the story of Casa Azul

Absconded

December 31, 2011 richard Comments 2 comments

We finish 2011 with some sad news – our bees have buggered off. Or, to put it technically, absconded.

When winter started they were very quiet as expected but some of them were still out and about foraging as normal. We were very lucky as there was plenty of food available as our rosemary bushes were still in flower as was a large eucalyptus tree in the next field to us. Then yesterday they seemed to be very active, chewing up their wax and dropping a lot of it just outside the hive. This morning I checked again and all the bees had disappeared!

Every one had gone leaving behind a healthy-looking hive with plenty of honey and pollen stores. After a bit of web research it’s still not clear what has happened. The presence of wax outside the hive and some telltale signs inside the hive, indicate robber bees – i.e. bees from other hives stealing the honey. But I think they are just opportunistic, stealing the stores after my bees had already skipped off. So I think the bees I saw yesterday were not mine but these new scavengers. Mine had already gone, maybe some time before.

healthy looking comb - a ring of pollen stores and some honey in the corners

Apparently absconding is rare but it does happen – the strange thing is, it is usually a result of some kind of disturbance or when there is a lack of food – neither of which has happened here. I have to say I’m absolutely devastated.

I won’t be defeated though, it’s just back to the drawing board. In the new year I’ll ask around and see if I can find out what has happened and get some more bees. Every cloud has a silver lining however, as there is a fair amount of honey in the hive I can harvest and I can render down some wax to see if we can make a candle or two.

In better news, in the winter sunshine, which we’ve had plenty of, we managed to spend some quality time enjoying the garden and doing some bird watching. What started it off was a rare sighting of a great spotted woodpecker on the walnut tree. It stayed for ages which was great. Then we started to notice loads of other birds. In all in about an hour we saw 14 species: blue tit, great tit, meadow pipit, thrush, goldfinch, greenfinch, chaffinch, sparrow, robin, blackbird, black redstart, pied wagtail and serin. And that’s not including a buzzard which we saw the day before soaring high above the garden as well as long tail tits which often fly through the olive trees in small family groups. No pictures here but they are all on our bird page

I’ve also been busy in the kitchen. I used up some spare tiles to line the kitchen shelves. I have to say it makes cleaning them much easier and looks a lot better too.

Of course Jackie has been busy in the garden as ever and here she is doing some weeding ably assisted by the hairy one.

As you can see the veg patch continues to feed us over the colder months and although we’ve pulled the last of the (delicious) turnips up we still have swede, chard (partly grown for its amazing colour), beetroot, leeks and some sprouts on the go. Soon some calabrese will be ready and with luck, some peas. Jersey new potatoes were planted yesterday and Jackie’s also busy planning next year’s crop hoping for an even bigger harvest. The almost daily sunshine this month has meant lunch outdoors but with only a few days rain we’re hoping January will be wetter to water the newly planted trees (shade for the hens) and fill the well but the weather forecast is sun for the next 10 days (we’re only slightly complaining!).

We mustn’t forget the hens who laid a total of 1064 eggs this year and gave us wonderful eggs benedict on Christmas day.

Meanwhile the oranges are growing bigger than ever and we’re both looking forward to new projects we’re planning for 2012 – come and visit and see for yourselves!

So here’s to a Happy New Year to our friends and readers and hope it’s a good, productive and peaceful one!

Feliz ano novo!

Mil ovos!

December 9, 2011 richard Comments 4 comments

A very short post this but I’ve got big news. In just under a year since they started laying, brownie and her mates – hennies, 2, 3 and 4 (we can still only recognise one of them as being a bit darker than the rest) have laid their 1000th egg. And after their little rest in October, they are back up to speed and laying significantly bigger ones. So good news all round.

We’ve also been busy. We went on a short soap making course last week. We’ll start churning out all sorts of soap from next year made with our own olive oil and assorted extras. So now you know what to expect for future Christmas presents!

And I went into the forest with a group of fungus foragers and came back with a basket full of wild mushrooms. It’s been a couple of days and I’m still alive so I guess they were safe to eat – more to follow but here’s a selection (the big one is a scaly tooth!):

The chop

November 28, 2011 richard Comments 2 comments

Our latest bunch of roasties have now had the chop. We bought them on 1st October, a bit younger than we had originally planned as they were only a couple of weeks old. However, they stuffed themselves silly and when I dispatched them this week (when they were 10 weeks old) they had mushroomed in size to between 3 and 4 kgs (the largest was almost 9lbs in old money, the same size as a turkey!).

