STILL PROCESSING PRODUCE ...

31^st July

Poor old Lily (Lili) is on heat, so she’s being kept on a lead and under close control – she’s being very good, but she seems to be so much more exuberant than usual, everything is done at 110%!!! Bless her.

Our bread oven didn’t arrive today!!!! He definitely said ‘tomorrow  afternoon’ (yesterday), but we stayed in all day ... ‘nada’!

I picked two buckets of vegetables; there were loads more but I couldn’t carry them, I’ll pick more tomorrow. I have got more tomatoes drying in the sun.

Brett cut down a couple of dead trees for our winter fuel; the nights are starting to draw in already so we have to start our preparations.

1^st August

Wow the year is moving fast ... I know it’s a sign of old age!!!

Today was more pickling and preserving for me and chain sawing for Brett.

And, needless to say, the bread oven still didn’t arrive.

It was cooler this evening; I was wearing a jumper rather than sitting in front of a fan.

I started making tomato, chilli jam; but as I made it with cherry tomatoes, and there’s no way I was going to skin those! I had to allow it to cool down then ‘blitz’ it in the food processor to reduce the impact of the skins.

2^nd August

Happy birthday Lou!

We had a very comfortable night and both slept really well for a change. It even rained, well spat, a little bit this morning.

I had finished making the tomato, chilli jam before Brett got up!
Lou hosted a birthday lunch for eleven of us; we sat outside at a big table ate, drank and were merry; and then Lou played the spoons – she’s really good at it.

When we got home I went straight to bed!

3^rd August

The heat came back today.
Brett continued cutting down dead trees ... and then the chainsaw died – we need to buy a new one.
Gary has his quinta up for sale; he came round this afternoon with a couple of potential buyers – he thinks we are an asset to his sale, which is nice.

I made a fresh tomato sauce with some very ripe tomatoes that were about to go off (you know I don’t like waste Steph!), just in case the bread oven arrives tomorrow.

4^th August

It’s HOT again!
I picked FOUR buckets of tomatoes; it took me a couple of hours – the little cherry ones take ages to pick!

I prepared two buckets of tomatoes for sun drying. Unfortunately the cool days at the end of last week were not favourable for sun drying and quite a few of the tomatoes developed mould – lucky chickens! I already have to bring them in at night because of the dew, and they didn’t like the polytunnel – it was too humid = mould! It’s not easy this homesteading lark! But when it works it’s rewarding and I’m very pleased with the sundried tomatoes that have worked – they’re delicious, so much more flavour than the shop bought variety.

Brett is tidying up all our scrub land; the grassy areas are looking so neat and tidy after being cut and baled, soon the rest of the quinta will look well cared for too.

What a surprise, the bread oven didn’t arrive! We’ll have to go and ask for it again – this laid back attitude to deliveries gets a bit wearing at times.

5^th August

I woke up with a bad back yesterday, I have no idea what I have done; I had a very uncomfortable night last night and to top it off I’m covered in mosquito bites – and I didn’t even sit outside last evening as I couldn’t get comfortable in the chairs.

But on the plus side Brett suggested that we went for a drive today and have a bit of an explore.

We drove towards Monfortinho and then past it and into Spain; apart from the road markings it looked much like Portugal! Unfortunately there were no nearby towns or villages (apparently diesel and beer is very cheap in Spain), so we turned round and explored Monfortinho, which is a spa town, but apart from masses of hotels and wide boulevards there wasn’t much to see. We ended up at Penha Garcia for lunch; it’s very like Monsanto very steep, narrow, cobbled lanes with tiny old houses.

On our way home we called in at the builder’s merchants ... he smacked his head and apologised profusely, he’d forgotten!!! He delivered it a couple of hours later, so we now have a pizza oven; we can’t use it yet as we have to ‘cure’ it first – gradually increase the heat/size of the fire over consecutive days to stop it cracking (needless to say I froze my prepared tomato sauce!).

6^th August

I’ve still got a bad back; so when Pam phoned this morning to invite us to a picnic and jet ski session at Idanha a Nova barragem I declined – which is a shame because it would have been fun, but my back feels too wretched.

We lit a slightly larger fire in the pizza oven today, and now there’s a hairline crack in it! How slowly do you have to heat them? Of course it came with no instructions.

7^th August

Thank goodness, my back is feeling slightly better today; I can stand up straight, most of the time, and don’t groan every time I sit down!

I didn’t prepare any tomatoes for sundrying yesterday, as the next couple of days are forecast to be overcast. But we have decided to ‘bite the bullet’ and buy some preserving jars to fill with tomato sauce for the winter. Initially it will be a big outlay but next year I’ll be able to think of them as free. And, as tomatoes aren’t that high in acid, they’ll need water-bath heating for 45 minutes which my recycled ‘bean’ jars might not be able to endure; so probably a prudent decision.
I processed one and a half buckets of tomatoes; skinning, sieving off the juice, chopping and reducing in a saucepan with salt, sugar and red wine – it made enough sauce for two 2lb Kilner jars! But I couldn’t bottle them up as they need the addition of lemon juice to increase the acidity and make them safe to store.
Brett cooked dinner and used nearly ¾ of the sauce in his pasta sauce! It tasted delicious.

