Brett continued pruning the olive trees, with the help of the goats and kids!
I broke our electric sheep shears taking the wool from the ram's pelt; I then had to resort to using a sharp knife. The wool is filthy and fully of seeds and other vegetation;
20th January
Still cold and DRY. The lack of rain, since before Christmas, has resulted in quite a few wildfires in Portugal, which is worrying.
Another day of pruning and cleaning wool.
21st January
My hip is still giving me problems, bloody annoying. I took it easy today in an effort to give it some rest.
22nd January
We just managed to cram the butchered ram into the freezers (we had to take out a load of sundries tomatoes and other stuff to make some room).
A 5kgs leg of mutton is marinating in red wine, herbs and spices
Brett started listing all the things we now do towards being smallholders (it makes us feel positive/smug!) .....
*Being almost self sufficient in lots of food and drink
Meat: pork, mutton, chicken, duck and soon goat
Preserving: Canning, drying and salting meat, fruit and vegetables (a smokehouse is in the pipeline), tomato products (passata, sun dried, sundried paste)
Eggs
Goat milk
Cheese
Olive oil
Olives
Wine
Sweet potatoes
Squash
Seasonal vegetables and fruit
*Fire wood (heating)
*Wool products: spinning and hopefully soon weaving and knitting and we want to learn to tan
*Making my own clothes: sewing, knitting
*Electricity (solar)
*Water (from our wells)
*
There is still lots more that we want to do like growing food for our animals.
23rd January
Brett is making a great job of the trees (and we'll have lots of wood next year).
I spent the day preparing for the evening. The meat was studded with garlic and rosemary and put in the stove at 1.00 to cook long and slow (6-7 hours). Roast sweet and ordinary potatoes, saluted Swiss chard, lemon glazed carrots, mint sauce and gravy (Diane volunteered to do pudding - thank you). And the perpetual cleaning, tidying and floor washing ......
24th January
Wow, it was a brilliant evening; lots of talking and laughter. The meat was succulent and tasty, in fact all the food went together perfectly. People had seconds and thirds!!!! And Diane's trifle bowl was more or less licked clean. We've all been invited to celebrate Chinese New Year at D&T's on Saturday evening.
On the down side there was an awful lot of greasy washing up!!!
Hmmmm my spinning seems to have deteriorated; the yarn keeps breaking, I think I'm drafting to finely (look at me with my spinning terminology!).
Bloody hell apparently we have a FINAL DEMAND electricity bill back in Wales (we asked for all correspondence to come via email) - something else to sort out.
25th January
We were sent a copy of the final demand today, which also threatens legal action if we don't contact them by 26th (tomorrow)!!!! The bill is for £221 for a month period when the Barn was empty, as we were between tenants. I paid the bill as we don't want to be referred to debt collectors and now we are contesting it ..... bet we don't get far with that - sometimes life is very stressful.
26th January
The weather forecasting, in Portugal, is pretty spot on; after a very cold spell yesterday's 10 day forecast was 10 days of persistent rain - this morning we woke up to a very grey, gloomy wet day. The dogs refused to get up or eat - I think they were of the opinion it was still early morning!
This evening we decided to put the sheep and goats in the shed overnight; we just opened the gate to their field and Sharon led the way - she wanted to be in the dry! They are so easy to handle.
And we're back to living in a cave!
27th January
It was a horrible wet night, but at least our animals were all dry.
I made a couple of cheese cakes and Cajeta (Mexican caramel sauce), which is made by boiling goat's milk and sugar for hours on the stove; I cooked mine for a good 4 hours, it's gone a lovely colour and tastes great, but it's rather runny - I didn't want it to burn as it thickened (for my first attempt I'm happy).
28th January
Woke up to fog and frozen animal water - miserable day.
I carded and spun lots of wool (I'm definitely improving, though it's slower than I would like!).
This evening we went to Thomas & Diane's to celebrate Chinese New Year (year of the Rooster), with Alex & Karina, Alex's dad (Alex) and Pam & Mark.
29th January
We had a brilliant evening and the food ...... well it was a banquet! We had four courses:
(1) Fried Chinese dumplings with dipping sauces, barbecued ribs, prawn crackers.
(2) Peking duck with pancakes, and a pork and garlic dish (Alex).
(3) Whole baked fish (grouper) and rice.
(4) Lemon cheesecake (mine) and profiteroles (Karina).
The Chinese dumplings were my favorite, I need to make them!
There was so much food, I was full by the second course, and it was all delicious.
I ... continued to spin (until I had about the same amount of spun yarn (single ply) on two spindles), plied my yarn (two ply), constructed a Niddy Noddy, wound my first ever Skein (winding the plied yarn onto the Niddy Noddy) and set my yarn (by washing it in hot water).
30th January
Last night was the first time for several weeks that I haven't needed a hot water bottle.
We moved the sheep from Lavender Paddock to the Goose Field - they're so good and easy to move!
My spinning is slowly improving, I'm getting far less lumps and bumps - though once I've got good at it I'll be putting lumps and bumps in on purpose!
31st
The generator exhaust has sooted up quite badly, Brett looked it up; 'cold stacking' occurs if the generator isn't run to capacity on a regular basis (it's excess fuel burn off, or something - I don't really understand!) - it's a big generator and all our household appliances hardly touch it's capability. To clear the blockage it needs running under load .... i.e. I had to turn on my kiln!!!!! I have been putting this off, as I haven't used it for over five years, and, I've kind of forgotten how to programme the controller! But 'push came to shove' and I worked it out. I did a very simple trace paint firing, 2 hours to 650C, hold for 10 minutes, switch off. It took less than two and a half hours, the generator was fueling the house at the same time (I even hoovered!). I'll wait until the morning to open the kiln, it'll take a while to cool down. Exciting .......
Even more exciting, Henry is planning a road trip to visit us (happy days!).
1st February
Happy Birthday Stephanie! XXXXX
The firing worked ok except for one piece that was painted on both sides; the underside didn't fire, and washed off. I'm assuming it needed longer soaking to reach 650C, so today's firing will soak for 30 minutes.
2nd February
Well that didn't work then! The painted pieces were fine but the glass on the mould hardly moved (I can see a couple of dimples, if I squint!); so it either needs heating to a higher temperature or holding for longer - or both. Whichever it is, it means running the generator for longer, which equals more cost for each firing.
I painted glass in the studio with the heater on full blast, Brett watched a film - it wasn't the weather for doing much. We didn't use the generator today, so no firing was done, but I put stuff in for tomorrow.
3rd February
The sheep and goats were eager to come out this morning (the shed gets very smelly overnight and they all came out snotty); as always, they were easy to move.
It was another horrid wet day; I carried on with my glass painting and the kiln went on (can't unload it until the morning though).
The weather is going to be horrendous overnight, so we put the goats and sheep in the shed; they can come out in the morning.
4th February
Happy Birthday Joyce xxx
Bastard bloody ram is going in the freezer (sooner rather than later as far as I'm concerned). I was on field duty, when Brett let the sheep and goats out of the shed, my job was to get them into the field and shut the gate. I was just encouraging the last stragglers through when bastard ram butted me in the front of both knees! Hyperextending them painfully. Now I have throbbing joints and can hardly walk.
Another crappy day. I worked on my glass painting.
Brett sat me down and asked how long did I envision keeping up this lifestyle as I have had several injuries recently that mean I can't function well. I pointed out that none of the injuries were down to clumsiness or old age, they were all animal related (and I don't think tripping over the barbed wire was my fault either); so perhaps a few years yet, what else would we do?
5th February
And after all that, today I can hardly walk!!! My knees are sore and stiff (but I still maintain it wasn't my fault).
I'm very happy with yesterday's firing; today I got to paint detail (the fun bit) - my projects are coming together nicely.
Brett spent his time rotorvating the polytunnel - time to get planting!
6th February
Happy Birthday Alexandra! XXX
I sowed beans, peas, salad stuff and courgettes in the polytunnel today - feeling virtuous!!!
My knees are improving, no lasting damage done.
7th February
I can nearly walk without limping (though stairs/styles are a challenge).
I spent quite a while in my studio, painting glass; now I'm hoping for rain so that I can use the generator without feeling wasteful!
Breakfast cereal here in Portugal is ridiculously expensive, and, most of it is crammed full with chocolate (disgusting), so I've started making my own granola - it's very, very tasty.
8th February
I'm preparing as much glass as possible, to go in the kiln; as several days of rain are forecast from the weekend onwards.
Brett is still pruning olive trees, we have a good supply of wood for next winter.
I made lemon drizzle cake and flapjack as Judith is coming for afternoon tea tomorrow (postponed until Friday).
9th February
Happy Birthday Mark.
I continued to glass paint, whilst Brett pruned.
This afternoon we popped round to P&M's to give Mark his birthday present - homecured, freerange bacon!!!
10th February
A quick dash into CB to buy some bits (unfortunately still unable to find POLs or Ross Cobb chicks).
This afternoon Judith came round - we had a good old natter.
This evening it snowed!!!! (First time since we've been here).
11th February
Diane & Thomas popped in this morning which was nice. Diane came bearing a huge jar of Dijon mustard (cost less than the tiny jar I bought in mini-p!) which she bought when she was in France last week (thank you Diane).
I spent the day in my studio glass painting - I'm having such fun, I have a couple of pieces ready to lead.
When the mother goats are put away, in the evening, they have to be fed separately as Hazel bullies Georgia; so Georgia and her kid (Bauble) go in the shed with a bucket and Hazel and her kid (Tinkerbell) are shut in the corral; so the tasks are (1) to separate the goats into the correct pairs and (2) to get the muscovys out of the corral - as soon as they see the bucket they head straight for the goat pen, and it's not a case of pushing them out with your foot, they have to be physically lifted out and, as one is removed, two more replace it, they're so determined! Once the food is finish Hazel and Bauble are allowed in the shed.
I sent Helen a photo of a roundel that is ready to be leaded up; she showed it to her friend and she, the friend, has expressed on interest in buying it!!!!! I'm not even that bothered whether she buys it or not, it's just nice to have my work admired!
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