Browsed by
Category: Harvest

It must be Autumn because…

It must be Autumn because…

Comments 0 Comment

Well the first thing obviously is the rain. It has been bucketing down on and off for the last week and this has meant the return of the grass. Not an even, lush carpet but it’s back. Strangely enough on our learning English site (podcastsinenglish.com) this week, Jackie interviewed our good friend Peter who was describing a scary few days at the edge of a huge forest fire which threatened to engulf his house. This happened only a few weeks ago. With the wood burning stove already on the go for the cold nights, the hot, dry summer already seems a distant memory.

Last year the area just in front of the house was builders’ rubble. We planted some grass seed and thankfully it is already starting to come back pretty well.

Also the conifers we planted shortly after we arrived have done pretty well over the summer and are starting to shoot skywards. No doubt this will continue with the Autumn rains.

Not forgetting the strange episode of the autumn flowering apple tree. And the apples are coming along nicely.

So the season has changed, the wellies go on and with the rain we are seeing (and picking) our first mushrooms and also oranges. Although Jackie did make some quince jam, we are hoping that it’s not too late to grab a few more but we may have missed our chance.

The wet weather means that the ground is much softer now and so we are going to be planting a whole load of bulbs. Summer is not great here for flowers as we can’t spare much water but we are hoping for a good show in spring when it’s damp but sunny.

The hens are finding the damp ground much easier to scratch as well. I feared that they would scratch up any new grass that tried to poke through and my fears were well founded. So I split the chicken run in two, hoping that the chickenless half would resprout so they can be let loose on this when there’s a bit of grass. As you can see from the photo below this has worked a treat. They certainly aren’t bothered by the rain and actually seem to enjoy it.

Meanwhile the new roasties are gaining weight hand over fist and will be ready for the chop in a few weeks!

And the veggie patch is still going strong. The carrots and parsnips sown back in September are, at long last, starting to germinate; they obviously appreciate the cold, wet weather more. The experiment to grow more things through the winter continues: both the peas and broad beans are flowering and of course not an aphid in sight. All the brassicas are up, there are no green caterpillars now, although they look rather straggly at the mo.

cauliflowers, peas and turnips

The turnips and swede are going mad, and the onions are doing well too. Must remember to put some garlic in this month. Finally, the chard, kale, lettuce and beetroot are also doing well – no fatalities yet! We should be eating the leeks into the new year, and the sprouts too. And the tomatoes are amazingly still going – just a few left now but we’ve got plenty stored in various guises for the winter.

Also, as can be seen below, the artichokes and asparagus are doing well and will be ready to eat next year.

So there are very few beds which are empty and we’re pleased about that. These have been covered in manure which will break down even more over the winter months and be ready for the new potatoes and other early crops. Let’s just see what the winter holds in store…

Liquid gold – part 3

Liquid gold – part 3

Comments 5 comments

I can’t believe this is our third olive harvest and they keep coming earlier. Usually it is in November but this year it was mid October. Global warming? Whatever it was, this summer has been very dry and very strange. August was cool and cloudy while September and so far in October it has been scorching. It took its toll on the olives as they ripened very early but also many were dry and shrivelled. We also had a lot fewer and could only muster 6 bins and that was after scouring all our trees and even taking some from the abandoned field next door.

up a tree

So I was a bit embarrassed to take our paltry crop to the lagar (factory) for pressing. However, I was very pleasantly surprised that our 140kgs produced 22 litres – more than last year which came from nearly 8 bins (240kgs). And in fact it was about the same weight as our first harvest which only produced 15 litres. All rather strange.

When I got the oil back to the house we were keen to compare it with last year’s which we are still using. The major difference is that this year’s crop is green and last year’s a lovely golden colour. Apparently this is normal as oil fresh from the press has the most intense olive flavours (and other taste characteristics such as pepperiness and bitterness) and a correspondingly deeper green colour. As the oil ages it will slowly turn more golden as last year’s has done, and like wine it gets better with age (up to a point) – Luis our neighbour is still using oil from a bumper crop he had four years ago. We also need to keep the bottles open for a week or so to let the oil “breathe” before storage.

this year's oil on the left and middle, last year's to the right

In other news the hens have stopped their strike. The unseasonably hot weather in October combined with the shortening of the days seems to have blocked up the hens and one of them was even a bit poorly for a day – unheard of over the last year but not surprising given her state of being bunged up! After a week of hardly any eggs and very hot weather, the temperature has come down and yesterday we were back to three eggs so hopefully it was a temporary blip.

