FELIZ NATAL/BOA ANO NOVO

7th December
We were hoping we would hear from the mill today, but we didn't.
It's Mark's birthday tomorrow so we're treating him to a meal at the 'skewer' restaurant (La Fontanha); Jay & Jacky are coming too, they're ALL staying overnight - goodness knows where!
I MUST make my Christmas cards, I just don't feel Christmasy yet.

8th December
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mark!
We went to the village fonte, for water, and the shop, for bread; but they didn't have any, so I had to make some. We met Judith, and her boyfriend who we'd never met before, coming out of the shop; they're a very nice couple, we must invite them round soon.
Brett dug his gatepost holes, while I cleaned and tidied the house.
Haha, we took the photo for our Christmas card, it made us chuckle if nobody else.
Mark (birthday boy), Jay & Jacky arrived at 6.00 and at 7.00 off we went to the skewer restaurant .... it was shut!!!!! Turns out today was a National Holiday (The Day of Immaculate Conception); so we carried on into Penamaco. The Christmas market was in full swing. The Christmas lights are amazing, mainly white lights, very pretty.
We ate in O Jardim restaurant; it was cheap and cheerful. When we came out the town was 'dead' everyone had disappeared - I think perhaps there was free wine up by the church where they were building (with tractors) the huge Christmas bonfire.
We didn't get to bed until gone one; J&J slept on the sleep platform, Mark slept in the kitchen on a camp bed and we had the dogs in with us.

9th December
We went to the village post office to post a letter to Joyce (I send her long missives at least once a month as she's not on the internet); there were two letters from Joyce, a thank you card from Lawrence for his birthday present and a letter from Penamacor post office saying we need to get a postbox or all our correspondence will be returned to sender or destroyed!!!!! Unfortunately we can't quite workout how to get said box and where to put it once we have it ........ fortunately we have Andrew who speaks Portuguese!
I made up a load of Christmas cards; I had to cut card to size, tea stain photos and cut to size, glue photo to card, write greetings (inside and out) and make envelopes to fit - it took me ages and I'll need to make more tomorrow; then I can write them.

10th December
I made more cards and wrote all the ones that need posting, hopefully I'll get to post them tomorrow.
Brett is well on the way to finishing the fencing 😀.

11th December
Dull!
So off I drove to the post office and, for the second time (first time in September), I hit a rock along the track and burst the tyre (same bloody tyre)! I don't know why I'm doing it, I don't feel as if I'm driving too close to the edge of the track - Brett says it's a long vehicle and I'm correcting too soon after I go round a bend.
I 'got back on the horse' this afternoon and drove, very warily, to Penamacor to post my cards.
This evening we went to Vince & Lola's for dinner - I was the nominated driver (I don't usually drive in the dark), so it was quite an interesting evening for me hearing people's intimate secrets and lots of repetitions! We tried some of the oil that Lola made with our olives (in her own mill) - it's quite mellow. Driving home in the dark was a nightmare; I hadn't realised how bad my night vision is, I was driving at about 15mph (and even that felt too fast).

12th December
Dull!
Today started off a lot better than yesterday; first thing there was a message from Andrew to say our oil was ready for collection. So off we went to the mill; we brought home 60L of

OUR OWN (EXTRA VIRGIN, ORGANIC) Olive Oil (the cooperatives only give you 1L of oil per 10K of olives, so we would have got 50L, and you get any old oil - it could be from olives that are mouldy/sprayed/full of maggots etc) so we are very, very happy!
On our way back down the track we saw Mr Louis and gave him 5L of oil; he was very happy too.
As soon as we got home Brett lit the stove and I made bread; we sampled the oil for our lunch, dipping our fresh, warm, bread into it - it was much more peppery than Lola's but not as strong as our oil from two years ago.
I salted another five pounds of black olives (Turkish/Greek style, wrinkled olives).
Brett has finished fencing for the time being and, as long as the gates to the lower paddock and along the track are shut, we can let the dogs out and not have to keep a constant eye on them, they can't go off quinta.
This evening we went to Wendy's birthday party in Monsanto - it was a good evening, live music and food provided.
On the way home we scrumped some lemons😀!

13th December
Dull this morning, raining this afternoon; if this dull weather persists we're going to have to start rationing solar. Actually we've started, we're not using lights in the daytime and we're going to turn the fridge off overnight.
Another low key hunting day for us, although we could hear gunfire in the distance.
Looby can't understand that she's allowed out whenever she wants, she's being really clingy!
Today I picked the beetroot that's been in the ground since early spring but only started to grow in September (when the rains came); it's rather woody but I'm hoping I can make chutney with it, we ate the leaves, steamed in olive oil, with our dinner - delicious!

14th December
It rained most of the night and was still raining when we got up; so we decided to go into CB to do our Christmas shopping and I wanted to buy some boots as the ones that I bought when I was at uni are split and leaking!
Well I came back with nothing. We went into several shoe shops, I even tried some boots on, at Brett's insistance, and came out feeling like one of Cinderella's sisters 😢 - I take a size 7 shoe, that's 41 European size (I know as the two sizes are printed on the tongue of my walking boots) but ..... the shops only stock women's boots up to size 40!!!!! I even contemplated buying men's boots but there was nothing suitable. I don't know what to do, I need boots.
I put the Christmas ham in brine this afternoon, unfortunately it'll only get 10 days curing (should have been 13-14 for the weight), I'm sure it will be fine.
It rained on and off most of the day, the solar is very low; we turned off the fridge and spent the evening with one light - no music, no DVDs, nothing plugged in, the evening went very slowly. We did have some excitement when the stove decided to billow clouds of acrid smoke into the house and Brett had to try to remove a sooty blockage from the flue (he'll sweep the chimney tomorrow when the fire is out).

15th December
It was a bit brighter today, so we should have got some charge.
Brett hasn't got his ladders here (they're at Annika's) so he had to climb onto the bread oven, up onto the back of the roof, then over the ridge to the front of the house, to access the chimney, so that he could brush it and yes, there was a big blockage, it's drawing fine now.
I had a preserving day ...
I made the beetroot into chutney;

as I didn't have any fresh apples I substituted a jar of apple sauce I'd made with our apples and a slab of my membrillo (quince cheese), and I used MY red wine vinegar instead of malt vinegar (which you can't get here).
I took the 'mother' from the red wine vinegar and put it into 5L of 2013's white wine, which is far too dry for me, to make my own white wine vinegar (though it's looking a bit pink atm!).
And I put some of our dried figs (chopped up) and honey into some of my cider vinegar to make Honeyed Fig Vinegar (Nigella Lawson).
Haha, the dogs are so used to me checking on them every few minutes, when they're outside, that now they are worried because I'm not doing it and keep coming into the house to check on me!

16th December
Brett rotorvated the front pasture, it looks good.
I started the Christmas food preparation; I made a jar of vegetarian tapenade.
Tomorrow Brett is working 😞; at least it's the last two days this year!

17th December
I had a long list of chores which started out well; I cut out and painted a couple of animal shaped blackboards, lit the fire, put the water on for the washing, made a friendship cake, had lunch and ..... suddenly my back was in agony.
I managed to do most of the washing and clean the floor but, by the time Brett came home from work, I could hardly move; I have to get better as I'm going shopping with Pam tomorrow - I took Ibuprofen.

18th December
I was determined to go shopping despite my uncomfortable back; so I dosed myself up on Ibuprofen and it worked I managed to spend lots of money!
Pam is good at helping me find stuff to buy (perhaps this is why Brett discourages me from going shopping with her!).
I bought a pair of boots and ordered another pair that weren't in my size in the shop - from two different shops, they just weren't fashionable shops! I bought a handbag and a jumper .... all for me!!!! I also bought Christmas presents for Brett and other people.

