A mixed bag

Another wonderful sunrise, over the mist.

It has been a week of fearful weather... rain and strong winds, but also lovely days when the temperature feels just right for planting good things to eat. All the seeds I put in the ground germinated straight away!
                                                                           And here, clouds being born...

Busy bee. It's all beginning to happen.

Some pigs I met on a lovely walk I took near our monte

Here is what our bit of land looks like from another high hill...

I love these deserted houses, dotted about the place. This one is in a small valley, with a few other houses nearby, also deserted, but the orange trees are still bearing fruit. Great for a refreshing snack on a walk.

I made two loaves of bread, from spelt I ground in the hand mill, and cooked on top of the wood burner. Very tasty.

I always forget that January and February are very hard months. I manage, but usually with a grim determination. The real winter with storms, rain, cold. Last year it was draught conditions; cold, dry, sunny, dusty! This year it's been wet, which is a blessing as the wells and aquifers get refilled, and windy, which I must admit drives me mad! I can handle ordinary wind, but those gale force blasts really got me this year. I think it was the fear if the tin roof flying away leaving us without our shell! The great thing (one of the many great things) about this part of the world is that the winters are short.  Anyway, we got through it. Now the weather is much more Spring-like and things are coming up in the garden and around.

We have put up a line of electric fencing round the vegetable garden in the hope that that will deter the b****** goats. I think having my garden marauded so many times really did me in. I've been down with a bad cold . I blame the goats!

I have stuck in cuttings of rosemary along the sides of beds which will grow up to be windbreaks, and also have some box plants for the same reason.

A L Solar have installed a solar hot water system and yesterday there was enough sun to heat the water. Steaming! I had my first hot shower here. We still have to sort out the grey water outlet. Make it further away from the house. The chickens love it. They look for food scraps from the washing up.

R has planted two almond trees on the same level as the two macadamia trees which I grew from seed, but which look rather weedy. I hope they pick up as the weather warms up. I have planted an apple and a diospero (persimmon) in the garden, and some kiwi vines and some wild grape, along with some avocados grown from seed. They grow well in this part of the world, as long as they don't get too cold.

R has been digging deep into the side of the hill for the next rainwater tank. The rain has stopped that activity for a bit as it is dangerous taking filled wheelbarrows of gravel and sand down the steep, slippery path. He has been barrowing large quantities and it is an amazing feat of strength and endurance... Now he's dragging up chestnut tree trunks whcih he sawed down. There are some dead ones standing. They have wood bug on the surface, but look to be good wood inside. They are heavy pieces and they have to come UP which is hard work!

So things are looking brighter and there has been no sign of any goats since we put up the electric fence... I wonder if they know...

spring is Round the Corner

What a site this was! The sun rose over the mist and through the tree tops, causing long misty rays. Ah, it's almost not peaceful, it's so exciting, sometimes..

The chickens are really becoming relaxed and free. At first they stayed near their penned-in area and ate mostly from their feeder, but now, they go all over the place, mostly up to the area around the house, which is more level.  If we are not careful, they will undermine the land and the house will slip down the hill... They seem to find it difficult to do their dust baths on the slope, nearly falling over when they try.

Oh, look at us go! After hearing my friends say how much they longed to dance, Gail organised a venue where anyone can come to dance for an hour. For two euros.  We bring our music and just get on down and boogy.  The venue is Friexial and it's lovely. The wooden floor is perfect, the sound system is excellent, and the view... well, you have to come and dance and enjoy. Thursdays from 4 to 5.
We, R and me, have been going to yoga with Charlie in Vale Bejinha. It is sooo good. Charlie is a great teacher and we both feel completely brilliant and knackered after an hour or so of his class.

The anti chicken/goat/sheep/dog fence is now in place and I am very conscientious about closing the gate, these days. I have been digging in muck and rotted straw into the beds and generally getting very hot and tired, making it all look really good. Next, I will start planting beans, peas, etc. This is a really windy site and I hope to grow some wind break, as the plants (and buildings) really take a beating. Well, we are right next to a wind mill!

Stormy Weather, Scary Weather

Last Friday the wind began to blow and during the day it got stronger and then all night it blew furiously. It continued all Saturday too.  The tin roof flapped and banged and the gutters blew off. It rained as well, horizontally. It came in the bedroom window, flying through the sides of the glass and showered the carpet. It was a very wet and scary weekend. I didn't sleep at all. I lay in the warmth of the bed and listened to the noise, thinking it sounded like someone was up there, and half expecting the roof to fly off at any moment. (Well, it did fly off last summer, so I wasn't just being neurotic.)  The door to the workshop was blown in, and the door frame broken. It was a very stormy 24 hours. (140 kph aparently, in some parts of Portugal, with waves 17 meters high)

When it had calmed down a bit I went down to the garden to pick up all the bits of cardboard and black netting, and the sun shelter I built in the summer, which had blown off completely. The place looked like a war zone, but the plants looked healthy. As for the 'spider' dome, I don't even want to go and look.  I will wait until the weather settles before I start to work on it again. It's too diheartening to have all one's hard work washed away by these mighty storms.

So yesterday we went to do some essential shopping and when we came back we found half the herd of goats up by the windmill. We put them back in the neighbour's field and continued home. I went down to the garden and found hoof marks in the soil.  I looked around... ARGH, the goats had been there and eaten the tops of everything! I had left the gate open of our new fenced-in-against-the-goats-and-chickens fence... I could've cried. Instead I screamed.  All those onions pulled out, all the brocolli gone, and the spinach and the peas and the favas. And it was my own fault!

Meanwhile this nasty, disturbing weather continues.  We have got used to the gentle stuff we've been having for the last few years.  This strong wind and hail and heavy rain is what sometimes happens in winter in Portugal.  At least we are warm and dry in our house. So tonight, we sit near the stove and the wind howls around the house and the roof flaps, but it's not as bad as Friday/Saturday so I'm thankful for that. I think that the very strong winds are a part of climate change. That is quite scary.

Rain and Creativity between the Showers

I've been doing a bit of work on the 'mud bender' or 'spider bender' down below the vege garden. I went down there the other day and started to mix up some mud and sawdust and then pile it on in clumps... It builds up and becomes a wall... So exciting to actually build my own place completely by myself. OK, I have a long way to go, but it's fun. I hope this west coast weather isn't washing away all my endeavours!

This morning we went to a yoga class with Charlie, who is an Englishman who has decided to move over here and teach yoga from his house.  He has been teaching for twenty years or so and is very good and we both really enjoyed the class. Yoga is good for the body and the mind, and we are so physically active it's good to do something that keeps us strong and conscious of our movements.

And the rain batters down on the tin roof.

More Digging and Being at Home

 A beginning picture. R doing the work of a digger. When you start something big like this it feels almost overwhelming... but slowly, steadily, the space is being created.

Nearly there.  All the subsoil has gone on a pile for more earthworks at a later date.

This morning as I was contemplating the view' I thought I want to Paint!' So I did some sketches of these pots and the big view of the hills... Last night as I was surfing the'net I found an artist called Barbara Rae and was blown away by her work. Also Elizabeth Blackadder, another lovely painter.  Funny they are both from Scotland.  I want to paint but by the time I finally got the paint out it was getting dark.... I made a cake with chocolate icing instead. The corridor of creativity as Monica says.

My favourite olive tree being pruned.

And here's a little thing I made. Felt with wool embroidery.

Here is the no-dig raised bed with onions planted. It rained heavily today so that will help them settle in.

A glimpse of our rural bliss/mess

All in all, a good, creative time for us up on the hill. The sheep have lambs and I'm hoping to get more fleeces this year to finish insulating the roof of the big room (above)

Digging...

We have started to clear a bit of land to put in a water tank... Phew, hard work lugging barrow loads of earth to the garden and subsoil to the path...

So this eveing we spent a quite time sitting by the wood burner.  I did a bit of spinning. Cooked tomorrows meal on the burner. ('Chispe' with beans and root vegetables. Very tasty if left to cook slowly.)

The other day I planted the two macadamia trees I grew from nuts from a garden near my old farm...

Rob has been pruning the olive trees and peeling the bark off the long bits to make furniture with later.  He has made me a plate rack/draining rack using thin twigs.  Works a treat.

And so life goes on and every day feels like a blessing :)