Jackie

The birds, the birds… and foxy

January 30, 2014 Jackie Comments 1 comment

The birds 1 First up the chooks. Well, we are really pleased that at least one of the new hens we bought back in September is now laying. Not the biggest of eggs but small and perfectly formed. The remaining hens (now called the old hens) are trying to make amends for their past poor performance and recently we’ve had 3 eggs a day from them.

They’re a little miffed at the mo. The new hens have been taken from their original patch and put in a new one, full of luscious green grass. The old ones are left to dig around in the dirt having eaten every blade and scratched up every root.

The birds 2 January is always a good month for bird watching from our living room windows. It’s not uncommon to see 15 different kinds of birds at one time, mostly the various finches on and under the feeder, but also warblers, pipits and wrens. For some reason the tits have turned their beaks up at the fat balls we put out but the great tits are happy with the seed.

A first for us here at Casa Azul was a short-toed tree creeper doing it’s thing around the olive trunks. And we were really surprised to see a hoopoe preening itself in the plum trees, they’re summer visitors and shouldn’t be here until April.

Foxy We treated ourselves recently to a wildlife camera, one of those that takes photos and videos when something walks past. I’d chosen what I thought was a good spot, opposite some kind of underground nest, but nothing. So after a few weeks chose a different spot where it looked like animals had passed. Success! One night the shot of a passing tail and then a short film of a curious fox. Just keep away from the chooks, foxy!

Plant of the year award 2013

January 1, 2014 Jackie Comments 5 comments

A year ago it was the humble leek that got the prestigious casa azul plant of the year award, for reasons too numerous to list here. For 2013 there is another clear winner, more exotic and almost as prolific; a beringela, the aubergine.

Since mid summer there were plenty to pick, plump and purple, right up to the end of November. Every time I picked what I thought was the last batch I left the plants and their nodding violet flowers to die, only to discover more fruit a few weeks later. I’m also pleased because there was a time when Richard said he didn’t like them. Roasted over the dying embers of a summer barbecue and turned into baba ganoush he was happy but otherwise he didn’t like their texture. Since my vegetarian days they have been one of my favourite veg so I took it as a personal challenge to make him change his mind. Well, numerous dishes later he seems to have come round. They have been oven roasted with potatoes, lightly fried in chilli oil… .

…curried with coconut milk and served in half with roasted toms. Not to mention the pasta and other middle eastern dishes, I particularly like the fact they go so well with cumin.

And all eaten with great relish, so a culinary as well as horticultural success. Here’s to a good 2014 harvest and happy new year to everyone!

Azeitonas e oliveiras

November 18, 2013 Jackie Comments 2 comments

We have 24 olive trees on our land. Tall, old and gnarled, they are covered in ivy and moss, their roots providing hiding holes for mice and other burrowing creatures. Having been neglected for many years we get olives from less than half of these, the others are just too tall or non-productive. But we get enough olives for our yearly olive oil consumption and this year they are plump and juicy. We could have got more than the five buckets we need but, if truth be told, we are a little on the lazy side. So for three days of the year we scrambled over branches, climbed ladders, tugged, sawed, bashed and plucked. We also splashed out on our own net this year. Our neighbour’s magic machine separated the olives from the debris and then we headed off to the lagar de azeite feeling like old hands, it was our fifth harvest.

Our over confidence was soon blown away. In previous years we were able to book a time a few days ahead to join the queue of turning our olives into oil. Not this year. The first factory told us there was a two week wait, the second had a notice pinned outside the office door: no dates free until 9 December. It seems it was a bumper harvest for everyone, outside the factories there were lines of trucks and pickups laden with mammoth mounts of olives. It meant one thing, we were not going to be able to have our own oil but do a swop instead. Reluctantly we handed over our five buckets which were weighed and then the factory oil was given to us straight away. No cost involved and still very nice but not quite the same.

One thing we are trying to do is get our heads around the pruning of the trees. The first year we were a little heavy handed and one tree was almost cut down completely. We kept doing a little bit more on each branch and then realised there wasn’t much left. However, the following year the stump had disappeared behind a curtain of new growth and a sizeable bush had grown. This we really liked, it was thick and tall and looked great. So over the following four years we have chopped down one tree at a time. The first one is no longer a bush but almost a proper tree so our studying of what everyone else does seems to be paying off.