19th December
Lots of Christmas preparation today; I made pumpkin soup and chicken liver pate, painted blackboards,

'Cat' blackboard for us .......

Cockerel, Pam's Christmas present

Duck, and I've made a sheep too, keeping as stock - for when I get coerced into doing a craft market!

... made lists, started wrapping presents, bottled fig vinegar (discovered I'd made only 2L not 4L, as thought), made more honeyed fig vinegar!
Brett strimmered around the vegetable garden, the weeds have grown so well (much better than the vegetables😞).
This evening was our language class Christmas meal - it was very jolly. We gave Pedro one of our Christmas cards and he wouldn't believe that the photo was of us, it was very funny (you had to be there!).

20th December
Lou brought a Christmas tree over for P&M yesterday, but as they already had one, they gave it to us; I spent the morning decorating it.

We had a long walk around our quinta this afternoon; there's only a couple of areas unfenced now, one of these is the front paddock that we are planting up at the moment. We were down there admiring our vegetables, which are growing well; the dogs, of course, were roaming off quinta and we were having to keep calling them back when, to our dismay and joy, we discovered a well on the disused quinta next door. Dismay: as it's got no wall around it and is therefore a danger for the dogs; we know of several that have fallen into wells lately, once in they can't get out. Fortunately our dogs can only get to this area if the field gate is open, so we'll make sure it's kept shut. And joy: because we will use it to water our vegetables next summer, all we need is to buy another pump.
We've been discussing the vegetable garden, we're always enthusiastic at the start of the season; we have decided we need a mini cultivator, to weed between rows, and a seed drill*, to make planting easier - we'll go looking in CB tomorrow, I'm hoping the boots I ordered will be in.
* The experimental field where we broadcast sowed broad beans and two lots of peas (not peas and chick peas as previously thought!) is not as successful as anticipated; there are patches of very overcrowded vegetable plants along with areas of not vegetable plants, just weeds (our broadcasting wasn't terribly uniform!), it's also impossible to get in and weed around the vegetables. We need the plants to be more evenly spaced. Now I KNOW that if hand sowing vast areas is my only option it's not going to get done! Hence the decision to look at seed drills.

21st December
And the days are getting longer ...
We came home without my boots or a seed drill, but we do have a lovely little cultivator (250€)!
We saw the Nada Space Station pass over this evening.

22nd December
Lola, Leonie and Lola's dad came to pick olives, while we prepared some chickens for the freezer.
Then this afternoon we tidied up the vegetable garden, removing tomato cages and bean/pea supports (a horrible job as the vines are all hard and mouldy and have to be unwound from the sticks) and winding up the irrigation. Brett did lots of strimming and I weeded my carrot seedlings - it's looking better already.

23rd December
Happy Birthday Me ......
Brett bought me proper (expensive) fabric scissors; I've never owned proper ones before - I will not use them for anything else! He also bought me a posh, leather, cover for my tablet; but it's too big and needs exchanging next time we go into CB.
We went to Spain for lunch, we had remembered about the hour difference so that was fine .... we'd forgotten all the shops closed between 2 - 5 (for siesta). We had a 'tapas' lunch which was good, then we went to buy all the things we can't get in Portugal (sherry, anchovies, different charcuterie etc) - the bloody shops were shut, even the supermarket! We bought some stuff in Penamacor, on the way home; including vodka and Werther's originals - to make Toffee Vodka; put everything into a bigger container, with lid, shake several times daily until sweets have dissolved, voila Toffee Vodka, rebottle and label.
This evening we had a nice meal (giant prawns), fizzy wine and watched 'Water World' - well it was my birthday!

24th December
I think we're doing something every day now, except Boxing day, until 2nd January. Today we were invited to M&M's for lunch, along with K&A, Big Alex and K&A's Finnish workaways; I made the starter, canapes (chicken liver pate, tapenade, sweet chilli cream cheese), Mieke cooked Coq au vin, mashed potatoes and vegetables, Karina made a chocolate cake for pudding ... we were well stuffed! It was a good afternoon; it always is with this group of people. The only problem is I start to get restless around 3.30 (as it starts to get dark) worrying about the animals and preditors; they were fine!
When we got home I had to cook the ham for tomorrow (4 hours boiling, 1 hour baking),

make a couple of sherry (port!) trifles and wrap presents ......

25th December
MERRY CHRISTMAS .....
My presents to Brett were a hit (all of them) - a head torch (for when solar is low and walking dogs at night), fisherman's hat (his old one needs throwing away), a training diary (tradition) and old fashioned marshmallows (his favourite sweets, kindly donated by C&D).
My presents from Brett were a hit because I bought them!!!!! A handbag and ankle boots (both absolutely necessary).
We had a lovely, lovely family Christmas round at P&M's; there were eleven of us for Christmas lunch - P&M, Brett & I, Lou, Naomi, Will & Ottie, Rowan, Nick and Leon.
We had cocktails, sang Christmas songs, played a hilarious game with dice and presents, ate, drank and, when it got dark, sat outside around a roaring fire ..... Oh yes, and then J&J arrived.

26th December
Boxing day; our one day off from socialising until after the New Year, so what do we do? ..... we garden!!!
I weeded carrots, beetroot and rocket, I planted out some lettuce and escarole seedlings in a small bed that we cultivated with our fabulous new machine. Brett re-cultivated some of our vegetable garden (tractor) and fields ready for planting and to keep the weeds down. We're determined to have an atractive garden this year (if only because Joyce is coming to visit again in the spring).
This evening we watched 'Love Actually' for about the millionth time, a real 'feel good' movie.

27th December
Today we've been muck spreading; Brett cleaned out goats, chickens and geese putting the manure straight into the tractor trailer (the one pictured on the Christmas card!), I drove the tractor slowly around the lower pasture while he forked it out - we felt like real pioneer farmers!
I did lots of cooking too, as C&D came to dinner (chard and cheese quiche, potato wedges, garlic bread, coleslaw and trifle).
Bloody Looby ran off this evening; Brett was doing the goats, the dogs were with him and she disappeared, she was gone for nearly two hours - I blamed Brett, he's so complacent and laid back when he's looking after them (I'm the opposite, forever calling them to heel!), he blamed Looby! Fortunately she came back with C&D as they were walking up the track to come to dinner.

28th December
Dull, dreaery, drizzly and then lots of rain ... No solar charge today!
Mark had offered to take us out for a meal tonight; but, as the weather was so vile, we convinced him that we'd rather stay home and I'd cook a curry.
We're getting rather jaded by all the socialising; tomorrow is Karina's birthday (tapas party at their house), 30th we're off to Christine & Mark's (lunchtime drinks and nibbles), 31st, New Year's eve (Hub gathering at Gloria's, but we're thinking of staying home!) and 1st at P&M's (they're having a lunch time do) ........
Then 4th - 8th Brett is working for 5 days (to make up fo all the time off he's had over Christmas).
Mark brought a cake with him; the Portuguese version of a Christmas log - I'm sure it had grated carrot on it!!!!

Solar very low this evening, we had to turn the fridge off overnight.

29th December
Happy Birthday Karina xxx
Dull, dreary, drizzly morning ...... (so no fridge).
Oh dear it looks like our 'kitten' is on heat, male cats are turning up to serenade her! Nine weeks from today will be 2nd March; Di says she wants a kitten😀. Brett is threatening to put them in the freezer; he says it's the kindest way to put them to sleep - I trust he's kidding!
Mieke suggested that the food we bring, for the tapas party, be traditional to our country; in the UK it's traditional to eat left overs after Christmas - so I made bite sized pasties of ham & cheese

and guinea fowl & chorizo

- I cured and baked the ham for Christmas day at P&M's, and the guinea fowl we had on Boxing day. And I made some chocolate fridge cake (as it's always popular!).
We gave the Toffee Vodka to Karina, for a birthday present, but then proceeded to drink it, along with several bottles if wine ...... it was a good evening!

