Grape picking.

Well its that time of year again, wow how time passes when you're having fun ... yesterday, Rik cleaned out the barrels (the ones that are empty ) and the vat and crushing equipment and organised all the big drums we collect the grapes into ready to make the wine.
Sadly this year wont be the bumper crop of last Sept, but with our grapes and a friends few vines we should manage a couple of hundred litres. We still have maybe a 150 litres left from last year too so we'll not go thirsty...
We've had a suprise visit from an old friend of Riks and some other bikers from the uk , we had a lovely meal and very entertaining evening last night, so good to see old friends and hopefully make some new ones too. It also gave us the chance to talk bikes with people who understand us, which is one of the very few things we miss sometimes.

Theweather has picked up again, 30 degrees today, but nice and cool in the evenings and early mornings so we can get plenty done about the place.
Wood is still a priority, but we have to take time out for wine making too... another few weeks and we'll be picking olives, Ive still a few litres of oil left from last years bumper crop, and hope for enough to see us through another year. Such hard work though... well worth the effort, when you see that green gold come flowing out....
We use a very old tradional Lagar, that uses the old fashioned pressing mats and equipment, it takes a long time, from putting our olives in the crushing vat, to our oil coming out the other end, maybe around 5 hours... but we will go with some friends this year when they take theirs, and the Lagar has an outside kitchen/eating area with huge BBQ and oven, with tables and we'll all take our own food and fish and bread and wine and make a day of it. Everyone who goes there does the same, it turns into quite a day, with everyone sharing food and wine.... wonderful! Its just the kind of thing we came here for... community spirit, friendship.... and joy of life..

The garden is almost done, a few peppers will continue till the frosts, the cherry toms are doing well, and the aubergines still going like mad. The squashes are mainly all in and curing in the sun in the spare room balcony now.
Rik worked hard and rototilled me a small patch and fenced it off completely so we could replant cabbages, (40) leeks (30) and a packet of turnips and some Greleiros , a type of turnip greens used for soup. plus some oinion seeds as a trial... so we'll see how that goes, so far its proved to be rabbit proof.... fingers crossed!!!

wow weather!!

Just when I feel we've seen it all, this wonderful place throws yet another suprise at us. The day before yesterday during the day the weather was excellent, hot and sunny and sky as clear as a bell. The blue skies we get here are so beautiful compared with the UK. Such deep deep blues.
I was just deciding to wash my hair, I generally sit up on the terrace to dry it in the sunshine. Rik called and said "take a look at that sky" well.... up from nowhere huge black clouds were boiling up and even as we looked a rumble of thunder came across the valley...
It didnttake long, within half an hour the whole sky above ther house was black, thunder rumbled and the odd lightning fizzed.
Then came the suprise... as the storm reached us , almost centred it seemed over the house, we heard ... clunk, clunk, clunk clunk clunk... great big... and I mean golf ball size hail stones... I mean bloody hell... it was and had been so hot during the day (well into the 80s) the ground was steaming as the hailstones hit... it was so heavey they settled for a while too... crazy....
It all lasted maybe an hour or so then was gone.
It has cooled down now, the temps are in the mid 70s and lovely and cool nights...
Great to be able to sleep and work hard too.

The Garden.

The garden is still producing, well the top terrace is.. the main patch is all cleared and finished apart from the brussels, we had our first small taster of them the other day, hopefully many more to come during the autumn. Ive given up on the cabbage for the winter, the rabbits are just too good for me, Rik will have to completely clear the area, strim the outside edges, and move in the fence and strengthen it before the spring, but at present, its too hot (well into 90s again) and we are spending what cool time we get on wood cutting and stacking ...the wood store is our main priority for the winter. A friend was over the last few days and helped me on pine cone collection duty, we filled every sack we had in just one morning, excellent! Such a small amount of time and we will now have cones for lighting our fires with all winter...natures firelighters...
The top terrace is still producing food like mad... the big toms are finished, in all we had over 47 kilos.... yep thats right...47!!! Ive frozen tons, made passata, made chutney and een able to give lots away to friends... now the cherry toms are coming in too... exactly what I'll do with them Im not sure... we are trying to eat them every day so as not to waste too many, also the aubergines are still going like mad, again we've had loads, plus peppers by the millions, Im now letting the courgettes go to be marrows as I have loads of peaches and want to make peach and marrow chutney... mmmmnn yummy...
The butternut squash are amazing!!! So far this year we've given away 11, eaten 4, and I still have 35, I picked another 7 the other day and we still have new ones coming, in the heat if I pick them as soon as they turn pale creamy yellow I can ripen them on the balcony and the plants continue to produce new flushes of fruits...
Any recipe ideas for what to do with them all would be appreciated, we just roast them in chunks or make soup so far.... ideas please!!!

Friends.

Living out here has really made us focus on who our friends really are.... or were....
When we were planning and working towards this dream we obviously told all our friends what we were hoping to do, many were supportive, some dismissive (oooh you'll never up sticks and leave.. )but a few were very actively excited for us and the challange it involved. Those very few friends have been fantastic, have kept in touch and visited when all the others have fallen by the wayside. So much so that we can now list our friends back in UK probably on the fingers of one hand, but those that do remain have made up for all the others...
One of those friends has just gone home after popping out for a few days, it really was a joy to have her with us, the casual acceptance of our now somewhat different lifestyle to what we once had, the ease with which she fitted into the household, her eagerness to help with any work that was needed, and just her general enthusiasmn for our life here was just wonderful. And of course it was great for us to have her company for a while too.
We also have another couple who have come out every year since we came here, the first time just a matter of months after we arrived and have really helped and mucked in and supported our decisions with friendship ever since. And our friendship has grown even better as a result.
It really does make you appreciate these people, its not easy for them to come and stay when how we live is so different from what most are used to, our last friend had to sleep in our three man tent, put up in the ruin of what will eventually be our second bedroom, but she didnt even bat an eyelid... she enjoyed the waking up to the views of the forest as the ruin only has three walls at the moment...
These people have and hopefully will continue to enrich our lives with their friendship for many years to come.