THE SUN CAME BACK FOR A WHILE ......

14th April
Torrential rain .......
Brilliant ...... I've been feeling crap for a couple of weeks; stressed, achy joints and muscles and very tired. Last week I got, what I thought were, bites on my scalp (raised, itchy, bumps in my hair); then I got a very painful lump a bit lower down and yesterday I started with the sudden jabbing pain (like electric shocks) in the area ...... a quick 'google' and I've diagnosed myself - some kind of virus, possibly Cranial Shingles considering my Bell's Palsy history; I'm just hoping it doesn't trigger a BP attack - I'm really depressed.
Brett took C&D and Alfie into CB (to the vet) this afternoon; I stayed at home,in front of the fire.
C&D gave me a big bag of lemons, so I made some lemon curd.

This evening: our second attempt at Halloumi; yesterday's wasn't squeaky - and according to Andrew (who is Greek), if it doesn't squeak it's not Halloumi....... OK our curds are too soft (it could be because we freeze the milk or the nature of our goat milk) so now we have to source Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) which will firm up the curds.

Soft curds

The Ricotta worked

15th April
Wet ......
Lunch at A&K's and dinner as C&D's, which should have been a nice relaxing social day; but as I'm still feeling rough I just wanted to be at home!
A&K gave us a bag of 'truffles'; I don't know their proper name, they grow under the soil like real truffles. They've given us enough to eat and plant.
First strawberries (from the polytunnel) of the year picked today - they tasted a bit 'earthy' (disappointing).

16th April
Wet ......
At least I had a genuine excuse for not going to class today! We had to go into Penamacor to buy animal food and a few bits from the supermarket; I elected to stay in the car - Pam, Lou and Janet turned up at mini-P while Brett was shopping, so came to say "hello" to me. I said I felt 'crap' and (no nonsense Northern) Janet says "yes, you look crap"!
Brett had to take C&D and Alfie back into CB (to the vet) this afternoon; I stayed at home and watched 'Joy' (recommended by Pam).

17th April
Mark texted last night to say he was visiting today. As I'm still feeling bleugh Brett prepared lunch, I didn't even bother to tidy up (it was only Mark!); then he turns up with Amelia (his Portuguese friend) - great, the house was a tip!!!
Amelie brought us a present - two ducklings (about 3 weeks old, very cute), apparently they are called Leo and Mona. We put them in with the chicks; they were fine but the chicks freaked out - they'll have sorted themselves by morning.
To add insult to injury, today I got electrocuted! I was stoking the boar, he accidentally touch the electric fence which earthed down through my right leg - it bloody well hurt! And now, somehow, I have a very sore buttock and hamstring ......

18th April
A bit of sun this morning, but the ground is far too wet to do any gardening (I'm not up to it anyway, but my head is feeling a bit better).
The ducklings have settled in nicely with the chicks.
I was mortified by the state of our house yesterday, so today was the start of Spring Cleaning - my goodness it's slow progress when you're not feeling up to parr.
Brett did some building work while he could; there's more rain forecast this week.

19th April
It rained hard all night and was still raining this morning.
On a positive note: our pea and bean seeds have started coming through (I was worried that they might have rotted) and I'm feeling a lot better today.
But then it continued to rain all day, so now the peas and beans are under water - the well is fuller than ground height, the water is gushing out of the hole the pipe goes through, along the furrows, creating a 'lake' in the corner, where the peas and beans are planted!
The goose under the crate, who has been sitting for eleven days, has been flooded out; she was gamely trying to sit on her nest, which was submerged under several inches of water - we had to force her off and take away the eggs.

20th April
Dry but dull, for most of the day, then it started raining again late afternoon and most of the night.
We haven't had that much milk from the goats lately (typical just as we're getting into cheese making!); we got less than 1/2L from Georgia today. The problem is all the wet weather; the goats spend the day sheltering and the kids spend the day drinking OUR MILK!!!

21st April
Dull, damp, slightly drizzly ....
Hooray, confirmation of dates from Debbie & Dave - they're visiting in June. And Joyce, Sarah & James arrive four weeks from today.
The goats don't want to be put away overnight (they dig in their heels and pull back as we lead them), so we left them in the field tonight.

22nd April
A bit of dampness first thing, then blue skies and some sunshine!
Still too wet to go on the vegetable garden, but I planted out some herbs in the herb garden.
Brett strimmered and mowed (with the tractor!) the verges along the track.
Oh dear we missed our Amazon Spain delivery (thermometer) today - the email informing us (in Spanish) said we need to telephone the courier (Spanish) - neither of us want to do it!

23rd April
The sun was out today ........
No milk from the goats this morning; we're considering shutting the nannies in the shed over night, leaving the kids in the field - they should be weaned at about this age.
Hooray our Amazon Spain order came this morning with BOTH thermometers (so we don't have to phone the couriers!). I went to order some Calcium Carbonate from Amazon Spain 2.65€ for 500g, which I thought was nice and cheap, but 26€ postage!!!!!!!!!!! So I didn't order it .....
As I can't work in the vegetable garden yet (it's still boggy) I spent the day in my herb garden; at the moment it's full of mint and rocket - I've got to steel myself to get rid of lots of it ......

24th April
Sunny start to the day ......
Brett went straight out to carry on blocking - he's 17 blocks at the back (about 3.5m), it looks very high.
I've offered my spearmint on Facebook (free, for collection) and I dried a load in the dehydrator; (my first attempt at using it), I put some carrots in one tray to make carrot crisps.

After three hours one bucket of fresh mint became two Kilner jar (1L jars) of dried mint. The carrot crisps took four hours ...... they don't taste very much like crisps, Brett says they're like orange cardboard!

25th April
Another sunny day; it looks like this could be the start of summer (24.5 in the shade).
The garden is still rather wet but I managed to do some weeding and pick two buckets of fava beans.
Brett carried on with the building.
OMG we've just bought another four goats!!!!!! I answered an advert (in a dull moment) last week and the guy got back to us today. They're an eight year old nanny with her two, month old kids , (one male, one female) and an eighteen month female in milk. They are Erzgebirge, an old German breed kept for milking. They are being delivered on Wednesday.

26th April
Sun, sun, sun .........
First thing (well 10.00 a.m.) we took 3/4L of milk from Georgia (there was masses left for her kid) and 1/4L from Hazel (funnily she only needed it taking from one side), so a whole 1L - hopefully we won't need to milk this evening. Georgia milked much quicker than normal, as we were milking both sides; Hazel always milks fast, once she starts she gushes!
I need to keep reminding myself that I used to have to hand-wash and hand-wring all my washing (including sheets and duvet covers), so wash days now are not a chore - I have a twin tub, it's a luxury!
Brett carried on blocking.

Over the door is full height for the front, the back goes up another metre 

I love my windows .....

I gave away four carrier bags of spearmint (with roots) today; there's still an awful lot left!
I spent the afternoon in the polytunnel (well most of the time I was outside the door it was far too hot for more than a couple of minutes in there) sowing legumes.

27th April
A bit dull today.
Wow 1L off Georgia and 3/8L from Hazel (again one side).

The guy delivering the goats was running late so we nipped into the supermarket to get some food. Got to the checkout and all the lights went out - a power cut; stood around for ages waiting for the electricity to come back as nothing was working without it (not even the doors!) and of course there was no way we could be checked out manually.
Our goats arrived; they are very placid, well they were with us, but once we put them in the field with the rest of our flock it was another story - the one with horns ran at our sheep, so they gave her a wide birth, and reared up and butted our goats, who were more inquisitive. We left them to sort themselves out.

The new goats are the dark brown ones

The garden was drier today so I sowed (using our seeder) several rows of onions and carrots.
This evening the new goats came into feed with the rest of the flock; the horned nanny had a trough to herself - they are very wary of her.

28th April
Today I made hay while the sun shone;

I had to mow down a field full of wild flowers

(lavender, purple viper bugless, field marigold, yellow lupin, blue lupin, chickling vetch (purple/red, red, white), scarlet pimpernel, blue pimpernel, chickweed, wild rocket, ramping fumatory (I just love the name!), cranesbill, flycatcher, mayweed, chamomile, bladder campion, queen Anne's lace, purple toadflax, orchid, Mediterranean linseed, tassle hyacinth - and that's just the ones I know the names of!).
The new goats have made themselves at home very quickly; they come in to eat with the rest of the flock and will eat out of our hands.

29th April
I finished mowing the field this morning.
Brett blocked.
This evening we started raking the cut grass into lines - it was hard physical work!

30th April
Another lovely sunny day and I was up early as Lola and I were going to Diane's for the day, to make beauty products. I came home with a cream for my feet (they crack in the summer) and a creamy body mousse, plus all kinds of other goodies that Diane generously gave me - we had a fabulous day.
Meantime Brett was making hay rakes (he kindly made one for me too!); so when I got home I had to help rake the hay into rows (admittedly he had done most of it while I was out).

It was getting dark as we finished!

1st May
Sun for the next three days, then on Wednesday we get a rainy period - so lots to do ....... turn the hay and gather it in, plant out tomatoes, pepper, aubergine, tomatillos etc. Setting up the tomato cages, and the difficult bit - digging the irrigation channels (the ground is already hard). I also want to make a climbing bean support from rebar - I would like an arch but the rebar is already bent into a V (to fit it on the lorry).
As usual I didn't get half of what I planned done, but it was still a shattering day - we rewarded ourselves with a visit to Bar do Club, with Chris & Di (first of the year).

2nd May
Off to Fundao to buy plant plugs (tomatoes, aubergine and peppers) and some osteospernum then to CB to pick up our repaired rotorvator - unfortunately the English speaking guy wasn't there so I couldn't ask for the complaint's book; our rotorvator was bought 4 months ago, with a 2 year guarantee, but the cable that broke wasn't covered, so they charged us 38€ for a new cable (probably cost less than 5€) and kept the machine for 7 weeks!!!! I'm so cross, but there's nothing I can do about it.
I'm exhausted after planting all the plugs and turning the hay - sitting down waiting for a well earned beer!

3rd May
Bloody hell it was hot today 30+ in the shade and we had to get the hay in. It took most of the day, we are shattered, but we have a good sized hayrack.

And the field looks good.

Looking forward to lots of well earned beers, but first I have to make something to take to book club tomorrow - I made fudge .......,

4th May
I woke up with a stonking headache, I think it was all the sun yesterday (no, not the beers!); so I didn't get to book club - which is just as well as we didn't finish milking until nearly 11.00 and then I had all the sterilising to do (this milking lark takes lots of time).
We went to the planning department and got a 90 day extension for our build, then we went to Finances to ask why we hadn't had our land tax bill (we've had one for the last 3 years), apparently if you have a yearly income of less than 15000€ you are exempt this year.
We had to milk Georgia on one side this evening, which means we had our best ever milk yield today of about 1.75L.

5th May
And today it's raining .........
An enforced day off, just pottering around the house.

A selection of our wild flowers ........

Purple Viper's Bugless and Field Marigold

Tassle Hyacinth

Chickling Vetch

Scarlet Pimpernel and Blue Pimpernel

Mediterranean Linseed

Purple Toadflax

MURDER AND MAYHEM ......

