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Category: ‘Technopeasant & Quinta’

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 [...]

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!

Hoorah for solar panels [...]

Amateur ornathologist on the loose

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 [...]

Olive harvesting at the quinta

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

Graffiti Artist Wanted!

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?

Feels Like Spring / Sente Como A Primavera

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 [...]

New Stuff

How to make an olive oil lamp out of an orange:
http://www.portugalsmallholding.org/make-an-oil-lamp-with-an-orange/
Bread Oven Project:
http://portugalsmallholding.wordpress.com

Girl Power / We Got Wood

OK, so I may not have felled, chopped, or even done the heavy-lifting of carrying the wood down to the store (thanks to Kirsten and Helen who did) but I did stack (and thus – what feels important somehow – touch) every one of these pieces of firewood that will be keeping us warm next [...]

Playing with a farm on the farm

Matt, Kirsten and Poppy (and Poppy’s toys – much to the delight of Joni and Mark!) arrived back in October and we’re really enjoying having them here, new long-term residents to share life on the quinta.

We now have our own youtube channel, so watch out for more videos soon!

December at Quinta das Abelhas

Now I’ve fixed the blog’s photo uploads, here are some pics from December: