At the end of April I modified the pig house to take our next intake of roasties. And very cute they looked too. They must have enjoyed their spacious home and the relatively wide open space and fresh grass of their paddock because they have grown enormously and in very quick time – especially the white ones.
you can run but you can’t hide
So much so that I’ve already given the white ones the chop – at only 8 weeks old. The squeamish better look away now as I photographed the progress of one fortunate soul from freedom to the fridge: Here he is in the ‘mata frango’ ready to get his throat cut.
mata frango
…and here ready to be plucked. My able assistant ready to spring into action.
on the slab
And here all plucked and ready to be hung. The lucky birds meet their maker on a cool marble slab – what luxury.
plucked
We hang them for a couple of days and then some are popped into the freezer whole for roasting and others I chop up. Here are some prime bits.
With the carcass, I usually make the most delicious soup as there is still plenty of meat on it. For the record, the largest whitey weighed in at a whopping 3.2kg after plucking and cleaning (over 7lbs in old money) – as it happens the same weight as me when I was born! and the other three: 2.5kgs, 2.5kgs and 2kgs. The six brownies are still running round the pen (for now). They are smaller but by all accounts even tastier.
Since last November when we dispatched the pigs, their livers and kidneys stare at me every time I open the freezer to take out a more delicious cut – maybe a chop or a pork belly or a shoulder for roasting. No longer, for the offal are no more. I know some people are a bit squeamish and only like the boring, homogenized modern, (mostly chicken) liver pâtés but I am well chuffed to have produced a traditional, fairly lumpy, strong, and exquisitely delicious farmhouse pâté. And we have over 4kgs of the stuff! The kidneys weren’t spared either. I opted for the rather basic Delia recipe for pork kidneys in a chilli sauce. These were pretty tasty too.
Meanwhile, the garden has been putting on something of a show. A show, yes. A show garden, no. Some may even say our patch of land is little more than a partially tamed wilderness. As the difference between a flower and a weed is in the eye of the beholder we like to describe ‘the lawn’ as a resplendent carpet of gold. Others may just say we have a major problem with dandelions. Also providing colour is a profusion of red and orange (Californian) poppies and in fact, grass, which is still green. We will enjoy it while we can because in a few short months it will turn into an unforgiving dustbowl.
Apart from the flowers, I’ve been keeping a careful eye on the fruit trees. Unfortunately it seems that the plum harvest will be non existent. The flowers were all out in April but they got completely washed off by the torrential rain. There will be no plum crumbles, jam, or cordial this year :-(. On a more positive note the apples have set and we should also get quite a few pears. (Oh, and there’s a nest in the pear tree so we’ll keep an eye and ear out for any little tweetsters). And there will be plenty of quinces as well, so all is not lost.
The heat of summer is not yet upon us and so the cool breeze often makes the courtyard a better option than the garden. Jackie has been hard at it repainting the blue bits and has actually added a stripe to the bottom of the main house which I think has made it even more Portuguese.
The ambiance is also certainly improved by a glass of chilled white and we are currently enjoying a few bottles of Casa Azul, 2012 vintage. Yes, it’s the elderflower wine which is a surprisingly fine drop. As the elderflowers are out now we had better get busy and prepare for the 2013 vintage.
Outside the realms of Casa Azul, we continue to walk the dogs every day and keep an eye out for the wild flowers of which there are many. Jackie has become an orchid expert and has managed to identify at least a dozen indigenous species. We’ve had a succession of different types over the last weeks and now it is the turn of the pyramid orchids…
Posts have been rather few and far between recently, not because we have been too busy sipping G and Ts on the manicured lawns of Casa Azul but simply because we have been too busy doing other things. One of them, for me was going back to the UK for a couple of weeks. This meant Jackie had to shoulder the burden at home on her own. And now I’m back, my list of things to do has grown exponentially.
So what’s been happening? Well after the wettest winter on record, we’ve had no rain at all in April. This has meant the watering system had to be dusted off, repaired and put back in action. We seem to have bought more trees and shrubs over winter so this means even more watering. The previous rain and the present sun has meant the grass has also taken off, which of course means strim, strim, strim.
