Regular readers will know that we bought our ‘roasties’ five weeks ago when they were four weeks old. The bloke at the market reckoned they would be ready to slaughter right about now, so yesterday we caught the biggest two and took them to our ever helpful neighbours Luis and Laurinda. Luis is in charge of the fruit and veggies but it is Laurinda who deals with the animal husbandry. I will spare you the details but I have to admit me and Jackie were both just a little bit queezy by the end but also proud to return from across the lane with two dispatched, plucked and gutted chickens. The biggest was 2.7kgs fully dressed (or rather undressed?!) so not a bad size I’m sure you will agree.
Richard plus birdRichard with Dona Laurinda and LuisLaurinda with the chicken in the 'mata frango' ready for the chopJackie plucking
So that I don’t forget what I’ve learned (yes, Jackie has retreated somewhat and chickens are now solely my responsibility!), I killed and gutted another one today myself and didn’t do too bad a job I think.
Here is the rather picturesque setting under a willow tree where the dirty deed was done.
Today we celebrate one year in Casa Azul. So what are we doing this mid July in Central Portugal – bbq in the garden? Swim at a river beach? Walk by the sea? No! We’re staying in and watching the tele! We woke to rain and gusty winds, for some reason the weather this July has been very unJuly like. The average temperature for here is meant to be 28 this month, today it’s 22. Ok the sun is out now but it’s blowing a hooley still. We did have a nice lunch of baked Jack be little squash stuffed with our sun-dried toms (only just managed to get 2 consecutive sunny days to do the cherry toms) and mozzarella cheese, and our beetroot grated with feta; and tonight we’ll have a bottle of champers my dad brought with him. We’ll wash that down with… kippers! Yay, Richard bought back kippers from the Isle of Man – can’t wait!
Another big day tomorrow – the first of our roasties is going to be killed. We’re going across the road to our neighbours where Laurinda is going to do the deed and we’re going to watch, and then the plan is to have a go ourselves. Full details to follow soon…
Richard is back tomorrow after a trip to the UK and Isle of Man. In the past his absence has meant extra time for me, partly because I forgo doing much cooking. However, this trip has meant less ‘me time’ and a lot more work! Since moving here we have more and more projects on the go and these are shared, but now I’ve had to do Richard’s share: feeding, watering and cleaning out both sets of chickens; the weekly watering of the trees and shrubs; filling up the water tanks for our irrigation system; taking the dog out for runs (*the dog is still here of course following me constantly); emptying the compost bucket etc etc. Meanwhile the courgettes, tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet corn and beans are endlessly producing their stuff which has meant me dealing with those, I’d hate to waste anything. So the freezer is slowly being filled up with cakes, quiches and all sorts of blanched and roasted goodies, and there’s plenty of sun drying going on too (now that the sun has finally come out, it’s been a cold, grey and even showery July).
Interestingly, well for me anyway, is that most of the stuff growing outside is doing better than that in the polytunnel. The polytunnel was great starting things off but it gets so hot inside (even with the window and door open) that things are suffering. The chilli plants have failed and there are fewer flowers on the peppers and aubergines too. I think this is partly to do with the very warm and sunny spring months, it was warmer at night in April than it has been recently in July, so the outside stuff did well and the polytunnel stuff overheated.
One great tip I have learnt recently is that you can easily make new tomato plants from the side shoots that have to be removed. They quickly turn into new plants with flowers which will give us an even bigger harvest.
In addition to the veg there are plums popping up all over the place. Our yellow and red ones have come and gone but two trees (that frankly look very ropey and gave us no fruit last year) have turned out to be greengages. Plus, along the lane, damsons are going to waste so these have had to be picked too. We’ve now made plum jam, plum cordial, plum and courgette chutney, plum crumble, plum tart and the latest is plum booze. It’s made with damsons and vodka which is already turning a delightful shade of pink.
