Quinta das Abelhas

so … i almost stuck to shut down day - only turning my computer on once in the morning as i wanted to look up the recipe for lime plaster. not bad.

i did manage to spend the whole day in my garden, and claire and i put mounds and mounds of horse manure on the beds ready to start planting in earnest next week. need to grow lots and lots of salad to feed people on the low-impact building course. not much else will be ready for harvest by then, but at least we will be able to supplement what we have to buy in with luscious lettuces.

today it’s been raining - claire’s fault, she was moaning that it was too hot yesterday - so we gave the kitchen a thorough cleaning. 6 hours it took us. but it looks lovely and shiny now.

have discovered a neat little music-on-yer-blog thingy - thanks papersurfer for the link - although i can’t find much of my favourite music on there …

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2 week course with Simon Dale at Quinta das Abelhas, Portugal

Join us on our organic smallholding in Central Portugal to learn the techniques - and gain practical experience - of low impact building.

12 – 26 May 2007

Fees: 200 euros per person per week
Camping (bring your own tent & bedding) with basic facilities (shower and compost toilet) and vegetarian meals provided.

More information and bookings: abelhas@pureportugal.co.uk
UK phone: 0871 8710718 / PT phone 917147767

www.simondale.net

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claire’s back - yay! we took the horses out for a lovely long ride today, though the wind up in the hills was icy - there’s snow up on the estrelas again. then spent a couple of hours mucking out the horses’ paddock - so much easier and more fun with two people.

our big dog has been camping out at conny’s place for the last few days, lusting after her dog who’s in season. got back from riding to a message saying our little dog was at conny’s but the big dog - plus the chain conny had tied him up with - were gone!

well, big dog has come home, dragging the chain with him. now he’s sleeping at my feet as i type, sighing occassionally - probably dreaming of his unrequited love.

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Buy the book

Fab cover by Lucy  and 100 posts by the best writers in the blogosphere … and all for charity too!

lulu.com (the publishers) will also be donating their profits to Comic Relief.

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Another very busy day today showing clients around. So I’m afraid today’s post is also someone else’s (see below).

I am, as yet, undecided as to whether I will be able to take part in this experiment. Can I manage to not look at my emails for one whole day? Dare I not look at my emails for one whole day for fear of being swamped with so much backlog to catch up on when I turn my computer on the next day? But I think I am going to really, really, try not to turn my computer on as I have been promising myself a day off, a day out in the garden to get my hands into the earth again.

—-

It is obvious that people would find life extremely difficult without
computers, maybe even impossible. If they disappeared for just one
day, would we be able to cope?

Be a part of one of the biggest global experiments ever to take place
on the internet. The idea behind the experiment is to find out how
many people can go without a computer for one whole day, and what will
happen if we all participate!

Shutdown your computer on this day and find out! Can you survive for
24 hours without your computer?

http://www.shutdownday.org

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