8^th August

I had a bit of a lazy day today; I went to Claire’s to pick some lemons, and stayed for two and a half hours then, this afternoon, she came to us and stayed for a couple of hours – so lots of chatting and not much working!
Brett did the snagging on the roof, fixing the middles of the panels down, ready for plaster boarding inside, and attaching the ridge sheets to the decking roof.

9^th August

We went into CB to buy a new chainsaw (our one has died) and buy jars etc for my preserves ... not a very successful trip. We didn’t get a chainsaw and the jars I bought (3.49€ for a 1.5L jar) are too tall for our stockpot (for heat treating) so we now have to buy a bigger pot!!!!

While we were investing in equipment we decided to buy a Mouli food mill, which means that I won’t have to skin all the tomatoes as the mill will do it for me (yay!). I had a practise this afternoon with 4½lbs of cherry tomatoes (imagine skinning those!) and, as I was in ‘lazy mod’, instead of chopping them up by hand I stuck them in the food processor. So the normal process is, skin, cut in half, remove liquid and some pips (to reduce cooking time), add salt and red wine vinegar (to increase acidity) then cook until pulpy ... my process was, bung in food processor, drain through colander, cook until pulpy (having added salt and vinegar), process through Mouli – it worked a treat!!!

The only negative was that 4½lbs tomatoes didn’t result in much sauce, less than a litre so I’m going to need an awful lot of tomatoes to fill my (so far) six 1.5L jars, probably about 40lbs; how long are they going to take me to pick, especially if I use cherry tomatoes?

But on the plus side it’s a far more concentrated flavour than using a tin of tomatoes in a recipe.

So we are now ready to start plaster boarding; we just have to sort out how to get it to our quinta. Tomorrow’s job is sorting out the shed, with all our furniture in it, to make room for the tools (that are in the kitchen) and to move the kitchen furniture so that it’s easily accessible, ready to bring into the house – how exciting!

The dogs had a fun time this evening just running round and round the house, Lili was making little ‘yapping’ sounds as she followed behind Looby, who is much faster. It was lovely to watch, they were absolutely shattered, and puffing, after six laps.

We went to the village festa; we were sensible we didn’t go until 9.30, as the music was supposed to start at 10.00 ... ha, it started at 11.30!!! And then it was crappy cover versions, we left at midnight. I don’t know why it’s called a festa there was nothing happening; there was a bar and a restaurant, and a cage in the middle with tacky prizes, you buy ‘straws’ with tickets in them to see if you’ve ‘won’ a prize. And that’s it ..... a bit of music towards the very end of the evening. But there were masses of people there, whole family groups; so a lovely atmosphere.

10^th August

We tidied out the shed this morning, not a very nice job, but it’s much more organised now and there’s far more available space; so it was worth doing.
This afternoon we took the dogs for a walk to the river, which is nearly dried up now. Looby went straight into the water to cool down but Lili has reverted to her scared of water phase.

11^th August

We went into Fundao to look at livestock – we’re thinking of buying some Guinea Fowl. Fundao was absolutely heaving; the roads were gridlocked, there was no parking available even the underground car park was full and so many people. The reason for this is because the younger generations, that left Portugal for jobs abroad, mainly France, all flock back to Portugal to visit their families in August. So this is why all the festas and other activities happen in August.

We didn’t buy any livestock; by the time we had parked (illegally) there was only one stall still selling poultry, and they had no guinea fowl. But we did get a ‘paddle’ thing for putting/taking pizzas in/out of oven, so it was a worthwhile trip.

Tonight we had our first pizzas cooked in the bread oven – they were jolly good! The left over dough I shaped into a loaf and we cooked it in the residue heat for 2 hours – it was cooked but looks rather insipid, but hey it was our first trial, we will get better.

12^th August

Ooh I’m a little bit cross/disappointed this morning. I was trawling through facebook and there’s a photo of a piece of work by one of my favourite artists, NeSpoon; she has been at a festival just up the road and some of her work is in Fundao where I was yesterday!!!!!!! last week!!!! I wish I’d known, pooh, pooh, pooh!

Her work is absolutely fabulous, she takes her inspiration from doilies, she does street art, a lot of graffiti, it’s beautiful ... she has installations on beaches, HUGE doilies attached to driftwood, gorgeous. And she was here, just up the road, at a festival

I picked and processed three buckets of tomatoes; 25lbs was made into tomato sauce (that’s what the recipe calls it, I say it’s tomato pulp with a little flavouring – there’s no onions, garlic or herbs in it as they would make it unsafe to store), 25lbs filled three, quart size, Kilner jars (so 25 lbs results in only 6 pints of sauce!). A by-product of the tomato sauce was 4½L tomato juice, and the rest of the tomatoes are drying in the sun.

I’ll probably have to do exactly the same tomorrow and the next day, and ... !

Brett tidied his tools, in the kitchen, and managed to condense three lots of shelf units (four shelves each) down to one set of shelves – the rest have gone over to the shed we cleared yesterday.

