I’ve Moved Now blogging at www.catalangarden.com

Now blogging at www.catalangarden.com

 

I’ve Moved.

Not really you understand – can’t think of any reason to leave our lovely mountain home but in cyberspace I’m now at www.catalangarden.com 

Blogging – Technical Difficulties

Well, this blog is supposed to be a kind of rural diary – about all things green and rustic but I need to have a quick moan about the modern technical wizadry that fuels this cyberworld I’m writing in…

I just don’t understand it.  I hope to migrate this blog to my own domain as D has business sites and I can use his host service at no extra cost.  However all the instructions to do such a thing seem to be written in Swahili.  I thought I’d cracked it but after importing, saving, editing, exporting and getting in a bit of a tangle of SQL databases (no idea what they are but I’ve got one), I’ve given up for a bit.  Think I’ll remain a .wordpress person for a while longer.   Loads of people do these things every day – I’ve read the blogs, the forums and the support sites but unfortunately none of the information sticks in my brain or if I’m honest makes the remotest bit of sense to me.

Maybe 2009 will be my year to upgrade my techy / webby knowledge – for now though I think I’ll go and do some digging…

 

Would you believe my computer crashed just as I finished typing that – it knows I’m struggling I’m sure – not that I’m paranoid at all about cyberspace or the web or anything – like where is my blog?  How can you see it?  How does it all work?  I don’t know but I’m gonna save this quick before anything else goes wrong.

How Daft do Spaniards think Brits Are?

Reading one of stonehead’s musings on the lack of knowledge regarding the natural order and where our food comes from got me reminiscing about our early days in the Catalan countryside. 

Three seperate incidents made me realise just how far removed we urban types seem from the food chain and how daft Spaniards often think we are because of this…

• Eggs come from hens!  During our time renting a flat in the village (awaiting the purchase of our dream ruin) our kindly neighbour noticed me checking out her hens which lived in the basement opposite our front door.  This lovely lady took me under her wing (sorry) to explain why she kept her hens.  It seemed they lay eggs – imagine my surprise when I realised she actually thought I did not know this.  Now I had never before kept my own hens but I had seen them and even had a vague recollection that they laid eggs for us!
• Bees make honey!  The ever generous Felix popped round one evening with a jar of honey and a wedge of honeycomb he’d collected.  He sat us down and showed us the odd grub and dead bee conjealed in the honeycomb and explained VERY slowly how the grubs were baby bees and the adult bees made the honey for them.  The shock, as you can imagine, was extraordinary!
• Vegetables will grow where its cold.  Now this is the one point I’ve tried (and failed) not to be too smug about.  When the locals heard we were planting vegetables on our high (ish) mountain plot some thought we’d lost it completely.  They said we couldn’t grow things like tomatoes because it gets cold and windy.  Now bearing in mind we’re only a 150 metres or so higher than the village I was pretty surprised they were so negative.  But then they do plant much of their veggies in the frost pocket below the village.  Although we’re higher and yes its windy we get much less severe frosts and fog than the plots lower down.  We even harvest our tomatoes and courgettes over a longer period than many of the villagers.  I like to think a lifetime in occasionally bleak old Blighty has prepared us for how well a lot of our veggies can cope no matter what the weather really.

It’s great that so many villagers we’ve met are happy to give advise / instruction (boss us around) and we have learnt an awful lot about living in this new environment.   We need to plant things at different times now and deal with more extreme heat and wind but its amazing how much stuff will do really well without too much fuss.   It scares me just how completely clueless the locals thought we must be and makes me really happy that now we can share information with them.  We’ve even introduced them to veg they don’t traditionally grow here such as Jerusalem Artichokes and chillis.  It’s great to share produce with them now too (although if I’m honest I’ll never be able to grow enough to win in the ‘giving groceries’ competition).  They have had much more practice and know when someone won’t be able to say no to a free courgette or ten.  My language skills always seem to let me down…

And yes, they still think we’re daft but mostly that’s because we love living on the mountain so no amount of veg growing and animal husbandry will change their view..

Dangers of the Compost Toilet

A word of warning – if you install a basic compost loo its good if its not upstairs and imperative that you have a lid which can be properly secured.  I only mention this as I had a near miss with our bucket of poo this morning.

Coming downstairs with a large bucket of human faeces, urine and pine needles (to cover the poo and give a piney fresh scent!) is one thing I give my complete attention to.  I am by nature a very clumsy person – forever tripping and slipping so I always approach the task of emptying the poo bucket with a hint of trepidation.  This morning – walking down wooden stairs in socks (I know, I know) I slipped and nearly lost control of the bucket.  It was one of those moments where the world slows to a standstill and your future (in my case a brown wet future) flashes before your eyes.

