Every day a new world ?

Penultimate Pantin Classic day and the waves were not big although we managed to arrive well after the surfing was over, the beach was virtually empty but very windy so we took up residence in one of the tents.

The sun did lovely things while the boys played at the waters edge.

Then it went away and the sky did lovely things.

Next day Rowan found a fairly chunky but friendly Cricket.

Palm trees have sprouted, they were planted about a year ago and the soil was re-used to host an agave, don't give up on palm seeds they take a while.

Funny old things hens are, I'm wary of over interpreting animal emotions but after two years of watching ours, I have begun to feel we have an insight into hen world. There are some recurring emotions that are fairly easy to interpret - fear, surprise, confusion, enthusiasm, contentment, for example. Anyway this evening I went to re-prop the rotting front wall of the hen house and while I was there they did their evening roosting routine. They have several horizontal poles at differing levels and angles to negotiate before they reach their perch, one always hops up onto the first pole and stares intently at an old feed trough that is standing on its end in a corner and has been for 9 months, it examines it from a range of angles then looks puzzled for a few mins until the others have hopped up past it before joining them. Despite the poles having been there for 18 months each hen takes time to examine each step on the journey like a climber looking ahead working out the moves, they eventually get to the top then do the pecking order shuffle. None of them seem to remember which order they should be in so there is some barging and pushing under / climbing over each other back and forward for 5 mins surprise and confusion abound. They get into some sort of order then enthusiastically shuffle back and forwards from one end to the other of the 2-5 meter perch a few times, it all looks like they are doing something for the first time but after a lot of hard thinking and experimenting they always end up settling at the same point about two thirds along then looking very content while crooning or chirring. Egg laying is another thing where they look like every time is a first time "What the world happened there; what is that thing? I'm off out of here quick"

In the morning they remind me of the kind of looks a toddler gives when they fall asleep at home and wake up a few hours later somewhere they have never been before - that bemused look with a wrinkle in the forehead and a kindof - "Where am I, what's going on, who are these people?". It sometimes feels like the hens are living every day as if it was a new unknown world.

They do tag some important things, ants, water, doors opening, I used to carry their feed out in a little children's beach bucket every day and tapped it to get their attention the noise still works well if they are out and need rounded up a few taps and they come running. So they remember the bucket noise but if I have something they don't like, a green pepper or a Colorado beetle for example, despite having not liked them many times before they will still give it a few pecks spit some bits out, have a few more pecks and give it a few kicks before deciding they don't like it.

I can't decide if they are re-learning everything every day or are just very cautious. Even when they do appear to remember something they look confused and get easily distracted. "Hey a bucket noise, run run - I am following a man with a bucket - why is that? Look an ant, and another ant. Hey a bucket noise - run run. Hey I am following a man with a bucket - why is that? Look an ant...."

Funny old things hens are.

New camera and garden catchup

It is great to have a new camera at last. We went for a Lumix TZ10 so far it seems a good choice, I really like the Leica lens, the zoom range is excellent and it works well in low light and at macro. Its a bit more chunky / bulky and less slick looking that the Cybershot and the top buttons look a bit like last minute add-ons but it does feel good to use and has some great functions. GPS might come in handy it seems fairly accurate.

So here is our Hopi Indian blue maize shaping up well although we lost half the crop to cutworms early on so will be saving most of the produce as seed for next year. I now also have two pebbles from Big Sur where the Hopi live many thanks to my good friend Mr Moss.
Pebbles from Big Sur.
Squash plants are loving the old compost heap that is hiding under the ex paddling pool.
Tree clearing is going well, we have enough cut for the winter fuel and the rest are being stacked as 2.5 meter lengths, there are still a few hundred of them to cut and sort over the next few months. The old Delica is doing well as a tractor for hauling timber.
The self seeded sunflowers in the hen corral are flourishing some of them have 30+ flowers, the hens love the seed and so do the guinea pigs.
Guinea Pig 1. Blaster...
GP 2. Darling.
Passion fruit are starting to ripen although we were told they would not ripen here, they are against a wall that gets very warm. I saw passion fruits at 6 euros for 4 a few weeks ago so we will be growing many more I have another 40 or so seedlings coming up.
There is one of our PoundStretcher Gooseberry / Hibiscus plants.
These Sunburst Squash are supposed to be really nice and they do look pretty but I am not keen on them at all they are very prolific we have had to uproot several plants as we are overwhelmed with them and most go on the nearest compost heap.
Physalis is growing really well about 2 meters across and much bigger than we managed under glass in Cornwall, no shortage of fruit mostly hidden away in the centre.
We are hoping to have some helpers from http://www.helpx.net/ stay with us over the next few months to help us relocate some of the veg patch, stack some wood etc. Many hands make light work.

no camera

The view from Valdovino is still visible but we have no camera at the moment and painting pictures with words is not my forte. The ground is so so dry, I dug a couple of feet down or a little over half a meter to plant a couple of trees yesterday and it was still like dust down there. We are having a horrid time with cutworms, they took loads of our seedlings in spring and continue to be a pain chomping through the stalks of chili plants, munching basil, the roots of young palm trees, cactus etc. I have tried putting soil through a mesh before using it, leaving it in buckets full of water for a few days to drown the buggers, even microwaving it but all to no avail new little ones appear a few days after planting. I guess we are stuck with them this year. Brassicas and anything closely related are being hit by little black and yellow beetles, no idea what they are but they do eat a lot and we have little green caterpillars that rapidly become big green caterpillars and also have a taste for Basil- I love Basil, we love Basil but we are not getting to eat much of it :-(

I have cleared about 1/3 of our trees now, still loads to do though, we have enough cut for the winter so I am now storing them in 2-3 meter lengths - a lot faster than chopping them into rings. We are still waiting for the trees around our house to be cut - the 50 meter exclusion law was passed in 2007 but many houses are still bordered by eucalyptus..meanwhile the fires rage a few hundred Kms South of here. I will ask for them to be cut again then take some more firm action if nothing happens.

We had our first peach last week mmm delicious much better fresh from the tree than fresh from the shops - hoping for more than two next year. We also had two golden plums and one red one, all delicious just not enough of them. Half of our Citrus are not doing well many blind ends to branches with flower buds and new bud growth eaten out. Same with the Fuschias and a few other bushes too...not sure who is to blame there although we did have a fair few bugs crawling about in Spring and there has been little recovery since. New Grape and two Kiwis have also been slow to settle in. Chilis, aubergines, peppers, tomatoes all very late and not as vigorous as last year. Many things are doing well, passion fruit are well set and starting to wrinkle, some squashes doing a bumper crop, sunflowers just amazing, pansies going on and on and on.

We have had some good kayaking/snorkeling adventures at Vilarrube finding wrecked pirate ships etc. and the boys have started some Spanish lessons with a friend who teaches supplementary stuff in Cedeira, Despite them working from the same books they use in proper school they are enjoying the learning a lot more than they do in school. School still remains my number one concern out here, they do try to teach some good traditional skills like sustained engagement with tasks, but they mostly the schools seem to be gloomy falling apart buildings with demoralised teachers and outdated resources. There isn't a lot of fun but then there isn't a lot of fun in the jobs many people go on too, I guess maybe getting used to 'not a lot of fun' might be part of what they are learning. There is also very little support to control difficult children and the victims of bullying seem to have to take it on as character building. We will give it a little more time and see how things go.

Hopefully more pics and less words in a week or two.