13^th August
Yep, picked another three buckets of tomatoes and bottled more ‘sauce’ today. And there’s still more tomatoes coming; however the vegetable garden is starting to look quite sorry for itself now, most of the produce is over and harvested/about to be harvested.

14^th August

I was up and out early today; to go to a market in Spain (Valverde) with Pam and Lola. We bought some fabulous material, huge pieces for only 5€ each, Pam bought four dresses (they were very cheap). It’s far more ‘bustley’ in Spain than in Portugal.
Pam had invited Lou for ‘afternoon tea’ at 3.00p.m., we were invited too; so I went straight there with Pam from the market – of course it turned into a social with 16+ people, we left at 9.30, others left at midnight!!!

As we drove along the track through our quinta Brett saw the first ever fox we’ve seen on our quinta (we knew they were about), he sped up, as the birds were not shut away – fortunately they were OK, but if we’d been ten minutes later ...

15^th August

We went into CB to order the plasterboard; it was another bank holiday, so of course the shop we wanted to go to was closed! But we managed to order some anyway (phew!), it’ll be delivered on Tuesday. We asked for delivery quotes at two stores; Maxmat’s was 75€, Bricomarche’s was 1€ per kilometre – we went with Bricomarche as it was practically half the price

16^th August

I made some more preserved lemons; they are a wonderful addition to meals (as long as the salt is rinsed out!).

Vince brought over some plasterboard which he had left over; so we were able to start the kitchen ... today we boarded under the sleep platform, over half the ceiling, and two walls ... then we went and fetched the ‘larder cupboard’ from the shed. I cleaned it and Briwaxed it, then we put it in situ (looking good!),

tomorrow we will move the large glazed cupboard over too – and in a couple of days the welsh dresser will be put in place and then we will really start feeling at home.

17^th August

Happy Birthday Henry XXX
I can’t believe it ,,, the bloody hunting season started this morning!!!! We had meant to go to the Hunting & Fishing Lodge to get our land deregistered and some ‘no hunting’ signs put up, but we didn’t get round to it – hopefully we’ll get there this week, I can’t put up with being shot at (well that’s what it feels like when the lead shots are rattling down our roof at 7.00 a.m.) every Sunday for the next six months.

We had a very busy, exhausting day; shifting and cleaning furniture, putting up more plasterboard, cleaning stuff off the plastic shelves and rearranging the kitchen, we even managed to get the dresser base in.
By 7.00 we were shattered and ready for a well deserved beer, sit down and relax.

18^th August

I was really knackered after yesterday, so I just pottered around rearranging stuff in the kitchen cupboards.
Tomorrow we’re having a rather big delivery of plasterboard (40 sheets); the lorry will only be able to bring it as far as the village, so we will have to ferry it home in small batches. Brett made a support for the back of the truck; higher than the wheel arches and coming out over the tailgate – we think three or four trips should be enough.

We saw two whirlwinds today, right up close, coming across the quinta next door; you hear them first, as they start to build up, the trees dispersed them both. Unfortunately there’s never enough time to take a photo, but it’s really quite awesome.

19^th August

Brett finished boarding the ceiling below the sleep platform; we now have two ‘slashes’ of down-lighters, lighting up the stove and the larder cupboard (we thought about where the furniture was going when the electrics went in).

Hoorah, the man delivering the plasterboard came; OK we waited in the village for an hour and a half before he turned up, as we had had a phone call and were told he would be at the Junta between 5.00 – 5.30, so we arrived at 5.00, he arrived at 6.30!!! But, Hooray Hoorah, he arrived in a transit van, which meant he could drive all the way to our quinta AND, as unloading the plasterboard was a two person job, I was superfluous (yay!).

20^th August

Brett boarded the ceiling above the dresser; it’s a job he’s been dreading as the beams are so hard that screwing into them has proved to be very difficult, even with pre-drilling, but today’s work went very smoothly ... and now my dresser shelves are in and on their base but I can’t load the shelves yet as we’re going to do a bit of modification first.

When we bought the dresser, twenty odd years ago, it came from a stately home, Staverton Hall, where they obviously had very high ceilings. We were living in a Victorian House with seven foot ceilings; so we asked for the shelves to be made shorter (thinking the man would do it properly, huh!), he just sawed 6” off the sides of the shelves which makes the bottom shelf only 6” from the base while the space between the other shelves is 12” – it has always grated on me!!! So we’re going to raise the bottom shelf ... by adding 6” to the side of the shelves! The piece has been modified and repaired a lot during its lifetime so it shouldn’t look untoward.

The kitchen is starting to feel, and look, like our home.

We have had no internet for a couple of days, which makes it hard to keep in touch with family and friends. I had to type an email to our estate agents on the Kindle this morning – hopefully we have tenants for the cottage, at last (now all we need is to sell the camper!).

21^st August

An extremely physical day today; we boarded half the kitchen ceiling using a very high scaffold tower. I had to support the boards (often using my head as my arms were aching so much!) whilst Brett drilled and screwed. We were shattered by the end of the day, didn’t feel like cooking, but couldn’t be bothered to go out for a meal either ... oh for a ‘take away’.

