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.
Someone wants to play ball however cold it is.
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…
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.
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.
Never mind the veggies and the landscaping, we are now building up a bit of a menagerie. The four chickens are doing very well and growing enormously. Today it’s raining, so they’re staying in their house and not coming out for photos. When we were out in the garden they were truly free range but only as long as we could keep an eye on them and keep them out of the veggie patch.
But now we have decided to give them their own little area. So yesterday we built a chicken run. We still lock them up at night mind as there are foxes and other nasties around.
After a year of having the pond we have finally got a resident frog. Let’s hope he (or she) finds a mate.
A while ago we noticed a toad in the garden as well. He only comes out at night and is absolutely enormous. A bit camera shy but we hope to have a photo soon. NB Little known fact (to us) is that toads don’t go anywhere near ponds until they spawn. And that’s why he lives under the threshing square and only comes out at night.
Recently we noticed that the next door field had been ploughed, albeit very badly. However after a chat with the neighbours it would seem to be the result not of a drunken farmer but a family of javeli (wild boar) who snuffle out grubs etc in the night. I don’t know how he knows but our neighbour reckons there is a family of six of them and they can roam up to 30 kilometres in a night.
However, we have kept the biggest news until last. We have got ourselves a dog! Some friends of friends had a labrador called Maria who was just getting a bit too big and frisky to keep in their Lisbon apartment – so as from yesterday she has moved in with us! She’s a loveable two year old and although still very puppy-like remarkably well trained.
Thanks very much Vitor, she’s a darling and I think she loves her new home already!
Finally we have started work on the area of the garden right next to the house. It was always going to be a problem area as huge rocks break the surface here and it is full of builders’ rubble. Anyway, we decided to grass most of the area (with seed from Jersey provided by Jackie’s dad) and cobble the area in front of the kitchen door. Cobbles seemed like an obvious choice as they are everywhere hereabouts including the pavements of most towns and even the roads through a lot of the small villages. They are also cheap. We’d been watching them laying new cobbles in a local town so knew exactly what to do. Almost. Anyway, we gave it a shot and here are the results. I also made a small gravel path to the pergola as well.
…oranges are coming along as well!
Although we’ve been focussing lately on chickens and relatives, the veggies have kept on coming. Only now are things coming to an end – we’ve had our last cucumber, the final tomatoes are hanging on and turning red (or yellow) and the courgette production has eventually slowed down to a trickle. However, we have made the best use of our bounty and Jackie has been busy roasting and freezing, pickling and drying a lot of the veggies ready for winter. Even the very few raspberries that we have carefully nurtured have now been picked and frozen one by one and we shall have enough for one final end of summer treat.
It is interesting that the cycle of fruit and veg has come round again from when we first arrived just over a year ago. I remember then, the first fruits we sampled were the pears and this year they have come and gone in a period of weeks and in a flurry of delicious pear crumbles. Also the quinces. Unfortunately our quince tree has had a torrid time but there have been plenty by the sides of various lanes that we have been able to purloin and process into quince jelly and quince cheese. Now the walnuts are coming into season. Despite eating my own weight in walnut cakes over the year we still haven’t finished last year’s crop. Likewise the olives which will be ready in a few short weeks.
It never stops down on the farm…
We’ve been so busy this week we haven’t had time to put up an anniversary blog entry. We flew into Portugal on September 11, 2009 (an easy date to remember) to begin our new life and here we are a year later in our wonderful home. The reason for the lack of postings? Well, we’ve been enjoying ourselves! We’ve had my sister, Sue and brother-in-law, Kevin over to stay. While they were here we swam in the sea at Figueira da Foz and in the river at Zezere and went for walks in the countryside including one with a new bunch of Portugal friends near the beautiful village of Dornes. We also returned to the ancient town and castle at Tomar. I usually keep these non Casa Azul activities to my regular Portugal blog but I thought I’d slip these photos in here anyway.
All this of course doesn’t stop activity in the garden and kitchen and Jackie has been as busy as ever tart making. Although our tiny fig tree is not yet ready to start producing there are loads of fig trees near our house to plunder and right now they are all in fruit. Here is a delicious fig tart Jackie made recently. She has also been making Courgette cakes which are the business. When she is next out of the kitchen, I’ll make sure she puts finger to keyboard and gets the recipe on our recipe page.
Other news: Well the hot chillies are finally going red as are the sweet peppers. We will have a final flush of tomatoes before they finish and sadly we have had our last fresh cucumber (pickled ones will be ready soon). But as we have now been here for a year we can look forward to the crops we first harvested last year – the walnuts will soon be ready and then we are into the olive harvest. Can’t wait!
Things have been a bit quiet on the farm this week so I’ve had time to sort a few of the photos of our trials and tribulations over the past 6 months and have put them on a new page: Photoblog I hope you enjoy them.
However, no time for slacking. Our guest bedroom will be seeing its first guests very soon – we await the imminent arrival of our friends from Lisbon, Jo and Nigel. They will be followed in September by my sister Sue and brother-in-law Kevin, and hot on the heels of them will be Jackie’s parents.
After two weeks in the house we still haven’t finished unpacking. And no, we haven’t just been lazing around enjoying our new home. In fact I think we’ve been busier these two weeks than ever before. Jackie has finished painting and I have finished the shelving – not only the mammoth bookcase in the lounge but various shelves in the kitchen and a bit of work in the bathroom. My electric drill has been a constant buzz around the house.
We have also completed shelving for the pantry which now holds a whole raft of various preserves, chutneys etc in addition to home grown veggies including some rather large prize-winning (but possible inedible) marrows.
This weekend saw us down in Lisbon where we were once again very well taken care of by our friends Jo and Nigel. Not a complete jolly however, as we needed some stuff from Ikea. Mainly lights for the bathroom and bedroom but also various other necessities that only the big city superstore can provide. Of course, sod’s law took over and they were all out of the lights we were after but still we managed to spend almost 400 euros. We spent 700 last time and on neither occasion did we buy any furniture (except for a kitchen table and TV stand).
With the shelves up, all Jackie’s kitchen stuff is organised and our books unpacked. So all that remains are our clothes (the carpenter still hasn’t finished the wardrobe) and then the final thing will be to hang the pictures and find room for our knick knacks – sorry, objets d’art. Oh and there is still a bit of work for the hired hands – the local blacksmith has to put in the main gate and the builder install the “Pombals” – pottery pigeons which adorn the corners of the roof and which is a local tradition. I think only then can we say we have really moved in.
Veggie update: We’ve been eating sweetcorn almost every day as it has ripened and can’t be stored fresh. Needless to say it is absolutely delicious. The salad stuff is going strong and I can’t believe it but the fruits of another plum tree have ripened. That’s five varieties and all taste very different.
The chillies are turning red and the aubergines are coming on. This is the moment that Jackie has been waiting for – to prepare a meal totally from garden produce – it will be a ratatouille, with aubergines, courgettes, onions, olive oil, peppers, garlic and herbs and if I have any say, a red hot chilli pepper as well . We shall see.