30th December
Dull, dull, dull, dull, dull .........
The fridge was still turned off overnight and wasn't turned back on today, so now we're worried about the chickens in the freezer.
Oooops, I had a hangover this morning and we were off socialising again - this time, lunchtime drinks and nibbles at Christine & Mark's (I didn't drink any alcohol!).
Wow, they have a proper house ...... flushing toilets (several!), a couple of showers (AND a bath!), electricity, heating, swimming pool, habitation licence - really posh!
This evening we sat in front of the stove, by candlelight, with Brett wearing his new head torch to read by; then we got bored and risked watching a film (the tv is only 30 watts), we didn't turn any lights on though.
Tomorrow evening there's a Hub 'do' at Gloria's bar, we don't really feel like going, we'll decide tomorrow.

31st December
Still dull, dreary, drizzly, still no solar charge, still no fridge .......
We used the generator to do the washing (Brett), run the fridge for a few hours and charge our devices. I cooked stuff from the fridge to stop it going off - pasties to take to Pam's tomorrow, soup for Sunday, ribs for tonight etc.
We made the decision not to go to the Hub's New Year party - you're expected to stay until gone midnight!!!!
We had another candle lit evening; it's very cosy in our kitchen with the stove lit too. We're so rock 'n roll; there we were at 10.00 p.m. Brett drinking a 'nice cup of tea' while I was having hot chocolate with squirty cream!!!! Needless to say we didn't stay up to see in the New Year; we did hear fireworks at midnight (didn't bother to get up to see them though!).

1st January 2016
HAPPY NEW YEAR/BOA ANO NOVO!
Bloody hell another rainy day, the solar is non existent, and it's going to continue for another week, and still no fridge.
P&M had a New Year's Day lunch party which was fun, not a boozy do, though there was mulled wine (which was good as it was chilly). Lots of people who came hadn't bothered to go out last night either, and most were in bed before midnight (so it wasn't only us).
We spoke to Tristan about the seed drill we are thinking of buying - he has the same one and says it's great.
Of course we had to leave while the party was going strong, as we had to put animals away, which was a shame (but probably a good idea as Lou had started to make cocktails!).
We had another night with just candlelight (no tv, music etc) Brett wore his head torch and read John Seymor - he's very enthusiastic about the garden atm.

2nd January
Hoorah some sunshine at last; the fridge went on first thing - we've had over 4 days without the fridge (if we don't count the 3 hours on the generator on the 31st).
Today we went into CB; we needed to exchange some presents (Brett's fisherman's hat which was too big and my tablet cover again too big). We got 300€ out (to buy Mark's scaffold tower), filled the car with diesel (it's only 86 cents a litre, that's about 60 pence!!!!!), Brett bought some shoes, I bought some boots, we went ito the supermarket and bought stuff we can't get locally plus a whole smoked ham which was half price (32€) and ........ (how embarassing) our card was declined😞! How can this be, it's the beginning of the month; our money gets transferred into this account on the 1st of the month (only it didn't as it's been a bank holiday and now it's the weekend). So we had to use Mark's money (thank goodness we had it).
We're still rationing the solar (it takes several days to get full charge) so it was candles again this evening. Brett watched 'Dumb and Dumber 2'; I didn't, I just don't find that kind of humour funny, in fact I find it annoying! Unfortunately there wasn't much I could do without light, but I have found something positive about my tablet - having a virtual keyboard means it can be used in the dark!
I've been yearning for mince pies; they don't sell them in Portugal, so I decided to make my own (with a made up recipe). I chopped up some of our figs, added some sultanas and some port and left to soak overnight.

3rd January
Back to dull, dreary, drizzly ........ (back to rationing solar).
Mince pies continued: I added half a jar of apple cheese (our own apples), brown sugar, toasted flaked almonds and mixed spices. I had pastry left over from the pasties on New Year's day; I cut out circles of pastry, added a spoon of filling, drew in the sides, pinching to seal, and made a kind of star shape, baked for 15 mins, and finally dusted with icing sugar - verdict ..... tasted like real mince pies!!!😀 I also made bread, focaccia and lemonade.
A&K, Big Alex and their Finnish workaways came for lunch - roasted pumpkin soup with focaccia, bread, meats and cheese,  lemonade and mince pies, Karina also brought some honey, cinnamon and walnut pastries - it was a feast. Then we walked around the quinta in the drizzle admiring animals and vegetable garden (well it's potential).
A&K brought their hard-drive with them, so we have lots of new stuff for viewing.
And we couldn't view anything as the solar was so low; we turned off the fridge and sat in candlelight (again! It's beginning to lose it's novelty). The forecast is not looking good for the rest of the week 😞!.

4th January
Brett & Chris were supposed to be working at Annika's this week, but the forecast put pay to that; they'll reaccess the situation later in the week.
Hoorah, at least the money went into our bank account today - bloody banks, I bet it went out of the other account on the 1st.
I sorted my seeds and started my new gardening journal - I'm all enthused atm!
The boar has been digging up tree roots and is starting to disturb the fence posts (his digging covers the electric wire, so it stops working); Brett had to do an emergency deterrent today, fencing off his digging with two strands of electric wire, or we would have had a breakout! I had to keep the pigs away from Brett (they're very inquisitive) by shouting "pig, pig, pig, pig, pig ...." and throwing carrots and potatoes at them (to eat!).
As it was raining we put the generator on this afternoon to run the fridge and charge appliances and, rather than waste the surplus electricity being generated (I don't know if this is true but it was a good excuse!), we watched the first episode of one of the series that Alex gave us; 'The Hour', it looks addictive.
Heavy rain this evening, Gary's quinta is flooded, our wells are full up to ground level. Brett reckons this is the most rain we've had since we moved here ...... it's just like Wales, except there we had electricity!

5th January
Heavy rain first thing, but then the sun came out😀, and then it clouded over and rained again and so it continued all day, we did get some charge.
But it wasn't raining in the polytunnel, we had a good day in there; we tidied up and rotorvated the soil, all I need is compost and I can start sowing tomatoes, peppers, chili's etc.
I found a small amount of compost and sowed 75 capsicums (5 varieties), 45 chilis (3 varieties) 41 aubergine (3 varieties) and pots of borage, coriander and chives; so our vegetable plants are on their way.
This evening's meal was all grown on quinta; roast chicken, roasted acorn squash with sage, carrots (found growing in the polytunnel) and kale

- not bad for the first week of the New Year/the middle of winter.

6th January
Happy Birthday Andrew!
We went into Penamacor to apply for permission to build my studio; apparently there are new rules, all about underground water, and we have to go back on Friday when they have the up to date maps - so now we're worried!
Hoorah, my birthday parcel from Helen arrived ..... a medley of presents including Tangfastics (you can't get them here and they're my favourite) and a beautiful scarf (we saw it when we were together in H&M this summer); all lovely appropriate presents, thank you Helen x.
We found a seed drill on Ebay (for about 1/2 the Amazon price) and they agreed to ship it to Portugal! So we bought it £92 (including the postage of £17); we're so excited, our garden should look amazing this year!

7th January
And still it's miserable and raining .......
But we are still picking tomatoes!

Quite an unproductive day for me; just cooking, cleaning and taking down the Christmas tree - we only got to turn the lights on a couple of times!
Brett managed to do a bit of work in the garden with the tractor, between showers.

