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Friday 13 November 2015

RAIN = NO SOLAR .....

22nd October
Brett went to work.
I used the curtains from the farmhouse to recover the cushions from the large leather sofa from the Barn. When we had them as curtains they were two tones of gold,
however the reverse of the material is red and grey
which was the side I chose to use. Of course, as all jobs go, I got a lot less done than I had planned; but I think it's going to look rather smart.
This evening the dogs took themselves off for a jaunt for about an hour; we called and called until we were hoarse, they are in BIG trouble!

23rd October
We had an undisturbed (by dogs) night, first one in a while.
Brett went off to work before 8.00, I was awoken from my slumbers by the dogs making a racket, let them out and there's two HUGE Serra de Estrela sheepdogs outside the house! I took my dogs back inside until they disappeared (they can be quite aggressive).
We're going out to dinner tomorrow evening, so I made creme caramels; as I was putting them in the oven I realised there might be seven of us sitting down to dinner! So I had to make a second batch 😞!
I carried on with my upholstering (taking apart quite a bit of yesterday's work).

24th October
Well I'm proud of myself, I went to language class on my own (Brett has decided he doesn't want to go anymore); I need to get back to the Michel Thomas tapes too, it would be great if, one day, I could converse, with confidence, in Portuguese.
Heavy rain and quite cold this afternoon; we didn't light the fire as we were going out this evening - it wasn't nice in the house (cold, damp and dark).
It was dark when we arrive at Alex & Karina's, so we couldn't see all the work they've been doing properly (buiding bathrooms, bedrooms etc).
M&M were at A&K's too; it was a good evening and as usual we came home very full!

25th October
Lots of hunters around today, not actually on our land but close by - bastards!
Andrew invited us for lunch; he'd made Spanish tortilla with his own potatoes, lit an open fire (outside) and cooked sardines over it and made a mixed salad - we ate outside in the sunshine, our contribution was the remainder of my creme caramels and hot chocolate; it was a lovely afternoon.
As always we come back from Andrew's with garden envy - he puts a lot of work into his vegetables and it pays off, his garden is fabulous. Brett and I had a long discussion and have decided to start a new (winter) garden in the field below the house - so now we're all enthusiastic.

26th October
Happy Birthday Lawrence! XXX
We went into Fundao and bought bundles of vegetable plugs from the market - 50 x broccoli (4€), 25 x cauliflower (2€), 25 x 'walking stick' cabbage (2€), 100 of each, white (2,50€) and red onions (2,50€) to start off our new garden. After eating a hurried lunch Brett cultivated (with the tractor) a section of the field for planting (it's already been scarrified a few times). We planted the walking stick cabbage (20) on the boundary, as it stays in the ground for several years, then rows of white onions (104), red onions (150), cauliflower (35) and broccoli (80) - actual number of plants bought in brackets ... we were stiffed on the walking stick cabbage, but we did well on the rest! We estimated that we've planted up less than 5% of the whole field,
so there's room for much more - I have nightmares about the weeding it'll need!
While we were in Fundau we bumped into Joanne (Lola's friend Helen and I went to Spain with); we swopped sewing stories, she's making 'Japanese. aprons' ( I call them Pioneer/Prairie Aprons). Now, of course, I want to make one; they'll go well with the dresses I'm making.

27th October
It rained throughout the night so the plants we put in yesterday should be well watered in 😀.
Lawrence's birthday message was still on the phone today (queued for sending) 😞 - sorry Lawrence we didn't forget you and hope you had a wonderful birthday XXX.
Our phone and internet signals are always adversely affect when the weather is rainy/stormy/foggy - I've been trying to post last month's blog since Sunday, I can't get the photos to upload.
Heavy rain on and off all day; so we couldn't work outside (though Brett did a few jobs between showers) and no power to work inside - I used one light bulb and cut out and pinned the cushions for the back of the sofa and two dresses. Once we have solar again it will take me hardly any time to finish them, as all the complicated work is done 😃.
The sky was black and cloudy but there was a lovely rainbow this evening; of course the photo wasn't as intense as the actual event.
Our peas and chickpeas, in the experimental field, are germinating!!!!