Most of the fruit blossom has come and gone but I’m not sure how much fruit we will get. The plum blossom came in the middle of a lot of rain, so I’m not hopeful about that, however the last of the blossom, the apples and pears, was only in the last few weeks during a hot dry spell so hopefully the bees have done their job and fertilised all the flowers. Not our bees of course as they had disappeared (again). However, before they left, they had been very busy, even in winter, and had left loads of honey stores for us. I took the empty hives and left them in the barn over the winter with the honey still in the capped frames. I took the frames back out recently and the honey seemed to be fine so I made use of the hot weather to extract it. We haven’t got any more bees this year but we are hoping to try them again but in a very different place next year to see what happens.
Of course we are still gorging on our home grown pork. We’re going to have a rest from pig rearing this year but I’ve modified the pig house and field for more roasties. As you can see from the before and after pictures below, I needed to rescue the house from the elephant grass first.
We got 11 chicks from the market and they will be ready for the chop in a couple of months. Interestingly the brown ones are supposed to be tastier but the white ones grow huge and fat quicker.
And talking of chickens, what about the title of this blog post? Well last week I heard a load of squawking and clucking from the hen run with the three of them running hither and thither in a frenzy of feathers. One had got a mouse and they were tearing it to pieces!!! Not satisfied with the the occasional snail, they seem to have developed a taste for bigger prey. Jackie is already a bit nervous about entering the run because of the attentions of the well-named ‘Pecky’. What next?
Carnivorous chicken on the look out for suitable prey
In spite of the doom and gloom of the last post, January actually went out with a bit of sun. Enough for us to enjoy our first barbie of the year – ah the pleasures of a glass of chilled white wine and the aromas of fresh fish on the barbie… We also had a day at the beach which of course the dogs absolutely loved.
Jackie was actually boiling in her heavy coat which was soon removed as we tucked into a delicious seafood lunch with the sun on our faces.
It is a bit strange that there are signs of deepest winter all about – the recent storms have made sure the deciduous trees are now ompletely bare (including our little plane tree in the courtyard) but there are already signs of spring. We have had daffodils for some weeks but now buds are appearing on the fruit trees. I think the almond (pictured below) will be the first, but this will soon be followed by the blackthorn and the plums are not far behind. In addition we have also found some wild lillies (also pictured below).
I know January is only two thirds over but we’ve had enough already! Although not as bad as the UK, we’ve had rain, rain, rain, culminating in storms this weekend which knocked the power and water out for three days. And there are more thunderstorms to come. Every cloud has a silver lining and I think we were lucky to escape much of the damage. We had an olive tree fatality and a tile off the roof but the polytunnel and the shed survived (thanks to a high quality build I reckon!) and the well is now full to the brim. And our chest freezers full of pork managed to avoid defrosting.
The local bus stop was not made of sterner stuff however…
ex local bus stop
However, our bees have once again absconded. They disappeared this time last year and it is just as perplexing this time around. Last week they were still out and about collecting pollen ( I posted photos here) and there is plenty of pollen and honey in the now empty hives. We think that living in rural Portugal we have ‘got away from it all’ but I guess even here we cannot escape man’s degradation of our natural resources. They are saying that the honey bees abscond because of pesticides and I have to say that the locals seem to use them indiscriminately here. Perhaps that is the cause, we just don’t know.
We also had a bit of a shock with Betty. Previously known as Lucky – as she was saved as a puppy wandering lost in the forest, she was very well named. She certainly has a wild spirit about her as she likes nothing better than to tear off out of the garden chasing after goodness knows what, only to come back three or four hours later covered in goodness knows what! However, she always comes back, eventually. Even if it is three in the morning when she announces her return by howling outside our bedroom window. This time was different. After she had been gone for two days we thought the worst. However, on the third day there was a scratching at the door. She was filthy and half starved but of more concern was a huge gash around her stomach. We think she had been caught in a javeli ( wild boar) trap, which is made of thin wire. We cleaned her up as best we could and took her to the vet. Suffice it to say, after a coarse of antibiotics (intravenously administered by our good selves!) and some tlc, she is already back to her worst.
