Don Jorge - 1-29-2004 at 08:58 AM
Yesterday I took a quick trip down to Valle Guadalupe to visit with some old friends. I was taking some irrigation stuff and some used disc blades I
no longer needed to some friends who would appreciate them. Plus, I just wanted to go see some old friends in a place which was a part of me.
I met up with Alejandro Samarin and Andres Samaduroff around lunch time at Alex's house. Last of the milk drinkers. There we drank some coffee and
talked about crops and cows as farmers/ranchers do when they are drinking coffee in January.
Alex no longer farms his 75 acres of grapes. He has not pruned or watered the vines this year. His vines rest barely on dirt, sticks and wire but at
least there are no weeds to disc, it hasn't rained enough to even germinate the weed crop.
The local wineries are not buying grapes this year he complains and last year they only paid around $40.00 per ton so it didn't pay anyways.
Andres is only running about 50 cow units nowadays. Up until the 90's he ran several hundred. But things are changing. The hills he ran his cattle
on and his dad ran his cattle on are now all fenced off, squatted and ejidotized.
They used to run their cattle from Sierra Blanca to El Tigre along with a few other Russsian families, moving the herds as cowboys do, on horseback,
in the hills for weeks at a time. They would burn the hills in the fall to create better grazing if and when the winter rains came. The winter
rains have not shown up in these parts for quite some time.
Andres says he has no more horses, doesn't need them and can't afford to feed them, as all of his cows are now permanent residents on the few hundred
acres he owns. The animals are fenced in, comiendo piedras, as he put it. The federal government gave him shiny new metal t poles to string the
fence on. He has to buy hay to feed them as this winter is nothing but dry dirt and twigs. Comiendo piedras.
It is dry down that way. Many of the wells in the area are going dry and there is a renewed government effort to meter and restrict private well use.
Ni modo.
Andres told me that nowadays if your cows are found grazing along the Federal highways they are subject to being killed on the spot by Federel cops.
That's a change. It used to be that if you hit a cow on the road the rancher wanted compensation and sometimes got it.
The weather in their world is changing they told me. It is drier now, wet years are few and very far between. I agree with their assessment. Their
world, including their weater, is changing.
On the way home,I note the familiar landmarks. The Everet's Rancho Sordo Mordu looks neat and tidy and their RV Park has a visitor. They do good work
and are good people.
Cettos and Domecqs vineyards are pruned, the sap is no doubt cursing through the cordons and buds are swelling with next years fruit. A tour bus is
pulling out onto the main highway from Domecqs.
Driving to Tecate, I note the dryness of drought evident everywhere. Changing climate? Ni modo.
I have a thought and chuckle. One thing that doesn't change is some old friends, farmers and ranchers, sitting around the table in January sipping
coffee, b-tchin and moaning about the weather, prices and what not. That will never change!
David K - 1-29-2004 at 09:29 AM
Thanks for the account of your vist, Don Jorge. It is good to record the changes for historic reflection.
We do go through climatic cycles... just a few years ago we had too much rain (El Nino), and this winter is the coldest I can recall (using the heater
almost nightly here in Oceanside).
In 2001, some Amigos (Fishin Rich, elgatoloco & BajaBarb, David Eidell) and I visited Guadalupe Valley's museums, mission site, and a winery... That
fun day ended with a spectacular dinner at Ensenada's El Taco de Huitzilopotchtli http://davidksbaja.com/cabras/page3.html
Bob H - 1-29-2004 at 10:45 AM
It's sad to hear about 75 acres of grape vines dying. However, one of the best uses for grape vine wood is to use it in a smoker. It provides the
perfect smoke for flavoring, one of my favorites, when you can find it. But, the older the wood gets, more of the flavor is lost. 
Bob H