Just as we were leaving to go out last night I noticed what I thought at first was a large, low, grey cloud billowing behind the hill with the wind turbines. Then I could smell smoke. Sure enough, there was a fire raging in the distance, and the wind turbines showed clearly that it was coming in our direction.

I must confess to feeling some unease. We decided not to cancel the invitation out but to take the longer scenic route where we could see where the fire was. Luckily for us it was further away than I first thought. When we drove home I was convinced we would see it glowing red on the horizon – but nada. However, this morning the garden was covered with a fine sprinkling of ash.

And today the choppers are out again. This one was flying right over the house having emptied it’s huge bucket of water. I think the bombeiros (firefighters) are amazing, already one has lost her life fighting some of the worst summer fires Portugal has seen. Meanwhile the thermometer was reading 34 in the shade, in the sun it shot up to the maximum 55 in no time so have no idea what it is really. The forecast is for the temperatures to steadily fall, with rain in a week’s time. That, for me, would be a welcome change. No doubt for the bombeiros too.

The summer heat is here – the plants are wilting, helicopters hover overhead laden with water for forest fires and the wind feels like a giant hair dryer. Just the kind of heat that makes you crave a dip in a cool river beach. Hurrah! then for the numerous river beaches in central Portugal – another fantastic one we were taken to the other day. No salt, no chlorine, just clear, fresh water and some amazing scenery:

The heat has meant all garden work is done early in the morning after a spot of bird watching. The birds haven’t always been welcome visitors though and CDs and aluminium foil have been hung up around the runner beans whose flowers are all disappearing. The swedes and turnips will have to be sown again having been eaten by flea beetles and a cat has dug up the chard seedlings. However, more carrots have come through, more onions are in the ground and, in lots of little pots, cabbage, calabrese and cauliflower are waiting to go in the old legume bed (rotation, rotation). We’re now eating the dwarf french beans – from seed to stomach in seven weeks – so I’m hoping that this ignoring the seed packet sowing dates will work for everything else as well.

One buttercup squash refuses to die which is great as we’ve already eaten quite a few of them already. The flowers are always open in the morning to greet me and the bees:

It’s been great collecting the day’s produce. The courgettes plants have come alive again and so we had courgette fritters for lunch (which were fantastic) and the courgette cake was a success too. We were also really pleased with our second melon. The first one wasn’t quite ripe and so we waited a week and had another go. Looks like melon for pud for the next few weeks…

Our chillies are eventually turning red (but, stubbornly, not the sweet peppers). Initially I’d put them in a metal dish (as recommended on a UK website) to dry in the sun only to discover that they’d cooked! Hanging them up in the hot air seems to be working much better:

Richard has been making a great som tam salad using courgettes instead of papaya although the chillies so far haven’t been quite as hot as he’d like. The barbecued aubergines make a great moutabal too, I’m hoping the tahini we brought over with us from Jordan is ok still! Oh yes, we’re eating quite a few of the sprouts. Here’s hoping there’s enough growing for Christmas!

Lots to say about the veg patch but for now here’s a very large green dragonfly laying eggs in the pond.

Things have been a bit quiet on the farm this week so I’ve had time to sort a few of the photos of our trials and tribulations over the past 6 months and have put them on a new page: Photoblog I hope you enjoy them.

However, no time for slacking. Our guest bedroom will be seeing its first guests very soon – we await the imminent arrival of our friends from Lisbon, Jo and Nigel. They will be followed in September by my sister Sue and brother-in-law Kevin, and hot on the heels of them will be Jackie’s parents.

The pond has been abandoned a little but despite a somewhat murky appearance seems to be doing well. We had made it to attract the frogs and this has yet to happen but as there seems to be so few slugs that’s no big deal. What has happened though is that it has become a magnet for the birds who like nothing more than a big splashy bath to start the day. There can be up to five different kinds battling for a place on ‘the beach’ including tits, (blue and great), goldfinches, robins, serins, blackbirds, greenfinches, sparrows and black redstarts plus their scruffy young. Pictures to follow. My favourite at the moment is the linnet although not a common sight. A hoopoe flew by the other day, and there are jays too.

