We thought winter, or at the very least autumn had arrived with a bit of rain and a cold spell. In the end it was only enough to fill the small pond and for us to enjoy a log fire for a few days. The large pond will have to wait.

However, the good weather means plenty of other stuff to do down on the farm. Our quinces are turning yellow which means they are ripe and Jackie has already picked the first few to make quince jam. We also plan on making quince cheese when the remainder ripen. Sounds horrible to me but I’ll give it a go.

The oranges are also almost ready. We’ve tasted a few early ripeners and as they are very sweet, they aren’t really good for marmalade so we’ll have to make do with plenty of orange juice for breakfast. As it happens the word marmalade comes from the word marmelo which is Portuguese for quince. If you have any idea how that happened let us know.

Literally in the last couple of days, nets have been appearing round the olive trees of the area. Everyone has decided en masse, that the olives are ready. Of course we turned to our neighbour, Luis, for advice and before we knew it he showed up with two ladders, large sticks, a branch saw and an enormous green net. The idea is very simple. Spread the net under the tree and either shake it, hit it with a stick, or even just pluck the olives by hand until the net is full. Throw out all the branches and leaves and pour into a large receptacle. We started yesterday and have already filled a couple of large plastic bins. We’ve got five to fill and then we take the majority down to the local wine press to make olive oil. That should keep us going for a while. We take out the best and juiciest however to make olives for eating.

By the way, in case you didn’t know, they all start green and turn black. Different varieties are good for either eating or pressing, the blacks generally giving more oil as they are riper. Ours are now mostly black so that’s good. However, they are not the best quality (as the trees have been untended since the house has been empty for 5 years), hence the vast majority will be pressed for oil. You don’t have to separate the greens from the blacks either, it all goes into one mixture.

Does our bounty know no bounds? Next up are the mushrooms. After the rain they started sprouting everywhere and lots of different varieties. We’ve already eaten quite a few of the regular field mushrooms. They are pretty much identical to the ones from Tesco (but bigger, tastier and more irregularly shaped of course!) but we are going to do some research and try to identify the rest before plopping them in the pan.

And finally. We’ve made contact with Jeanette and Bob (who own the cottage where we stayed in May). It was good to see them again, and Jackie was especially pleased to see Dolly (their horse) who has already supplied us with a big pile of manure that will be saved for our raised beds.