Thank goodness we upgraded the compost toilet bucket to a snazzy one with a clip on lid after the last time I nearly lost control of it!  Now all we need to do is relocate the compost ‘facilities’ downstairs and I’d be forever safe!

i have to say that being in charge of a big bucket of poo is not my favorite task on the finca but I am very glad we use a compost toilet.  It has saved us a fortune in water (which is very scarce here for most of the year) and makes us feel good that we have fantastic compost to carry on improving our land.

We do have a traditional loo which is plumbed to a biodigester – multi-chambered septic tank, but that’s really just our ’second’ toilet for use by squeamish guests – you know who you are – and when the compost one is ‘occupied’.  We’ve used the composting toilet for four years. 

It’s so simple – a bucket inside a wooden box with a toilet seat over the bucket.  The theory (not complicated) is that each time the bucket is used a handful of fine compost-able material is used to lightly cover it up.  We use sawdust, dry grass clippings or pine needles (my favorite for their fresh smell and ease of collection – our land is surrounded by pine and holm oak woods so there is never a shortage).  Every four days or so the bucket is emptied into the middle (yes by really digging a hole in it) of a compost heap.  A year later the waste is a big pile of friable compost for use on the garden.  All pathogens should be long gone by such a time, particularly as the heap will get very hot with all that humanure.

I admit it all seemed a bit mucky at the beginning but now it doesn’t seem any more ‘yucky’ than cleaning a conventional plumbed in loo – no limescale to deal with being a particular joy.  It’s just one of the pooey chores like cleaning out the hen house or tidying up after puppies.  Yes I’d be happy if D offered to be poo monitor for all time but in reality the task just puts you in tune with your impact on the land in a really basic way.   I think its been good to have to really think about where our human waste goes – its the most basic of recyling chores and nothing a pair of rubber gloves and a good wash in hot soapy water can’t sort out.

We probably (if I’m honest definitely) wouldn’t have gone down the compost loo route if we’d been on the main sewer and water supply.  Now though, wherever we lived we’d stick with it.  It just seems more sense to use something so valuable and free rather than pay with money and resources to flush it somewhere else to become a problem for someone else to get rid of.

I think its quite good to be responsible for ones own poo anyway!  And it makes you very very careful!

Veg Diaries

Well, its all change on the huerto this week.

The tomato plants have finally be pulled up and replaced with more broad beans – I don’t think you can ever have too many really. 

The tomato plants were starting to look pretty bedraggled and as its cooling down on the mountain I don’t imagine there would be much more in the way of new fruit or ripening.  We’ve collected lots of green tomatoes though which should keep us going for a good while yet.  So that means I have lots of chutney making ahead of me.  Yippee – I love the whole palaver involved with preserving – the planning, saving of jars, cooking, collecting recipes, sterilizing, labelling, giving and eating.  It brings out my inner goddess, glutton and waste not want not personalities in one fowl swoop. 

 

Harvest Nov 2008

As well as my tried and tested imitation Branston pickle I’ll be making some spicy Indian chutney and some green tomato/green pepper combos.  It’ll be interesting to see how the different varieties work as we’ve grown a bigger variety of tomatoes this year.  From seed we’ve grown tow sorts each of plum and cherry tomatoes.  Note to self – must remember to record what varieties we plant!  And as plugs (bought from the ever helpful if a tad scary Snr Bitem at Tortosa market) the ever reliable ‘grande’, ‘normal’ and ‘rose’ (that’s big, ordinary and pink for storage).

Snr Bitem may be a tad secretive in giving out the actual variety of vegetables he’s selling but he is never short on quantity and quality.  During our first few years here we had repeated failures due to our reliance on British gardening books, timetables and varieties.  We now ensure we plant a core crop of most veggies, buying locally grown plugs, planted similarly to when and how the locals do things.  Plugs bought in the local markets are incredibly cheap.  During the summer I had a crazy shopping spree spending nearly ten euros on:

• 200 onions, 5 green Brussels sprouts, 5 red Brussels, 20 red cauliflower, 20 green cauli, 20 white cauli, 30 large cabbage, 30 small cabbage, 20 Cos lettuce, 20 nameless crinkly purple lettuce and more besides!  If this seems excessive remember we have hens who’ll eat any spare veggies, improving yolk flavour and reducing feed costs.

I can rely on the locally produced plug plants to be varieties which will cope with the drought, heat, wind and cold of our pretty varied weather ensuring I have successful crops of ’staple’ veg all year.  Then we can be a bit more adventurous and ‘risky’ with the varieties grown from seed – things like sprouting broccoli, radish and beetroot which are not traditionally grown locally. 

This year we branched out in the chilli / pepper plot too.   Buying standard sweet bell peppers and the local favorite long green varieties as plugs we then planted serano, Hungarian hot was, Thai and more from seed.  So far all have done well, I’ve got bunches drying inside, more growing outside and many already eaten and / or pickled.