There are quite a few plants growing well and the lily has produced its second yellow flower – very pretty:

But nowhere near as pretty as the red dragonflies:

They look bizarre close up with a giant bobbing head and filigree wings, kind of fascinating but creepy at the same time!

NB Have a butchers on the video page as there’s a new one with the (pretty much) finished house.

…or rather the pigeon! The only thing remaining to be done on the house was to have a couple of doves / pigeons perched on the roof. With those we would pay the very last of the builder’s fee. And last night they arrived and with them a feeling of completion; there is of course hundreds of things still to be done but by us rather than others. The bird on the roof, the cherry on the cake. Actually, they weren’t exactly what we wanted. Many of the old houses here have ones with wings outstretched as though they are about to take off, but on reflection I like these modern sedentary ones – they look calm and settled, one looking north and the other south.

When Richard asked me to update the blog I realised that I never took any photos when the veg patch was looking it’s best. At one time it was teeming with produce and flowers but I think I was so busy picking and then cooking, bottling, pickling etc that I forgot. Anyway here are some that give you an idea of what’s happening now. All the beans have finished. The borlotti beans and runner beans have been dried for winter use, everything else was eaten. But it seemed strange to me not to have any more growing, so I set about sowing some more and in this heat they have all come through in record time. So a second round of peas, dwarf beans, french beans and runner beans are on the go:

Meanwhile the cherry toms have almost finished but we still have ‘golden sunrise’ and ‘tigerella’ coming through:

What else? The sweet corn have all been eaten – when I found out there was only one cob per plant I thought I wouldn’t grow those again but in fact they were so delicious that I may well do them again next year. I’m pleased with the aubergines and peppers (there are sweet peppers, chilli peppers and red hot chilli peppers) and the melons will be ready soon we hope.

The Brussels sprouts are slowly taking over from the courgettes which are still producing but flagging:

I’m not sure how successful the companion planting was but the nasturtiums did indeed have loads of aphids on when other plants  didn’t, and the bees loved the marigolds which have grown enormous. The flowers have made the garden really colourful, both plants were a range of reds, yellows and vibrant oranges.

However, I’m aware that these pics have made the veg patch look more attractive than it is. It’s midsummer here of course and not having had any rain for weeks means that the land is bone dry and turning a paler shade of yellow:

Our next project is organising the ground around the house, we’re thinking of simply getting some earth and encouraging grass and flowers to grow (with a sign up saying no weeds) because the birds come right up towards the windows as they can’t see us inside and that’s great. Meanwhile, Richard is relaxing:

After two weeks in the house we still haven’t finished unpacking. And no, we haven’t just been lazing around enjoying our new home. In fact I think we’ve been busier these two weeks than ever before. Jackie has finished painting and I have finished the shelving – not only the mammoth bookcase in the lounge but various shelves in the kitchen and a bit of work in the bathroom. My electric drill has been a constant buzz around the house.

bookcase is still standing after a day

We have also completed shelving for the pantry which now holds a whole raft of various preserves, chutneys etc in addition to home grown veggies including some rather large prize-winning (but possible inedible) marrows.

This weekend saw us down in Lisbon where we were once again very well taken care of by our friends Jo and Nigel. Not a complete jolly however, as we needed some stuff from Ikea. Mainly lights for the bathroom and bedroom but also various other necessities that only the big city superstore can provide. Of course, sod’s law took over and they were all out of the lights we were after but still we managed to spend almost 400 euros. We spent 700 last time and on neither occasion did we buy any furniture (except for a kitchen table and TV stand).

With the shelves up, all Jackie’s kitchen stuff is organised and our books unpacked. So all that remains are our clothes (the carpenter still hasn’t finished the wardrobe) and then the final thing will be to hang the pictures and find room for our knick knacks – sorry, objets d’art. Oh and there is still a bit of work for the hired hands – the local blacksmith has to put in the main gate and the builder install the “Pombals” – pottery pigeons which adorn the corners of the roof and which is a local tradition.  I think only then can we say we have really moved in.