Oh, and the mystery product I was making (referred to in an earlier post) is piccalilli which should be ready at the end of this month. Now I’m really looking forward to a time in the future when I can produce a delicious meal by simply defrosting things from the freezer, oh and Richard’s safe return too!
While we were looking up at the collared dove nest in the old olive tree right by the house there was a tremendous twittering and fluttering. Along the electricity wire 5 baby barn swallows wobbled, wings flapping to keep them from falling. We’re sure they had just fledged. The parents seem to take it in turns either to feed or stay with them as they struggled on the tightrope. They certainly weren’t afraid of us, but perhaps they were too scared to look down…
Meanwhile the collared dove chicks have slowly left home. They first started to sit on the branch next to their nest and then, a few days later, moved to a lower branch on the same olive tree; I’ve yet to see them fly. The nest can be seen from the upstairs window although we never saw it being built.
Amazingly, they are not shy either and yesterday, while working on the veg patch, there were two pairs of eyes on me. I’d like to think they were giving me encouragement but can’t help feeling they were eyeing up future suppers.
As for the roasties… well, they have a new name: the lollies, because that’s all they do all day long. Loll, loll, loll. I realise now that we haven’t really made too many right decisions about keeping them. First of all, the patch of land they are on was chosen in the early spring. One hot day, after the new fence for them was put up, it was obvious there wasn’t enough shade. Once the house and run was installed Richard made a shelter for them which is great but it can still get very hot, nothing beats the shade of a tree. We also made some decisions based on the ‘egg chickens’. One was that they are hardly in their house, they’re always out and about pecking and scratching and in fact have been since they were brave enough to leave the run. The ‘roast chickens’ on the other hand aren’t that fussed about looking for food. On hot days they stay in the house which gets dirty very quickly. The ‘egg chickens’ perched straight away, these are not keen. I’m sure because they don’t want to make the effort to jump up, they’re so lazy. The run door is propped open but they prefer lolling in the run, and that gets dirty too. This morning some were pecking at the grass – but they were sitting down still! They’ll come out and sit on the logs but that’s about it. Some of them sit right by the feeder so that, with the minimum of effort, they can just lean forward and have more food! So in fact the house and run is a little small for 8 ever growing chickens. And their water needs filling every day… I suppose they’re bred to be lolly birds so that they get as fat as possible and that is certainly happening. They seem content enough eating and lolling all day but I think the ‘egg chickens’ are a touch scornful of their slothy neighbours.
Double meaning for this post. Jackie mentioned in the last one that June was rather unseasonable. Well next week the forecast is for it to go to 37 degrees (that’s in the shade). And also although it’s not been too hot, it has still been very dry, meaning that quite suddenly everything has taken on a golden hue. Or if you are less romantic, everything is drying up and going brown. We don’t have much water here so we let the grass die. Many of the flowers and blossoms have come and gone but we still have the roses and the lavender which look great and provide much needed colour.
roses and lavender
The other roastie of the title is ‘the roasties’ – the chicks we bought just over a week ago. Well, they are certainly meant for the table because they are eating like trojans and putting on plenty of meat. Only a few weeks to go till chop time! As it is heating up they even have a little shade – what luxury!
But they are not the only birds around. Remember I mentioned the collared doves? Well I found their nest – it’s at the top of an old olive tree. A bit difficult to observe (and to photograph) but we have seen two chicks. Also the parents have become quite tame and despite my dishevelled appearance will even accept a few crumbs from my outstretched arm.
Of course the harvesting is now in full flow. Not least the plums. the yellow ones and the red ones have come at the same time this year so we are frantically using them up before they all fall and go off. I have made a number of plum crumbles and Jackie has been busy bottling plum cordial.
Of course we are still getting 4 eggs from our hens every day regular as clockwork and are managing to barter them for our neighbour’s meat pies now!
And we are still managing to get out and about a bit so here is a pic of my two girls and the beautiful Portuguese countryside.