8th January
I hate the smell of a warm fridge!
Still raining, still no solar, still sitting in candlelight all evening.
Ok we need visitors from the UK asap, we're down to our last box of teabags😢.
We have had an 'interesting' day, well actually most of it has been bloody boring, just watching someone huff and puff over a computer screen. It took us 5 hours (that's FIVE HOURS) to get the planning permission for my studio; we arrived at 11.00, saw two different people, got sent away for an hour when they closed for lunch, and finally left at 4.00. But ..... we have the go ahead and we have just 4 months to build it, so by the beginning of May I will have a studio😀. We saw lots of interesting maps that would have affected us had our plot overlap their highlights (fortunately it didn't, but Gary's does and all our neighbours below us); maps of - underground waterways, areas of fire risk, agricultural resererve, ecological reserve. The water one explains why our front neighbour's vegetable garden is so lush.
I was in bed before 9.00; having no batteries means my Kindle and tablet have very little charge and I can't read by candlelight ..... bored! .... I didn't sleep, I was still awake at midnight.

9th January
A little bit of very watery sunshine first thing was soon replaced by rain.
I made some coconut chutney to take to Martin & Anne's Indian themed lunch party. It's usually made with fresh coconut but I had to use dessicated (rehydrated in warm water), not nearly as good, but still quite tasty.
Coconut Chutney
Whole coconut grated (save milk)
Big handful of fresh mint, chopped finely
2 - 4 fresh red chilies, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
Juice of a lemon
1 tsp cummin seeds
1 tbsp sugar
Salt & pepper to taste
Mix everything in a large bowl, adding the saved coconut milk if too dry.
It was a lovely gathering and we were the first (reluctantly) to leave at 4.00; it was dark and wet when we got home so we were just in time to put the animals away.
So fed up with the rain and candle power now!

10th January
Still no sun .......
I had a crap night; I have earache and can't hear properly - woe is me! Fortunately I have some ear drops, left over from my last Bell's palsy episode (2 years ago), so we're treating it and I haven't had to go to a doctor.
Anyway I had big plans for today; as it was raining outside, I would work in the polytunnel. My plan was to plant 1/2 a sack of sprouting potatoes, build a bean support along the centre of the cultivated area and sow a load of early beans and mangetout. Yeh right ...... so I walk into the polytunnel with a heavy tub of potatoes, heading for the far side of the cultivated bit, and 5-6 metres in I realised I was sinking! It was like quick sand, it was over my boots, I couldn't lift my feet, I was stuck!!!! I did get out, after a lot of struggling, but I've ruined my brand new boots

and somehow managed to crick my neck.
All the food in the fridge is going off, we just can't keep it cool with a couple of hours on the generator; we're making meals with whatever needs using first (it's not tasty!) and of course soon the freezer will defrost (we have chickens in there). Unfortunately most if the people we know are on solar too and are in exactly the same predicament as us; there's no one nearby we can ask for help.

11th January
Oh no, David Bowie has died, that's sad .......
Hoorah, we had a few hours of sunshine today AND snow is forecast HERE next Monday!
We put our post box up, at the village end of the track; unfortunately the ground is very stoney/rocky (as it's where the cobbles start), we found the softest bit we could, but the post is not terribly secure.
The council man came to take a photo of the area where the studio will be built; so now it's official we can start building ........
At last we got some solar charge, we put the fridge on, we had cold drinks!
The down side of the improved weather is Brett having to go to work tomorrow; Annika gets him when the weather is fine, then when he's at home it's inclement so we can't get much work done here - seems back to front somehow!

OLIVE HARVESTING ...

Friday 13th November
Brett went to work and I was bored! There's only so much housework I can (be bothered to) do .....
I posted my blog, which takes an awfully long time - I blame the tablet; to start off with it's not possible to 'cut and paste' a whole document (though it will 'cut' a whole document but not 'paste' it all, so then I lose half my blog!!!!!) and uploading photos, don't get me started on that - suffice to say I have a hate, hate, relationship with my tablet!
On a positive note I only took one co-codamol last night and have taken no Ibuprofen today, the neuralgia is getting better (phew).
Terrible breaking news .......

14th November
Horrendous acts of violence in Paris last night; so much hatred, it's heartbreaking, I can't comprehend it.
Oh no, I managed to shrink one of my new dresses when I did the washing on Thursday; it fits rather too snuggly now - hopefully it will stretch.
I went to class (on my own again), I feel very virtuous!
Brett hurt his back when he was letting out the goats.
I finished sewing my last dress 😀.
This evening we went to a 'vinho e licor' festa (wine and liqueur) in Sao Migel de Acha; there we met up with Diane & Thomas (who live there and had been at the festa since lunchtime!), Chris & Di, Baptiste, Richie, plus Steve & Keren, Bridget & Stephan and a host of other expats I don't know the names of.
We stayed for several hours, so we could see/hear the musical acts - it was Fado (traditional Portuguese 'folk' music); it's weird the singer doesn't appear to take any notice of the instruments, singing in a different rhythm, it's not in the least bit catchy, it's slow and passionate .... I have to say I don't like it!

15th November
Another carboot sale; but I opted out of this one, choosing to go as a buyer rather than a seller. And thank goodness I did .... Firstly: it was held in a big car park up past the Camera (Town Hall); great, you would think, except that the road up to the Camera was shut off for road works and no diversion notices posted! Secondly: all, barr one, of the stalls were run by expats and all the buyers (while I was there) were other stall holders and the few expats who didn't have stalls - I bought some dvds.
There was a chestnut festa with pig roast, on the same site, this evening; but we didn't go.
I wore my shrunk dress all day and it has gone back to it's original size except for the length - I'm now wearing a mini dress (which is fine as I'm wearing it over stripey leggings).

16th November
I helped Brett line up posts in the big field (it's a very important job!) and cooked - Nicky & Rich are coming round tomorrow evening.
Goodness,  sourdough bread takes a long time to prepare - a week for the starter (feeding every 12 hours), 6-8 hours for 'the sponge', 2-4 hours for the first proving another hour or so for the second proving and then 40+ minutes to cook!
My Kombucha tastes like vinegar! I don't know if that's how it's supposed to taste or if my one has gone off - definitely an acquired taste! And the scooby looks strange;

but I messaged Michelle (who gave it to me) and googled it, and I think it's ok.
My creme caramels worked well, so that's a positive; and the filling for the chicken pie tastes good.
So tomorrow all I have to do is prepare the rest of the food, rack off some wine, tidy the house, wash the floor,oh yes and make some bread ..........
My sourdough bread is not good; it didn't rise well and it is rather (understatement) dense!

I think there are two reasons for this (1) I started the bread about 11.00 a.m. and finished around 10.00 p.m. which is only nine hours (I skimped on some of the timing so the yeast didn't have time to grow sufficiently), and (2) I had to use ordinary plain flour as the only bread flour I can find is packaged as a bread mix, with yeast already added (which defeats the object of sourdough), and, I've just thought of a third reason, the oven had cooled down by 9.00 so it wasn't hot enough.

17th November
We thought we'd try our wine this morning (it's traditional to taste it at the beginning of November) and, if it was nice, to serve it to our guests - it isn't particularly nice! So we opened some of last year's, which is nicer but ..... this wine doesn't store well. So while we were at it we tried our cider - we have 10 litres of, a very good, apple cider vinegar! And 5 litres of a very dry 'scrumpy'.
Brett hates being incapacitated so, despite his bad back, he spent the day knocking in posts.
I made bread, chicken pie, prepared vegetables, cleaned and hoovered the house, washed the floor, and did copious amounts of washing up - knackered!
We had a nice evening and, because they decided to not stay overnight, we didn't drink too much! I even managed to do the washing up while Brett walked the dogs.