And today Richard took the plunge and chainsaw and chopped down one of the biggest trees right at the end of the garden which was straggly with dead branches. Already there is new growth around the base which we’d pruned last year so we know that the empty space left will be replaced within a few years with a healthier, more productive tree.

Finally, the olives looked so good we have picked a load of green, and then black, olives for eating. They’ve been in brine for over a month now and so have been put in jars with either olive oil and orange peel or wild thyme. And of course the cut down olives trees make excellent logs for the fire, and with temperatures set to plummet that’s just what we need!

Bits and bobs

October 24, 2013 Jackie Comments 3 comments

All our visitors have now come and gone, along with the sun. It was on with waterproof hat, coat, trousers and boots for the dogs’ morning walk and a muttering of “it’s good for the garden”. Apparently it’s a mast year in the UK which means that the forest trees are producing a lot more fruits and nuts than usual. Well, I don’t know if it’s the same here but I have noticed an abundance of acorns and berries. The wild boar are here again snuffling for roots and fallen nuts, they’ll be happy.

The olives are plump and plentiful too, a far cry for the pathetic crop last year. Somehow it’s got a lot greener quicker this autumn and (foolishly, I know) I found myself looking for signs of the first orchids only to remember it’s autumn not spring! The mild weather has added to the springlike quality I suppose, and the sheep and goats are back in the meadows.

Meanwhile there’s been (and still are) a hundred and one things to keep us busy here (and my father, too!) Jobs include mending, mulching, harvesting, drying, preserving, pruning and transplanting. Not to mention weeding. One task was preparing the fields and coops for new chooks. We feel more farmlike now with two more sets. Our original three hens (four until the mongoose saga) laid very few eggs over the summer as usual (they really hate the heat) but are now very slow to get back on track. We’ve had them three years now and so decided it was time to get reinforcements. Four new weeny cheepy bundles of fluff and feathers have arrived (and yes you three you have a right to look nervous!) along with 12 ‘roasties’ who are plumping up nicely already, thank you.

Sadly the slugs are in abundance too. Never have I seen so many at night (it’s impossible not to stand on them) and the little beggers are still around during the day. Monty Don writes “In one experiment 27,500 slugs were taken from one small garden without a noticeable difference to slug activity. Densities of 200 slugs per square metre are moderate”. The lettuces are now protected by plastic bottles (although some weren’t rescued in time) but I see they have headed towards the later planting of leeks… Twelve strawberry plants were taken from runners in the summer and planted in new beds. They looked great but now look very sorry for themselves. I thought it was just the transplanting but fear now they have verticillium wilt which means I now have to dig them all up 🙁

One success story has been the kale. A bed was put aside for them outside the watering system just to see “how they got on”. They did look rather sorry for themselves in the summer swelter so were given a watering can or two. But yes, now the rain is here they have picked up and huge leaves have grown seemingly overnight and they are flourishing. Good news for the chickens and perhaps some caldo verde for us for lunch.

The fine weather is set to return. No more barbecues methinks but walks in the autumn woods and puddles is something to look forward to. Fingers crossed.

Sugar and spice…

September 29, 2013 Jackie Comments 0 Comment

…and all things nice. It’s been a good September looking back. The welcome rain is now with us which means not only is the garden and veg patch being watered but time inside to deal with the autumn fruit crops. First up the figs.

Enormous, plump, honeyed, delicious, it’s a great year for the figs. There are loads of trees near us, green and purple, we are spoilt for choice. So fig chutney tick, fig and sesame jam tick, fig cookies tick, fig and oatmeal flapjack things tick, fig and vanilla tart tick, and soon roasted figs with crème fraîche not forgetting Nigel Slater’s wonderful fig and mascarpone tart. We also have pears, not enormous and plump. Small, hard but perfectly formed, just right for poaching in red wine and spices. Then the limes, loads of limes, from our little lime tree in the courtyard.