Tonight we were watching a film that had a car chase in it (American Police cars), lots of sirens making lots of noise ... suddenly Lili starts howling, just like a wolf; it was hilarious, she didn’t seem to be distressed she was just joining in!

22^nd August

Brett carried on with boarding; he was in the sleep platform and didn’t need my help.

I picked some buckets of tomatoes (made into sauce), aubergines, melons and the figs are ripe so I’m sun drying a load of those too.
Chris & Di are back from the coast; so we went to the bar this evening – we made sure we were back in time to put the animals away! Chris & Di were away for three weeks and I have to say we started to feel rather nostalgic for our camper van (it still hasn’t sold); so now we’re thinking if it hasn’t sold in a few months time perhaps we could get it back ...

23^rd August

Brett finished a small amount of plasterboarding on the ceiling and then took down the scaffold tower, we can’t do the other side of the ceiling until we’ve concreted the floor (there’s a step in it).
I carried on processing tomatoes ....

We took the afternoon off; had a little siesta, Brett surfed the net and while he was on took a look at the Campervan Dealer, where our van is, and saw a SALE AGREED banner across our van. I phoned the company to check, and yes, a deposit has been paid and they’re waiting for full payment then we get our money!!!!!!!!!!! Bloody typical though, we had spent the morning discussing ways we could use it (trips to the coast, visit family in UK, Brett wants to go to Scotland and Ireland, lots of exciting plans) and Brett was looking at vans we could upgrade to (he would like a fixed bed).

The Muscovy duck has stated laying eggs; she must be sending out pheromones as the geese were trying to mate with her this morning and now she doesn’t seem to be able to walk. Hopefully nothing is broken and she’s just got a sprain or pulled a muscle; poor thing is looking very feeble.

24^th August

Mrs Muscovy is still alive, but not moving around much.

So much produce ....

18^th July

We had rather a lazy day today as Brett, and I, both worked hard yesterday. We did a bit of shopping in Penamacor and then dropped in on Josh & Jamie, to talk water pumps!
Brett’s next project is to get tapped water to the house – how civilised will that be? Until the floor in the house has been tiled we’ll just have water to an outside tap, but that will be a huge improvement on using water from 25L containers. And washing day will be so much better, no lugging rinsing water out of the well – I’ll be able to just turn on a tap and the pump will do all the work for me ... so excited!

19^th July

Rain, rain, rain ... so we won’t need to water today. And blissfully cool air temp (27 degrees).
We were invited to lunch with our friend Lou (who it turns out lives only a couple of miles from Mark (& Glenn). We were giving Pam a lift there too; when we went to pick her up she was wearing lots of layers, a thick knitted coat and long boots, she was feeling the change in temperature!

But first we went into CB to purchase all the supplies to get well water to the house (water pump with balloon, pipes, fittings and tap) and then to Lidls to buy food and beer.

Lou has a quinta (which we didn’t get to see) and a ‘real’ house! It’s got electricity and mains water, and two bathrooms with flushing toilets and everything ... so posh!!!!! Tehillah and John were invited too. Lou had provided a huge spread of food (all home grown) and we sat outside at a large table to eat, it was a lovely afternoon and we only left when we realised that our poor old dogs would have been left for nearly eight hours by the time we arrived home – they were fine, and very pleased to see us.

20^th July

Brett spent the day clearing brambles etc from around the well, and a small water tank next to the well which he’s going to use to house the pump. It was hard work but while he was there he saw masses of bright green praying mantis and one brown one (who he thinks was the female); they were praying and boxing – he thinks it was all mating ritual.

I stored all the good onions in the back shed, picked a bucket of tomatoes, cucumbers and aubergines

and then made some of the ‘iffy’ onions into sticky onion marmalade. Unfortunately I don’t have access to my preserving pan which means I can only process 4lbs of onions at a time, so I’ll have to make more tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day and ............

21^st July

It’s getting hotter again ....
Our neighbours called us over for a chat this morning and gave us some 'yard long' beans, I'm definitely going to grow these next year.

We have tap water at the house!!!!! Brett has installed the pump down by the well and when we turn on the tap we have running water. And, when the sun is shining (throughout the day), we have HOT running water and I mean HOT not just warm, you can’t hold your hand in it – so now we can wash up and do our laundry without using gas to heat the water, we’re so green!

Today I picked a bucket of tomatoes and made tomato relish (old WI recipe) one of my favourites, really good with burgers (not that we have burgers!).

22^nd July

Laundry day was so much easier than normal, no carting of wet laundry to the well to be rinsed. And for my washing I just used the water that had been heated by the sun, Brett puts his clothes in a boil wash!

Then I picked another bucket of tomatoes ...

23^rd July

Today we had visitors, Diane and Tom; we ‘met’ them on the expat site last year, went for a coffee in Fundao and have kept in touch – they are looking at properties to buy with Remax, they even looked at our neighbour’s quinta.
We had a really good time; they want to do the same as us ... grow vegetables and raise a few animals (pigs, chickens etc), like us they’ve done it all before in Wales (so lots in common). They brought us a couple of sugar cane and aloe vera plants to grow, which I’m really excited about and tahini and saffron, which I’d run out of and can’t get here. I cooked a home grown meal; cold tomato and cucumber soup, sticky lemon chicken, salad, and rice ... apart from the rice practically everything was produced on the quinta (or bartered for, like the lemons).

