I can’t believe that spring is almost here but there are signs everywhere. Many of our fruit trees have buds that are about to burst and already there are wild flowers in the fields. It all looks so green, and yellow…
Our daffodils are refusing to look down and acknowledge the flowering weeds.
The lichen looks like an underwater coral scene, including a Gregorian fan of sorts. Just missing the clown fish…
Our willow is a most wonderful gold colour. I’ve made my first basket (although I did have some déjà vu about primary school…), here with today’s eggs; they’re laying four a day now. And we have bought some dogwood, red and yellow.
Finally, if yellow is the theme then we must also include the princess, here with her car face on.
The hens are the same age and the same size, so how does this happen? Someone obviously has to try a bit harder. But we’re not sure which one.
The cold nights, however, don’t seem to be affecting numbers as we always get three fresh eggs every morning. As they come from four hens we’re not sure how that works. We know they are all laying because on one day we did get four eggs. It’s a bit of a conundrum.
Further to Jackie’s post (4 calling birds) a few weeks ago, we’ve spotted a few more feathered friends and so now have a dedicated bird page. Access it via the link on the right sidebar and here.
Meanwhile the hens have been popping out eggs at a rapid rate. They are already averaging three a day between the four of them and they only started laying last Friday.
And, we’ve been enjoying the winter sun down on the beach…
We’ve been making the most of the sunny weather and at last the trees are getting pruned. However, squawking and squealing from one of the chickens was distracting us. One definitely was in a flap – she ran backwards and forwards along the fence and even managed to hurl herself up on top of it even though we’d clipped her wings yesterday. She finally quietened down and went inside the hen house. Did that mean…?
Back up the ladder and more lopping, only to almost fall off because of an almighty screech from the hen house. We walked over to see what was happening, the noisy chicken eventually appeared. She seemed calm and started pecking the ground as if nothing was the matter. Richard opened the back of the hen house and yes! there in the nest box was our very first egg, almost 17 weeks after getting the chicks. Not too small, pinky brown and, we can confirm, very tasty! So we’re hoping this is the first of very many – although we’re not so sure about the drama every day!
Now the new year has begun, our thoughts turn to preparing for this year’s main harvest. Having said that we still have plenty of winter veg in the garden to eat now. We have only just finished the swedes and cauliflowers, there are quite a few leeks left and the brussel sprouts keep coming and coming. Anyway, with thoughts for the future, I recently constructed the polytunnel (ably assisted by the hairy one) which we shall mainly use for starting seedlings off until they are big enough for the main veg patch. We’ll also grow some tomatoes in there full time and some strawberries have already been installed for safe keeping. If the last few days are anything to go by we may also use it as a sauna when the warmer weather comes.
It was actually very easy to build (just as well as I’m not exactly a master craftsman and more commonly referred to ironically as ‘Handy Andy’ by my mum). Let’s hope it stays up through to the end of winter!
Actually, further to my initial remarks in the first paragraph, there is quite a bit more going on as you can see from the picture below. As well as the brussel sprouts , there are cabbages (left), the purple sprouting broccoli (centre) will soon (insha’allah) be ready and on the right, Jackie is tending the celery (which is doing fantastically well), carrots and spring onions.
We wrote some time ago about the numerous birds that come down to the pond in the summer and promised photos. We haven’t managed that yet but here are a few spotted outside the living room window this afternoon. We hadn’t taken many of the olives off the nearest tree to the house and as a result many of the ripe fruits have fallen to the ground, much to the delight of the birds. There are often tens of birds and many different varieties. The ones I didn’t photograph today include blackcaps, long tailed tits, a sardinian warbler and black redstarts.
goldfinch and greenfinch:
chaffinch and blue tit:
serin and robin:
wagtail and siskin:
We’ve had a great Christmas here at Casa Azul. Christmas Day lunch was shared with old friends (Jo and Nigel up from Lisbon) and new ones (Helen and Peter down from Pera), and it was particularly great (well, for me!) that three of the four veg on our plates (namely the sprouts, carrots and swede) were from the veg patch. And I’m not sure if anything was bought ready made – the mince pies including the pastry (thanks Jo) and mincemeat, the stuffing (thanks H and P for the chestnuts), the cakes (thanks Jo again), the pudding (thanks sis), the custard, the decorations (thanks Peter) were all home made! Even the Buck’s Fizz Richard made came from our oranges! Perhaps next year he’ll be ringing the neck of our own goose… Feliz Natal!
One of the nice things about having a dog is that it makes you get out and do more walking. There are plenty of fields around our house but we’ve been encouraged to explore a little further away. It’s been great to find tracks and forest paths where there are no houses at all so that our new faithful hound can be let off the lead and run wild.
Alas, we have a Labrador who likes nothing better than galloping through the puddles, ears flapping, and then leaping all over us in her excitement.
Needless to say we come home just as filthy as her!
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the chickens continue their naughtiness. Those who have read the previous post will know that we had to put up some corrugated iron to stop them escaping. This failed. We came home the other day and all them were spotted, clucking madly, making for the derelict house a field away. So more corrugated iron went up. As they continued to stand on their house and try for the olive tree above we even put in some ‘tree art’ for them to clamber over.