24th March
Thank goodness for Google; my ice cream custard curdled slightly whilst being heated (I'd stop stirring to look at a message!) ..... What could I do to rescue it? Easy, just blitz it in the food processor (I'd already tried sieving, but my sieve was too coarse) worked a treat, lovely velvety custard (phew).
I think I might have diagnosed Crackling; there's a condition called Dippity Pig Syndrome - if it is that he should be better in a couple of days.
Yay, I've ordered my dehydrator; I can't believe I paid more for the postage (£44), to Portugal, than for the actual dehydrator (£34.99) - but at least they post to Portugal! I could have bought one from Spain (a different one) with only 7€ postage, but this one had very good reviews (the Spanish one didn't) I am very excited!

Brett's going great guns on the studio, he's already installed some of the lintels.
Andrew came to lunch, then we went to Pam's (with Katrina, Lola and four others) for Diane's soap making workshop. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and our (I paired up with Lola) our soap looks fabulous, very Lush. We have to wait until tomorrow to unmould it, then slice it - then wait SIX WEEKS until we can use it.

It looks edible!

But our day was completely spoilt when we put the goats away and went to feed the cat - all her kittens had been killed; they had a puncture wound to the back of their necks, the cat had obviously tried to protect them as there was white fur all over the place. Totally miserable!!!
We went to Vince & Lola's for dinner, it was a good evening, despite our despondency, my fudge sundaes were a hit.

26th March
Cold and wet - matches our mood!
The piglet is still having trouble with his back leg(s), which kind of rules out dippity pig syndrome (which I really wanted it to be as, although it looks distressing, it's not that serious - it also tends to be pot bellied pigs that get it). We now suspect it could be navel ill (which gives piglets an inflammation in their leg joints) - so we've put him back on antibiotics; and, having weighed him (3.5 kilo), he's on a much higher dose (1/16 of a tablet, 1/4 Lilies dose). Of course we can't take him to the vet as it's a bank holiday weekend.
Huh, the soap won't turn out of the mould; I've tried knocking the bottom, shaking and banging - all to no avail.
I messaged Diane, but she was teaching another course today. I googled 'unmoulding soap' and the first thing I read was' do not use a metal mould' .... let's hope Diane can suggest something. I tried freezing it for 10 minutes (hoping it would shrink away from the mould), cutting around the outside with a sharp knife, banging it down hard (upside-down) on a bread board - in the end I had to cut it in half, as one end was loose, turn that piece out then prise the other end out with a pallet knife.

27th March
Easter Sunday and Summertime so we lost an hour of sleep!
M&M came to lunch, bringing the meat (shoulder of lamb) with them, I prepared the veg (roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese and steamed fava bean tops) and pudding (fudge sundaes).
The animals didn't go away until gone 8.00 which means we ate late (10.00), I wasn't hungry by then!

28th March
Grey and drizzly.
We did our chores, mooched around a bit, lit the fire, I did some weeding and potting on in the polytunnel - our hearts aren't in it atm, we're both tired and stressed.
I'm so worried about Piglet's, his leg isn't getting any better, he seems to be losing his appetite and he's stopped playing with Lili; Brett says he's just going to go from one illness to another because he was the runt and not meant to survive - it's hard once you become attached to them (even though he is terribly bad tempered!). He has this cute response; if we lie him on his side and stroke him under the chin he instantly (and I mean instantly, within seconds) falls asleep - it works every time.

29th March
Both goat's milked well this morning (Georgia from both sides, about 600ml, and Hazel one side, about 400ml).
Brett needed the dentist (he had a filling fall out last week) so we had a quick trip into CB. We spoke to the vet (Agriloja) who gave us a course of antibiotic injections for the piglet; I feel much more positive now that we have proper medicine for him (finger's crossed).
We checked Mark's house for him - it's fine.
On the way home we checked our post box; a letter from Joyce and a card from the postman to say we have a parcel at the village post office (I expect it's the butter churn and paddles).
We had another 1/2 litre of milk from Georgia tonight, that's 1 1/2 total today and we're only milk them when they absolutely need it; so for Georgia that's twice a day for her right udder and very occasionally, both sides for her and left side for Hazel.

30th March
We have a YELLOW warning today for snow and high winds. .......
I think piglet seems a bit better this morning (or is it only wishful thinking?); is he less squealy and perhaps using his leg more? Time will tell.
Brett put the joists for the mezzanine in; it makes the building look very solid.
I did boring stuff like food shopping, house tidying, floor sweeping and washing, cooking etc. alongside piglet minding (with lots of chin stroking!).
So much for the yellow warning; it's been a lovely day.
Piglet was no better this evening, he gets another injection tomorrow - I wish it would hurry up and work.

31st March
The predicted storm came in the night, high winds and heavy rain; we were snugly tucked up in bed.
Piglet was much worse this morning; he could hardly stand on his legs, kept falling over then couldn't right himself and was constantly squealing with pain. We gave him his injection early, but we don't hold out much hope.
We did a whole load of gardening today, including planting out 36 winter squash - and now the weather forecast says -2 tonight!!!! That would really be the final straw ..????
We're feeling very sad ..... Piglet died; he didn't make it to his 4 week birthday at 5.30p.m. today.
He wasn't right from day one, he was a completely different shape to his siblings (his back was rounded and his buttocks were narrower than his shoulders) - perhaps it was a mistake to try to save him?