Meanwhile we are waiting for our first autumn rain – it is due to arrive on Saturday. As the ground is bone dry and like concrete it will be interesting to say the least. It should also start filling the well. We are right down to the last few drops and a few scary looking objects at the bottom are appearing through the shallow water…

It ain’t half hot, mum!

It ain’t half hot, mum!

Comments 1 comment

It’s 31 in the shade. The wind turbines are at a standstill, helicopters on the look out for fires drone overhead and this morning’s start on the olive harvest has come to a stop. The grass, what there is of it, has blanched white and turned to dust; the red soil is rock hard.

Meanwhile the roasties are never too far away from their water. They are surprisingly perky in the morning, battering down the hatch in the morning to dive into the food. But come the heat of the afternoon they collapse in a white, feathered heap. The hens are suffering too and are on strike: we’ve hardly had any eggs recently. I’ve been giving them a ‘shower’ these last few days (from the watering can!) but still they’re not laying .

Meanwhile Gordy Gordo is still getting plenty of exercise. We went to a river beach the other day though for her to have a swim – and there wasn’t enough water! Which means that still, every evening, we have to water the veg patch, fruit shrubs and trees. The irrigation system that Richard set up is wonderful but the shrubs and trees we do by hand.

The plants in the veg patch seem to be surviving despite the heat though and we continue to get tomatoes, courgettes and peppers. We’re also eating sprouts, leeks and chard. The seedling cabbage, cauliflower and calabrese are holding up, the turnips and swede are going strong as are the peas and broad beans (flowering!) but the carrots and parsnips sown in September are just not showing – nothing at all.  I’m pleased that the soil in the beds is good, the manure / compost regularly applied has meant that it retains moisture well and is a far cry for the stuff we started with two years ago. So here’s to cooler climes ahead and a bumper winter harvest.

S is for September…

S is for September…

Comments 0 Comment

…and at last s is for the summer too. Hot, sunny days without a cloud in the sky so of course s is also for swimming. We have returned recently to one of our favourite spots and, because it’s September, we had the place mostly to ourselves. We took our friend Ana-Louisa with us plus a picnic. The water was bitterly cold at the start but this didn’t bother the dog who thought she had gone to heaven.


S is also for seedlings. There’s plenty to be done in the veg patch as the second round of crops are sown; so far cabbage, calabrese, cauliflower, chard, sweet peas and broad beans have all germinated. I need to get rid of the pesky mouse that’s making holes in the beds before I plant them though.

Meanwhile the courgettes are just about still going, the tomatoes too, and we have peppers and aubergines ready. Yesterday we had the last of our potatoes though (how I hate having to buy them now!) but the first of our leeks which made up for that, they’re great this year.

Finally, S is for Spain as we plan another camping trip this time a couple of days in Salamanca. Super!

Repairing and building

Repairing and building

Comments 0 Comment

Today is the second anniversary of our arrival in Portugal to start a new life. It is also just over a year since we moved in to our new house and we are already doing repairs. Fortunately not to the house but only the polytunnel at the bottom of the garden. The sun has taken its toll on the cheap plastic covering which was falling apart so I recovered it with UV resistant plastic. Looks good now, I wonder how long that will last.

'new' polytunnel

However, we continue to build new things. Since the renovation of the barn, our attention has been on the courtyard and to this end I recently made a new flower bed. I had to dig up the new paving, and a layer of concrete and then the original cobbles underneath but the main reason was to practice my bricklaying as I intend to embark on a bigger project in the courtyard very soon.

starting the new bed
completed
New project started. What will it be?