24^th July

Happy Birthday Claire, X

Brett spent the day making mosquito screens for the windows; swearing a lot when the staple gun didn’t work properly (which was most of the time!), he ended up using the hot glue gun which worked a treat, and being stung by bloody vicious wasps, which nest in the walls of the house. We used some pretty material, given to me by Sarah (thank you Sarah); a closely woven net (which should keep the bugs out) that looks as if it’s been hand painted with a kind of tulip/poppy.

Bathroom screen

Living room screen

After potting up the aloe vera and planting out the sugar cane (which Brett thinks might be invasive) I made a beaded cover for the salt jar – it took me most of the day (it was too hot to do much more anyway). In my defence, I did have to work out how to crochet the edging so that the beads hang and weigh down the cover, my friend/mentor Maureen (Crafty Bitch) would have been proud of down me; the finished product is quite pretty.

We had a phone call from Pam, about 7.00, saying they were going out for a meal and did we want to join them, unfortunately we’d had a couple of beers by then and neither of us would have been legal to drive – shame as we haven’t seen much of them lately.

25^th July

I made watermelon rind pickle ... basically something for nothing, as it’s the bit you chuck away (OK put in the compost), plus sugar, salt and vinegar. It looks really pretty, let’s hope it taste good too!

It’s HOT ....

Chris & Di texted; Brett is working on Tuesday and they invited us down the bar tonight but we couldn’t go as we were already invited out for a meal with Diane & Tom.

We went to our usual in Penamacor, but for a change we sat outside which was much cooler than inside. D&T are making an offer on a quinta tomorrow!!!! They have an appointment with Remax at 10.30, how exciting (I bet they don’t sleep tonight!). However I should sleep very well as Di and I ‘shared’ a litre of wine and she was driving!!!! They kindly treated us to the meal (thank you) and then they gave us a huge bag of plums and nectarines that they’d picked (I said picked not scrumped!) from the garden of the B&B where they are staying (yay, more preserves!).

26^th July

37 degrees today, it’s too hot to work for long ... I picked a bucket of tomatoes, prepared and set out a load to dry in the sun,

then went in the pool!

This evening we had a little gathering (bbq) with P&M, C&D and Andrew; it was all very enjoyable just sitting on the decking, drinking a few beers, eating mainly our own produce and conversing with friends.

27^th July

Still hot!
Picked another bucket of tomatoes! And harvested the chickpeas, and then spent most of the day shelling them; a painstaking and lethal job – painstaking, because there’s only one or two seeds per pod (I had one pod that had three in) and lethal, because each pod is armed with a nasty little spike (why?), I ended up with a coffee jarful.

Went in the pool this afternoon, it’s the only way to get to feel human.

28^th July

Brett has started preparing for the winter, he chain sawed some wood today.

While I made plum dipping sauce,

with some of the plums that Tom & Diane gave us, and prepared more tomatoes for sundrying.

I wanted to go for a swim this afternoon, but the man was turning the hay so I didn’t like to! The man came and had a chat, and a beer, with us once he had finished his work; we told him about the fox taking our Muscovy female and ducklings – he’s going to bring us a female on Wednesday.

29^th July

Brett went to work today and I had a ‘girlie’ day out in Covilha with Pam and Claire. We went to a few clothes shops, did some site seeing, had some lunch, I didn’t spend much; I bought myself a scarf thing which I can use as a sarong (it’s massive), it was reduce from 9.99 to 5.99, so I thought ‘bargain’, got it to the till 3.99, so well pleased! We didn’t get home until about 6.30 – I don’t know where the day went.

30^th July

Storing tomatoes for winter use is a problem; bottling takes up too much room (and I refuse to pay for jars anyway) and freezing isn’t a real option as we can’t guarantee our electric supply over winter. So we’ve sundried masses and today we’ve gone one step further ... sundried tomato paste; it was made in the liquidiser with just the tomatoes, sprinkled with sea salt and left in the sun for a couple of days, and our olive oil. It tastes absolutely delicious and will be brilliant as the basis for all types of pasta sauces and pizza toppings.

Talking of pizza toppings ... our bread oven is being delivered tomorrow afternoon, we’re very excited about that.

Mr Muscovy has a wife; she’s a pretty little thing, rather timid at the moment but Mr Muscovy is so happy. He’s been courting her all day; waggling his tail, clacking his beak and bobbing his head – it’s lovely to see him so animated.

For Mel ... !

26^th June

Tonight’s meal was practically all grown on our quinta: Free range chicken breasts pan fried in olive oil, Ratatouille/vegetable stew made with olive oil, onions, garlic, courgettes, beans, olives, and basil – the only non quinta ingredient was tinned tomatoes (as ours aren’t ripe yet) and new potatoes cooked with mint ... fabulous!