1st April
The winter squash survived the night, thank goodness.
We had quite a social week last week, in fact we have been very sociable since before Christmas; it's quite tiring going out or entertaining after a day of working. So we made the decision to curtail the socializing for a while - yeh right, we have guests for lunch, Saturday, and dinner, Sunday!!!
I made two litres of goat milk ice cream; if I could make sugar (I'm working on it) all the ingredients would have come from the quinta (oh yes and vanilla extract!).
Andrew has a lovely border of globe artichokes, which I envy! Today I created my own version in a bid to rival his i....... (globe artichoke wars!).
Brett continued blocking up.

2nd April
Nicky & Rich came to lunch (quiche, jacket potatoes, salad, goat milk ice cream with salty toffee sauce); we always laugh a lot when they are here!
Our potatoes are coming through!

3rd April
Showery day, so I didn't manage to do anything I had planned.
A&K  came over this evening so I could teach Katrina how to use her sewing machine. Brett cooked dinner; baccalhau (one pot meal, but masses of washing up!) and bread & butter pudding.
The sewing machine was a mini/travel machine; everything about it was in miniature, but it was functional and easy to operate - it would have been brilliant to have in the camper when we were traveling

4th April
We were woken to a tapping on the window; it was a Hoopoe, it kept flying up to the glass (it wasn't trying to fly through it).

I took a photo from outside to see what it was viewing;

though I think he was probably being territorial and attacking his own reflection - we could hear him hoo hoo hooing all day long (between window attacks!).
As it was raining we went into CB to buy all the bits necessary for our next smallholding task - processing the boar, the time has come for him to go. We bought another freezer (he won't fit in our current one!), boxes, bags etc.
This afternoon our Amazon Spain order (solar panel for the electric fence) arrived along with our Amazon UK order (dehydrator) - I was impressed that they managed to coordinate and deliver the two packages together, very efficient.
I now think that the Hoopoe is wooing my glass birds!!!! Perhaps he thinks they are female Hoopoe? They are actually red kites (it's a scale model of one of my degree pieces).
OMG we took the dogs to the vet for their annual vaccinations; we arrived at 20.15 and got home around 23.00!!!!! At least it's over for another year.

5th April
The Hoopoe was back at the window this morning, so I've moved my glass (otherwise he'll never get a mate!).
We went to talk to the planning department to (1) get a couple of month's extension to build the studio and (2) to confirm the height we are allowed to build, front and back. (1) she told us to come back in May for the extension (2) 3.5 metres at the front (which is what we thought) and 4.5 metres at the back (which is .5 metres more than we thought - brilliant!).
We borrowed the battery recharge/revitaliser, from PaM, for our old batteries (that will be used in the studio/workshop).
Lola brought Leone round to look at our babies Brett picked up one of the piglets - they are HUGE!!!!

6th April
The bee eaters and swallows are back .......
Brett carried on with his blocking. I spent the morning gardening (lots of weeding) and this afternoon doing the washing and cooking. Brett's work looks impressive, mine always needs doing again either monthly, weekly or daily ........

7th April
More weeding, gardening etc planted out sweet potatoes today.

8th April
Wendy & Kevin came to collect their seedlings (I've been looking after them while they were in UK) and for Kevin to ask Brett's advice about building a block building.
One of the female geese decided to build her nest out in the open; tonight she decided to sit - we put a crate over her, to protect her from predators.

9th April
I went back to language class today; it was just as bad as always - I don't want to go anymore!!! I really, really am rubbish at languages, I try but nothing stays in.
This evening we had a lovely night out, P&M's for dinner (Lou was there too).

 10th April
Rain ........
So now we're hand feeding (literally, I'm picking the food up in my hand and putting it in it's mouth - it's the wrong shape for a spoon!) a turkey (scrambled egg with breadcrumbs, water with antibiotics). We thought we'd bought three females and one male, it looks like we have three males and one female and, of course, it's her that is unwell! She's not looking well at all, we don't expect her to last the night.

11th April
The female turkey was still alive this morning.
Another parcel arrived at the post office (thank you Steph xxx). This one contained the Mesophillic starter (for cheese making), a probe thermometer (for cheese and soap making) and a book by Diana Henry 'Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons' (for me, because I like cookery books).
As it was a miserable day we went to CB to buy a few bits and pieces. We met up with Mark (who is back for a flying visit) and his Portuguese friend, Amelia - they chatted to us whilst we ate lunch.
This afternoon I made up my Mesophillic culture, it takes 24 hours, soon we could be making our first batch of cheese.

12th April
Rain, hail stones, wind and bright blue sky with sun - a real 'mixed bag'.
The female turkey was still with us!
It looks like Georgia's kid has started feeding from her right side - no milk for us this evening! Typical as we have just taken 9 litres out of the freezer in preparation for cheese making tomorrow!
C&D were supposed to come for dinner but Alfie  had to be rushed to the vet for stitches this morning, so they postponed.
We took 9 litres of milk out of the freezer tonight, ready to make into cheese tomorrow.

13th April
The gloomy weather is forecast for the next ten days!
The female turkey is still alive, she looks frail alongside the males, but she does seem perkier today.
Today we made our first ever batch of goat cheese - Halloumi; a gallon of milk made about 1lb of cheese (plus a small block of ricotta). We were going to make a Chevre cheese too but our, brand new (arrived on Monday), digital probe thermometer broke (whilst we were making the Halloumi)!!!!!

Slowly heating the milk

Cut curds

Pressed curds

Finished Halloumi, after curing, in hot whey, and salting

Fried Halloumi ........

Brett is taking C&D into CB tomorrow, to take Alfie back to the vet - so he'll look for a thermometer while he's in town.

STRESSED ME???? ........Yes I am!!!!