It’s been a strange start to the summer. April and May were lovely (if you didn’t worry about the lack of rainfall) and saw us eating outside most evenings. Now, with the first of the summer months, the wind is cool, the clouds grey and it’s been showery – nothing substantial though and the grass yellows every day.
It’s a good time for the veg patch. The courgettes, surprise surprise, won the race for which veg we would be eating first from this year’s sowing, followed by the colourful chard. We’re either eating the produce or knowing we’ll be eating it very soon.
The extra four beds (there are now 13 of various sizes) have made a difference, both in terms of having more veg but also in the extra time looking after it all. We won’t be adding any more for the time being, what with the soft fruit and fruit trees as well there’s a lot to do if nothing is to be wasted. So at the mo we are eating our potatoes (the bed replaced with 44 leeks), onions, garlic, two kinds of French beans (the dwarf purple ones are recommended – always aphid free and prolific), broad beans, calabrese, cauliflower, courgettes, carrots, beetroot, chard, a few parsnips and turnips here and there, lettuce, raspberries and rhubarb. We’ve had one cucumber too.
The peas haven’t done very well, as last year; I really must remember to sow those and the broad beans in the autumn. We have also started to eat the tomatoes – hurrah! We’re growing more of these this year, and different varieties too.
The organic cherries are the first up – not surprising. What is surprising though is that these are not the ones in the polytunnel. The sunny spring has meant the ones outdoors have done very well and grown better than those under plastic. (It’s the aubergines and peppers which are appreciating the polytunnel more, both are flowering.) One of the new kinds we’re trying this year is the Roma kind – San Marzano. I’m really hoping to be able to freeze these for sauces throughout the year.
Yesterday I picked a mixture of veg for something I’m going to make, can you guess what?
My parents came last month and as always we try to make the most of my father’s woodworking skills. Last year he made a wooden support for the grapes in the courtyard and these are now doing very well so we hope to have a better harvest this year. As Richard said this time he was put to work making a new chicken run – I hope he didn’t think he was here on holiday! They bought with them a buddleia and this is now flowering, and it has attracted a very interesting butterfly (or is it something else?). Update: it’s a Broad-bordered Bee Hawk-MothHemaris fuciformis apparently. How nice!
So waiting in the wings are the sweetcorn, winter squash and melon, fennel, aubergine and peppers, perhaps some peas plus all the wonderful plums.
Here’s another pic of the veg I picked, all chopped and ready for the next stage… You’ll have to wait for the next update if you can’t guess.
Finally, away from the fruit’n’veg, we have bought 8 new chickens. Like last time they are about a month old, there are 4 white and 4 brown ones. To put us in the right frame of mind we differentiate them from the ‘egg chickens’ by calling them the ‘roast chickens’ – no room for sentimentality! Today they ventured out of their hut and into the run. We bought them, as the previous ones, from the market in Ansião. The man said the white ones would be ready in 3 – 4 weeks and the brown ones a couple more weeks after that! I suspect we’ll let these live a little longer, and get a little fatter. We also need to pluck up enough courage for D Day!
…OK a bit premature but over the last couple of weeks the veggies have sprung to life. We’ve been eating the strawberries for a while, the delicious raspberries have now come on stream and the cherries have already come and gone. Admittedly ours were rather small like last year. And of course just like last year, Luis, with a big smile on his face, came over with a huge punnet of plump ones for us. Back to our veg, the artichokes and purple sprouting broccoli have come and gone but now we’ve got potatoes, onions, garlic and various beans and peas. Oh, and those triffids from last year are back and already producing like no tomorrow – the courgettes. And that’s just the start. There are plenty of other veggies on their way as well. Jackie will follow with a full update soon.
plums
In addition to veggies, the tree fruits are coming through. The plums should be ready soon and although the main pear tree (and apple tree) may well disappoint (the aphids have been extremely busy this year), we found a rather sickly young pear tree at the end of the garden last year and after some careful nurturing looks like it will come good.
pear
I only hope our electrician returns and connects the electricity to the barn as our new chest freezer is ready and waiting for excess produce. Talking of the barn – that is finished (but still needs painting) as is the patio. And I must say the front of the house finally looks pretty good. However, unlike in the UK, we haven’t seen the builders for a while and I still owe them 1000 Euros!