Betty
Despite all the doom and gloom it’s not all bad. After all, during our electric-free nights, I managed to beat Jackie at scrabble and cribbage and we have our first daffodils of the year – in fact they’ve been in flower for over a week, as well as a clutch of pretty crocuses.
I can’t believe this is our 4th New Year in Portugal! Our first new year was spent awaiting the builders to start work, our second saw the hens lay their first egg, our third we were looking forward to operation porco, and our 4th? Well, our house is built, we’ve had over 2000 eggs and operation porco has been and gone and we will be enjoying the pork for quite some time.
As our ‘to-do’ list continues to grow, this year I think, will be one of consolidation. Hopefully the laydies will keep on doing their stuff and no doubt we will get a few more roasties for eating. The bees are still here so hopefully more honey and of course Jackie is already busy ‘na horta’ making preparations for this year’s crop of goodies. Having said that, we still haven’t finished the spuds from last year and the caulis, calabrese and leeks are still going strong.
Talking of bees. Yes they are still here (they buggered off last year and I had to restock the hive). But nevermind that: they are still out and about foraging for pollen as can be seen below.
Interesting that they’re collecting orange and yellow pollen. I don’t know where from.
I’ve been busy with the hammer and nails. I took apart a couple of old pallets and made a small table cum footstool for the lounge and a storage box for the bathroom .
Jackie has also been busy and although a bit late for Christmas, here I am proudly wearing my new jumper. Very nice it is too.
I was just looking back at our blog entries for this time last year. What a difference! This time last year we were having lunch outside and actually bemoaning (slightly) the lack of rain but certainly not the wonderful blue skies. This year we’ve had plenty of rain and not even contemplated eating outside although we have had the odd cuppa and slice of cake in the courtyard – I used up the last of this year’s and indeed last year’s(!) walnuts in a walnut cake this week.
As I mentioned in the last blog post, our oranges are looking good and here is the proof:
oranges
Our plane tree, which we planted in January, has also done rather well. Autumn of course comes later in Portugal than the UK and so it has only just lost its leaves as these pictures show, the leafy photo only taken three weeks ago.
Meanwhile, our Christmas booze is coming along nicely as Jackie has just decanted off the fruit from the sloe gin, and cherry and damson vodkas. I have to say they taste delicious! The elderflower wine is also nearing maturation.
The big hairy one continues to improve and here she is rehabilitating on the sofa…
There are no two ways about it – this year’s olive harvest has been by far our worst since we’ve been here. I think the main problem is the rain that we have had. It must have knocked most of the olives off. Also, although many of our neighbours are still harvesting now, I can’t help but think that we have been too late and should have picked them weeks ago. Alas, this wasn’t possible as I was in the UK.
Anyway, earlier this week, we took advantage of some dry weather and picked what we had. It took us just as long as usual, as we did the same amount of trees – they just had fewer olives on them. After three days we only had just over three barrels (about 80kgs) to show for our hard work. This was about half of what we got last year which in itself wasn’t a great year. More bad news was to come when I went to the lagar (cooperative olive press). If you have a ‘normal’ amount you can see your olives through the press and out the other side as oil. However for small amounts it is not worth their while to do it separately, so they just weigh what you’ve got and give you an equivalent amount of their own oil. So, I knew I would have to swap it but when the bloke only offered me six litres, it was disappointing to say the least. I bought another four litres from them and as we still have plenty from last year, that should see us through the year.
One harvest which should be better is the oranges. There are plenty of them and they are already turning orange. No shortage of marmalade then.
Meanwhile with all the rain and a bit of sun, the grass has shot up – yes, it’s time to fire up the strimmer again. Because of last year’s drought, I think I only cut the grass once last Autumn. With more rain this year I think I am going to be very busy. Betty was disappearing in the long grass but now it’s done it looks great. Just as well I did it today as there is more rain forecast this weekend.