28th October
Not much solar charging going on today so we used the generator to do the washing (Brett) and sewing (me).
Brett doesn't know if he's working tomorrow; he thinks that he and Chris left it that they would see what the weather was doing (they are doing blockwork outside, so need it to be dry), and that Chris would contact him if they were. There's been no contact (but as we have no phone signal that's not surprising!); on the otherhand Chris might think he's sent a message and he'll be expecting Brett to turn up ....

29th October
I don't know what they're doing to Alfie but there's some awful noises coming from C&D's direction - it sounds like a dog caught in a trap ... but it's probably just that Alfie has been tied up!
Drizzly, dismal morning.
Haha, when we went over to do the sheep and goats we had several messages from Chris, the last one saying he was worried as he hadn't heard from us .... unfortunately neither of our phones will send a message. Brett has agreed to go to work tomorrow 😞.
Brett has started preparation work for fencing the big field; today was strimmering and chainsawing.
While Brett was out he spotted a group of Parasol mushrooms,
which we immediately picked; one went into our dinner and the other three are drying in the warming drawer of the range - now I need to find Ceps!
I finished the sofa cushions and it looks bloody good, even though I say it myself! Tomorrow I need to make some throw cushions but as I haven't got much material left I'll have to do patchwork.
Brett's been designing our new building which will house my studio, a workshop and a spare bedroom; the whole building will be 8m x 5m and my studio will be 4m x 5m!!!
Dinner was Bouef Bourginnone (with a whole bottle of last year's red wine), turnip tops (self seeded) and rice; unfortunately the Parasol mushroom wasn't easy to distinguish as the casserole was cooked for two and a half hours.

30th October
The mushrooms seem to have dried well, they've shrunk a lot.
Brett went off to work.
Hoorah, I managed to post last 'month's' blog.
Unfortunately it was a dull day so I couldn't use the solar to carry on with my sewing; I cut out and pinned some patchwork, but now I don't know if I like the idea of patchwork cushions!
It is only pinned!

31st October
Happy Samhain (Halloween)!
Still dull and rainy, and the same is forecast for at least another week ....... so still no solar, I wanted to get on with my sewing, Brett suggested that what I need is an old fashioned, hand operated, sewing machine; what a pity we don't have ebay in Portugal.
We went into Penamacor for provisions, on the way home I saw a big group of Parasol mushrooms but ..... they were behind a wire fence, there was no way of getting to them 😭, what a waste! However we drove down the track towards Gary and found two (one was my lunch, the other is being dried).
Brett wanted to have a relaxing afternoon, in front of the fire, watching Sparticus; I didn't, but I didn't have anything better to do! It's a very long film, we only managed half of it.
We were supposed to be going to the Chestnut festa in the village tonight, but Chris didn't get back to us with the details and it was lovely and cosy in the house ...

1st November
And today the sun came out .........
I'm still harvesting quite a bit from the garden.
Unfortunately for me I had to 'make hay while the sun shone' i.e. hoover!!!!! Not my favourite task but the house looks lovely now, which is good as we have visitors coming in the morning.
While I was sleeping (I have some of my best ideas when I sleep, and a fair few that are completely impossible once I wake up!), anyway, I suddenly remembered a couple of cushions that would go with the newly unholstered sofa - blue background with dark pink and blue flowers (Joyce gave them to us years ago), and it means I don't have to make any now!
Brett is keen to get the fencing finished in the big field, so he spent the day with chainsaw and strimmer - it was perfect weather for working outside, so I planted garlic in the winter garden (133 cloves) and picked a bucket of quinces for quince jelly and quince cheese.

2nd November
And the rain is back ......
We lit the range early as we had visitors (Ellie & Kevin) coming. They have been living in Portugal for a while but hope to be moving to this area next year. They came to look at our solar set up, and went away very impressed with the range (it does make the house feel very cosy).
It rained all day so this afternoon we watched the end of Sparticus (Brett fell asleep!).

