Well things are steadily improving, hopefully today I'll have water again. the range is in place and working again, and I must say looks lovely where it is now Ive painted the newly rendered wall a nice pale creamy golden yellow colour, a sort of warm golden cream.. and its beautiful... the walls that will hold my wooden worktop are in place and will be rendered today, the stone pieces that will go against the range will have to wait a while till we save some more money, but its not a problem, we've plenty we can be getting on with so the work wont come to a standstill while we save. I had a very old handmade cupboard given to me last year, some English friends were going to throw it out as it has a smattering of woodworm holes. I saved it, its beautiful, it even has the curved cutout in the middle where the small barrels fitted, it was painted a dull green, I have now painted it the very traditional bright blue, and placed against my golden cream wall , it looks stunning !
The wet stuff has been falling a lot again the last couple of days, so no improvement or work done outside, the herbgarden is still a rough patch of brambles full of piles of rock... well over half of it is anyway, Im trying not to stress myself about it, but the seeds will be here soon and spring is on its way and Im not ready for it... we still have strimming to do down the veggie patch and rototilling and fencing before we can start planting... this time of year is allways hectic but this year will be worse due to the kitchen and the weather, we can generally do a little here and there over the space of a few weeks but this year by the time the weather clears it will be full on planting time... oh well... what gets done gets done...
I was hoping for helpers this year, but it just hasnt happened, we have two lovely girls booked to come to help for a week in April, but we needed some now... and two lots have so far let us down...
The orchard is looking lovely, rather wet but the trees are all just starting to bud up so at least we know they are ok...
The weather we've experienced and the rest of the world really, has made me even more determined to make my own small contribution to changing what we are doing to the planet. We must compost more, and we already recycle most things, but Im going to try to persuade Rik to look at our fuel consumption on the van a bit closer, as we do use it a lot, we run hydrogen cells which give us economy and much less emissions, so we are trying, but I'd like to cut usage down, it would save us money too. But he is a petrol head and always has been, so this is a difficult ajustment for him..
We do get comments from people at times who trot out the same old thing... the difference one family makes is so small... what good does it do, if you save a little water or fuel.... sadly so many people still feel like that, is it lazyness, or just ignorance? I dont know, it makes me really angry.. I think its selfishness , as it can be a big ajustment to make to your lives, to think about this kind of thing and not blindly switch on the light or heating or newest electrical gadget from the shop... people think they have to go without... and that scares them... they want... things and will have them regardless of the cost to the rest of the world...
We are not as green as we could be, we dont go without too much... I have a washing machine, we have a motorbike we use for pleasure, we dont want to live in the dark ages, but we are trying, bit by bit , there is so much of the gadgets and convenience world you can live without and yes it does make a difference !!
One of the upside points is our last electricity bill just came in at 37 euros.... what a difference from the almost 100 euros bills and more that we were getting a year or so ago...
Frugal living in the Portuguese countryside,Eco-tourism, Agri tourism, recipes,family life, self sufficency, eco living, vegetable growing, tips and self help ideas for country living.
