Deer and Massey

Not everything here in the country is soft and mushy. John Deer and Massey Ferguson tractors are just about the best looking farm machines. I have been tractor spotting here in town since I arrived. My favourite is the 265 Massey Ferguson. It is impeccable, always so shiny and clean.

Things are starting to bloom at record speeds and the weather has finally permitted for the land to be worked. The town is in a frenzy preparing potatoes for sowing. Everyone is talking about potatoes, potatoes, potatoes!

I am busy working on that patchwork quilt I can´t show you.

This week I am also going to get the details about a weaving workshop I am hopefully, fingers crossed, going to attend.  The José Freire Blanket factory in Maçainhas, that made the "Papa" blankets on manual looms from wool of the local Churra breed, closed last year. It was the last of its kind in Portugal. The blankets are warm, heavy and very hairy. After woven they are washed, felted and then carded. I can´t wait to learn how to make them. Who knows, maybe we can reopen the factory.

Eggs and Edible Weeds.

A nice surprise for Easter, our chickens have finally started laying eggs. At first I thought it was a prank and someone put them there to trick us because I kept on complaining we still had no eggs. But no. They are laying on average two eggs per day, more than we really need. The smaller darker eggs belong to Maria Augusta, our laying hen. The larger lighter colored eggs belong to another chicken that shall remain nameless for practical reasons.

I learned of another edible weed that tastes just like cabbage. Not that we really need more cabbage in our diet, but this is really quite a delicious version. Here we call it ´Couve do Monte`(Hill Cabbage), but I can´t seem to find it mentioned anywhere to give you its ´real´ name in English. It does not cease to amaze me how many edible weeds there are.

The pear trees are in bloom. Pretty.

I am working on a new order for a patchwork quilt. I can´t show you any more than the fabrics chosen because I have been asked to keep the design a surprise. It is coming along nicely and I will show you the finished result, most likely about a month or so from now.

A potholder made from left over fabrics.

And finally some watercress in the creek. Not enough to bake a cake yet, but not to worry. I am sure there will be more watercress than I can poke a stick at soon enough. Surrounding the watercress, you can see submerged another creek delicacy. The name given here to this "creek salad" is ´Meruje´. It is Montia Fontana, from the Portulacaceae family. People go crazy over this stuff, I find it nothing special really, and much prefer its relative the Portulaca Oleracea, also know as Little Hogweeed.

Weeds... weeds, what are weeds really?

Well... I think Ralph Waldo Emerson put it quite nicely when he said that a weed is "A plant whose virtues have not been discovered yet." Of course we also know what Bob Marley would have to say on that subject. 

Give, receive, sew, sow and meet Boneca

I finished the very overdue gift quilt this weekend. Tomorrow it will embark on its journey. I won´t say where because I would like for it to be a surprise.

This week I also took to sowing. Please grow, please grow.

Then I received a package in the mail from a friend with more seeds than I know what to do with. This is a good thing of course. It will encourage me to take my gardening much more seriously this year, and hopefully if our water spring does not dry like it did last summer we will be able to reap the fruits of our labour. I just want for something to grow. In exchange for the seeds João sent me I have to gather seeds that are from our area, older varieties if possible. This is a good exercise for meeting people in town and also for getting tips on how and when to sow and plant the different varieties so that they resist our very temperamental climate. Plant too soon and everything freezes, plant too late and risk drought.

I finally met my neighbor´s donkey. Her name is "Boneca" which means Doll. That is very sweet. Sadly Boneca stays indoors most of the time and I rarely get to see her just catching some sun rays, chilling and eating grass. She could do with a little more food.

This year we have had a lot of rain. This is good. It will hopefully guarantee that we will have water to see us through the summer. All the water on our property comes from the spring I mentioned earlier. If the spring dries it means we have to get water from the town´s fountains and that can be very laborious. And so, rain is very welcome. But when it rains too much the water in the creeks runs with too much force and drags everything with it... all the way to the dam. This year it dragged the watercress and some say that there may be none at all to collect later. I had been meaning to bake a watercress cake for awhile. I never even knew such a cake existed until my friend Sandra told me about it and described its wonderful vibrant color. I went looking for watercress in the creek and came back with little more than the sprig you see in the photo. The watercress for this cake is from the supermarket, unfortunately. It turned out delicious. I shared it with some ladies in town, they looked at it suspiciously, then tried it and loved it. 

On the loom we have a small jacket for a baby. I think I have made it far too small which is a shame.

The lovely bunch of cabbage is from our garden, something we have plenty of right now. Today we had sausages wrapped in cabbage leaves for lunch. Delicious.

City farm... country farm

I have returned to the farm.

