About Me

We moved out to Portugal to live a frugal but better , simpler and peaceful life, our house is a very basic, semi ruin, up in the hills outside Figueiro Dos Vinhos, where we work our land, enjoy life with each other and our dogs, and hope to make the smallest carbon footprint we can,

Wednesday 12 May 2010

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...