Tomorrow a group of us are going to the barragem at Idanha a Nova, for a picnic to celebrate Pam’s birthday; we will take a tortilla (made with our olive oil, eggs, onions, garlic, courgettes and chard), potato salad (potatoes, from tonight, and onions mixed with mayonnaise made with our eggs, olive oil and Claire’s ‘bartered’ lemons), a green salad (all from our garden) and fresh peaches for pudding.

27^th June
P&Ms dog gave birth today, there were seven live puppies by the end of the day puppies (one was still born), they look really sweet.

We had a fabulous day out today at Pam’s birthday picnic at the barragem (reservoir). There were lots of ‘toys’; Mark bought Pam a blow up canoe, Chris & Di had a dingy and Vince had borrowed a jet ski, plus water skis and a round blow up thingy – so we mucked about in the water (which was lovely and warm) and had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

28^th June

Chris & Di are working for the next fourteen days; an eight hour day, starting at 6.00 a.m. so they will not be socialising for a while.

Yesterday (at the picnic) Keren came armed with courgettes, squash and cucumbers, she said she wasn’t taking any of them back home with her – so, to be neighbourly, I took a couple of squash and a couple of cucumber ... ha, today I weeded one of my cucumber tepees and pick nineteen cucumbers from four plants! In fact I picked a HUGE harvest of fruit and veg, including a bagful of plums which had been blown off by the wind. Now I’ve got to process all the produce.

The leeks have bolted, but I don't care the flowers are so pretty and look great as cut flowers.

29^th June

Another homesteading day; I processed the cucumbers (not dill pickle, as I didn’t have dill!) and the yellow French beans (mustard chutney). And then I tidied the house for our visitors.

Brett stimmered around the perimeter again, making it wider.

We had run out of beer, we thought we could cope for one evening ... but ‘no’ Brett suggested we went to the bar, so, of course, we invited Chris & Di, and, of course, they came ... so much for not socialising for fourteen days!!!!! The dog at the bar has had a puppy, it looks like a 'pot bellied pig', it's so sweet!

30^th June

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit ... we went into CB to shop and to pick up Debbie and David. When we got home there were feathers everywhere ... we found five dead chickens, we didn’t find Mrs Muscovy and four of her ducklings! We don’t know if it was a fox, a dog, or a mongoose – we’ll probably never know. We just know we feel pretty rotten, ‘free range’ has a lot going for it until the animals get attacked, then you feel absolutely awful, as if you hadn’t looked after them properly.

1^st July

Mr Muscovy has taken over the rearing of the four ducklings left; he didn’t have any choice they just follow him around! 

I just love this photo of Debbie and I both with our hands on our hips ...

Debbie and David helped me weed the melons; now I understand why Pam has workaways!

Debbie loves picking the produce

Mr Louis and his grandson came to visit this afternoon, he was very impressed with our onions!
He’s going to arrange for our grass to be cut, as the shepherd (who he doesn’t like!) hasn’t turned up (of course he will now).
Our first tomato ripened today:

Tigerella

Debbie and I have had a project ... we're constructing a scarecrow (lady) 'Mavis'; she's to stand guard over the vegetable garden to keep off all the pesky magpies!

Dave relaxing with Looby

2^nd July

We had a lovely trip to Idanha a Velha (the Roman village); which was made even more successful when we were able to purchase more of the Piri Piri sauce we bought last time we were there in April. Unfortunately I was on tenterhooks the whole time worrying about the poultry; the chicken’s fence was on but the geese and ducks were still vulnerable ... but they were OK, this time!
On our way home Brett suddenly swerved the car, a terrapin was crossing the road! We helped it across to the verge.

This evening we were treated to a meal, by Dave’s mum, at O Quartel Restaurante, Penamacor; it was delicious and a very enjoyable evening was had by all.

3^rd July

We (well Debbie, David and Brett as I was too busy picking the lbs of beans that had grown in two days)

started digging up the potatoes today, they are actually better than we had at first thought, we should get a few sackfuls – enough to keep us for a year.

And, at long last, the tomatoes are ripening; we had a good selection for lunch, along with our onion and courgette frittata, French bean salad, carrot salad, potato salad, green salad – ALL from the quinta!

Debbie and I went for afternoon tea at Pam and Mark’s; we took them a bag of beans!!!!!

We had a barbecue this evening, even though it was raining on and off – it was dry on our upper decking.

4^th July

Today we went for a picnic to the barragem at Penha Garcia; as I was worried about the poultry I left Mavis the scarecrow keeping watch on the decking

it seemed to work, I think she might be a permanent fixture!

The barragem is beautiful, very peaceful, not at all commercial, just a few fishermen and us.

We had our picnic, sitting in chairs and on loungers – all very civilised! But we got exceedingly hot, so into the water we jumped; it was a perfect temperature, we splashed around and swam for about half an hour or so. Out we got, and started drying ourselves only to discover .... our lower legs and feet were covered in leeches!!!!!!!! Yuk, they were between all my toes, little, tiny, pink, squirming, blood suckers – needless to say we didn’t go back in the water! 