Meanwhile, as we move into September, things are ripening. Walnuts are appearing on the ground around our three trees and so soon enough we’ll be sitting in front of the telly of an evening shelling them in readiness for a succession of walnut cakes. Also the figs are coming to fruition. Not just in our garden but there are a few trees in the lanes and tracks hereabouts. So along with the blackberries and apples, they are providing sustenance for our country walks.

figs and walnuts

One tree that doesn’t know what time of year it is, is our new apple tree as it has rather strangely come into blossom. I’m sure nothing will come of that.

apple blossom in September

Despite Jackie’s bemoaning of the lack of sun and heat to dry her tomatoes, we have had little rain – as measured by my new rain gauge. In fact in August we only had one decent night of rain which measured a relatively pathetic 25mm. However, this was enough for the grass to be reborn and now patches of the garden are starting to green in a sea of brown. And that is the signal that I’ve got a few months of strimming to look forward to …

Tomatoes, tomatoes part 2

Tomatoes, tomatoes part 2

Comments 1 comment

Well, I took the plunge yesterday and made some bottled / canned tomatoes. Actually, it wasn’t that difficult it was just that there were so many different stages and it was the first time. I wanted to fill the bottles with whole, peeled tomatoes and have these in a sauce, not unlike a tins of toms that you buy. So that meant skinning a load of toms of course and making the sauce. Plus all the bottles had to be sterilised not to mention getting the food mill out – the kitchen looked a real mess.

In fact buying the glass jars was the first challenge. We’ve only been able to get 750ml sized ones, and these are a touch too big, half litre would’ve been better. And the spare rubber rings (which apparently should be changed every time) don’t seem to be for sale… one of the reasons for bottling was to be able to reuse all the jars again so I do hope we can find the rings somewhere.

Back to the bottling: eventually all the whole toms had been peeled and ready for the jars, but I realised that I hadn’t got enough for the sauce. Next time I’ll have a load of sauce all ready made in advance, and then that just needs to be heated and poured in. So one jar was filled with tom sauce, one half and half sauce and water, and the third only water (which is apparently normal to use).

The huge pan I had ready for the bottling, my jam-making pan, turned out not to be quite big enough. The jars, once filled, need to be closed and completely submerged in water. There was perhaps only 2 cm of water above the jars so that had to be regularly filled up. Then the water needs to brought to a simmer and maintained at 88C for 40 minutes. 40 minutes of checking the water level and checking the temperature… it was great though to see the steam coming out of the jars which hopefully meant they were going to be sealed ok.

This morning, the jars having been left to cool in the water, I gingerly took them out. Looked ok. And then the seal test – the clips were undone and hurrah! it wasn’t possible to open the lids so sealed tight. Job done. I’ll have another go now if I can find some spare rubber rings, I’m rather reluctant to buy more jars if they can’t be used again. It’s good to have another way of preserving up our sleeves though, much cheaper to put up more pantry shelves than buy another freezer!

Tomatoes, tomatoes

Tomatoes, tomatoes

Comments 0 Comment

One of the projects set for the summer was to grow as many tomatoes as possible and have them preserved, in one form or another, so that we have them all year round. So the veg patch is certainly bursting with toms – small round ones, yellow ones, stripy ones, long ones… and thanks to the polytunnel we started eating fresh ones much earlier than last year. We’re hoping to extend the fresh season so we can eat those later in the year as well. So far so good.

However, it’s been the preserving side that has been more challenging. Sun-drying tomatoes is easy and the results delicious but you do need the sun, and finding two or three hot days in a row this summer has proven difficult. Imagine that! In Portugal, in August and still a problem! The last attempt had to be thrown away as they had gone mouldy; very disappointing.

Meanwhile I spent ages and ages trying to find a food mill or passata machine here and eventually ordered a mill through Amazon. Once I worked out how to use it we now have tubs and tubs of pasta sauce and soup filling up the freezer.

