Helpers...

Well only another day or so and our girls leave us...
The whole thing has been a great experience for us, and for them I hope. We've had two lovely girls, Natasha & Phillipa. They've both been pleasant, polite and hard working, they've eaten everything put in front of them with gusto! And done the dishes afterwards...
They0've been helping out with the main task of weeding the veg patch, but i've tried to vary the tasks for them as well, we've also added in some fun stuff like picking and making Elderflower Champagne, 15litres in all. We spent a peaceful morning picking wild Lavender and hanging it in bunches in the kitchen to dry for medicinal remedies this winter, great for headaches and in a hot bath at the end of a busy day... We've also had tons of cherries so yesterday they stoned some for cherry crepes for dinner and we then made some cherry liquer to put away for Winter Solstice. Just Aguadente, 8oz sugar, and as many cherries as you can push through the top of the bottle... we did 2 litres...
The day before we cut a whole row of Coriander... then the girls spent the morning, chopping garlic and the coriander then proccessing it together with olive oil and salt and putting it into sterilised jars to keep for the winter... we then had it on spaggetti with parmesan cheese for lunch.... mmmmmnnn yummm but did we stink.... heheheh

Ive just got used to having them around and now they are leaving...

Today they are off to Coimbra for the day sightseeing, then we are out to a local resturant for dinner tonight...

Going well

Just a quick update on the girls... they are working hard, and it all seems to be going well. Its a little hard having people around so much but something we have to get used too as we have lots more booked in now... I spend half my time cooking now...
We just have to stop being so anti social... hehehe and get used to thinking about other people more and ajust to having folk around the place.

They arrived!

Yes our HelpXers arrived yesterday, two very nice young girls, on holiday from Uni, Natasha & Phillipa. They seem lovely and very willing to work, and eat all put in front of them which is good... they spent the morning weeding the area outside the cottage and its made a great difference. Hopefully this will continue...
I'll have to supervise with weeding in the veg patch as although clever, intelligent girls, neither one knows a carrot from a weed.. but the main thing is they are very willing and hardworking... So far so good...

Tommorrow I'll pick tons of Coriander and show them how I make the herb concentrates we use throughout the winter.
Plus we are going to make Elderflower cordial.. and pick lavendar for drying for remedies for winter too... Natasha isnt too sure on the herbal remedies as she is a medical student, Im hoping to convince her during her stay..

Summer...

Hurrah... It seems summer is really here this time... (hopefully that hasnt put a hex on it) we seemed to go from winter, to summer over night, a few days ago I was still taking a hot water bottle to bed, yeah , yeah I know... but it wasnt cold enough to light a fire, but by the time we've sat down for the evening, it was chilly and by the time I went to bed I was really chilled... so there...
Then over night it turned warm, all the screens are in and the windows fixed back open, and hopefully will now stay that way till late sept early Oct at least...
It was 83dgs here yesterday and doesnt look set to change for a while...

The garden is picking up, its amazing what a few days hot sunshine will do, the peas that did germinate now have flowers and tiny pods on, and we'll hopefully have a succession of them during the summer as Ive kept popping new ones in everywhere in the hopes of getting at least a minimal amount to freeze for the winter..
The beans are doing good, popping up everywhere now, as are the spuds, we've dug a few more the other day, they are so gorgeous... you just cannot beat potatoe salad made with your own new spuds ... yummy... we just cant resist...

We are eating lettuce all the time now as we've loads ready and Ive planted more seed to bring on more, the onions seem to be moving a bit now too, and the carrots are a little sparse but I can see definite rows now, as with the beetroots...
The caulis are the worse hit with the wet we had, we've probably lost at least half the plants we put in, but the cabbage is hearting up nicely and the broccoli is looking good. The toms are starting to flower and the peppers wont be long, the corn is again a little disapointing, it was a packet from uk, a sweeter variety, but less than half have come up... the chickpeas are popping up now so high hopes there...
Ive planted 24 good strong butternnut squash plants so hopes of TONS this year...

So all in all the veggies are improving, just have to keep hard at the irrigation now.
Its hard for rik, he is working a few days at the moment so gets up at 5am to irrigate before he leaves, then eats dinner and does it over again in the evening and its generally almost 9pm before he's finished all his chores at home... this is a very busy time for us both and we seem to fall into bed shattered at night...
Im busy working in the veggie patch, getting up early to get as much done before it gets too hot, Im picking and drying herbs for winter, trying to get our caravan ready for Helpxers who are coming soon plus walking the dogs etc, and all my normal house work.. not that , thats a priority with me.. and taking as many odd jobs off of Rik as I can to ease his load... phew...
But the pool is almost ready, this year we had to empty and refill it, we use water from our well, and can only pump a half hour in the morning and the same again at night... and its a slow job...
I have my most HATED job to do any day now, I keep putting it off... defrosting the big chest freezer... ready for all the new produce coming soon... its just takes so long, and I have such trouble as I cannot reach the bottom without overbalancing and falling in...