3rd November
Spit, spit, spit, spit, spit ........
Today we went into Penamacor (we needed animal food); on the way home I was on the look out for the mushrooms I saw a couple of days ago, so I could show them to Brett, (I'd also convinced myself there must be some way I could harvest them) however I couldn't see them. BUT there was a car parked close to where they should have been and ............ there was a man with a fruit crate overflowing with MY MUSHROOMS masses of them, he'd just climbed over the fence and taken them - they should have been mine, I saw them first! (At least they didn't go to waste).
We managed to pick one Parasol mushroom growing along our track to the village (pathetic!).
However ....... when we got home I thought I'd check in the eucalyptus wood, behind the pig run, and found a couple of massive ones (and lots that had gone over); so now I know where to look next year. I'm still pig sick about the ones near Penamacor!
The range was lit first thing so, as there was free heat, I made a batch of quince jelly and quince cheese (Membrillo/Marmelada).

4th November
Another dull, dreary, drizzly day; it's hard to find the enthusiasm to do anything - actually with no solar it's hard to find anything to do to get enthusiastic about! This means I usually end up cooking ...... soup, pizza (I try to steer clear of sweet stuff when we're bored!).
Hoorah, my Membrillo set beautifully (this one cooked on top of the range for 2 hours rather than in the oven, Claire)

I've cut it up and wrapped it in parchment,  it should keep nicely in my preserves cupboard; I can give it as gifts or eat it with cheese (I have enough to do both!).
P&M started their olive harvest today; I wanted to make some salt cure olives for eating, I went out to pick olives and gave up at less than a 1/4 of a bucket, as I got wet even though it wasn't raining at the time the trees were still dripping - I'm not envying P&M and their Workawayers! I made up 3 jars of olives and salt, I will carry on making more jars as the month progresses. The dry salt cure method is much quicker than the brine curing method (6 weeks v 1-2 years!!!) and I think it makes a nicer tasting olive too.

5th November
The house smelled so nice today as I made my aubergines into Sweet Aubergine Preserve (Claudia Roden), it's got cloves and ginger in it; it's supposed to be used like a jam on bread/toast or to flavour yoghurt, but I think it goes well with cheese and cold meats too.
Well it had to happen; this afternoon we ran out of solar (we've had no sunshine since Sunday and the weather has been dull and rainy for a good two weeks), it gets dark by 5.30 nowadays. We spent the evening with candles for lighting, no fridge and no tv (screen to watch dvds on); it was a loooooong evening, we were in bed by 9.30,hopefully the sun will come out tomorrow.

6th November
It was raining when Brett went to work, it stayed dull for most of the morning; we had a few sunny periods this afternoon, so I risked turning on the inverter to cool down the fridge (beer!).
I did use the generator for 15-20 mins this morning to hoover and plugged the fridge in at the same time.
I had a rather boring day as the ground was too wet to garden and the house was too dark for any interesting activity - I tidied and cooked (Bacalhau) and pinned a dress. Oh yes, and rescued a bird from the chimney.
Brett is working again tomorrow but I want to go to class, Lou is giving me a lift; only problem is I have to meet her in the village (20-30 min walk), so I'll have to be up early to get the animals fed/watered/let-out/walked etc.
This evening I started getting electric shock type jolts along my Bell's Palsy damaged nerves, bloody painful .......

7th November
I was up at 04.00 a.m. looking up Facial Neuralgia, which I have a classic case of! I couldn't sleep, every 13-20 seconds I got a 'shock', it's horrible. Paracetamol doesn't touch it, I took 8 between 9.00 p.m. and 7.00 a.m. Ibuprofen takes the edge off it but not much more - I'm at my wits end, don't know what to do with myself.
I did go to class, as it would have been worse spending the whole day on my own - I needed distraction. It took me 21 minutes to walk to the village.
Richie says one of the fields across the river is full of Parasol mushrooms .......
When I got home we had had several hours of solid sunshine (24 degrees today), so I sewed one of my dresses.
I found some co-codamol left over from my last Bell's palsy episode, it should help me sleep tonight.

