February, 2010:

Birds are used as indicator of the general quality of the farmed environment because they sit near the top of the food chain.  I am interested to find out the range of bird species here, and whether there are any which we should be particularly helping and encouraging.  With this in mind we have put up some bird feeders.

Matt made the poles from Mimosa bushes which we have on the land and strapped them together with baler twine which we are always trying to think of uses for (due to having loads of it as it comes on the hay for the horses).  We have sited them near the orange trees and they should be cat-proof.  We have bought some bird seed but will also use sunflower seeds grown here.  Apparently black sunflower seeds are a good all round food for birds and have a higher oil content than the striped ones.  We will watch and wait and report back!

We also want to put up bird boxes but as spring has started here it’s probably a little too late as birds tend to check out their nests in autumn and winter.

Myself, Matt and 2 year old Poppy arrived on the quinta in October.  In November we started our first olive harvesting.

Andy prentending to be an olive tree

Andy would climb up the tree and prune the branches then throw them on to the nets below.  The gang would then take the olives off the branches until we had a net full.

Matt, Helen and Poppy sorting the olives

The next stage was the winower (which Poppy calls the washing machine).  Someone would tip the olives in the top, someone else turn the handle, then the olives would pour out into an old baby bath whilst the leaves and remaining twigs would be separated out.

Helen using the 'washing machine'

Then the olives were put into the hugist bucket until we were ready to take them to the mill for pressing.  We changed the water daily.

Olives waiting to go the mill

The final stage was bottling the olives for eating in the coming year (the eating being my favourite part).  We made up a brine solution of 100g of salt to 3 litres of water and then added herbs from the garden…oh and a few chillis!

Me bottling olives for eating

We bottled about 73 jars of olives in total and I am very happy eating them

Any graffiti artists out there want a “working holiday” on a beautiful farm in sunny Portugal? We fancy some artwork on our compost toilet and water well! And … any suggestions for a more eco-friendly paint?

The mornings are still chilly, but we have blue skies and sunny warm days.

As manhãs estão ainda frio, mas temos o céu azul e ensolarado dia quente.

The chickens have started laying eggs again!

As galinhas começaram a pôr ovos novamente!

We planted broad beans in November. They are growing fast.

Nós plantamos as favas, em novembro. Eles estão crescendo rapidamente.

And the first grapefruit is starting to ripen.

E o primeiro toranja está começando a amadurecer.