No photos of the actual dispatching but here I am plucking one in the ‘death zone’.

In order to make them even more tender and delicious, they need to be hung in a cool place for a few days.

We had the first one roasted last night – with garden fresh swedes, turnips, spuds and French beans. I say we had one, actually we only managed the best part of one breast. I guess it’s chicken sandwiches, cold chicken, chicken curry, chicken soup, chicken stir fry…. for the next week. Of the other four, they’ll be frozen and will no doubt keep us in meat for quite some time.

One group is happy to see the back of the roasties – the layers. We’ve moved them into the roastie quarters so they have some fresh grass to eat. No complaints there.

November newsround

November 19, 2011 Jackie Comments 0 Comment

A mild, if not rather wet, autumn so far. Everything’s getter greener and taller, a bit like spring really without the flowers. Some evenings there has been a beautiful light and pink or yellowy grey clouds depending if it’s going to be sunny or rainy the next day. Richard’s away in the Isle of Man so I’m here defending the fort, or rather the farm, alone. Meanwhile, here’s a round up of casa azul news.

Veg etc
I have to admit to being a rather fairweather gardener, although I don’t mind digging in the frost on a cold but sunny day I really don’t like working in the wet – who does? So I’ve only just pulled up and cleared the last of the tom beds, this included removing the nasturtiums which we’re growing well but I’ve now got masses of enormous nasturtium buds which will be turned into poor man’s capers. The asparagus have turned a beautiful bronzey yellow, these are soon to be cut back and mulched along with the raspberries.

In the polytunnel there are lots of wild flowers coming up (from seed collected throughout the year) plus yet more edibles – mainly brassicas. These will go in soon, and tomorrow more onions are being planted and, at long last, I’ve got the garlic.

I’ve also got plenty of rocket growing, this has just never worked in the heat so it’s fingers crossed for a winter attempt. Lettuce seems to thrive in the cold, and isn’t affected by the frost, so I’m hoping rocket will too.

Elsewhere in the garden mushrooms are supplementing our diet. I don’t know if you read the account of Nicholas Evans and his mushroom fiasco in the guardian but it makes fascinating and sobering reading.

The ones on the left have opened and are now huge, tempting grub but am definitely sticking to the field mushrooms.

I don’t know if it was beginner’s luck but last year the sprouts grew without any bother, I hardly did anything with them. This year, alas, they’ve been plagued with grey aphids and some of the heads didn’t open properly, and a few of the stalks are massive with enormous leaves but few sprouts. I also spotted the other day that one of the stalks was completely inundated with caterpillars – how come I never saw them before? I counted at least 30 chomping caterpillars, and the one on the left was found the french tarragon.

So what to do with a box of bugs? The hens love snails and giant slugs so decided it would be an early Christmas present…

The chickens
The hens aren’t quite up to their full laying capacity, 2 or 3 a day but that’s fine. They’re slightly sulking now because our plan to keep them off the growing grass, well weeds, is working well and their plot (which looks like something from the WW1) is surrounded by green. Once the roasties are dispatched the hens will go over there, and their mud bath of a plot can have a chance to regrow.

Along with the fact they they realise that the grass is greener on the other side one of them is moulting and looks very funny without a tail.

So I was hoping that my gift of grubs would cheer them up. I tossed the caterpillars on the ground, the hens came dashing forward and then stopped in their tracks and squawked loudly. They eyed the crawling mass with trepidation and then, with beaks in the air, walked off. They weren’t interested at all! I covered the caterpillars with corn but the hens simply ate the corn and left the caterpillars. As these were all now gallivanting off in different directions I ended up having to stand on them all. So much for good intentions. At least the lettuce and purple sprouting broccoli leaves keeps them happy.

Meanwhile the roasties have been let out and are enjoying the grass and opportunity to stretch their wings. They are the biggest, fattest birds I have ever seen and Richard’s number one task on returning is to sharpen the knife. I swear when they walk the earth trembles.

The wild boar
One of the nice things about being in the countryside of course is that we are surrounded by nature. In this part of Portugal that includes the javali – wild boar. Up until recently I have enjoyed the fact that they come to the neighbours’ fields but now the beggars have trotted into our garden. Before Richard left we were given loads of prickly pears and agaves to plant in our garden and I wasn’t best pleased to see that most of these had either been knocked over, dug up (some dragged into bushes), and, it seems, eaten. After the second visit I’ve had to block the entrances to our garden with cut down olive branches, a temporary measure. Richard’s number two task on returning is to get the saw and hammer out.

Before and after replanting, can you see the teeth marks?!