Perhaps the most successful has been the oven roasted toms, they are divine.  These go on pizzas or make a lovely salsa when blitzed with a blender (alas, this is now on the blink); they are also put into bags or tubs and put in the freezer…

And earlier in the ‘summer’ loads were thrown whole in plastic bags and then bunged into the freezer, these will be fine for soups or stews or made into sauce later on. But our new chest freezer is now full… So now yet another system is to be tested today – canning. We have a large pot for boiling, some Luminarc glass jars and a proper thermometer. The idea is that we can put the jars on the pantry shelf rather than putting anything in the freezer, fingers crossed.

And look – a whole post without me mentioning the fact that it’s raining (again)!

Food for free

Food for free

Comments 0 Comment

Aside from all the veggies we’ve planted and the animals we’ve introduced (bees and chickens), there are plenty of things growing around here that we inherited, some that have sprung up like weeds and some that are growing wild in the lanes around here.

I suppose the dreaded brambles are the main things that spring to mind. I spent months and months trying to eradicate them from the main part of the garden but they have still thrived around the edges. Last year the blackberries were dry and shrivelled but the cool summer we have ‘enjoyed’ this year has been a boon for them and plenty have ended up in various deserts. The common accompanyment to blackberries is of course apples. We do have an old apple tree in the garden which has been here for years. It produces plenty of apples (there are plenty on the ground that’s for sure) but they are all tiny and mostly inedible. Fortunately there are plenty growing wild in the lanes around here, as well as pears, and often on my daily walk with the hairy one I manage to snaffle a few for my knapsack.

oranges and apples

Two of the trees that were also here before us are the orange trees in the courtyard. Fortunately they seem to be doing very well and have plenty of fruit which should be ready at the turn of the year. We also have our fingers crossed for our small lemon tree which has two lemons and our new lime tree which has quite a few microscopic fruits clinging on for dear life.

I suppose quite naturally for these parts we have grapevines sprouting all over the place. Most have had a poor summer with few grapes but we have an enormous bush in the lane by the house. Although the grapes are only small at the moment and not of high quality I am hopeful for at least a few glasses of grape juice for next month.

grapes and blackberries

Aside from the flora, the fauna still continues to thrive. I took another frame off the bees which they seem to be fine with. This gave another two and a half jars which is just as well as we seem to be giving plenty of the stuff away. I won’t be taking any more so let’s hope that we’ve got enough for ourselves over the winter (I’m sure the bees will be thinking the same). Other fauna is also doing well. The collared doves must like it here as they’ve had a second brood and the fledgelings have just left the nest but are staying close to home for now. I wonder how long parents and kids will stay for?

another baby dove

We’re in the honey

We’re in the honey

Comments 0 Comment

As Jackie mentioned in the last post, we were rather chuffed to recently harvest our first batch of honey.

It was quite straightforward to remove the frames, I just had to be careful to brush the bees off the frames and quickly put them in a sealed box to take away. There are nine frames in the top box which contains the honey (the lower box contains the brood – eggs and larvae). For the first harvest I took four full frames and left the rest which were not quite full. We may take two more a bit later but there is no rush. We must remember to leave some honey for the bees to eat over winter.

Here’s a photo of a frame packed with capped honey – about 1.5kgs worth.

It’s accepted that most of the honey should be capped before extraction. The frame below is only about three quarters capped but should be fine. Basically the bees mature the honey and reduce the water content to below 17% before capping it.

Generally beekeepers use a dedicated mechanical extractor to get their honey but for just four frames it wasn’t worth our while so we did it manually. After a bit of messing about and some very sticky fingers it all went surprisingly smoothly. I cut the honeycomb out of the frame and then put it in a sieve to drain out. As it was a particularly hot day the honey was very runny which made it easier. The honey that came through was amazingly clear and wax free which was good and of course, it tasted delicious!

Mel de flores silvestres

Mel de flores silvestres

Comments 2 comments

Hot on the heels of our roast chicken success, well more for us than for them as all 8 have now been dispatched, we are now harvesting our first honey. As the bees are Richard’s project I’ll leave him with the details but suffice to say we are feeling rather chuffed (again!) having filled (so far) 12 x 500g jars of the darkest, richest and most delicious honey!

Right now I’m baking a honey cake which not only uses some of our most recent produce but also our eggs and olive oil *smug*