Category Archives: Construction

Around the Finca, Moca, Festival de Chinas, Isabela and More


Aeden is too cool for photos

Whew. Lots to update. We have been doing a variety of projects around the farm including finding new plants and building a new staircase into the jungle. When we’re not working on the farm or cleaning or repairing the cabana or cabin, we go out into the world and try to find new adventures. We like to stay around the west side because we can make a day trip out of it and still get back by dark to keep to Aeden’s sleep schedule. Here are a few moments caught on camera recently.


Another beachy day in Rincon – Playa Lala is now a favorite here


Fun at Villa Cofresi with the babe

From eggs we came to eggs we sit


Isabela, PR with the moon and all


We filled one of our largest single orders of flowers!


I love making the bouquets

Aeden has many adoptive aunts and uncles like Carlos and Maribel from the market


Photo bombed by a cow and a bird 🙂


Cool church in Moca


Just chillin’, kickin’ back on Mom’s lap


Aeden’s making his mark! In the new cement stairs!


Lots of hard work!


Silly boys at the beach


First time in a swing! He’s getting so big!


He has even gone swimming, underwater!

And had his first real bath -in the kitchen sink!


Cool leaves on a plant. I think this is a rattlesnake flower


Our monstera plant fruited!


Immature and mature monstera fruit! Tasted like pineapple and banana with a slight bite. You have to be careful not to eat them immature or it will burn your mouth.

 


Our prettiest ginger yet!

 
The Festival de la China was a bit of a bust! Super rainy!


I thought it was funny they were selling oranges in onion bags though!


And I was amazed at the variety of oranges (and bananas) one can grow


Aloha! A fun day in Isabela


Britton and Aeden in Isabela


Family fun


Two cuties


“Still round the corner there may wait a new road or a secret gate”


This little guy melts my heart!


We walked this LOOONG boardwalk in Isabela -windy, hot and dry but very beautiful. Would be a great bike ride


Fun with friends from Colo. It’s weird to “remember when.” It seems so long ago now


This just happened. I always call him my little monster and then I saw this onesie at the flea market and I was wearing basically the same thing and then we ate at an El Meson that had this colored wall. Serendipity-do-dah!

Latest update from the farm about baby Aeden (on the new stairs!)

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Living Abroad: Our Life Recently Around Western Puerto Rico


Having fun at Villa Montana in Isabela on Valentine’s Day

Raising a baby takes a lot of the extra time I might be writing a post and puts it onto him. So please forgive all the photos and lack of text, but I just wanted to get a flavor of the times as we have been out and about in western Puerto Rico these last few weeks.

 
Visiting La Playuela, Wilderness and Pena Blanca in Aguadilla


La Playuela was considered for a mega hotel and a lot of protesting has (thankfully) stalled/ended it. It is such a cool area


Pena Blanca is just down from it


Cliffside beaches and coves

Save La Playuela

Like a throwback to a different time


Out to lunch at Tamboo in Rincon. Tuesday is Mexican food day! My fave!


Britton and Aeden at Tamboo


Fun at the lighthouse in Rincon


Lighthouse Park, Rincon


Fun at Sandy Beach


Another turkey girl hatched out some chicks!


Steps Beach babes! 🙂


Working on building another staircase into the jungle with friend Chris


Turkey and chicken inspectors


Lots and lots of wagneriana heliconias!


We’ve had great sales at the market on Sundays! It’s been fun to share the fruits (and flowers) of our labors


We like to go out to lunch/brunch after the market – Gastropark in Rincon


Britton and Aeden at the gastropark


Another fave restaurant is Picoteo in Anasco- check out that overlook!


February is about as cold as it will get to put baby A in clothes! 🙂


February has also been especially smoky! Lots of burning going on. (Check out the hillside behind me in this pic)


More hillside fires in the distance combating pica pica generally


Since things aren’t growing as fast we can work on some projects like clearing the paths of old fallen trees from Maria


Cutting a path through the jungle of the property to the backside of the cabin


Beach break at the Marina -a social and fun playa


Having fun shopping with the bebo -haha


Happy Baby yoga pose


Taking Aeden out for strolls has been a new development since he can hold his head up now


He is such a doll and loves being outside with us

Well that’s a lot of life in a few pictures. Life has been rolling forward. With a baby we notice it a lot more! Every day is precious. Here’s Aeden’s 5 month update.