So lime marmalade and, when the chickens start laying again, key lime pie (although I always think of mojitos when I smell them). There’s blackberry and apple jam in the pantry too, plus a freezer full of apple cake. Finally, there’s a handful of stanley plums. These I may well bottle with brandy and allspice for a winter treat with ice cream.

Along with visitors and lots of days out we also managed to get away for a week – a wonderful road trip north to Porto, Santiago do Compostela, Viana do Castelo, Ponte de Lima and then on the last day Figueira da Foz. A trip about seafood, swimming and sight-seeing.

And not a dog on the back seat! We found a great couple to house and dog sit through trustedhousesitters.com and can’t recommend them highly enough. Our first real holiday in four years! Now it’s time to plan the autumn sowing and planting, but maybe another cup of tea and cake before heading out…

A is for…

August 31, 2013 Jackie Comments 0 Comment

…August. The month is drawing to a close and the weather forecast is already showing lower temperatures for the month ahead. We’ve survived the summer heat quite well this year, mainly by being active outside in the mornings and then retreating inside as the mercury tops 40. The days always start with an early morning dog walk and then the first of the watering. Richard makes breakfast which is always eaten outside. Then more watering (thanks to the incessant rains our well has only just run dry) and getting into the veg patch to do some chores: tying up, pruning, digging up, weeding, taking cuttings etc etc. From the kitchen Richard can be heard sharpening the knife as the roasties hide nervously in the bushes. They’ve all been killed now and some tasty meals we’ve had too.

…Afternoon delights. Afternoons vary, there’s always plenty of baking and preserving of produce to do. We’ve also lazed on the sofa and watched some summer sport. But the best thing to do, and the dogs are with me on this, is to drive to the lake for a swim. Betty is chuffed she can swim now and is by far the fastest in the water.

…Apples and aubergines. There seem to be even more apples this year than ever before. Richard has made some wicked apple and blackberry crumbles, and tried his hand at making cider. I’ll leave him to say how well that’s going… Our never ending crop of aubergines gets the summer star award, and there are still lovely purple flowers on display.

…Avocado. Finally, a word on the avocado plant started not long after moving in. Three years later it has almost taken over the bathroom with one branch hanging out the window. It’s going from strength to strength, it’ll be touching the ceiling soon. Guacamole, anyone?

Reasons to be cheerful…

August 6, 2013 Jackie Comments 0 Comment

…one: we have potatoes! Okay, not such an abundant harvest as previous years but potatoes we have; most have been dug up, dried in the sun and then packed into boxes. There are still some plants to go but with the earth dried hard it’s a slow task. Not only potatoes but a wonderful crop of aubergines, plus courgettes, peppers and now the toms. Also lettuce, cucumbers (both long, green ones and round, yellow ones) and sweetcorn. There are some good-sized melons.

…two: and so we are eating a lot of our own food. It seems to have taken a long time for the summer crop this year but now we sit down regularly to a plate of home-grown, home-made food. There’s plenty of pork left and now chicken too, Richard has killed all the fat, white ones so only the nervous brown ones left.

Barbecued pork with oven roasted potatoes and aubergines followed by foraged crumble (we may not have any plums but there are apples and blackberries in the fields), mmmmm. And the chicken paella was very good too. There’s something about cooking outside that makes it all tastier.

…three: we are a buzzin’. If the high temperatures are not enough we are reminded that it’s summer by the constant hum and buzz of the bugs. Butterflies and bees and wasps (we have a couple of nests so entering the polytunnel and shed is with some trepidation) and creatures we have no idea what they are called fly around from dawn to dusk. The bumblebees are tireless. I thought they were wearing themselves out as they started to die on the lavender, we would awake to see a number of corpses clinging to the flowers or crumpled on the floor. This seemed a bit strange. Then I noticed a tiny white crab spider lurking which apparently kills wasps and bees, but not this one anymore.