After spending a month in Lisbon, I am back in nature mode. Before returning we visited our friends Olivia and Paulo in Porto. Our stay was way too brief but enough to visit their incredible veggie patch in a most fantastic community garden. The photos speak for themselves. For me their garden is the best of both worlds, inner-city living with the possibility to retreat to a quiet place, to get your hands dirty, to see things grow, a short step to sustainable living. The fantastic views are the cherry on the icing on the cake. We helped them with weeding, planting strawberries, zucchini, marigolds and sowing coriander. I actually didn't really help that much, I was too distracted with the view and the bits of broken pottery we found when digging up the soil, making this garden also a mini archaeological dig.

Now I am working on a quilt which I have almost finished. A long overdue gift for a friend.

The fields are starting to bloom just enough to give us a tiny taste of Spring. My favorite flower right now is small  and vibrant, Lithodora Prostata, "erva das sete sangrias", of the borage family that has a sweet honey flavor, is great to feast on when going for a walk and also perfect to add to salads. There are also in abundance these very delicate yellow flowers. I think they belong to the Narcissus family but I can´t seem to find their name anywhere.

On the farm front we have lots of turnips and their greens, cabbage and plenty of rapini to eat.

Our chickens are young ladies now and the rooster has started to crow, which is a sure way to give away his exact location to the fox that has been hanging around our neighbors farm. Shhhh!

Left overs.

Today I started a new scarf. There is always a lot of wool that is left over each time I weave. This is normal in the weaving process, unfortunately. I thought of collecting this wool and have a bag full. Last week I though to tie the left over wool to make a reasonable length that I could work with. The scarf I started today is made using only left over bits of wool for the weft. I am quite happy with the result.

I re-found a patchwork cushion my grandmother made by hand. She was a very creative lady. This cushion is a nice reminder also not to make excuses. If you don´t have a sewing machine, use a needle and thread. And not everything has to be perfect, perfectly cut, perfectly sewn. I look at this cushion and try to imagine how she pieced it together, what she was thinking.

The past couple of weeks I have been gathering all the 100% pure wool I can find in green. I am going to make a hooded jacket for my friend David. I think he will end up looking like a tree, an idea he is quite fond of. He imagines more of a Zelda look. Either way I am sure it will look great. This wool is quite old as you can gather from the labels. 

And to finish off, if you have ever wondered what a small town priest with grandeur delusions used to read, the last picture gives you a little sneak peak. He read La Vie(pictured here), Flama and Lumen among others. Yes... he read Catholic magazines, basically.

One good week.

This week was quite eventful. 

I bought some corn grown in town. I need to guarantee my chickens are eating good, real corn and not the genetically modified variety we find at the market.

I discovered my new chicken, Maria Augusta, is a bit of a daredevil and spends her days perched on an axe. The axe is not there to eventually kill her but to chop up Weaver´s Broom to cover the ground of the coop.

There were cabbages to be picked. I wish the cabbages in our garden were this big.

A little mouse paid us a visit and decided to eat butter and chillies. The little guy has good taste.

I was offered a broom by a lady in town. This small broom is made from the Mastic shrub. The flexible, even after dried, stems of this shrub are also used to make the bobbins that go into the old wooden weaving shuttles. 

A specially ordered scarf I had finished last week arrived at its final destination. Chris looks happy wearing it, he says it is very warm. I look forward to seeing photos of him and it on the Japanese snow fields.

Today we drove into some clouds.

And I almost forgot, ... it snowed!!! I was so excited all the photos came out blurred. I have never lived in a place where it snows, it was brilliant even though short lived.

Friends with Talent: David Eris Loong

Last year I wished I had a fibula, a brooch for my woven wrap. As I imagined what it might look like I thought of a squirrel, predictable. I then asked my very talented friend, David Loong, if he could make me one. David said yes and sent me a sketch of the design. I thought it was cute when we discussed the materials to use, "... well, it would depend on the type of squirrel which is in your heart. Copper would suit a red squirrel, silver a grey and a mixture for stripy.". The squirrel in my heart is red, I said.

David was busy working to sell his work at the markets but he soon mailed me to let me know the design had evolved and soon after I received photos of the finished product. It is the most beautiful thing ever and it now graces my wrap. I feel like an ancient warrior when I wear it.

For as long as I have know David he has been creating and selling the most creative, beautifully crafted and unique jewellery. You should have a look at his work on Etsy. If you live in Australia, David works out of his workshop in a lovely house in the Blue Mountains and also sells at the Markets in Canberra. You can contact him if you like his work and you can also commission something special like I did. 

His shop is here, have a look.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/davidloong