We were also featured in another news program about people from Colorado who have moved all over the globe -Puerto Rico, South Korea, Tunisia and Vietnam. It’s called “Living Abroad” and I think it does a pretty good job of capturing the essence of our life here. I am not sure I would call it “abroad” exactly, but it is hard to describe the move from the states here any other way. And like this sign says of all these choices: Rincon is the best place to live!


Rincon el mejor lugar para vivir!

Living Abroad from Jeremy Hubbard on Vimeo.

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The Landing is No More

An iconic location in Rincon is no more. The Landing used to be a happening bar/restaurant in its heyday but since we’ve lived here it has been nothing but an abandoned property in Puntas with lots of graffiti and broken glass. It had been listed for sale in the $2 million range for quite a while and someone apparently finally bought it. It is bittersweet because it really was an eyesore, but at the same time, something of nostalgia for the community. From what we gather, a private single residence will be built in its place. Goodbye to the Landing.

LandingThe Landing from the back

The Landing
Inside of the Landing

Landing
Everyone could see the great potential of this ocean front acreage!

Cassie landing
Some cool graffiti art

Landing drive
The Landing before from the top of the hill

No Landing
The Landing after (this week) being demolished (and MANY trees removed, WOW!)

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Projects Around the Property

There is always something to do around here. With four acres of land, two small casitas and a couple of bird coops we are always busy maintaining and trying to move forward with new goals. We try to do as much as we can ourselves with occasional outside help. Here are a few of the projects we have been working on recently.

ChainsawBritton sawing what I think is a fallen Indian bay leaf tree

Chopping up downed trees
Hurricane Maria brought down a lot of trees everywhere and our property was no exception. One of the many things we did right when we built the jungle cabin was to bury the electric line even though it was 500 feet away from the main. Otherwise, we would have been struggling like the electric company to get the poles up and the trees off the lines. We still had (and have) a mess to contend with however. The problem is that there is nowhere to bring all this wood. So we have a huge pile of wood debris in the quebrada.

It does open up our jungle area to a little more light and we have plans to plant more heliconias and gingers here as we expand our flower business. Britton mainly runs the chainsaw because I am a little afraid of the kickback when I’ve used it. I lopper some of the smaller brush around until we have an area that we can replant. We have a whole section of property (about 3/4 acre) by the Magic Mango and Camino de Pobres that we haven’t even touched and is still impossible to cross without scrambling over huge fallen trees that jut every which way.

Flower Truck Load
Truck loaded with flowers to bring to the market

Flowers and plants
This is one of the more enjoyable tasks around the farm. We go out and find plants -either dig-ups or at nurseries- and then the next day or so we plant them. When we plant a tree it’s really a tough decision because we know that some of them can grow to be huge and we’d rather not transplant too much. With the other plants that grow from rhizomes like bananas, eleplant ears, heliconias and gingers we’re not so picky because they are easily transplanted.

Cassie and bambooThis bamboo is bigger than me and weighed more too!

MonsteraI love monsteras and they look great in the flower bouquets too

Some plants are very difficult to find and/or transplant like the giant bamboo we recently planted. This probably deserves a post of its own because it took 2 days of digging and a full day of moving and transplanting. I love how the plants and flowers transform the place. The jungle is beautiful on its own, but the broad-leafed plants bring a certain classic paradise look that I just love.

Cabin in the woods
Our cabin in the jungle

The jungle treetop cabin
While there is always something to do with a structure, I would say that the inside of the jungle cabin is now complete. We finished the kitchen and our final touch this past month was to have screen doors installed. Now it is so fresh and breezy that I almost always have to have a blanket on at night! We have more plans for the area around it such as finishing the lower area as well as adding some railing.

Trim for doors
Trimming the screen doors

Mango cabana
Cabana
Cabana at the top of the property

The concrete cabana got hit worse by the hurricane than our jungle wooden cabin because it has the ocean view and therefore the winds are stronger. It lost all of its upper railing on the rooftop and the front of the house got blasted like a water pressure treatment for 24+ hours. So we have some projects for it especially as we are now renting it out to guests. We are planning on repainting the outside areas that got blasted as well as the interior.

We also just recently finished sealing the roof again. This is a product called Crossco that is basically a plastic paint that prevents water from slowly seeping through the concrete into the house. Britton also refortified the small bridge crossing since it doesn’t have the other cabana rails as support for it anymore/currently. And I have a couple of ideas for interior decor.

Powerwashing
Powerwashing then resealing the roof of the cabana

Cabana Roof Sealing roof
Before and after sealing

Of course there is always more, but these have been the current projects around the property. It’s hard work but keeps us busy and I love seeing the ever-changing beauty of this magical place.

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