This miniature shredded wheat turns out to be the nest of a praying mantid. Meanwhile the big task today is to make the annual batch of ratatouille. Richard is making mead, but that’s another story…

Flaming June – at last

July 1, 2013 Jackie Comments 2 comments

A week, they say, is a long time in politics. Well, that’s certainly the case at Casa Azul too. From miserable rain and even the wood burning stove roaring of an evening (in June – it’s true!) to mindblowingly hot temperatures. The sun has certainly got its hat on: 37+ of an evening. It’s meant getting as much done in the morning as possible and then retreating to the cool of the interior, thanks to almost metre thick walls.

So despite a poor potato harvest (I’m assuming, I haven’t unearthed the dwarf plants yet) and other feebleness (see previous post) it’s with some delight that I can say that now the toms, peppers, aubergines, squash, cucumbers and the ever faithful courgettes are full steam ahead.

However, this post is actually about the courtyard. I’d said to Richard before buying a place that it was a) a must to have a window above the kitchen sink and b) desirable to have a courtyard. Well, we got both and now, almost 4 years here, the courtyard is looking just lovely. It’s alive with flowers and bees and, as I look out of the window above the kitchen sink, it seems the rain was a long, long time ago…

Gloomy June

June 18, 2013 Jackie Comments 0 Comment

There’s an air of despondency here at the Casa Azul horta. It’s the middle of June and everything should be about to burst into fruitfulness but, alas, everything is rather soggy and, like me, feeling sorry for itself. For this morning’s early morning walk I donned waterproofs and wellies. Call this summer?

So what’s the state of play now? Well, most of the onions and all the garlic have now been pulled up. The garlic survived the wet winter and spring better than expected but the onions are rather small. They were all hanging out to dry but are now back in the barn where it’s dry. The potatoes have all sprouted into bushes but they are so small too, have no idea what kind of crop we’ll get. Our neighbour said that those he knew who’d planted their potatoes before the rain have nothing, those who waited have got half. I also waited and it seems likely that it’ll be half a crop for us too. The delay has meant that they won’t be pulled up until next month this year, I had worried that this’ll be too late for the leeks who go in the bed next but I have to admit that they too look rather feeble.

This time two years ago we were sun drying the first lot of tomatoes! Ha ha they may have flowers on them now but they have a long way to go yet.

Tiny toms and tatties…

The corn is up, their tassels are out and hoping to be germinated, again not as tall as last year. And the courgettes too are putting on a brave face, we’ve had a few this year already.

Meanwhile the asparagus, artichokes and purple sprouting broccoli have all come and gone. I have sown some more artichoke plants, these ones are now 4 years old and will need replacing soon.

So any good news from the horta? Well, we have raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries and red currants. But veg wise? There are also aubergines, peppers, beans, cucumbers, melons and squash growing but nothing to eat from them yet. The chard bolted. The cauliflower and calabrese are also on the pathetic list. So not really. However, ever the great optimist, I’m sure we’ll have a wonderful July and we’ll be swamped with vegetables galore.

Meanwhile, we are enjoying the green grass and flowers, both in the garden and in the countryside. It’s just a shame the mornings are a touch damp for breakfast outside… roll on July!

The green, green grass of home

April 21, 2013 Jackie Comments 4 comments

Thursday morning, 11 April, it thundered down with rain; great sheets of it squashing the irises. Come the afternoon sunny intervals and since then not a drop. It’s got sunnier and warmer each day, as I glance up now there’s not a cloud in the sky and it still feels strange after such a wet, wet spring. But of course every cloud has a silver lining and we now seem to be living in the Emerald City, the grass is sooo gorgeously green!

And it’s also meant that all systems are go in the garden and veg patch. There are now a million and one tasks that need to be done (including strimming and weeding of course) and prioritising them can be difficult. Loads of seedlings have been potted on, and I’m especially pleased that the leeks have done their trick. Having saved a few flower heads from plants last year, and kept them in the potting shed, there were plenty of tiny black seeds to sow. These have all germinated and there are now 50 leeklings (?) which is wonderful, no need to buy leek seeds from now on (I hope).

We have also been able to enjoy one of our favourite past times, ie the lunchtime barbie! Purple sprouting broccoli is up but I’m most excited about the abundant crop of asparagus.

Loads more to tell but back to the jobs and the evening sunshine now…

the story of Casa Azul

and a new life in deepest Portugal

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Author: Jackie