17th March
By the end of the day Lobby's Kennel Cough was much improved; she was hardly coughing at all, only with exertion, excitement and stress.
Piglet is visibly putting on size, he's looking positively rotund (though compared to his siblings he's still scrawny!).
The goats are milking well

and giving us a good litre of milk a day

..... So what can I make with it?

18th March
An enforced day off, as it was cold and rainy; I spent time on Amazon and ordered a butter churn and butter paddles - then watch videos of people making goat butter and cheese.
We had several people due to visit, today and over the weekend, cancel due to Lobby's malaise (and I completely don't blame them, I would do the same myself).
Ahhhh, I caught piglet asleep with Lili on the (filthy) dog bed - he woke before I could take a photo.
Lobby is so much better today; such a relief, this evening she was lying in her favorite position (on her back with her legs spread!), yesterday this would have started her coughing, but now .... just relaxed.
I found a brilliant blog (and videos) today, when I was looking for butter making from goat milk, self-sufficientinsuburbia.blogspot.com. I put some goat milk out to start my cheese making culture ....

19th March
Lobby didn't cough at all overnight ........
Haha, Crackling ate his biggest meal ever, at 08.00; then went to sleep - on the dog's bed - Lobby was not amused!!!
Brett convinced me to let Crackling run around loose, outside (I acted like a mother hen!), he of course loved it.

We had hail and rain today, I did some work in the polytunnel.
The cheese culture wasn't ready this morning, I just left it (it will happen).
My goodness Crackling is an angry young pig; 19.00 tonight he started demanding his food (due at 20.00), he was squealing, climbing up my legs, biting (soon stopped that!) and it went on and on until he got his way.

20th March
The third miserable day in a row! We decided to leave the goats in, so we had to move the kittens from their hayrack; we made them a lovely nest in the hay shed, rehoused them and less than two minutes later the cat comes back into the goat shed carrying one! She wasn't happy with the move; however she was better when I put her food in with her.....or so we thought until we put the goats away, and there she was, on the floor in the corner of their shed, with her six kittens - so we picked them up, put them back in the hay shed and locked the door of the goat shed so she couldn't get in.
My homemade cheese culture didn't work, so I reluctantly (I wanted to make it the traditional method) made the decision to buy a mesophilic starter from Amazon (thank you Steph x); I don't want to waste litres of goat's milk by being stubborn. But until it arrives we can still have a go at making halloumi.......
And now I'm looking at a dehydrator .......
Lili was coughing this evening!

21st March
And I heard my first cuckoo of the year .....
We went into Fundao and bought some chicks (Frango) and turkey poults (we've never had turkeys before), we think they're Bronze Turkeys.

We met up with Nicky for coffee (she and Rich are back for a while); she brought us over some bits from the UK - including tea bags, golden syrup, elder, horseradish (to plant) and a flat iron.

22nd March
We're overrun with animals; they come onto the decking and into the kitchen, completely uninvited!

The kids stress me and the nannies (does) when we're doing the milking, jumping on things, knocking stuff over, generally being a nuisance .......

The quinta opposite us has sheep on it atm, this morning two dogs got in with them; one was Pig/Paddy (Chris & Di/Gary's dog) and we thought the other one was Alfie, but Chris denied that when I phoned him. We ended up going to the village shop (Pimenta's) who deduced that it was the owner of the other shop's flock, so we went and informed him. He immediately went off to sort the situation out - we don't know what happened to the dogs or if any sheep were injured/killed.
Piglet is so funny; straight after he's eaten he has a pee and poo (we take him outside for this in an attempt to house train him), then he goes to sleep - on the dog's bed!

He started limping this afternoon; I hope to goodness it's nothing serious.

23rd March
Poor Crackling is still limping or holding his foot off the ground; we can't see any damage to his foot or limb, Brett says he's got very narrow hips and could have a deformity - I'm hopeful it's just a knock.
Alex & Katrina came over so that Alex could help Brett install our new super duper batteries - I gave them lunch and the batteries are working!
Our old batteries are on the decking waiting for the studio/workshop to be completed. Brett tested them - they were all fully charged!!!! We want to see how much they discharge over 24 hours.
Andrew is coming to lunch on Friday, we're going to Lola & Vince Friday evening and M&M are coming to lunch on Sunday (they invited us, but because of animals they're coming here and bringing the meat); so I made some of the easy peasy peanut butter fudge

and I made a chocolate version (with crunchy peanut butter and drinking chocolate).

I'm going to make goat milk ice cream tomorrow, I'm going to try to concoct a Fudge Sundae.
Brett read the batteries when it got dark and again when we went to bed - they had gone down by 30% (just like our other batteries); so now he's thinking it wasn't our batteries at fault, it was something draining them - perhaps the electric fence? Very perplexing ......

24th March
What a shitty morning .......
The dogs were back in with the sheep, this time Alfie WAS with them, and they were terrorizing the sheep. Brett drove round to chase them off,I phoned Chris, who turned up, and went off through our vegetable garden to find his dogs (haven't seen him since).
Georgia didn't want to milk last night and again this morning, she wasn't even particularly interested in her food (and, because she wasn't milked fully last night, she was FULL); so we were worried that something was wrong with her, or that the milking machine was hurting (she had been so good). But I worked it out - she's on heat! So in a couple of days she should be back to normal (and probably pregnant). Despite this we got a whole litre of milk just this morning.

MORE BABIES ....

27th February
Another bitterly cold day; there's lots of snow on the mountains.

28th February
Andrew came to afternoon tea and we 'showed off' all the work we've been doing in the garden.