Good News! Our lovely old lemon tree that suffered so badly two winters ago, that we thought it would never recover has a few flowers on ... not many but its a start...
The tangerine tree Rik 'pruned' three years ago has gone bonkers this year and is smothered in blossom which is so strong its scenting the whole garden and house with its beautiful fragrance... the whole area is sweet smelling , the grapes are flowering and smell lovely too, as are all the wild flowers all the place... its a beautiful time of year...

HelpXers...

Well things are looking up on the Helpxers front, we've quite a few more looking at coming during the summer so hopefully we'll get this place finally under control... well as much as we want to, Im a little reluctant to strim as much as Rik wants to, I love to see the wild flowers every year... The bank near the cottage car park is hugely overgrown and wild at the moment... but stunningly beautiful ... covered in all kinds of wild flowers of every hue...
I love it... yes I know that within a few short weeks it will be a straggly brown and dead fire hazard... but for now... it stays!
Im still working hours down the veggie patch in between showers, dashing back to the house each time it pours... the air is blue at times, thank goodness there's no one to hear me... why do weeds grow quicker stronger and more healthier than bloody veg...
The little patch of corn is starting to show mini shoots... Ive a few chickpeas come up too and Im soaking a few more to replace the ones that dont... peas will just be a nice treat this year not a main crop, sadly for Rik... Ive tried everything and they just dont seem to flourish... so Im planting more and more beans of every size and type ... to make up the short fall in the winter stores.. The spuds have recovered from the frost, a little brown on the tops but still growing... so we still hope for a great crop, we couldnt resist digging one plant up... just for a few new potatoes to try... very small but loads on one plant... enough for us both to have a meal... scrummy they were too!! We are being very good and not taking any more, we want big ones for the year...
We are eating first lettuces now... and the cabbage is coming on too... Ive been down sprinkling wood ash from the fire on the young onions as a neigbour came and told me to do it... good potash I believe...
Ive planted out some squash, a couple of Pattypans, and some black courgettes, and a golden one too... I have the butternuts waiting to go in.. sadly the pumpkin seed seems to have rotted, but we still have five bags from last year in the freezer, its only a standby for us... which I'll use any day now...

Sorry..

Sorry for yesterdays post, Ive read it back today and it was a little on the downbeat side wasnt it... It doesnt really reflect how I was feeling, I was I suppose, a little fed up with the weather , and that came through in my posting.
Things are not all doom and gloom, although our money situation is a bit tricky at the moment, we are still hanging in there... we've plenty of food growing in the garden, I just keep popping stuff in everywhere, I have a 'no bare earth' plan for this year....luckily I had loads of seeds and stuff so its cost me almost nothing...
It costs us very little to actually live... we have enough put by to pay the electricity bill that came the other day, we still have a lot of food stores, water is free, it just mmeans we wont be able to go anywhere as fuel is our major expense, so if this isnt updated for a while you'll all know why... but we manage, we always do...
We have two helpXers coming for 12 days the end of this month and more planned, so lots of work to be done... luckily again it costs us next to nothing to feed a few extra ...

On the up side...
We have a new family near us.... one we dont tell the neighbours about... a small family of deer, Rik saw them earlier in the year and now we've seen then a few more times, a male, female and a young one... beautiful... we have a wooded valley at the bottom of our land with a stream , they seem to have made that their base, they move around but seem to come back reguarly...

We are off collecting wood again, the stove is insatiable. even at this time of the year...

All kinds of everything...

Im sorry this blog is a little bit delayed being updated, things have been a tad on the hectic side here, Rik has been at the hospital, he spent a couple of days in absolute agony not giving in to my pleas of going to get it looked at (stomach pain) when finally it got so bad he had to go to Coimbra Emergency... they did all kinds of tests and explored places you'd never want things poked in...
And decided he had a bowel infection... they have no idea how or where it came from... not our water or food as Im fine... Its not a food poisoning or tummy bug type thing... no vomiting or the other end... just incredable pain in the gut... well they acually did nothing... to make him better just told us what it wasnt...
He's home now, and Ive been witchying him with herbal remedies and tisanes and he's much better now... drama over thank God...


The weather isnt great... a bit wet now and still more to come I think, the garden is stumbling along, we dont seem to have the heat to germinate stuff very well at the moment, all the peas, beans and beets are very sporadic... big gaps, I have to keep going round and poking the spare seed in the gaps... and hoping... we also have a frost three nights running which has not done the spuds much good... they are not dead, but the tops are burnt a bit...
Ive even had probs germinating the squash seeds this year... very slow... Im poking extra seed in all over the place , if it all suddenly takes off we'll have tons... but somehow I dont think so...
But we have lettuce ready to eat, the onions seem to be coming on well, as do the cabbage, and broccoli, the carrots are showing through too... so we wont starve...
Bookings for the cottage are very low this year so we'll need the veg more than ever this winter...