All is good on the quinta as we have kittens (congratulations Tabitha and Mr Bigs) and we have had 3 rainbows in a week (one benefit of the continuing rainy weather). And in 6 to 8 weeks they will need homes – let us know if you want one!
Posts from ‘March, 2010’
Honey Bee Farm
We now have 2 healthy hives of bees, with Matt doing a wonderful job as farm beekeeper, in his space gear. Our shared philosophy is one of organic, minimal disturbance, natural beekeeping. Bees are an important part of the local ecosystem, and as such we value them and their pollinating activities greatly. Any honey that [...]
Nothing Like Fresh Produce!
Where vegetables are concerned, if you are buying it from a shop the nutritional value is but a tiny percentage of what food should be. There ain’t nothing so healthy and health giving, tasty and nutritious, fresh and flavoursome as home grown vegetables, picked directly from you garden only minutes before you eat it. And [...]
Planting Time
In between the rain showers over the last week, we have been planting lots of seeds and seedlings. Its that time of year again, and it looks like frosts are over. Some of the first seeds, that we planted in trays, sprouted quickly and have now been transplanted into the straw and horse manure covered [...]
Seedy Sunday / Domingo Sementeiro
Bring plants & seeds to swap, and food to share! Trazer plantas & sementes para trocar, e comida para partilhar! Please let us know if you can come – we’ll provide hot soup for lunch but also ask that you bring food to share. It would also be nice to have an idea of what [...]
Spring is Here!
After torrential downpours yesterday we woke to glorious sunshine and the sound of the first cuckoo – 21st March and spring is here!
Making Bottle Traps
Zoe’s here and we’re making use of her expertise to do some small ecological / wildlife surveys on the quinta! Here’s Zoe (licensed to handle newts!*), showing us how to make the traps from plastic bottles. Kirsten with two of the finished traps, ready to secure into the bottom of the pond with willow sticks. [...]
Make your own playdough
If we can make it ourselves we will…and that most definately includes stuff for the kids. Fridays round here finds ‘little ladies that lunch’, some of us ex-pat mums who get together to let the kids hang out while we catch up. A couple of weeks ago we made playdough and it was a big [...]
We Dig Swales!
http://www.portugalsmallholding.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/feb2010-swales.pdf
Storm Damage
At the quinta: It was pretty scary listening to the wind chucking the tiles all over the place, and smashing them all around. Some narrowly missed the windows (and one embedded itself in the window frame) – eek! In the village: That white thing on the left is the concrete village sign, snapped in half! [...]
