first asparagus this year

it's unseasonably warm at the moment and dry, we can't even remember when it last rained, there have been forest fires this week and the rivers are drying up. Despite these temperatures it's still frosty at night and too early to plant anything....the only real sign of spring in the vegetable garden is that the asparagus has appeared.



I noticed that some had come up a while ago and covered the area over with some fleece to protect any more that may come up and just kind of thought it was a bit confused and that it would stop...it didn't, so tonight we ate asparagus which we had with one of our first lemons....yum yum

newly acquired trees

When we bought our farm it was an overgrown and abandoned mess




There were whole areas we couldn't even access, it's taken a while but finally I think I have broken the back of it. The olive grove (above) we believed, finished at the little camino that runs along the top.......however, a few months ago the loggers arrived in our area and along with felling nearly every single tree in our valley they also took down some pines and stone pines above our olive grove, (they ruined a few of our olive trees in the process).......here, they say that if you're not sure about where your boundaries are, fell some trees and you'll soon find out...this is what happened, some of the pines the loggers felled were actually ours on a piece of land we didn't know we owned.
I wanted to create some space around each newly acquired olive tree so that I could prune them.



There were fallen dead pines and meters and meters of brambles all twisted around each tree. Its been a painful but rewarding experience.







Not quite finished but I don't want to do it all at once, where's the pleasure in that?

getting crafty

One of the things about living somewhere remote and having no budget for extras is that you have to get creative, in everything you do. I used to really love buying cards and presents for people when I had money. I also used to make stuff for myself on the sewing machine, but would have the luxury of choosing the fabric I wanted and the amount I wanted. Now I am making things from scraps and bits of old clothing from the dump!!! it doesn't get more creative, often challenging and a bit limiting but I think the results are OK and the effort that goes in to these presents is way more satisfying.

Tea cosys







Front


Back






Here's a shot of the inside of a cosy with a shirt from the dump!!



Pan holders.....







Bag and matching purse




Sewing machine cover

my first chainsaw lesson

God help us all!!!!