. Mexican honeysuckle, as it is known in English, is also called añil de piedra, hierba azul, hierba púrpura, trompetilla, and muitle. In the indigenous languages and regions in Mexico, it is called me tzi ña in Oaxaca, mouait in Tepehua, muu in Tenek, cruz k’aax in Yucatán, limanin in Totonaco, xoicpoxihuitl in Nahuatl, and ych-kaan in Maya.

This native Mexican bush grows to about 3 feet high and attracts hummingbirds and other pollinators with its trumpet-like orange or red flowers. I was first introduced to this plant by my sister-in-law who boiled a batch of the leaves for my husband to drink as a detoxification concoction. The juice is purple and has long been used to make a blue dye. Interestingly, this dye has been used for centuries for ceremonial tortillas. More recently, scientists have proposed its use to increase the nutritional value and reduce the starchiness of commercially produced tortillas.

In addition to detoxification, muicle is prescribed for diarrhea, menstrual cramps or delayed menstruation, cancer, diabetes, as a postpartum cleansing, susto (anxiety or nervous disorders), cough, and as a disinfectant. Most remedies consist of boiling the branches, leaves, and flowers. For a headache accompanied by fever, the leaves are crushed and made into a poultice placed on the forehead. For cough, the crushed leaves are steeped in water overnight and the resulting infusion is drunk instead of water.

For skin treatments, crushed leaves are boiled with leaves from the capulín (Prunus salicifolia), aguacate (Persea americana), guayaba (Psidium guajava) and ajo (garlic) cloves.

Studies show that muicle is analgesic, antibacterial, antitumor, antimicrobial, antiparasitic, and antifungal. It also has shown promise in controlling epilepsy. It reduces the sensation of pain without a sedation effect. It has glucose lowering effects supporting its use as a diabetic treatment. Muicle is also as effective as valium when it comes to anxiety reduction, reduction of seizures, restless leg syndrome, and alcohol/narcotics withdrawal. It has been shown to have immunomodulatory properties. It’s chemopreventative and inhibits edema. Although muicle is often prescribed for hypertension in Mexico, there hasn’t been any scientific support for this use.

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Interested in natural remedies? Uncover herbal remedies from traditional Mexican sources for healing and wellness in the Exploring Traditional Herbal Remedies in Mexico series.

Despairing of the Roof Project

So what have we been up to? ROOFING! Yep. The roof to my son’s mini-abode is finally done! Let me tell you, I despaired of it happening at all! Here’s how this construction adventure went.

If you recall, I lost my main source of income in March and spent several months living on a prayer and painstakingly earning just enough money to pay the internet before landing some ho-hum jobs. In August, my cup runneth over with the Chinese company, and I had classes every day. Since I was pretty sure that wouldn’t last (and it didn’t), I decided that the best use of those funds was to go ahead with the roof project.

I still didn’t have quite enough moolah gathered, having not taken the 15% increase on building materials into account, so the materials guy in town agreed to allow us to have the necessary items “fiado” (on credit). I have one large outstanding bill remaining, but I hope to have that paid with my next paycheck.

With the materials taken care of, the next step was to rent the framing wood. My husband went to a few different places. It seemed that their policies had changed since the last time we put on a roof. Now, instead of paying when the month was up, we’d need to pay part upfront. I wasn’t thrilled with that, but it is what it is.

Next up was getting the framing wood in place. Unfortunately, my husband was unable to do this vital part of the project. Because the wood rent was a daily charge, and fees were mounting, so he hired someone to put up the wood. Well, he found someone to do it, and I paid him to do it. It was yet another additional expense, but it got done.

After the wood was up, it was time to hire the colladores (roofing crew). This part actually went pretty smoothly. In fact, it was the easiest roofing day we’ve ever experienced. The crew boss was competent. My son was on hand for any last-minute needs. And I stayed out of the way. Yet again, I didn’t take into account the 6% rise in the cost of labor, but I managed to pay the guys (and buy beer and carnitas).

The next step was to wet the roof daily for the setting period (22 days). Some days, Tlaloc obliged, and it rained. Other days, my son had to haul buckets of water through the hole. Bruce liked to hang out while he did this but was anxious when he disappeared into the sky.

During the setting period, we had a few earthquakes ranging from 7.7 to a measly 3.0. The epicenters were mostly in Michoacan, a hop, skip and jump away, so we did feel the shaking in La Yacata. Fortunately, the roof seemed to have sustained no damage.

The past weekend, it was time to take down the wood. The process took just 2 days. Further construction will need to wait until my finances recover, but pretty much everything else will be less expensive than this roofing endeavor, thank goodness.