29th February
Oh dear, we really are rubbish farmers; Georgia's white kid is a male (it is very hairy 'down there'!). The kid is only feeding from one side; so, we had to try to milk Georgia, by hand - easier said than done, in a whole day we managed about 1/4 pint.
Brett carried on with the building, I gardened in the polytunnel (but I've run out of pots) and started weeding the herb bed - there's so much work this time of year.
Then we tried to milk Georgia again; it was easier to waste the milk, letting it go on the ground, rather than try to catch it (she kept kicking the pail over, or putting her foot in it).
We searched the internet for milking machines; they're very expensive in the UK (over £1000), cheaper if you wanted to buy from China! And nothing secondhand. I asked the question, on a smallholding in Portugal site, "where can I buy a goat milker in Central Portugal?" and got the, very helpful, reply "milk by hand" - how did that answer my question?

1st March
What a horrible day!
It all started with a phone call before 8.30 from Marc & Mieke asking for assistance as they needed to change their tyre and their jack had broken; so that was Brett gone for the morning.
I had to try to milk Georgia on my own; who, by now, was totally engourged with a bright red udder, so that was hopeless.
Then ....... Georgia's kid went under the decking; and wouldn't come out, despite his mother's continuous bleating.
Next thing ........ at 11.50 Hazel turned up at the door and told me (yes, I can understand goat!) that her kid was missing too!!! - stressed me????
Thank goodness, at this point, Pam came round for a coffee. We search for the kid, no joy.
Brett came home, I searched again ..... by now I'm saying stupid stuff like "maybe an eagle took it"! I got in a state and was actually questioning why I was here, I was so despondant.
Hoorah, 2 hours 20 minutes after she went missing, Brett found her asleep in the scrub!
Georgia still needed milking; the situation was getting dire, when I suddenly thought of Diane.
Joy of joys, she not only came over to help, she brought a hand milker with her. A real Godsend, we managed to get about a pint of milk off Georgia.
This evening we did yet another search for goat milkers - you only seem to be able to buy hand milkers from America (why?).

2nd March
This morning I succumbed and took some Ibuprofen!
We got 400ml of milk from Georgia this morning, and had about 3/4 litre by the end of the day; the afternoon milking will always be less than the morning one as it's only about 9 hours since she was last milked - milking should be 12 hours apart, that will happen as the days get longer.
We ordered a milker from America, knowing we'll have to pay a large import duty on it! Fortunately we're really enjoying having our own milk and the promise of our own cheese and yoghurt, so it should be a worthwhile purchase.

Pam came round (to the petting zoo) with her guests; the lady is allergic to cow's milk, so I was able to give her some goat milk.
Brett's building work is going 'great guns'; I can stand in my studio and visualise it now.
We, again, had two bleating mother goats when the babies did exactly the same as yesterday - today I didn't stress out!
Tomorrow I'm going to make goat milk cheese; I'm going to use nettles for the rennet (Diane told me about it, so I read up on it on the internet!).

3rd March
Today we bought a secondhand water pump (for our 'new' well) from an English neighbour who is getting rid of all her mechanised tools in preference to hand tools (I'm busily doing the opposite!).
Brett took a day off from the build and rotovated all our vegetable areas with the tractor.
I had a cooking day ..... First I made my stinging nettle rennet (a bucket of washed nettles, put in a pot on stove, cover with water, add 1 teaspoon of salt, bring to boil for 10 minutes, strain through muslin).
Lola gave us some wonderful olives from Italy, flavoured with sugar, mustard and lemon juice - today I made my version; pit about 100 Turkish style black olives, add 2 dessertspoons sugar, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, juice of one lemon. Put in jar, making sure olives are under liquid.
Once the nettles were cold I stripped them from the stems and made nettle soup (with chicken stock, onion, garlic, potato and milk); it's actually very tasty.
My goat cheese maki was an unmitigated failure!!!!!! I followed the recipe, but the nettle rennet didn't make curds and whey, so I added lemon juice (nope), then vinegar (no), then I heated it up more (not even close), I just couldn't get the milk to split - I've made cheese, with cow's milk, plenty of times (with lemon juice) it worked everytime! What a waste of two pints of goats milk, at least the pigs will eat it.
Talking of pigs; when we came home at lunchtime the sow had built herself a nest; at 5.30 she had her first piglet bt 10.30 she'd only had three piglets (she should have been having them every 15-20 minutes). Brett made the decision to examine her (internally) but he couldn't feel anymore inside her; so we had to leave her (she's not straining, rapid breathing, bleeding or anything else worrying, she just has a smaller than average litter - you don't call a vet out for that!) but we still went to bed worrying.

4th March
What a stressful night; worrying and checking on the pigs - not much sleep going on AND THEN at 5.00 Brett went out to check and came back with a piglet that was out of the nest, cold, not moving - looking dead!
We wrapped it in a towel, on top of a hot water bottle, drizzled warm goat milk, laced with aguadente, down it's throat and took it back to bed with us for the rest of the night. By 7.30 it was up on its feet and looking for food - very fiesty, so fingers crossed it'll survive.
Brett made my coffee this morning, I took a swig ...... omg he'd made it in the mug with the leftover aguadente in it, disgusting!
We tried putting the piglet back in the nest,

but it didn't feed; it's now living in a box in front of the range and being fed every 1/2 hour (as it'll only take between 10-15ml at at time).
Lili has a new job, she is .....'Kid Finder General'; the nanny goats keep arriving at the house telling us they've lost their kids, usually in the scrub behind the studio. Lili is brilliant at sniffing them out and she loves all the praise she gets when she finds them.
This evening Lili and Looby had a bit of a fight; Lili gets jealous when we take notice of other animals and she takes it out on Looby - tonight Looby retaliated, Brett had to pull them apart .... Lili is now sulking!
Piglet, who Brett has christened Crackling, is becoming quite active and strong; he's still not eating much at each feed, which means he needs feeding regularly (even through the night!).