Veggie update: We’ve been eating sweetcorn almost every day as it has ripened and can’t be stored fresh. Needless to say it is absolutely delicious. The salad stuff is going strong and I can’t believe it but the fruits of another plum tree have ripened. That’s five varieties and all taste very different.

tomatoes going strong

a couple for "That's life"

The chillies are turning red and the aubergines are coming on. This is the moment that Jackie has been waiting for – to prepare a meal totally from garden produce – it will be a ratatouille, with aubergines, courgettes, onions, olive oil, peppers, garlic and herbs and if I have any say, a red hot chilli pepper as well . We shall see.

So, stage one is essentially over – the main fabric of the house is completed. and from these photos taken in January we have come a fair way in six months:

But we have more immediate concerns. Having been totally ensconced in the structure of the house we have temporarily forgotten the veggie patch. And now we have discovered lots of it needs eating. Namely: Tomatoes, cucumbers, broad beans, french beans, borlotti beans, runner beans, courgettes, chillies, aubergines, lettuces, onions, garlic, cabbages, spinach, carrots, turnips, sweetcorn and we even think the brussel sprouts are ready. Three months ahead of schedule.

Meanwhile the celery, rhubard, currents of various hues, artichokes, asparagus and lord knows what else is on its way. Needless to say one of the rooms that needs seeing to now is the pantry and some storage needs to be created.

Well, this will be our third night in the house and I must say the novelty still hasn’t worn off. It still feels fantastic to wake up in our new bed and gaze out over the garden. Jackie’s favourite activity is to have a shower – as she designed the bathroom and loves the fact that the water is solar heated and despite the cool nights is still hot first thing in the morning.

Many people have asked us,”Now the house is finished, what are you going to do?”. Well, as well as our two podcasting sites and looking after the veggie patch there is plenty still to do on the house.

The big things like the barn, patio and the area in front of the french windows can wait for now. Our immediate priorities are more basic – like cleaning the floors – I think this will be a continuous chore as dust accumulates daily and simply won’t go away. We also actually need to unpack. It has been great to discover things from almost a year ago like all our carpets and knick knacks. But we need to find and create space for them. i.e. build shelves and find places for all our stuff. As we asked the builders to paint everything white we have also selected a few walls for a splash of colour which we will do ourselves.  Anyway, there is plenty to do so no time for idle chit chat.

As you can see from the photos below, the place is transformed (again) but still needs lots of work..

lounge

lounge

kitchen

And all seems to be well in the redstart nest in the old postbox. Unfortunately for the second brood only one chick hatched but here he/she is almost ready for take off.

PS For those interested in the garden goings on. The courgettes are still in full flow but now the squashes/pumpkins are coming on and we had our first tonight – delicious. And the cucumbers are starting to take over as well – not your boring green ones (although we do have those as well) our main crop are cricket ball sized and yellow and delicious. Oh and the tomatoes and onions are also with us – so we are pretty much self sufficient in veggies now.

We are just coming to terms with the fact that tonight will be our first in Casa Azul. Today we have been scrubbing floors, unloading boxes and trying to give directions in Portuguese for the delivery men who came with our new furniture (the bed upon which we will be sleeping tonight!!). We are exhausted but had a mini celebration of champagne on the threshing square followed by a barbeque with a difference – the difference being we don’t have to pack up and go to our rented house. The difference also being I am updating this blog from our sofa while J does the dishes (double bonus!!) – actually she’s now in our solar powered shower.

Too excited to sleep but too tired to do anything but drink red wine and listen to music – heaven!

But we realise it is far from finished – unpacking and then clearing up the huge amount of detritus in the courtyard followed by more unpacking, then there is shelving, paving, strimming etc etc etc.

However CASA AZUL/BRANCA is now (almost) finished and welcoming guests. Come on down!!!!!!

Pictures to follow…