18th November
Brett continued post banging; all the posts are in and ready for wire - he's talking about using the tractor to tension the wire (I'm worried it might snap it, but he seems confident).
Pam and Naomi were going to pop in for a cup of tea this afternoon, so I made some Brownies (from Michelle's recipe) - I even managed not to burn them! Unfortunately they ran out of time and didn't make it - Brett and I enjoyed the Brownies!
Pooh, Brett is working tomorrow 😞.

19th November
Well I had a lovely job while Brett was at work - patching the olive net.
The olive net is huge 6m x 6m; it wraps around the base of the tree to collect the olives as they are 'combed' from the branches. Unfortunately our net, which we inherited with the quinta, has loads of holes in it, through which the olives escape when the net is gathered up; so it was my job to patch these holes. I cut off a length of the net and then discovered that the net was simply made from parallel strands of nylon woven at right angles to parallel strands of nylon, no locking stitch, cutting just unwove it!!!!! So I had to hem all my patches before using them and hem the raw edge where I had cut my length from - all this was HAND SEWING (which I hate) with nylon fishing line (thanks Henry!) which gets tangled very easily. And then I was ready to repair the net - needless to say it didn't get finished today!

20th November
Today was a lot of preparation for visitors; Vince & Lola came to dinner and Pam for a cup of tea. First I had to blanch, then marinate pork ribs (we had pork ribs, potato wedges and tomato salad and Lola brought a Tiramiso for pudding), then house cleaning. Once done, it was back to the net patching.
Pam ended up staying for lunch, then we went round to see Di for a cup of tea 😀.
Dinner was fun, we had a tasting of our ... orange liqueur (good), lemon liqueur (good), and geripiga (fabulous, must make more next year), plus some of the drinks we've been given in the past a strawberry liqueur (too sweet) and something unlabled (not good)!

21st November
Hangover!!!!!! And I had to go to class 😞. It actually wasn't too bad .....
Brett has started attaching the wire to the posts in the big fieldh he's very excited as he can use the tractor to tension the wire. It will be great once we are fully fenced, we'll never have to tie the dogs up again.
I made my friendship cake today; it looks very tasty.

I split the starter and gave a batch each to Mieke and Ann as we went to dinner with Ann & Martin this evening.
They gave us fondues; a vat of hot oil that you cooked your own food in, with crudites and dips, then a chocolate fondue that we dipped fruit in -it was great fun!

22nd November
This morning I had to do lots of cooking as Mark and Andrew came for lunch; Mark is staying for a couple of days to help with the olive harvest.
For lunch I made caramelised onion and apples with blue cheese quiche (I made it up as we didn't have a lot of ingredients in the house!), with jacket potatoes and salad. I also made another batch of Michelle's wonderful brownies and some carrot soup - so we have lunch and snacks tomorrow.
Brett continued fencing with the tractor.
After lunch we walked around the vegetable garden and Andrew insisted we must have sweet potatoes as the foliage was so lush (we dug some up last month and found nothing worthwhile), he had a dig around and found half a bucketful!

23rd November
Poor old Brett tripped over the dog ropes (the ropes we tie the dogs up with when they are in running away mode) and thinks he might have broken his big toe, he's in a lot of pain - of course he wouldn't let me take him to have it x-rayed or take pain killers.
We picked 154k of olives. Halfway through the afternoon the trigger on Brett's chainsaw broke; so clever old Mark made him one out of aluminum (thank you Mark).

24th November
This morning there was ice on the animal's water  and snow on the mountains.
127.75k olives (282 total) picked today - the olives were much smaller than yesterday; a lot are still green and are much harder to strip from the tree which is one of the reasons we picked less than yesterday.
Lili loves Mark!!!! He's the only person, other than us, that she will climb on top of (she almost prefers him to us, bitch!).

25th November
Mark went home after breakfast (thanks for your help Mark) with plans to design and build an olive mill/press (unfortunately it won't be ready this year), I'm doing all I can to encourage him - imagine being able to completely process your own olives.
We had to go shopping as there was no food in the house. Then, this afternoon, it was back to picking; we managed 71.5k (353.5). We can only find one mill in the area that actually gives you back your own oil; the others are co-operatives where you receive a 1 litre of oil for each 10 kilo of olives you take regardless of condition or quality. The mill in Proenca a Velha takes 25% of your oil as payment; which is fine if the olives have a good yield - last time we had oil our Nov. picked olives gave a litre of oil for each 7k of olives and the Dec. picked were excellent at a litre for every 4.6k, fingers crossed they're as good this year.
There was a spectacular sunset tonight and directly opposite was a HUGE bright moon - of course the photos don't do justice to the actual images.

26th November
Ache, ache, ache, ache, ache .... especially my hands as I tend to use them, to brush the olives from the branches, rather than the combs.
109.5k (463k total, only 37k more for our target of 500k) picked today and they were all the little black ones.

27th November
ACCCHHHHHEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!
On a positive note we hit our 500k target before lunch, we still continued to pick after lunch and now have a grand total of .... 542k; so we should get at least 50L of oil, though we're hoping the yield is good in which case we could receive as much as 75L. We'll take them to the press Monday morning (we don't know if it's open over the weekend).
We are absolutely shattered after five days of full on physical work - olive picking is nothing like the romantic activity portrayed by television (Olivio margarine/Bertoli olive oil adverts), it's bloody hard work!
Haha, I took off my boots tonight eight olives came out of one and one out of the other (I thought my feet were uncomfortable)!

28th November
Still aching, but I managed to go to class (feeling virtuous!).
Lola and Vince have bought an olive press (very expensive) and have run out of olives to experiment with - I said she was welcome to some of ours as long as she didn't expect help with the picking! I did help her clean them (take out all the leaves and twigs), she got about 15k.
This evening we were invited to dinner at C&D's in their 'Hobbit' house (straw bale), Andrew was there too. We arrived 6.30 and didn't leave until nearly 1.00 a.m. time just went so fast - lovely evening.
Brett, kindly, gave Andrew a lift home (he lives the opposite direction to us). He's (Andrew) picking his olives atm and we're going to take him to the mill with us on Monday.

29th November
The hunting wasn't too bad this morning; we could hear shots in the distance but nothing too close.
We were going to have a day off; Brett still did some fencing, I did the housework and washing - so not that restful!
We met an English woman at the fonte in Aguas the other day, she came to visit this afternoon; she wanted to see our vegetable garden, which is not looking good atm, so I can't think that she was very impressed! I felt bad not inviting her to stay for dinner but she is a vegan and I need a bit of notice to cook vegan food - I'm sure she'll come again.

30th November

Our olives, before we picked up Andrew 

It was very icy this morning; the animal's water was frozen and so was the water pump.
We picked Andrew, and his olives, up at 10.00, drove to Proenca, only to be told to come back Thursday morning - they are inundated and have run out of crates, but we are booked in now.
We could have tried another press; but at this one we get back our own oil and, all the presses are busy this time of the year so we'd have no guarantee that we would get in anywhere else quicker.
Brett carried on fencing.

1st December
I can't believe it's nearly Christmas (and my birthday!).
Brett carried on fencing the big field today and I tiled behind the sink, tomorrow I will do behind the cooker.

