One of the great things about Rancho la Puerta is that most of the food served in the dining hall is grown here on the property. A large portion of the 3000 acres of land is devoted to what may have been Mexico’s first modern organic garden.
A few years ago, the Ranch opened a demonstration kitchen near the garden, and each week guest chefs have cooking classes here. Neither John or I have been to one of these classes, but we have both been to the kitchen for breakfast. I went last year as part of the 9 mile hike. John went last year and this morning on the less strenuous Organic Garden Hike.
The hike he took this morning was a relatively flat two miles along an arroyo until they arrived at the charming building above. Inside is a large modern kitchen, and breakfast is laid out in a tempting buffet on the island. One of the great treats of this breakfast is that the kitchen staff prepares more home-style cooking, and while still vegetarian it is distinctly not low-fat. In short, the food is great!
After a hearty breakfast, and before heading the two miles back to the main part of the ranch, they have a tour of the garden led by one of the head gardeners. Here he was showing off a prize daikon.
And here he was showing some of the different types of beets they grow at the ranch.
While John was off doing this, I went on a 5 1/2 mile hike, the “Coyote”. I did a couple sessions of Pilates again. In the afternoon, he went to a Writing Workshop class while I learned about Tai Chi. He snapped this picture just outside of his writing classroom.
After writing, John went up to the Villas Pool area. This Villas are the nicest – and most expensive – of the accommodations at the Ranch.
Particularly after a rainy winter, there are lots of animals who call the Ranch home. The rabbits are particularly prolific.
And this bird decided that some of the sculpture made a nice resting place.
In the evening we both went to a session on “Overcoming Procrastination”. I’d like to think it was life changing, but that’s just too much work….
