garlic

I have been growing vegetables, either organically or bio-dynamically for nearly 15 years. I had never had a problem growing basic veg until we moved to Portugal. I can grow alot more varied veg here than I could in UK and often can get two harvests in one season which is great, but I have not been successful with potatoes, garlic or onions, probably due to lack of water, So this year I have been determined to at least grow enough onions and garlic for us for one year. I think I may have succeeded. I was a bit disapointed when the garlic started going to seed in April, so quickly whipped the heads off and flooded them regularly

Aside from the usual pathetic small ones

the rest seem fine and contrary to everything I've read about plaiting thick necked garlic, 

I managed it and am pleased to say I now have 7 large plaits

French apricot jam

Thanks to a friend, I was given enough apricots to make this delicious jam, it has the added benefits of a vanilla pod and the kernels from the fruit, split and skinned

the whole house was filled with it's delicious aroma

jam, tarts and puddings

We are having our best fruit year so far on the farm, in fact, it seems this area is having a bumper fruit season all round. I am coming home with at least a kilo of loganberries a day.

Rapidly running out of space in the freezer has meant having to make jam.....which normally I wouldn't do at this time of year, but for once the flat we rent comes into it's own, sub zero temperatures (inside the flat) during the winter months means staying at home is grim, staying at home when it's 30 degrees outside however is an absolute pleasure........

15 jars of loganberry jam

Loganberry and raspberry tart

and a summer pudding packed with loganberries, raspberries, strawberries and blackcurrants

blooming marvellous

 

 

 

 

 

crafty old bags and other stuff

Having recently re-organised all my fabrics and old clothes, 

I came across some old cushion covers. Fed up with all our hats, gloves and scarves in cardboard boxes. I decided to make some bags out of the cushion covers, with some scraps for handles and a nifty folding in of the corners at the bottom, and removal of zips, I think they are rather funky

Another teacosy made for our friends Hannah and Derrick who recently got married

and a pin cushion as a mothers day present

green supper

freshly picked today

and turned into this

a broad bean, pea and asparagus risotto, a dash of vermouth, butter, chicken stock, arborio rice, salt and pepper, so fresh tasting it was squeeky

a picnic fit for a queen

first proper picnic of the year, freshly picked salad leaves, refried broad bean risotto cakes, mozzarella and tomato salad (not home-grown!) and strawberries and cherries all washed down with a nice bottle of cheap portuguese wine, wish all Sundays could be like this, thanks Wendy for sharing with us......

let sleeping dogs lie

too hot to stand up and eat our lunch, we'd prefer to just sit down or lie down to eat it!!!!

painting a kilometer of wood

We wanted to weather/insect and fungus proof the house a long time ago, we tried making pine tar for the job, which did work, but we realised we would need so much of it and the only way to make huge amounts was not only time inefficient but also required fire and at the time we were in a serious drought and a fire ban......then the rains came.  So, we ordered some stockholm tar (which is essentially the same thing) and mixed it with linseed oil and diesel to make our own preservative.

Other than keeping the workforce (of one) fed and watered and working on the rest of the farm, I haven't been able to help much with the build so it seemed only right that I paint the house. It's been a mucky job and tricky, reaching in and around inaccessible places, hanging off of bits of frame and leaning into the abyss, at times just down right dangerous but nothing compared to what rick has to go through on a daily basis.

a walk round the garden

shakes and shingles

- this may sound like a post about some form of illness, but in case you didn't know it is actually about an ancient form of roof covering. hundreds, if not thousands of years of tradition.

shingles are sawn timber roof tiles, usually 16" (400mm) or more long, and random widths, laid tripple lapped. generally they're made from cedar and some species of pine or chestnut and oak. shakes are split instead of sawn, which gives them a better natural resistance. it also gives them a rustic appearance, and because of the way they are made, they are usually available only in narrower widths (50-175mm)

i've hankered after using shingles or shakes for years, and now i have an opportunity. i like the woodsyness of them, i like the naturalness of them, their beauty, the way they age (silvery). i like how easy they are to make (shakes not shingles), that they are one of the only kinds of renewable roofing materials. and that, from the woods themselves i can make another essential part of the house. of and from it. they are the woods.

the process of making shakes is quite easy. you don't need many tools, a froe ( a special tool for splitting) a wooden club to hit the froe blade with, and an axe for trimming. having felled your poles, cut the blanks (the rounds of timber also known as bolts from which you will split the shakes), and debarked them, begin by splitting them in half, then quartering, then subdividing. you should be able to subdivide somewhere between 32nds and 64ths, for most bolts.

you can also split them right across the diameter of the bolt, which, because of the difficulty of obtaining anything from it, is called a bastard shake.

rounds much less than 200mm diameter wont make very big shingles, so you will need subsequently more of them. fresh growth on a coppiced stump is the best. somewhere between 20-30 years is ideal. past 50 years and its over-stood, and probably suffering from one or more defect, like heart rot, or shakes (radial splits). shingles are an easy to manufacture solution to roof covering, they take less material than thatching, are lighter than most other forms of roofing material (particularly clay or concrete tiles, or stone slate), easy to install, and very durable. you could expect up-to 70 years out of a shingle roof before it needs re-roofing, about the same as you would expect from slate, and more than you would from clay tiles. the church of east greenstead in essex, england, is one of the oldest surviving timber frame buildings anywhere, and like many other early churches in northern europe (especially stave churches, which to some extent it resembles) it has a shingle clad spire.

why i chose chestnut, was principally because we had some (enough as it turned out for 2500) and it is more durable than pine which i also considered. although i would have had enough pine to do all the shingles i could ever imagine doing, it still would've needed treating with a tar based product to prevent insect ingress or fungal growth.

in the end we traded some labor for raw materials, so all the 7000 shakes cost us was about 5 litres of petrol and some oil for the chainsaw. well that, and the physical toll on me, which was not inconsiderable. i wouldn't want to make them everyday, put it that way.

why 7000? well that's what estimated it would take to cover 100m2 of roof, and how long did it take? including felling, hauling out of the woods, making, and stacking, 40 days and 40 nights, how very biblical, how very appropriate.