This evening we went to the bar to see Brazil v Columbia ... we only had two rounds, which proves to me that Chris & Di (who weren’t there this time) are the bad influence!

There were little wooden stalls being erected in the square, so Debs & I went for an explore – there’s a Medieval festival in the village over the weekend, yay!

5^th July

We spent the morning walking around Penamacor, walking around the medieval quarter, up to the tower to see the swallowtail butterflies, up and down narrow, winding, cobbled, steps etc it was lovely, we wanted a drink and snack before going home and somehow ended up being treated to lunch (by Dave’s mum again) at O Quartel! We had a fabulous lazy lunch, sitting outside under a huge parasol, admiring the panoramic views ... the food was good too!

The festival, in the village, didn’t look very bustling when we drove past at 3.30p.m. so we decided to spend the afternoon relaxing by the pool, have a few nibbles then come back out, about nine ,for a bite to eat and to enjoy the entertainment ... ha, we came back at 9.00 and all the stalls were packing up, we hadn’t eaten so ... we were treated (for the third time and yes, we did try to pay, there was nearly a fight between Brett and Debbie!) to a meal at the ‘skewer’ restaurante (don’t know what it’s actually called but they sell a flamboyant dish that is presented on hanging skewers, hence ‘skewer’ restaurante).

6^th July

Debbie and I had planned on painting the shower screen, next to the pool; it’s made of hessian and is slightly see-through, so we thought painting a design on it would help.

Unfortunately it was raining and the screen was rather wet so we ended up playing; we did some screen printing, lino printing and printing from poppy seed heads (using it as a stamp, thanks for the idea Helen!) which are fabulous ...

We went to the festa this evening; haha, the Portuguese do love to stare at strangers; everyone’s head swivelled to watch us as we walked in! We sat in the audience, in front of the stage;

humming to the songs and clapping to the dances

and then talking animatedly to one another when the dancers came into the audience to pick partners for the next dance!

We could easily have stayed later but we had to get back for the chickens, I’m still not relaxed when we go out and leave them.

7^th July

Happy Birthday Lesley!

Debbie & David went today; they caught the 8.25a.m. train from CB, there were no mishaps this time!

Chris & Di texted us to see if Brett wanted to do a couple of days work with them (for an American lady who has bought a quinta in Aguas).

I picked another bucket full of beans, tomatoes and cucumbers today: And we harvested the onions!

I planted the tomatoes 1 metre apart but now I can’t get between them, they are covered in flowers and tomatoes.

Brett has agreed to work with C&D tomorrow; he starts work at 7.00a.m. which means he has to get up at 6.00!

8^th July

Happy Birthday Lauren!
Brett left home at 6.35 a.m. I stayed in bed!!!

I needed to do the washing today, which meant I had to get water from the tank – ha, I can’t even carry a full 20L container, let alone lift it into the back of the truck ... so I only filled them 3/4s full (they were still heavy).

The washing took me most of the morning, there were five loads; the hardest part is rinsing and wringing, the water for rinsing has to be lifted out of the well in a metal bucket on a length of string – which gets very heavy when it is full! But I was OK as the geese came down to ‘help’ me.

Brett came home at 2.30 – the American lady wants him for another three days, the money should go a long way towards buying us a bread oven.

We took the dogs for a walk around out boundary path this evening, we looked behind us and there were the geese – they walked all the way (over a kilometre) with us.

9^th July

Happy Birthday Rebecca! X
Brett left home at 6.35a.m. again – I didn’t even hear him go!

I spent the morning planting more vegetables (so our harvest doesn’t abruptly stop in August) – beans, courgettes, carrots, lettuce, spring onions etc.
And when I got back to the house at 1.30 p.m. the ducklings were gone; I thought they had gone ‘walk about’ but they never came back! The rest of the poultry were completely relaxed so it doesn’t appear to have been a fox strike, but if they crossed the stream and went ‘off quinta’ they could (well obviously did) have encountered a predator – there are a few deserted and overgrown quintas bordering our one.

10^th July

Well the ducklings didn’t reappear overnight – I went out with a torch at 11.00 last night to see if they’d come back, but they hadn’t.

Brett was working again today, so I ‘spring cleaned’ the house – well swept, dusted, tidied, shook out carpets, even cleared all the junk off the table ... I thought it was looking good. He comes home and says “what have you done today?”, he hadn’t even noticed! 

11^th July

Brett’s last day at work, hoorah, I’m getting bored spending the day on my own.

I sowed more vegetable seeds.

Then I went shopping in Penamacor – I bought chicken food, I asked for it in Portuguese! (to tell the truth I’m better when Brett isn’t there, it forces me to speak Portuguese).

I made lunch for when the workers (Brett, Chris & Di) returned home (cheese & pickle rolls and beer); then we all went down the bar for a couple of hours, we invited Mr Louis to come for a drink. Brett had a really good talk with him, the rest of us tried too.

Mr Louis

Then I cooked a curry for us all (not Mr Louis!!!! I don’t suppose he would have enjoyed it, the Portuguese stick to what they like).