5th March
Brett did the midnight feed and managed to get piglet to feed 30ml from a saucer. I did the 2.30 (another 30ml), 6.45 (40 ml) and 8.00 (a whopping 45ml and I didn't even think he'd be awake!). I so hope we can get him back with his mother today - I'm knackered!!!
I helped Brett milk the goats, before I left for language class; we are very grateful for all the milk Georgia is providing, it literally was a life saver for Crackling.
Hoorah, when I got home Brett had reunited Crackling with his siblings and had photos that certainly looked like he was managing to feed from his mother (fingers crossed), of course we will keep an eye on him.

6th March
Another broken night; Brett checked the piglet when he walked the dogs last night, he was squashed under the sow - tongue hanging out, panting ........
He brought him in, gave him milk, he was starving - obviously he hadn't been feeding! So he's now back in a box in front of the stove. I had to get up several times (Brett claims he doesn't wake up!), to feed the pig (warmed goat milk), change his hot water bottle and make up/relight the fire.
So now we have two goats to milk; Hazel's kid has decided to favour one side too -unfortunately neither of the goats enjoy being milked (even though they must feel tons better afterwards), so it's a bit of a battle. Georgia isn't too bad, as long as she'a being fed, but Hazel fights us all the way.
Crackling survived a metre fall today - he managed to climb out of his box (which is off the floor to get maximum heat from the stove)! I didn't realise pigs could climb;

now he's barricaded in; but I daren't leave him for too long so the vine pruning, which I had planned to do, was postponed and I finished weeding the herb bed (now all I have to do is keep the chickens off it!).

And now climbing out of his box has become his new game .......
Brett was cultivating the polytunnel, ready for planting up with early beans, when a cable snapped on the new cultivator; bloody great, that means six weeks or so getting it mended!
Tomorrow I'm going into Fundao with Pam.

7th March
I gave Crackling his morning feed, helped Brett milk the goats and then turned my back on the quinta and went to Fundao with Pam.
The day was a success; I came home with rennet for cheese making (however I now have to source 'culture' as well) and traps for the olive flies that make our large eating olives unusable (plus as lots of food!).
Brett has started putting the glass blocks in the studio, it's looking really great.
Brett's working for Annika for the next couple of days, which means I have to milk the goats on my own (slightly apprehensive!).

8th March
When I did my night feed the fire was out - I managed to fill the house with smoke trying to relight it!
I managed to milk both goats quite successfully, on my own; Georgia, bless her, started dripping as I led her to the decking (she gets fed as she's being milked), Pavlov's goat!!! She gave a whopping 500ml this morning; Hazel only needs to have a bit taken to relieve the tightness of her udder.
Our kitchen is a tip! So, instead of all the gardening jobs I was going to do (pruning vines, planting potates, sowing onions seeds), I tidied, cleaned and cooked.
First though I had to make Crackling an outside run, he wants to run around the kitchen floor and I worry about him getting stuck behind the range, the cupboards, freezer etc. I put his bed out there with two hot water bottles, so he didn't get cold - of course he wanted to sleep in the open where it was only 66 degrees (he's supposed to be at 90).

Crackling is taking a good 100ml each feed, and his meals are 3 hours apart now - I can't wait for the night feeds to stop!
We had a litre of milk today ...

9th March
Dull, gloomy and cold ......
Crackling seems to have lost his appetite, he didn't finish his meal first thing this morning, although he was active, but his next meal he hardly touched and he wants to sleep all the time. The only information I can find on the internet suggests that he's too cold, he needs to be kept at 90 degrees ...... the internet suggests heat lamps and heat pads, unfortunately not feasible on solar - so it's hot water bottles and stove (it's very hot in our kitchen!) - but he's still not eating!
As the day progressed he got worse and worse; he wasn't moving, his eyes were shut and his tongue was lolling out of his mouth. Then he started heating up, by the evening he had a raging fever.  So is it because he had none of his mother's colostrum, isn't getting enough iron or just because he's a runt and doomed to die? At midnight we were absolutely convinced he was going to die; we decided we had nothing to lose by giving him antibiotic. We had some left over from when Lili was spayed, she had a 1/4 tablet dose, so as he's much smaller than she was, we gave him 1/16 of her dose (1/64 of a tablet).
Then I got up for 1/2 hour, every hour, through the night to feed him (a syringeful of warm goat's milk), change his hot water bottles and make up the fire.

10th March
At 7.00 he peed on my foot (a good sign) and at 9.30 he ate a small meal unaided. He improved throughout the day, and now we are quietly optimistic. Oh my goodness he squealed and wriggled when I gave him his antibiotics (syringed straight into his mouth) this evening, he's a completely different pig to yesterday.  I think/hope we might have saved Crackling's bacon (for the time being)!!!

11th March
Happy birthday Karen xxx
We picked up Diane & Thomas's heat lamp, our kitchen is too blooming hot with the stove on all day!
Oh bloody hell, Crackling's appetite has diminished;  before he was ill he was eating a good 90-100ml of milk at each feed. Yesterday he only managed 50ml but he was having a teaspoon crushed piglet pellets mixed in, today he only ate 30ml (plus the pellets); I have a horrid feeling he's constipated, his belly is getting bloaty looking - Brett gave him a small dose of olive oil, fingers crossed (again!).
Of all our animals our most fertile one is the cat.....SIX kittens, she had them in the goat's hay rack!
Our milker arrived from America today; there was a card in our post box to say we had a parcel at the Post Office in Penamacor, with 53,20€ to pay (import tax).
Our milker is easier to use than Diane's, it doesn't need pumping, as it's electric - another litre of milk today.
This evening M&M took us to the 'skewer' restaurant to say thank you fot Brett's help last week. The guy offered us 'menu de dia', loin of pork, which we all went for - unfortunately it wasn't very good and the vegetables were lukewarm, all in all rather disappointing.

