Winter draws in

It's now nearly time to go back to Scotland with our second stint of three months here complete. We will end the year in Drumnadrochit and have time to reflect on our experiences in order  to plan ahead for the next round and see where we can improve things and whether we can build something new and interesting. We have some ideas for a new construction but everything has to be weighed up carefully before we start. Considering the very unusual and record breaking weather (i.e. rain)  we have had, we can say that we have managed to enjoy the land, the sea side and 2 or 3 visits in different places. We have prepared partially the grounds ready for next March, and hopefully this preparation work will facilitate the spring planting of crops. A few crops did not perform as expected but everything was affected by the climate. Poor harvest of grapes and no harvest at all of olives. There is little we can do about it but we will try to adapt to the developing situation. We certainly can say that the paradise for vegetables has given us plentiful produce to enjoy and store.  Often there is too much of it.

We say goodbye to these lovely tomatoes

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And most of these lovely vegetables still growing as we write

At the front of our house there is now a surprise" lawn" growing where there would normally be bare earth. With a bit of sunshine the place might begin to look like the garden of a millionaire's villa!!!

Sunset colouring the Oliena mountain

And sunrise this morning 21/11/18

The wood shed now completed using various leftover materials and filled up with the wood and logs cut from Dule.

Our new experimental apple wine will mature when we are away...and be tested  next March

Quince tree still with lots of  fruit. We made some jam and puddings

In Santa Teresa you can buy wine from a pump: just take your container along and fill it up. This idea should be replicated  everywhere as millions of containers and bottles will be saved from landfill.

Some of the tiling work in the veranda in the seaside house is now finished.

And the little bedroom has now a wall wardrobe.

Traditional dish " Pane Frattau" made with 2 mm thin bread in layers with tomato sauce and grated cheese. Like lasagne  but without the need to put it in the oven.

New plants of spring onions recently planted

 

First lot of 4 rows of newly planted potatoes

First time planting lentils. Harvest should be done  next spring. Hopefully.

The very successful flower bed of nasturtiums. The size is probably three times of the ones we grow in Drum.

All in all the season of harvesting has not really turned out as we foresaw.  I (Lesley) had imagined warm late summer days, working hard in the fields, learning to whack down almonds, followed by a group effort picking the grapes and ending up with sticky, black hands and a sunburnt face.  Then discovering how they pick the olives from our numerous trees.  Somehow everything has been more disjointed, unpredictable and frustrating...... all on account of the weather. 

It seems that the farmers here can better survive drought conditions than days of rain at the wrong time.  It looks as if we are going to have to introduce some diversification and be more experimental with which crops to plant and when to plant/harvest them.