8th November
Red Tent Day ...
Apart from getting up at 03:00, to take more pills, I slept well until ....... 06.45 when we were woken by bloody hunters! (One of the 'joys' of living in rural Portugal); Brett had to ask several to leave our land - they were actually very polite and accommodating.
I made a tortilla to take to the, first ever, Penamacor Red Tent Meeting at Claire's; I had no idea what to expect-  Brett thought we would sit around and talk about our periods!!!
Eight women attended, four I had never met before; we started off just chatting, having a cup of tea and eating some delicious food - spinach and onion stuffed bread, dehydrated vegetable wafers and the best Brownies I have ever tasted (recipes should be on Facebook tomorrow).
The ceremony wasn't too intimidating; we sat in a circle (and from then on everything was confidential) introduced ourselves and 'shared' if we wanted too - I didn't feel comfortable sharing, so I didn't! Then we chatted some more, had another drink and more Brownies......
The best bit was that I came away with a Kombucha scooby for fermenting tea - I've been trying to source one for ages (I also want water kefir grains) and some Parasol mushrooms. I made my Kombucha up as soon as I got home .....

9th November
The sun has come back and the solar is charging nicely.
We went to buy fence posts and on the way back we called in on Diane &Thomas .... she gave me some Milk Kefir grains (in some milk kefir)!
It was one of those days when not much gets done; we lost 2-3 hours this morning visiting D&T and then more time this afternoon when they came to visit us.
Brett is really fed up with our geese, they keep chewing things; they ate through a cable on the generator, they've been at the tractor and truck and yesterday he caught them chewing the leads from the solar panels. So today we moved them, lock, stock and barrel, to polytunnel paddock. They'll be behind stock wire so won't be able to get to the vegetable garden or anything else important (including people, they're quite aggressive atm).
I soaked my breakfast oats in milk kefir overnight.

10th November
Breakfast: oats soaked in kefir, chopped almonds, apple chunks and raw sugar - delicious!
I'm into fermented food atm; my milk kefir was thick and creamy after 24 hours (and I've read that the 'grains' can be converted to water kefir grains quite easily, so once mine has multiplied I will swop half over). The Kombucha is looking good; there's definitely something going on in the jar.
I've started off a couple of 'starters' today - Sour Dough: it's just flour and water, it needs feeding every 12 hours for a week and Friendship Cake: (it was very popular in the 70s), this is yeast, sugar, flour, and milk; it takes 10 days to grow, stirring daily and feeding every few days - then it's divided into four portions; three to give away (hence the friendship bit) and the fourth is mixed with fruit and eggs etc to make into a cake.
Brett carried on with his fencing preparation.
We realised (apart from breakfast) we'd had a Vegan day -homemade flatbreads and hummus for lunch, homemade pesto and pasta for dinner.

11th November
Hoorah, Brett's new Ipod was at the post office today (thank you Stephanie XXX); so he spent a lot of the day being frustrated by I-tunes! And the rest of the day fencing preparation - it's a very big field.
Oh no, my milk kefir grains have disappeared!!! I strained the very thick (almost solid), creamy kefir through muslin (like I did yesterday) and there were no grains left in the muslin once the kefir had passed through - I have no idea where they went, all I can think is that they have disintegrated and are mixed in with the kefir (so much for converting my excess to water kefir grains!). I've mixed a couple if spoonfuls of the kefir with milk to see if I can still make it (like yoghurt).

12th November
Wow the week passes quickly; Brett was back at work today (he's only doing two a week but they seem to come round more often than weekly).
My kefir has set; well I don't know if it it technically kefir as I haven't got the grains, but it's something kefir like - and much as I 'google' it I can only find passing reference to people using it like this usually on FAQ pages. Anyway I'm amassing an awful lot of (I'll call it) kefir and must find uses for it other than my breakfast.
Looby was in a horrible mood this morning; whinning and pacing (even Lili was growling at her) - I have an awful feeling she's coming into 'heat' again.
The goats sleep in a shed overnight and graze in the field, with the sheep during the day; between the shed and the field is an oak tree and it has dropped huge acorns around it - the goats (we have recently discovered) absolutely love acorns! I can hardly keep up with them as they rush towards the tree and dragging them away from it is getting more and more difficult - imagine three goats with all of their twelve legs braced against the pull of their leads .....
Today feels and sounds like spring; it's sunny and warm and all the birds are singing (in fact they are building nests too).
I had a productive, if not terribly exciting, day as we had the solar; housework, sewing
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and washing. Brett was working at Annika's.