There has also been better news with the big hairy one. She was really ill just a week or so ago and even had to stay overnight at the vets attached to a drip. However, she has made an amazing recovery and here she is to prove it.
Of course Betty is still up to her usual tricks – she often disappears for hours on her own but also likes nothing better than her regular walk on the lead!
among the vines
… and the hens are also fine. We have now put them in the pig field and they are enjoying the fresh grass.
OK, not quite an invasion, but the other day while I was inspecting the hives, I noticed a large wasp and while I was watching, it swooped down and snatched one of my little ladies from outside the hive! I later found out that it was a large European hornet which is carnivorous and eats many insects including bees. I’ve only seen one so far and it is hardly decimating the colony (apparently up to 1000 bees can die per day at some times of the year!) and I’m hoping that it will disappear for winter. I didn’t get a photo of the snatch but here he is waiting for an opportunity and here are some bees returning home. You can see one of them with her little suitcases full of orange pollen. So they are still building up stores.
European hornet and honey bees
In better news when I opened up the hives, the ‘weedy’ bees seem finally to have made a fair amount of honey and the hard-working bees which produced all of this year’s honey crop have almost refilled all their frames! I could therefore take some more honey but as we’ve got enough and I want to make sure they have enough for winter, I’ll let them bee.
With the bees still collecting pollen you might suspect that it is still warm and sunny here (like October last year). Not at all. We’ve had a fair amount of rain and it’s been cold enough at night to have the wood buring stove on. And it has led to a reappearance of mushrooms after the absence of last year.
We have plenty of poisonous Jack O’lanterns around the base of the olive trees but also we’ve managed to pick quite a few field mushrooms. Together with our free range eggs, and home produced bacon (Yes!), we can have winter fry-ups – just the job!
Jack O’lanternsedible mushrooms and walnuts
One harvest which hasn’t been so good is the walnuts. However, it has to be said, there are more than enough for the two hairy ones, who love them and have no problem cracking the nuts with their teeth.
Now autumn has arrived with a bang a few typical seasonal photos:
The deed has finally been done. They had escaped just once too often – instead of jumping over the fence they had now started burrowing under. At 115kgs and 8 months old, they were also ready. Yes, the pigs are now pork. As I now look at the empty pig field, I feel a twinge of sadness. It was quite funny to see them scurrying around their paddock but we got them to eat and they weren’t pets. It was just as well we didn’t even get to like them that much, what with their escaping and grunting and ear-splitting squealing. That made the end much easier.
In short, they were killed one day, hung up overnight and then butchered the next. The butchering was the most traumatic as the butcher was producing cuts of meat at a hectic pace and me and Jackie were feverishly trying to label and bag various bits and put them in the freezer. We very quickly realised that Portuguese butchery is very different to British. If we hadn’t stepped in to change things, the two pigs would have been completely converted into costelletas (chops), febras (steaks), entremeadas (bellies) and entrecostos (ribs) as that is the way it’s done here. As it was, we managed to save various larger pieces which we deemed ‘roasts’, some of which will also become sausages and a leg which is now resting in brine and shall become ham. We also have a few other bits and pieces such as liver, kidneys, trotters etc.
I have to say the butcher was very surprised but happy to receive the heads and a few more unsavoury bits and pieces. Making brawn was just one step too far at this juncture.
All in all we now have two freezers, packed with 135 kgs of prime pork. Financially, it is difficult to put a price on it as we would certainly say our pork is far more valuable than the stuff we would ordinarily buy in the supermarket. But even based on supermarket prices we could say that we have broken even (not taking the pigpen construction costs into account), but this was not the point.
Looking at the sheer volume of meat from these two beast was almost enough to turn Jackie back into a vegetarian. Not quite though, as could be gauged from the satisfied smile on her face as she wiped the plate from the first of many roast dinners. Delish!