2nd December
We went to buy food first thing; there was this poor female dog who had obviously just had puppies hanging around the bins at the shop - we gave her dog biscuits and some of the meat we had just bought! It's so sad, I wanted to take her home but the puppies still needed her.
Then we went to visit M&M's new quinta in Aldeia da Santa Margarida; it's a lovely plot with great views.
Usually when we go out we put the dogs in their shed (which is the other end of the quinta to the house) and I walk them back home while Brett drives back; today, as the dogs and I were walking down the track there was this blood curdling screaming, that got louder and louder, coming from the pig run - it turned out to be the boar who had the wire of the fence caught around one of his back teeth and he was panicking!!!!! Brett managed to extract the wire from his mouth (fortunately Brett is very strong, I wouldn't have been able to do it) and then he had to go and explained to Gary that we weren't slaughtering our pigs!
Brett finished the big field and I tiled behind the cooker, tomorrow (after taking the olives to the press) I grout.

3rd December
It was quite hard work at the press; all the bags had to be transferred into small crates, then carried into the mill, our 28 bags filled 42 crates. They are going to do separate pressings for us and Andrew so he will get his oil back and we will get ours. The people at the press will ring us when our oil is ready for collection; let's hope it's soon as we are literally down to the last dregs of our oil from two years ago,

Looks dreadful but actually tastes ok 

we're determined that it will last, everytime we use it all the debris from the bottom of the barrel comes to the surface!
I grouted the tiles and, while waiting for it to dry, I made a couple of blackboards, one a cat shape and one a sheep - one will sit on the tiles over the sink (I'll let Brett choose).
 Brett fenced the area between us and Gary; the area will become the second pig run.

4th December
Brett had this 'brilliant' idea to extend the tiling all along the cooker worktop - so that's what I was doing while he went to work! Tomorrow I grout, after class.

5th December
I had to get up with Brett (who was going to work) so he could apply dye to my hair (I should have done it last nignt but I was too tired); I'm not a red head anymore 😞 (I haven't got a grey parting either!).
I went to class and found out that today was the last session of the year ....... hoorah (I'm absolute rubbish, I can't remember anything from one week to the next). Class was actually quite good fun; the room we should have used had had its locks changed, Pedro had no key - so we sat outside the cafe, in the sunshine and learnt a Chritmas song.
I finished my grouting; tomorrow we'll put up shelves, plate rack and blackboard - then I'll do some rearranging.

6th December
2.00 a.m. and I couldn't sleep, I got up and made some hot milk - Looby got up too and was pacing around asking to go out!
Brett put shelves etc up, but not the blackboard as he wants to attach that with 'no more nails';

The 'cat' blackboard will sit on tiles to left of plate rack

I had fun arranging things in the kitchen and have made a list of all the stuff that I have, so far, noticed is missing:
Green ceramic flan dish
Pale blue kitchen scales
Antique fruit/pudding dishes (lots)
Antique side plates (lots)
Green Lady of the Night & Day stained glass panel
Acid etched & sandblasted Crow panel
We think we have been through all the boxes now (not unpacked just looked through), we have no idea where these items could be (still in Wales?/lost by removal man?) - I'm very upset about the loss of my panels and am still hoping they might turn up packed with pictures/mirrors.
Sunday morning and the hunting wasn't too near us until ..... I heard Gary shouting, then a gunshot, and no more Gary shouting!!!!! I went to fetch Brett from the big field, he told me I was overreacting-  fortunately I was, Gary hadn't been shot by a hunter!

7th December
Cold, dreary and damp today, so I lit the fire early and made roast pumpkin soup. Brett carried on with the fencing, below the house, soon we will have a 'dog proof fence'.

RAIN = NO SOLAR .....

22nd October
Brett went to work.
I used the curtains from the farmhouse to recover the cushions from the large leather sofa from the Barn. When we had them as curtains they were two tones of gold,

however the reverse of the material is red and grey

which was the side I chose to use. Of course, as all jobs go, I got a lot less done than I had planned; but I think it's going to look rather smart.
This evening the dogs took themselves off for a jaunt for about an hour; we called and called until we were hoarse, they are in BIG trouble!

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

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

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

26th October
Happy Birthday Lawrence! XXX
We went into Fundao and bought bundles of vegetable plugs from the market - 50 x broccoli (4€), 25 x cauliflower (2€), 25 x 'walking stick' cabbage (2€), 100 of each, white (2,50€) and red onions (2,50€) to start off our new garden. After eating a hurried lunch Brett cultivated (with the tractor) a section of the field for planting (it's already been scarrified a few times). We planted the walking stick cabbage (20) on the boundary, as it stays in the ground for several years, then rows of white onions (104), red onions (150), cauliflower (35) and broccoli (80) - actual number of plants bought in brackets ... we were stiffed on the walking stick cabbage, but we did well on the rest! We estimated that we've planted up less than 5% of the whole field,

so there's room for much more - I have nightmares about the weeding it'll need!
While we were in Fundau we bumped into Joanne (Lola's friend Helen and I went to Spain with); we swopped sewing stories, she's making 'Japanese. aprons' ( I call them Pioneer/Prairie Aprons). Now, of course, I want to make one; they'll go well with the dresses I'm making.

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

Our peas and chickpeas, in the experimental field, are germinating!!!!

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

29th October
I don't know what they're doing to Alfie but there's some awful noises coming from C&D's direction - it sounds like a dog caught in a trap ... but it's probably just that Alfie has been tied up!
Drizzly, dismal morning.
Haha, when we went over to do the sheep and goats we had several messages from Chris, the last one saying he was worried as he hadn't heard from us .... unfortunately neither of our phones will send a message. Brett has agreed to go to work tomorrow 😞.
Brett has started preparation work for fencing the big field; today was strimmering and chainsawing.
While Brett was out he spotted a group of Parasol mushrooms,

which we immediately picked; one went into our dinner and the other three are drying in the warming drawer of the range - now I need to find Ceps!
I finished the sofa cushions and it looks bloody good, even though I say it myself! Tomorrow I need to make some throw cushions but as I haven't got much material left I'll have to do patchwork.
Brett's been designing our new building which will house my studio, a workshop and a spare bedroom; the whole building will be 8m x 5m and my studio will be 4m x 5m!!!
Dinner was Bouef Bourginnone (with a whole bottle of last year's red wine), turnip tops (self seeded) and rice; unfortunately the Parasol mushroom wasn't easy to distinguish as the casserole was cooked for two and a half hours.

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

It is only pinned!

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

1st November
And today the sun came out .........
I'm still harvesting quite a bit from the garden.

Unfortunately for me I had to 'make hay while the sun shone' i.e. hoover!!!!! Not my favourite task but the house looks lovely now, which is good as we have visitors coming in the morning.
While I was sleeping (I have some of my best ideas when I sleep, and a fair few that are completely impossible once I wake up!), anyway, I suddenly remembered a couple of cushions that would go with the newly unholstered sofa - blue background with dark pink and blue flowers (Joyce gave them to us years ago), and it means I don't have to make any now!

Brett is keen to get the fencing finished in the big field, so he spent the day with chainsaw and strimmer - it was perfect weather for working outside, so I planted garlic in the winter garden (133 cloves) and picked a bucket of quinces for quince jelly and quince cheese.

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

3rd November
Spit, spit, spit, spit, spit ........
Today we went into Penamacor (we needed animal food); on the way home I was on the look out for the mushrooms I saw a couple of days ago, so I could show them to Brett, (I'd also convinced myself there must be some way I could harvest them) however I couldn't see them. BUT there was a car parked close to where they should have been and ............ there was a man with a fruit crate overflowing with MY MUSHROOMS masses of them, he'd just climbed over the fence and taken them - they should have been mine, I saw them first! (At least they didn't go to waste).
We managed to pick one Parasol mushroom growing along our track to the village (pathetic!).

