Quinta das Abelhas

glorious day today and i’ve actually managed to get outside (in a t-shirt). been planting some bulbs and also planted out the honeysuckle into its permanent position on the new terraces behind the house, where i will make an archway above the steps for it to climb up. also have an oh-so-cute pretty pink climbing rose that i will plant there. also been digging over one of the new terraces where i’m going to plant some grass seed to make a lawn. i don’t really like lawns, but as it will need to be kept damp in the summer it’ll be a good forest fire break to have next to the house. i’m going to lay some porouos hosepipe under the lawn for easy watering.

had an eventful day yesterday. simon dale (who built the wonderful low impact woodland home) has expressed an interest in coming out here in May to run a course when we will build our own version of his home.

also met up with Roundhomes UK who will soon be producing eco-friendly wooden roundhomes in portugal.

and … we will be, from april, the portugal agents for some wonderful mongolian yurts!

so all very exciting!

also we went to the new garden centre to check it out and bought a holly bush, a hydrangea and two palm trees. the holly we’ll put in the forest as we want to plant a big variety of trees alongside the pine and eucalyptus that are already there. have yet to decide where to plant the others though.

step-son has just reminded me i’m supposed to be sewing his yellow stripe on his taekwon-do belt (he passed his first exam last week) before his class at 5pm - better get on with it then.

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Well it’s been a much nicer day today and although I’ve still been stuck inside on the computer with a big backlog of work to catch up on (I think that maybe we, as Pure Portugal, are becoming a victim of our own success - we are now managing to earn our living from the business but it means a lot less time to spend on the land and out riding).

But, I’ve been full of inspiration for finishing old/existing projects and starting new ones. Like the low impact woodland home pictured above. We are definitely going to build one of these. We never wanted to live in a concrete box but at the time we needed a quick, cheap housing solution - so up went our little 3 room home - we did try to incorporate as many eco-friendly features as we could, but at the end of the day it’s still basically a concrete box.

Also I am determined to get my garden in order, to fully implement my plans for a raised bed, automatically irrigated, no-dig system. If I put the time and energy in now then it should, in theory, save me a whole load of time and energy in the future.

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então. it’s not been sunny sunny portugal for the past few days. it’s been grey miserable rainy portugal. and i’m getting a bit fed up with it. actually managed to make it to my portuguese lesson today (i’ve managed to miss the last 3 weeks - either cos i was too busy or too ill). and i’m feeling guilty - especially since i got that comment about the blog maybe being extinct - that i don’t blog enough. but right now i don’t really have much to say - seems like same old same old at the moment. go have a read of papersurfer instead.

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Went to take some photos of the rescued mare and foal for the Ani+ website this morning. They weren’t being very co-operative though as we chased them around the field trying to get them to look photogenic! Still, I think this photo shows how vastly improved their condition is since they first arrived at the rescue centre.

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Well, what a trippy month that has been. Mind you it was absolutely brilliant. Everyone was so welcoming, all great people. I think today (12th Feb) is the hottest so far. I’m surprised all the rain last night didn’t put the sun out. Have really enjoyed my horse shit removal, bramble cutting, planting trees, digging over a new garden and cleaning the horses tackle, by tackle i mean the saddles and reins not the tackle. Food has been great thanks to the chef (he’ll say “I know”). These guys work at 100mph so hardly surprising that they’re knackered every night. Just a quick warning Andy DOESN’T do chirpy mornings, give him an hour and he joins the rest of the living. Can’t say enough about how hospitable they are. Really welcomed me into the fold. Well that’s me done hope to come back soon with one of my sons to stay, and look forward to that good old homely sarcasm (yeah right, says Andy). Thanks for everything, you do yourselves proud.
Jerry
jezzathomas60@yahoo.com

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