12th March
Brett did the night feeds, so I got a full night's sleep - I feel so much better today.
Brett carried on blocking.
Crackling pooed twice today, hoorah, and is now eating about 60-70ml of milk per feed.
It was soooooo hot in the polytunnel ......
Haha (I'm laughing atm!) Crackling had found his voice, when he's hungry he squeals very loudly - I expect it will get annoying very quickly, but atm it's very funny!

13th March
I only fed Crackling once in the night (he wasn't too happy, but I was).
Our new milker isn't as fast as Diane & Thomas's one (I think perhaps I'm turning it off too soon as I don't want to hurt them), the goats are getting used to being milked now and, as long as they are being fed, stand still for us.
As we were going to Andrew's for lunch Brett did some maintenance atuuf around the quinta and I made some fudge - the simplest recipe ever!!!!
PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE (not for people with a peanut allergy!)
1 cup of peanut butter
1 cup of butter (how do you measure hard butter accurately in a cup?)
1 tspn vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups icing sugar
~ heat peanut butter, butter and vanilla until well mixed
~ stir in icing sugar
~ leave to set in an 8"x8" container, lined with baking parchment, about 4 hours
...... As I didn't have 4 hours until lunchtime I stuck it in freezer for 1/2 an hour, worked a treat
~ cut into small squares, delicious and very rich
We had a lovely afternoon at Andrew's quinta (C&D were there too); we sat in the sunshine, ate, drank, relaxed and gossiped. Unfortunately we had to get back for Crackling after 3 hours (Martine and Paul had just arrived).
Crackling ate his biggest meal since he was ill and then proceeded to play with Lili, like a puppy(I've given him some cardboard boxes/tubes to play with in his box).

Not only has Crackling found his voice, he has a real attitude; when he wakes up he demands to come out of his box and, if that doesn't happen, he starts jumping up the side of the box, 20" high, in a bid to escape (his trotters can nearly reach the top but Brett assures me he can't get out). Then, once out, he stomps around the room demanding food! It's funny, for the moment.

14th March
Brett did the late feed at 01.00 (he stays up for it) and I didn't feed him again until 6.30 (and I went back to bed afterwards!), so he's nearly going through the night.
Milking the goats was easier today (if you don't factor in the kids using you as a climbing frame and eating your hair!); we watched the video for the milker last night and we hadn't been using enough vacuum. Georgia gave a good 500ml first thing (and her udders look much better for it); Hazel we only take a token, to get her used to being milked, we take a lot when she's full on one side/lopsided. Basically we're getting better at it and so are the goats; the milker was definitely a worthwhile purchase. Next job, for Brett, is building a milking parlour!
Brett continued building and I did some work in the polytunnel, but it was too hot for a long stint and started pruning the vines (I know I'm far too late).
I took Crackling for a walk wearing a dog's collar; it was miles too big for him and he squealed as if I was slaughtering him, as I put it on him, but he actually enjoyed the walk about.

I have to try to keep the dogs outside when he's being fed (1) as they follow him around licking dribbled milk off his face (2) they are convinced once he leaves his bowl it's theirs, but mainly (3) he's more interested in playing with Lili than eating his meal!

15th March
06.30 we were woken by the inverter alarm going off - Crackling's heat lamp is 250 Watts.
We had to milk the goats using the generator (fortunately the noise doesn't scare them).
C&D looked after Crackling while we went into CB; we had some stuff to buy but mainly to take rotovator back for repair. As usual we ran out of time ...... But not before we had bought a potato plough (well that's what I call it); it's a plough, on a long handle, which we can use to make the furrows to plant potatoes in.

16th March
Today we planted our potatoes (about two sacks), with the help of our new tool (potato plough) - it was still back breaking work!
I'm a trifle worried about Lobby (Lili and Crackling); she has had a hacking cough, on and off all day. C&D think that 'their dog' Pig or 'Gary's' dog Paddy (same dog!) has Kennel Cough. I looked up the symptoms - hacking cough, incubation period - up to 6 weeks (she was on heat 4-6 weeks ago when Pig/Paddy was wooing her!), it's caught by breathing the same air as an infected dog - oh yes, and pigs can catch it! Brett thinks I'm over reacting; I really, really hope I am.

17th March
Happy St Patrick's Day!
Lobby was hacking for most of the night; we're going to video her and leave her in the car when we go to the vet (don't want to pass it on).
At 5.30p.m. Crackling will be TWO weeks old; we honestly didn't think he would make it.
3/4L of milk from the goats first thing (most ever for morning milk), we're getting a good litre per day.
Our last lamb was born this morning; black with a white dot on her head.
We didn't take Lobby to the vet as she's already vaccinated (and it's up to date) for Kennel Cough; research on internet suggests she'll just get a mild dose (try telling her that!) - she'll go to vet if she gets worse, atm she's ok apart from the dreadful coughing. Lili is vaccinated too, so fingers crossed she stays fit.
Brett continued blocking; the next course he'll be putting in the joists for the mezzanine.
I used the seeder to sow six long rows of parsnips and nine of onions - we eat a lot of onions!
We have such demanding animals; the dogs, the runt and now Georgia, turning up IN the kitchen to tell it was time to milk her (her motivation, of course, is food).