International Surf Day Rincon, Puerto Rico

Yesterday was International Surfing Day and it was observed in surf communities around the world. Here in Rincon, Puerto Rico we celebrated it by starting with a beach clean up inside the Tres Palmas Marine Reserve, followed by stand up paddle boarding by some, paddling on surfboards by others and a snorkel by the rest around the reserve, and we ended the day with a potluck lunch on Steps Beach. The sun was shining and the water was crystal clear....it was another gorgeous day in paradise!

International Surfing Day is held annually on the summer solstice. It was established by Surfing Magazine and Surfrider Foundation in 2004. It's not just for people that surf, it's for everyone that loves the beaches, oceans and waves. It's for people that are environmentally conscious and want to give back to the community. It's also a day for people to get outside and enjoy the water. It's an opportunity to invite people to come spend the day on the beach, together as a community, and that's what we did!

The good news is OUR BEACHES ARE PRETTY DARN CLEAN!!! We gathered about 10 bags of trash, some corrugated tin, two tires and broken flower pot. I have to say that the beaches here in Rincon seem remarkably cleaner than they were a few years ago. I think a lot of that has to do with the monthly beach clean ups we do with Surfrider Foundation. Also, due to the clean ups a lot more people are aware of the "keep our beaches clean" effort and whenever they go to the beach they pick up scraps of trash on their way out. Now, I'm not talking about masses of trash everywhere, but it's the cigarette butts or the plastic cup you see while lying on the beach that really bug me.

Anyhow...yesterday was a great success. Thanks to Joel Cordero for all the great photos. Thanks to Steve Tamar for tirelessly setting up the Surfrider tent. Thanks to Roger Wagner from 787 Surf School for carting all the tables and coolers back and forth. Thanks to everyone that made delicious food for lunch and helped clean our beach! Thanks to Surfrider Foundation, Kaenon and Monster Beverage for donating all the cool schwag that we gave away at the event. And thanks to David and Maureen Miller for donating about 30 lbs of delicious squash, free for the taking, from their farm.

Bamboo

Leon and I were interested in planting trees, bushes and flowers to beautify the property and reduce erosion. We were able to get over 200 plants for free from the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources DRNA, mostly consisting of different varieties of palms and we bought hundreds of small mani plants for ground cover. Over time we continued to add different types of bushes, shrubs and flowers with some successes and some failures. Some of our favorite plantings are the various species of bamboo we planted on the east side of the property. We heard there is a man in town that goes by the name Bamboo Joe. He has 12 cuerdas (approx 12 acres) in Barrio Cruces covered in bamboo and various hard woods that he planted himself. Bamboo Joe was offering a tour of his property for anyone interested in seeing what he was doing. It turns out he built his house out of bamboo as well as furniture, lamps, toys, and tree houses too! Joe has created his own bamboo jungle unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

We were so impressed with the beauty of the bamboo garden that decided to hire Joe to plant bamboo on our property, Dos Ceibas. We already had one large patch of bamboo on the property that's been there for many years and it’s a special spot on the property for us. In fact we named one of the lots “Bamboo” because of it. The tranquility and shade it provides is a unique aspect of the bamboo patch. We love the noise it makes when the wind rusltles the leaves and makes the stalks rub against one another. The fallen leaves also provides a unique ground cover. We planted various types of bamboo as a screen on the north side of the property which has the closest proximity to a neighbor. We're looking to create a natural barrier on the border of the cano.

Here are a few species of bamboo we planted:

Bambusa Textilis, also called weavers bamboo. It's wind tolerant, compact, ideal for hedges and can grow up to 40 feet in height.

Bambusa Vulgaris, also called common bamboo has feathery yellow and green leaves. Its known to be great for erosion control and can grow up to 40 feet in height.

Dendrocalamus Asper, also known as giant bamboo can grow up to 4o feet in height. It has spines and sharp edges and grows really fast with large bright green leaves.

Bambusa Tuldoides is also known as buddhas belly because of the swollen sections called internodes. Buddhas Belly can grow up to 70 feet tall with zig zagging lowers culms! It's one of the largest bamboo species around. Obviously these are great for foliage and a privacy screen The height can also be stunted when put into pots and used for ornamental decorations.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Composting is Cool!

Leon and I are doing our best to live by the motto reduce, reuse, recycle. We've been composting for well over a year now at R House in Rincon, Pueto Rico and have seen major improvements in our home garden by using the compost material for our organic herb garden and yard plants. We've also seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of trash that goes into our trash barrels.

Picking out the right composter was important to us.  We evaluated how we would use the composter and how often we would add to it.  Since I love to cook, and cook often, we realized our composter would be added to daily.  For that reason we chose the bin style as opposed to the tumbling composter.  The problem with the tumbling composter is if you use it daily, you're constantly adding fresh produce to it, which makes it more difficult to sift out the dark crumbly matter when gardening.  Living in a warm environment like Puerto Rico helps speed up the decomposition, but one can also compost while living in cold regions; it just may take a bit longer.

We chose the Earthsaver Compost Bin.  I found it online for about $180, but after searching the web a little longer, I found it on ebay for only $89 with shipping! The Earthsaver Compost Bin was easy to assemble, has dual sliding doors and a large locking lid to keep the rodents out. We added a mesh wire to the bottom of the composter and tacked it to the sides so that the rodents wouldn't be able to dig under the composter to get at the food scraps. It seems to have worked since we've never had any problems with rodents.  We do have about a million cockroaches living in the bin.  I was a bit worried about it so I did some research and learned that roaches are actually helping breakdown the food scraps added to the bin.

The best combo for your composter is layering greens and browns.  We add fruit, veggies, coffee grounds, cardboard toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, eggshells (no yolks!) and lint from the dryer as well as dry dead plants, leaves and grass.  Never add bones, meat, dairy, diseased plants, oil or chemically treated yard waste as this can lead to bad odors, rodents and flies.  Steve Tamar, my composting guru, told me that mango leaves are highly acidic so I try not to add that type of leaf to the mix.  Also, chemically treated yard waste can contain pesticides that are harmful to the composting organisms that help break down the matter.  I've also been told that horse manure is excellent to add and Pintos R Us happily agreed to donate all the manure I want for my bin.  I just haven't been able to bring myself to scoop the poop for the bin!