However, closing the door of the hen house the other night I was sure the goodnight clucks were coming from above my head rather than from inside the house. Sure enough three of the rascals had eventually managed to get into the tree and were there roosting for the night, a hint of smugness in their clucks methinks. It’s great that they can do what comes naturally but getting down means they can choose which side of the fence to land on, and you’ve guessed it… so it’s Chickens 3 Us 2 for the mo, we’re looking forward to them hatching eggs rather than hatching plans…
It’s thundering down with rain, the wood burning stove is blasting away in the corner and the dog is at my feet – a perfect time to update the blog. Which, in fact, we haven’t done for some time. I suppose because we haven’t done any major projects recently around the place, and it’s a little quiet in the veg patch too. Smaller tasks have been taking up our time: firstly, the chickens are getting bigger and bolder. They are extraordinarily inquisitive and somewhat adventurous. The gap in the fence that surrounds them was for a time filled with a wooden pallet propped closed by a leaning pole. This they loved to climb (and then slide down) and squawked loudly when it was replaced with a proper gate (made by Richard) and latch. One was on the roof of the hen house the other day attempting, in vain, to get at the overhanging branches of an olive tree. There was some alarm last week when I realised they had all disappeared, Richard reassuring me with the fact that there were no bodies anywhere. Faint clucking led me to look over the stone wall and there they all were in the neighbour’s field. It then began to become a regular escapade – a flutter of wings, a scramble over the brambles and freedom! When their wanderlust took them into the far distance we knew something had to be done. So that part of the wall is now covered with corrugated iron. Watching them approach it the first time was amusing. As soon as they drew near their necks came up, their eyes popped open and they began to complain very loudly! I try and tell them that they already have a large grassy field all to themselves, how lucky they are not to be cooped up all day but they are still a little sulky…
Secondly, we have planted quite a few more trees, mainly fruit, near the pergola. We now have another quince, apple and peach. Plus we have a persimmon and a Christmas tree. This rain will be great for them.
Last year we had the first frost mid December. This year it’s been crunchy underfoot already a few times these past few weeks. The marigold and nasturtiums, which were still bravely going, succumbed immediately. All the peas and beans, left in the soil so as not to have bare earth, turned black as did the leaves of a sweet potato I’d planted a few months ago. However, everything else seems impervious to the freeze, even the lettuce is happy to have frozen frills.
And although it’s a quieter time in the garden there’s still a lot growing. The seeds for the winter growing turnips are just coming through (I do hope they survive) and the onions and garlic sets planted last month all have shoots. These join the onions I bought in plugs, and the ones I’ve grown from seed, so all go on the allium front. Villagers who have the field next to us (that the chickens love) chatted over the stone wall to talk veg. They wanted to know what the very large green things I was growing were. They were referring to the artichokes and purple-sprouting broccoli. I knew the Portuguese for these vegetables but failed to get them to understand what they were, as for explaining how to eat an artichoke…
We’re eating the spinach, leeks, sprouts, swede, turnips, celery and carrots. Plus the calabrese which I’m really chuffed with:
Not forgetting the herbs and now the oranges in the courtyard, which reminds me – it’s also a perfect day to make some marmalade.
This year’s olive harvest has broken all records! Ok, it’s only our second time, but we are up from 5 bins last year to nearly 8 this year. We are off to the lagar tomorrow for the pressing so we are hoping for well in excess of 15 litres of liquid gold.
Here’s the ever present Luis and his amazing machine for the olive version of sorting the wheat from the chaff – sorting the olives from the assorted branches and leaves.
Someone has made herself very much at home in just over a week…
…and the chickens are growing amazingly. Not surprising considering the amount of grain they eat.
I’ve been meaning to update what’s been happening in a minha horta for a while now. It’s mostly going well but there have been casualties. First up the experiment to grow beans and peas throughout the summer failed. I sowed these early July. Everything grew wonderfully at first and then it just became too hot. The dwarf broad beans (which have failed at every attempt now) just went brown and died, the peas flowered and then dried up, the dwarf french beans had loads of flowers and beans but these were hollow and dry. The only slight success came from the runner beans but now they too have no flowers. So, in short, useless.
The courgette sown early August has given us a few courgettes, enough for some fritters and a cake. It’s rather pathetic really but the flowers are lovely in the morning still. On a more positive note we are now eating the leeks, carrots and lots of sprouts.
More good news comes from the cabbage, cauliflower and calabrese (aka broccoli) sown mid August. They have done really well. The calabrese heads are now bigger than tennis balls so am really looking forward to having those soon.
Another problem has come from the strong winds and rain we’ve had. The purple sprouting broccoli is almost as tall as me, and the sprouts are not far behind. But gale force winds and soggy soil saw them lean precariously, and one broccoli stem fell over completely. I tied it up, and could see it was broken at the base, but amazingly it seems to be ok. Many of the leaves looked sorry for themselves but it seems to be still alive. Fingers crossed.
The asparagus, rhubarb and raspberries have all been ‘put to bed’ for the winter. Garlic and more onions are in but otherwise there are big empty patches covered in manure and protective cardboard waiting for the spring. So of course now I’m working out what to grow next year. I’m also digging more beds as I’d like to grow additional varieties of plants, especially tomatoes. We’re eating those roasted from the summer but I’d like to have a lot more. Looking back I need to remind myself that this was the first year that I have done this, and overall it’s been great. Occasional feelings of chuffness well deserved methinks! I’ve learnt masses of course but am so looking forward to next year, and all those seed packets, already.
Next week we’ll be up the olive trees getting in the olive harvest but meanwhile we’re enjoying our new four-legged companion who has been with us for a week now and feels like she’s always been part of the family.