Jackie has also been busy making Elderflower champagne. Despite exploding bottles – glass and even plastic (see below) we have salvaged a fair amount and I must say it’s pretty good. Next up the quince wine.
explosive device
Apologies for no posts over the last two weeks but we’ve had Jackie’s parents staying and we’ve been quite busy. So has Jackie’s dad. He very kindly brought over a new henhouse for our proposed table birds (chickens for eating) and he also made a run for them while he was here.
New chicken run
Having them over has also meant me and Jackie (and the hairy one) managed to get away for a few days for some camping while they looked after the hens. As this blog is focussed on casa Azul, I won’t go into details but we had a great time and below are some photos.
campsite near Marvaoin the Rio Zezere
And to wrap up this blog entry – garden wildlife. It looks like the black redstarts won’t be making a nest in the postbox this year but we do have a couple of collared doves in the garden. I presume the nest must be here somewhere but we haven’t found it yet. Watch this space!
Some of you may remember that back in October I started making my very first wine from the wonderful quince harvest. Since then it’s been racked a few times and now at last, over 6 months later, it’s been siphoned into bottles. As predicted the wine is a beautiful rose colour, not as clear as it should be but that’s fine by me. Six bottles have been filled and we tasted what was left over – not too bad, really! It actually tastes like wine! A touch sweet but I reckon it’s the perfect partner for rhubarb crumble… (and how nice to have a morning tipple of homemade wine on one’s birthday).
One of the strangest features of Casa Azul has been a large stone, standing in the courtyard. Well this week we took it down. It went as part of patio project stage 2. Now we’ve done the barn we are paving part of the courtyard and turning it into a small patio area. The stone was in the way but we wanted to keep it so we’ve turned it into a stone seat. Very nice it looks too.
monolith in placemonolith gonepatio coming along nicely
After the recent, much needed, heavy rain a surprising thing happened. I found some puffball mushrooms at the bottom of the garden. Autumn was so dry we didn’t get any mushrooms but here they are now. I’d never eaten them before and I must admit they were rather a disappointment. Like creamy tofu.
puffball mushroom
Much tastier, I am sure, will be our honey and on the latest inspection, the bees are really going for it. Keen readers will know that we started off with one box (the brood box) and after the bees had settled down we added a second on top. Between the two was a queen excluder. This is a wire frame that stops the queen from going “upstairs”. Therefore she concentrates on laying eggs and making new bees in the bottom box while the workers fill up the top with honey. And after a few short weeks the bees have been busy making honey comb in the top box and filling it with honey. As can be seen in the photo below. This is just one frame of ten, so we are hoping they will all be full by July and ready for harvesting. Thinking of which, I’ll have to do some reading and work out how to do it.
honeycomb
Never mind honey bees, we also have a carpenter bee making its home in the pergola. I’ll try and get a photo of the bee soon (it’s a big black hairy thing like a bumble bee). The nest itself is just a small perfectly round hole which the bee has chewed out of the frame.
We’ve also got a wasp making a nest in the potting shed!
wasp nest
With the rain and now more sun, the veggie garden is taking off. Here are the spuds in all their glory. And thanks to the polytunnel we have been eating strawberries for weeks (admittedly only about 6 or 7 a week) and have enjoyed plenty of artichokes.
Of course warmer weather means the smell of summer is here – yes the barbie!
Most of the locals have small tractors but we’ve got one old boy who still uses the old ways.
Couldn’t resist putting in this photo of the hairy one enjoying a puddle. They won’t be here for much longer.
And of course the wild flowers are still a joy. The poppies are coming up now but we still have a few orchids about. We’re not sure whether this one is a bee orchid or woodcock.