However ....... when we got home I thought I'd check in the eucalyptus wood, behind the pig run, and found a couple of massive ones (and lots that had gone over); so now I know where to look next year. I'm still pig sick about the ones near Penamacor!
The range was lit first thing so, as there was free heat, I made a batch of quince jelly and quince cheese (Membrillo/Marmelada).

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

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

5th November
The house smelled so nice today as I made my aubergines into Sweet Aubergine Preserve (Claudia Roden), it's got cloves and ginger in it; it's supposed to be used like a jam on bread/toast or to flavour yoghurt, but I think it goes well with cheese and cold meats too.

Well it had to happen; this afternoon we ran out of solar (we've had no sunshine since Sunday and the weather has been dull and rainy for a good two weeks), it gets dark by 5.30 nowadays. We spent the evening with candles for lighting, no fridge and no tv (screen to watch dvds on); it was a loooooong evening, we were in bed by 9.30,hopefully the sun will come out tomorrow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Front

Back

and washing. Brett was working at Annika's.

SECOND SPRING ....

2nd October
Brett and Matt had a bike ride this morning, I was at home doing the chores!
When he got back we went to M&M's for lunch and had a great afternoon putting the world to rights! Mieke messaged me the other day to say she had some large green plates for sale (1€ each) ... I collected them today, they're really nice and very BIG!

3rd October
We missed language class again as we had arranged to deliver the rotorvator to a couple who have moved here recently: we had lunch with them, they are talkative, friendly, and seem very nice.
Something happened tonight (via internet); I am so bloody cross, seething in fact, and I can't get it out of my system by writing about it in my blog; suffice to say I won't be volunteering my services for anything in the foreseeable future!

4th October
RAIN!!!
Vince has found a trailer for our tractor, he haggled on our behalf and got it for 430€ (the ones we looked at in CB on Thursday were much more - 1400 for a lovely tipping one and 600 for a wooden one with knackered tyres and bodywork that needed a lot of work).
We went over to look at it; Brett talked trailer with Vince while I spoke with Lola about last night; I'm still really, really angry!!!
Lola loaned us some films; as it was raining we had a lazy afternoon watching a crap film.

5th October
Real rain all night, it was dark in the house all day (like a cave), I didn't use lights as the solar wasn't being topped up and Brett says the batteries aren't holding their charge anymore - perhaps they need reconditioning (Mark has a device!).
Brett was working at Annika's with Chris.

6th October
Brett went to work, I had Pam round for a 'sewing day' .
Pam made scatter cushions for Jamie's birthday present, I made a dress from one of my 1€ lengths of material - it's based on one of my Ewa I Walla dresses (I think the design was called 'Farmer's Wife'), which I love, unfortunately the EIW dress fabric is, either being eaten by moths, or perishing in this environment - it's full of little holes and is terribly fragile. My new dress has the same feel (when worn) as the EIW dress, but it's somewhat gaudy - orange with large fishes printed on it (a departure from my usual choice of colour!)

. I'm going to make a green version which will be more subtle.

7th October
Brett's last day of work this week 😀, he only did a six hour day.
I planted 140 leek plugs and 114 onion plugs (the ones we bought last week in Fundao) I wore my 'Farmer's Wife's' dress - I felt very pioneery! Lucky me, I had the kitten helping me - she wasn't much help! And then I noticed my hand was hurting ... I'd worn a hole in my palm with the handle of the dibber!
This afternoon I made my green Farmer's Wife dress; then I spent the evening unpicking the skirts (five rows of stitching) because they didn't hang well.

8th October
Oooouch, my hand hurts; I can't use it properly and brushing teeth with the left hand is nigh on impossible!
It looks like Lola and I are cooking the food for Guy Fawkes Night at the Hub (meat and veggie chilies, jacket potatoes, toffee apples and Tarte Tatin).
The kitten is getting too used to coming to the house! She arrives in the morning, before we get up, which starts the dogs squeaking - how can we break that habit?
I made a much better job of sewing the skirts onto my green dress.

9th October
Jamie's birthday; he organised a party at Gloria's bar (Aldeia do Bispo); I made a batch of chocolate covered honeycomb (hokey pokey) for a present. I find honeycomb quite 'hit & miss'; today's, fortunately, was a HIT!
Honeycomb recipe
4 oz sugar
4 tablespoons golden syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
Melted chocolate to cover (optional)
~Place sugar and syrup in heavy based saucepan, stir together (off heat).
~put pan on heat, melt sugar & syrup together (without stirring).
~let mixture cook and bubble until 'hard ball' temp reached (drop a small amount of mixture into cold water it will set hard and crisp) - be alert at this stage, as the mixture can rapidly get too hot and burn.
~add the bicarbonate of soda and whisk in - the mixture will froth up; quickly pour onto baking parchment, allow to set (refrigeration will aid this process).
~cover both sides with melted chocolate (optional) .
~break into bit size pieces.
~enjoy!
Hmmm, I'm not enjoying the hoover so much now the novelty has worn off; Brett came in and found me using it - I was pulling it around on its back, stupid thing rolls over too readily!
We had an interesting evening at Jamie's party; lots of people to talk with, gin & tonic served in fishbowl like glasses and one of the strangest meals to date - luke warm: chicken, belly pork and sausage, cold: brussel sprouts, rice with tinned carrots, hard boiled egg and salad at the exorbitant cost of 8€ a head, with just a plastic fork for cutlery! The landlady was exceedingly rude as she explained that she had run out of gin and vodka because of all the English people drinking in the bar (only three G&Ts and two V&Ts had been purchased at this point), one of our group went into a massive sulk and refused to eat, and to top it all I fell over (again Mark), on our way back to the car (no it wasn't the drink!), and buggered up my knee; yes an interesting evening!

10th October
Cold and dull; not much solar action going on today.
Mark brought over some packing cases the other day (I was going to utilise them in my studio); Brett has made one into a hay feeder for the sheep and goats, he's put skids on it so it can be dragged from field to field. We put it in with the animals this morning, by the time we left the field five of them were already eating from it - it made us feel like proper farmers (I was wearing my green farmer's wife's dress!).
Lazy afternoon, we lit the fire in the living room

and watched a film "Life as a House"; it was very cosy and the dogs were in their element!
I've sneaked some of my glass into the house!

11th October
Haha there's a post from Jamie suggesting that the winter venue for The Hub gatherings should be at Gloria's bar (the bar where he held his party on Friday)!  He's saying she could put on food - yuk, no thanks to that ....
Andrew asked if we fancied fungi foraging this morning, as it was raining the answer was a resounding "no". Yesterday we found mushrooms growing in profusion along our track;

I've done a spore test (brown) and applied all the other identification techniques I know (gills, colour, stem ring, staining, size, smell etc) and I'm 100% sure they are Field Mushrooms but - we're not going to eat them just in case ...... (there are a couple of fungi that look similar, smell slightly different, stain occasionally that are 'edibility unknown'); stupid thing is, with the same books, back in the UK I've gone through exactly the same process and happily eaten the mushrooms.
O8.30 we were heralded by the whistling of Chris, interspersed with calls of "Alfie", from one side and loud shouting of "Fuck off, go away ......" from Gary on our otherside. Alfie has discovered Rosie (Gary's female dog who is more than likely not spayed), everytime he is untied he heads over to Gary's quinta.
A very gloomy wet day called for 'comfort food'; Brett made cheese on toast (in the woodburner oven, as we don't have a grill) while I made a very comparable version of Heinz Baked Beans .......
Cook diced onions and garlic in oil (20 mins), add chopped up tinned tomatoes (simmer for another 10 mins), flavour with tomato puree, tomato sauce, worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and salt, pass through a Mouli to blend, tip back into saucepan, thicken with cornflour, add a jar of haricot (or your choice of) beans, heat and serve - tastes just like the real thing!
Mark came over this afternoon with his big truck so that we could pick our trailer up from Vince & Lola's;

then he came back to us for dinner (ribs, wedges and salad) and to stay overnight.

