Quinta das Abelhas

The strawberry (morangos) beds are in full swing now. The photo below is the harvest from maybe half of our beds of strawberry plants, which can be harvested pretty much every day. Recipes for strawberries would be much appreciated!

We are also eating beetroots (beterrabas) almost every day. I have a 77 unit seed tray that i fill with beet seeds, wait for them to germinate, then plant out in my garden. Thats about once a week, 70 or so beet seedlings go into the ground. We all love beetroot.

Using our Matstone masticating juicer, I have been trying to make juice everyday. At the moment its strawberries and beetroot, maybe the odd shop-bought carrot (cenoura) - strangely I have no luck growing carrots! - and whatever else happens to be around, including the odd potato (batata) as I read somewhere that potato juice is very cleansing. I make about a litre, and either give everyone here a glassful, or stick it in the fridge for people to help themselves to. Its a fantastic drink, you can almost feel the nutrition flood your system.

We also eat a lot of those beetroots, freshly grated, with a carrot or two, and some toasted seeds, chopped apple, raisins or (again) whatever is on hand that day. Much of my cooking is like this - take a rough idea of a recipe and supplement with whatever is available from the garden, or the few things we buy from market occasionally.

Now that the rain has stopped, hopefully we’ll be able to eat outside at our new super-size table:

The only downside really of all this sunshine is the need to water the gardens regularly. I have a lot of young plants in the garden now, so have to water almost every day, at least until they have gotten established. So, off I go now, but before I go, heres a photo of Simba the puppy, that belongs to Aliss, but seems to have become another member of our crowd of animals. He must have Serra de Estrela sheep-dog in his genes, because he is so laid back. He doesnt move out of the way for anyone, and regularly gets trodden on!

Stumble it!

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