12 July

Brett had a well deserved day off, then this evening we went to the festa in Penamacor.

It was really lively in town, there was a lovely atmosphere, with masses of people, lots of family groups, milling around and socialising. There were stalls set up throughout the town with local produce: cheese, chorizo, honey, wine, liqueur etc and homemade crafts: rugs, embroidered cloths, quilting and patchwork, cork goods, basketware ... Some people had set up impromptu shops, cafes, bars in their garages/front room; but nobody seemed to be buying much (in fact I couldn’t see how it was worthwhile for the stallholders to be there). We sat outside someone’s garage and ate octopus salad and green eggs, drinking beer; waiting for the music to start, but by 11.30 there was still nothing happening, so we came home – we were tired. Whatever time does the music start at these events?

13^th July

Another group picnic, this time at Meimão barragem; the usual suspects were there ... us, P&M (with three of their tipi guests), C&D plus Vince, Lola and Leonie.
The water was warm, so nice to be in as the air temperature was HOT! I remembered my water woggle/noodle (buoyancy aid) which made it very relaxing too.

In the evening we went to the bar to watch the football final with C&D.

14^th July

OH my it’s getting hot again, 38 degrees in the shade today and it was 34 degrees inside the house when we went to bed.

We ordered our bread oven today, so we should have it delivered sometime this week – how exciting!

Our chickens are suffering from heat stroke, we lost one yesterday – it just keeled over and died; they have water (buckets of the stuff) and shade (big trees), we don’t know what else to do for them, it’s very distressing.

Mr Louis’s friend started cutting our grass this afternoon, which was ... great, we need it cut ... a shame, I wanted (needed) to go in the pool, and didn’t want to do it in front of him!

We watered the plants late as it didn’t start cooling down until 8.00 then, as it was beckoning us, we jumped in the pool ... it was so good!

When we got back we had another dead chicken!!!!!

15^th July

Another dead hen this morning; I’ve ‘googled’ heat stroke + chickens and put a post on ‘Life in Portugal’ to see what we should be doing to help them – it’s not ‘rocket science’ providing shade and ample water are the main two criteria; we’re doing that, but it’s just too hot for them. Brett made them a ‘wallow’ but they didn’t get themselves wet (they’re not pigs!), they just paddled and drank from it.

Brett has started making the staircase for the sleep platform; it’s very sturdy and makes going up to the sleep platform so much easier.

Mr Louis’s friend was back cutting our grass today, the quinta is starting to look cared for again. Unfortunately he turns out to be the man who cut Pam’s grass last year, she has asked him to cut her’s again this year but he hasn’t been to her yet, so we’re feeling a little bit guilty – but we didn’t organise him and we didn’t realise who he was until he turned up, so we weren’t intentionally  poaching him.

16^th July

40 degrees, in the shade, today ... it was HOT!!!! We have two broken Max/Min thermometers; their bulbs have burst!!!!

But we didn’t lose any chickens; I fed them on chilled cucumbers and Brett dunked, any that he saw panting, in a bucket of water!

I picked nearly a bucket of yellow cherry tomatoes (Millefleur), they hang like bunches of grapes from the vines, and then a made a ratatouille with them – it looked weird, but tasted fine.

Brett’s back at work tomorrow with Chris & Di; they might do a day a week for a while (the owner has gone back home until September, but she wants some work done while she’s away).

17^th July

Brett left home at 6.35, so I got up early too and got masses done ....

First I counted the chickens.

I made an octopus salad, we really enjoyed the one we had in Penamacor on Saturday evening, so I experimented (lots of garlic, parsley and olive oil).

I made three batches of iced tea – it’s good to have a supply in the fridge.

I counted the chickens and gave them some cold cucumbers.

I cleaned the house (bet he doesn’t notice!). 

I counted the chickens.

I watered the seeds – I had to trek over to the vegetable garden to do that.

I dug up a row of potatoes – bloody hard work, especially as the ground is so hard and dry.

I picked a bucket of beans – hard on the back as they are dwarf plants, so it’s all bending down.

I took some of my sundried tomatoes (not fully dry, so sun blushed) back to the house and put them in olive oil, to make an antipasta ... very, very good, even though I do say so myself!

I counted the chickens.

Then back to the vegetable garden, loaded a wheelbarrow with fifty (I counted) of our HUGE onions, that weigh up to a kilo each – then push them back to the house, I was sweating by this time, so that I could string them up and that’s when everything started going horribly wrong ... they’re obviously not main crop onions and therefore not storing onions as some of them are starting to go soft on the outside; I’m so disappointed, I grew enough to see us through the winter - I’ll have to use them up quickly, which means I need to make them into chutneys and pickles (all is not lost then!).

I counted the chickens, phew they were all still alive.

Then Brett came home, and ‘no’ he didn’t notice that I had cleaned the house! (Ha ha, he read my blog and said he had noticed!!!) He was shattered, so we had a beer with lunch (there’s always some excuse!) – then, somehow, we went to sleep!

Later Brett called me outside, he handed me the binoculars – there was an eagle with a live snake in its claws flying over the house!!!! Unfortunately we didn't manage to take a photo.