12th October
HEAVY RAIN!!! Pam messaged me to say they had run out of solar, so we can't be far behind! We haven't had enough sunshine for any charge for several days now; Brett says he doesn't want to test the batteries to see how charged they are as it would worry him! We're keeping snug inside our shed/cave with the range on and no lights!
The main problem with rain is we can't do any work; outside jobs are off, we have to choose our moments going out between downpours to do the animals, and inside work is not easy as we can't use electricity (not even to Hoover!) -  so we read a lot and watch films.

13th October
What a bloody awful night; the dogs were either pacing, panting, squeaking, barking or a combination of the four all night!!! Brett and I got up several times, independently, to let them out, but they just ran off into the darkness. We think, originally, it could have been the kitten outside the house; but even after she'd gone the dogs just wouldn't settle - needless to say Brett and I both got up feeling lousy and moody.
The weather this morning wasn't exactly raining just a bit drizzly, the sky was very overcast, so still no solar charge 😞. We lit the range early as we need it to dry our clothes which get very damp when doing the animals.
Then 11.00 ish ....... the sun came out! Brett disappeared, next thing I know he's ploughing up the field in front of the house, well actually he was scarifying - he does like the tractor!

I was back to the 'dark ages' .... doing my washing by hand - it makes me appreciate the twin tub even more; hopefully we'll have enough charge to do a full wash later in the week.
Alfie has been around a few times today (he cuts through our quinta to get to Gary's); he's sporting a rather jaunty green harness!

14th October
Looby isn't well; she had to go out several times in the night (so perhaps that's what the problem was last night?).
Hoorah, the sun came out and our batteries were back to 100% charge.
I made lemon mousse to take to Vince and Lola's tomorrow evening.
Brett made a drawer to go to the left of the sink.

15th October
Brett was back at Annika's today (he and Chris are going to do a couple of days a week); I don't like it as I get bored on my own! I did some gardening; planted out beetroot and rocket.
I bought hair dye yesterday; there wasn't much choice (black, blonde or auburn) I chose auburn - I now have a bright red head!!!
This evening we went to Vince & Lola's for dinner; we couldn't believe it when I asked the time and it was midnight - Brett still had to load scaffolding and tools onto the truck for work tomorrow.

16th October
Brett went to work 😞.
The weather collapsed one of my bean supports so I dismantled it to reuse with the pea and bean seedlings I sowed a few weeks ago - it was hot sweaty work, when I got home my head looked as though it was bleeding (red hair dye)!
I picked masses of vegetables (aubergines, peppers, beans, tomatillos, courgettes, chillies) the colours (purples and greens) are fabulous together.

The harvest said 'Thai curry' to me;

so we invited C&D round for a meal. The tomatillos worked well in the curry, adding a sour/citrusy note.

17th October
I 'googled' tomatillo recipes - they can be used in any recipe calling for green tomatoes (as a substitute or in addition too); today I made pickled tomatillos (one sweet jar, one sour jar).

Pickled Green Tomatoes/Tomatillos
In a saucepan mix 1 cup water, 1 cup vinegar 1 tablespoon seasalt, bring to boil.
Slice tomatoes/tomatillos thinly, pack into jars with diced fresh chillies (to taste).
Pour vinegar into jars; making sure vegetables are below surface - I cut up a yoghurt lid to fit under rim of jar, works a treat.
Put in fridge once cool, it will keep for a month (or can be water bath heated for 10 mins), once open will keep in fridge for a month.
Ready to eat in four hours .......
For the sweet version I added 3 tablespoons of sugar to the vinegar.
This afternoon was back to strong winds and heavy rain = afternoon watching a film (well I watched whilst Brett fell asleep!) and rationing the solar.
Homemade pizza for dinner; then a night in front of the fire! We were invited out on a pub crawl .... the fire won hands down!

18th October
Another crappy night with Looby asking to go out several times - looks like she might be going to the vet tomorrow.
HEAVY RAIN, dull and dreary ... lit the range and had a traditional Sunday lunch.
This afternoon we had proper TORRENTIAL RAIN;

there was water cascading down the slope outside the house making a great pond around the goose house and the boundary stream, which has been bone dry for months, was flowing rapidly.

Lots of fungi have sprouted up overnight and I haven't been able to identify this HUGE boletus (30+ cms cap).

19th October
The track into the village has been more or less washed away; it's like driving down a rocky river bed, there's only large stones and rocks, anything small has gone, and huge, deep ruts - thank goodness we have a 4x4!
Went into CB; repairing the phone screen would have cost 70€, it was cheaper to buy a new phone 60€! Then we spent another 17€ on a cover (to cushion it next time I fall over!), unfortunately  we couldn't find one to fit in China shop, where they only cost 3€ (what a waste of money!).
We bought several kilos of broad beans, peas, chickpeas and garlic to plant fields to say of vegetables to grow over the winter (most of it for animal food) - that should keep us busy!

We saw several quinta where they have started harvesting their olives.


20th October
We have found another boletus growing on the quinta; I think I have identified it correctly as Boletus Impolitus (Iodine Bolete), it's rare, edible but not worth eating!

Pam messaged me to say she had plant seedlings for me; so we had a day of gardening - most of Brett's was done with the tractor, he also lit a few bonfires (I'm still paranoid about fire). And I managed to fall over (yes, again Mark!) this time really wasn't my fault; I was wearing my work boots, they have hooks instead of eyelets, and the lace of my right boot got hooked to my left boot .... so now my other knee is grazed and swollen - Brett says I have the knees of a six year old!
We planted/sowed onions, carrots, cabbage, calabrese (red and green varieties), South African kale (from Lou), spinach, parsnips, radish, something Pam can't remember what she sowed!, and some big blocks of peas, chickpeas and broad beans - the blocks are an experiment, we broadcast sowed(probably too densly as we rapidly ran out of seeds). Brett says we're real farmers now as we're planting up fields.
When we were in our local animal food shop I found some interesting looking seeds Beterraba (beet) Gigante (gigantic) Amarela (yellow), a big pack for 1€; I didn't know if it was for human or animal consumption (but I bought it anyway!) .... when I looked it up I found it is a heritage seed which is becoming popular again in America for humans (all parts of the plant can be eaten raw, cooked and pickled) and by small farmers for animals. 25 seeds retail at 1.69$ (2.50$ postage), from Amazon, and I have at least 500 seeds, maybe even 1000 for 1 EURO!!!! So we're going to plant a block in our experimental field. We're feeling enthusiastic about out garden atm!
We went the vet in Penamacor to get wormer for the dogs; and as he doesn't open until 8.30, in the evening, we decided to treat our selves to a meal out. We went to O Quartel, a bit more expensive than some but more interesting food too.

21st October
Brett injected the dogs with their wormer; the vet had warned us that it might make the dogs cry for a while - then we remembered Looby crying for a good couple of minutes when the vet wormer her a few months ago, however were both fine ... maybe because we gave them cheese?!!!!
It was warm and sunny today; it feels and sounds like spring - the garden thinks it's spring I have five tomato plants regenerating!
Brett attached skids to the old pig house, so we can use it for poultry.
I carried on with the sowing; a BIG block of the Gigantic Yellow Beet, and in the vegetable garden lettuce (green and red), walking stick cabbage, escarole, Florence fennel, carrots, beetroot and rocket.