So that’s it for now. The bees are still buzzing, I think they were disappointed that the nasturtiums were cut down. And, of course, I’m not really alone. The hairy one continues to prove she’s Portuguese, having eaten many of the olives she delights in munching walnuts and looks longingly at the roasting chestnuts on the fire. Which reminds me, time to get the wood burning stove going and have a glass of something. Cheers!

It must be Autumn because…

November 3, 2011 richard Comments 0 Comment

Well the first thing obviously is the rain. It has been bucketing down on and off for the last week and this has meant the return of the grass. Not an even, lush carpet but it’s back. Strangely enough on our learning English site (podcastsinenglish.com) this week, Jackie interviewed our good friend Peter who was describing a scary few days at the edge of a huge forest fire which threatened to engulf his house. This happened only a few weeks ago. With the wood burning stove already on the go for the cold nights, the hot, dry summer already seems a distant memory.

Last year the area just in front of the house was builders’ rubble. We planted some grass seed and thankfully it is already starting to come back pretty well.

Also the conifers we planted shortly after we arrived have done pretty well over the summer and are starting to shoot skywards. No doubt this will continue with the Autumn rains.

Not forgetting the strange episode of the autumn flowering apple tree. And the apples are coming along nicely.

So the season has changed, the wellies go on and with the rain we are seeing (and picking) our first mushrooms and also oranges. Although Jackie did make some quince jam, we are hoping that it’s not too late to grab a few more but we may have missed our chance.

The wet weather means that the ground is much softer now and so we are going to be planting a whole load of bulbs. Summer is not great here for flowers as we can’t spare much water but we are hoping for a good show in spring when it’s damp but sunny.

The hens are finding the damp ground much easier to scratch as well. I feared that they would scratch up any new grass that tried to poke through and my fears were well founded. So I split the chicken run in two, hoping that the chickenless half would resprout so they can be let loose on this when there’s a bit of grass. As you can see from the photo below this has worked a treat. They certainly aren’t bothered by the rain and actually seem to enjoy it.

Meanwhile the new roasties are gaining weight hand over fist and will be ready for the chop in a few weeks!

And the veggie patch is still going strong. The carrots and parsnips sown back in September are, at long last, starting to germinate; they obviously appreciate the cold, wet weather more. The experiment to grow more things through the winter continues: both the peas and broad beans are flowering and of course not an aphid in sight. All the brassicas are up, there are no green caterpillars now, although they look rather straggly at the mo.

cauliflower_peas_turnips — cauliflowers, peas and turnips

The turnips and swede are going mad, and the onions are doing well too. Must remember to put some garlic in this month. Finally, the chard, kale, lettuce and beetroot are also doing well – no fatalities yet! We should be eating the leeks into the new year, and the sprouts too. And the tomatoes are amazingly still going – just a few left now but we’ve got plenty stored in various guises for the winter.

Also, as can be seen below, the artichokes and asparagus are doing well and will be ready to eat next year.

So there are very few beds which are empty and we’re pleased about that. These have been covered in manure which will break down even more over the winter months and be ready for the new potatoes and other early crops. Let’s just see what the winter holds in store…

Liquid gold – part 3

October 20, 2011 richard Comments 5 comments

I can’t believe this is our third olive harvest and they keep coming earlier. Usually it is in November but this year it was mid October. Global warming? Whatever it was, this summer has been very dry and very strange. August was cool and cloudy while September and so far in October it has been scorching. It took its toll on the olives as they ripened very early but also many were dry and shrivelled. We also had a lot fewer and could only muster 6 bins and that was after scouring all our trees and even taking some from the abandoned field next door.

So I was a bit embarrassed to take our paltry crop to the lagar (factory) for pressing. However, I was very pleasantly surprised that our 140kgs produced 22 litres – more than last year which came from nearly 8 bins (240kgs). And in fact it was about the same weight as our first harvest which only produced 15 litres. All rather strange.

When I got the oil back to the house we were keen to compare it with last year’s which we are still using. The major difference is that this year’s crop is green and last year’s a lovely golden colour. Apparently this is normal as oil fresh from the press has the most intense olive flavours (and other taste characteristics such as pepperiness and bitterness) and a correspondingly deeper green colour. As the oil ages it will slowly turn more golden as last year’s has done, and like wine it gets better with age (up to a point) – Luis our neighbour is still using oil from a bumper crop he had four years ago. We also need to keep the bottles open for a week or so to let the oil “breathe” before storage.

this year's oil on the left and middle, last year's to the right

In other news the hens have stopped their strike. The unseasonably hot weather in October combined with the shortening of the days seems to have blocked up the hens and one of them was even a bit poorly for a day – unheard of over the last year but not surprising given her state of being bunged up! After a week of hardly any eggs and very hot weather, the temperature has come down and yesterday we were back to three eggs so hopefully it was a temporary blip.

Meanwhile we are waiting for our first autumn rain – it is due to arrive on Saturday. As the ground is bone dry and like concrete it will be interesting to say the least. It should also start filling the well. We are right down to the last few drops and a few scary looking objects at the bottom are appearing through the shallow water…

It ain’t half hot, mum!

October 15, 2011 Jackie Comments 1 comment

It’s 31 in the shade. The wind turbines are at a standstill, helicopters on the look out for fires drone overhead and this morning’s start on the olive harvest has come to a stop. The grass, what there is of it, has blanched white and turned to dust; the red soil is rock hard.

Meanwhile the roasties are never too far away from their water. They are surprisingly perky in the morning, battering down the hatch in the morning to dive into the food. But come the heat of the afternoon they collapse in a white, feathered heap. The hens are suffering too and are on strike: we’ve hardly had any eggs recently. I’ve been giving them a ‘shower’ these last few days (from the watering can!) but still they’re not laying .

Meanwhile Gordy Gordo is still getting plenty of exercise. We went to a river beach the other day though for her to have a swim – and there wasn’t enough water! Which means that still, every evening, we have to water the veg patch, fruit shrubs and trees. The irrigation system that Richard set up is wonderful but the shrubs and trees we do by hand.

The plants in the veg patch seem to be surviving despite the heat though and we continue to get tomatoes, courgettes and peppers. We’re also eating sprouts, leeks and chard. The seedling cabbage, cauliflower and calabrese are holding up, the turnips and swede are going strong as are the peas and broad beans (flowering!) but the carrots and parsnips sown in September are just not showing – nothing at all. I’m pleased that the soil in the beds is good, the manure / compost regularly applied has meant that it retains moisture well and is a far cry for the stuff we started with two years ago. So here’s to cooler climes ahead and a bumper winter harvest.

Walking with Gordon

October 11, 2011 richard Comments 1 comment

We occasionally go for walks with a group of friends known appropriately as ‘Portugal friends’. Obviously the hairy one is a popular participant in these events, the most recent of which took place not that long ago. As we hadn’t been for a while there were lots of enthusiastic greetings for the hairy one, accompanied with cries of ‘oh gordo, gordo’. I think it was a compliment but it actually means ‘fat’. As Labradors (as well as some of us humans) are prone to fatness, I determined to increase our regime of local walks, and so me and Gordon (the hairy one’s new moniker) have been tramping the local countryside two or three times a week. We usually go the same route which takes about an hour and is truly beautiful. Anyway, on our latest meander, I took some snaps.

It’s a very varied track – plenty of olive groves and fields of grapevines (hardly vineyards – all the land around here is divided into small family run plots)

But there are tracts of woodland, mainly oak, as well.

Although it is still very hot and dry for October (it’s been in the high 20s, low 30s every day so far), the colours of Autumn are becoming apparent (or maybe everything is just dying in the heat!)

We very rarely see anyone – perhaps just an old woman with a herd of goats but this time there were two hunters with their dogs. They could have been out for wild boar, stags, mountain lions… or perhaps rabbits.

Roastie part 2

October 2, 2011 Jackie Comments 0 Comment

We learnt many lessons from having ‘roasties’ earlier in the year. One was the fact the coop and run were unsheltered and they were not into hiding amongst the bushes like the hens. So we waited until October for cooler days; but the weather forecast says temps aren’t going much below 30 over the next 10 days…

We also wanted to get month old chickens like last time but our man at Ansião market had completely sold out when we arrived yesterday. His wife suggested we came to their house later in the afternoon and get some from them directly, which we did. They had loads of little chicks running around but all two weeks old. We decided to get five anyway as we like the place and the chicks always seem well cared for. The warm temperatures at night also mean that we don’t need to worry about them getting chilly. So they’re settling in at the mo, little things now but we know there’s a beastie inside each one, they already have fat legs!

Courtyard then and now

September 28, 2011 richard Comments 0 Comment

I just happened to see an old photo of me enjoying lunch in the ‘old’ courtyard not long after we arrived on 20 September 2009. I think I was having a rest having cleaned the whole place up as it was in a right state then. Funnily enough I have another photo taken exactly two years later from about the same spot.