Chilli Peppers Nov 2008

 

So tomatos are out but the peppers and chilli plants are still going very strong.  I’ve planted a few of the more ‘exotic’ varieties grown from seed in very sheltered spots to see if I can get them to keep going as the perenials they truly are, but even those out in the ordinary beds are looking happy enough – usually they’re pretty leafless by this time of year.  The seasons they are a changing!

 

Brussels Sprouts for Christmas

Brussels Sprouts for Chrimbo!

 

Don’t worry I’m not obsessing about Christmas already.  Oh no, I’m obsessing about my sprouts!   

 

You have to understand D hates sprouts.  As much as I meddle and ‘tart’ them up with chestnuts or bacon, butter or leeks he still absolutely refuses to do anything other than moan about their smell and refuse to even try any.  He doesn’t even believe me when I tell him they’re just small cabbages (which he likes) even though they are – aren’t they?  I on the other hand absolutely adore sprouts.  Locally there are some sprouts available, but not many and generally they’re pretty dubious looking.   I have made myself a little bit poorly eating enough dodgy sprouts to keep a large family fed, so last year I admitted defeat and ate my Christmas dinner sin sprouts, it just wasn’t the same.

 

I put my foot down this summer and planted my first crop of the lovely sprout from Brussels.   It seemed a bit extravagant growing them when only me and the dogs will eat them but what the hey?  Also, I’ve read many times that sprouts need a good, hard frost to improve their flavour.  We get snow regularly but not proper hard frosts so it will be a bit of an experiment to see if this rural legend is true.  I have heard the same rumour regarding leeks and can say from happy experience that in their case no hard frost is needed to provide a sweet, juicy delicious vegetable.

 

Well now I am soooo happy.  I’ve got teeny tiny baby Brussels coming already.  This means it’ll be my first Spanish Christmas with proper tasty sprouts.  I can’t wait. 

ps – yes I do love marmite too.

Getting Ready for Spring

Well its been steadily heading towards winter for a while now… The hunters are about, the fire is being lit (evenings only lets not panic just yet!) and the nights drawing in. 

Never-mind though, have been busy getting ready for the Spring harvest.  We’ve been preparing the veg plots – removing weeds (it really does go from parched, barren earth to lawn in no time), forking over and adding chicken manure or compost depending on how swiftly we’ll be using the beds.   I’m so glad we’ve used the ‘deep bed’ method so prepearing the beds is relatively easy.  I’ll be posting info on how to keep vegetable growing as easy and straightforward as possible shortly.  Make no mistake preparing the vegatable plot very thoroughly just once and then proceeding to do your utmost not to compact the soil in future has been our miracle method for cutting down on work over the years.

This week we’ve put our broad beans, peas, mange-tout, radishes and beetroot seeds in.  It cheers me up no end thinking of all the good stuff we’ll be eating in the Spring.  As much as I’m loving leek and cabbage the spring vegetables always seem so zingy.  Can’t wait…

Bye Bye to the Donkeys

I read some very sad news today.  The last working donkey in our local village has retired.  I’m devastated.  I realise I’m a tragic foreigner about this, but I love love love those rare days when we time a trip to town just right and manage to get stuck behind the last working donkey, laden with wicker baskets, wood and tools being led by surely the oldest farmer in the world.   The site of them both can have me smiling for hours, wallowing in the perfection of rural life (never mind that every sensible person has a tractor or two and that any other ancient tractor-less farmers at least have a Nissan and a very loud moped).

In 1876 our village had 98 donkeys and 94 mules.  Now there are only two donkeys remaining and they don’t work anymore.   The bit that still does make me smile though is that the retired beasts still live at home, on the groundfloors of two village houses.

The end of an era….

Ah well, maybe it’ll stop the influx of other tragic Brits looking for authentic Ye Olde Espanya?  I will miss him though!

Manure – The Good Stuff?

Manure is a veggie grower’s best friend for sure but sometimes you really can have too much of the good stuff!

Our soil is fine, stony and very shallow so we’ve really made an effort to improve it.  Brilliantly when we bought the finca we inherited a huge pile of chicken manure.  Now some people have a problem with manure from poultry but really, so long as it isn’t fresh it is fantastic stuff.  In fact one of my heroes the late, great John Seymour, in his magnus opus, The Complete Book of Self Sufficiency, more than approves of it :Today though I’ve really had manure overload.  I had an ambitious plan to move an awful lot of muck, but forgot to ‘bagsy’ the good wheelbarrow.  D got busy moving logs with our ‘proper’ wheelbarrow (i.e. the one that works) and I got grumpy with the inherited, hateful wheelbarrow that was designed for really short people.  It’s great – I have to kind of bend my knees at all times and push my bum out to keep from banging into it whilst walking – I don’t know why but the handles are really really short.

After about 15 trips I’d carved myself a nice slippery path from the dung pile to the veg plots.  At about trip 20, I slipped – wellies really are not very grippy – sideways emptying half a barrow of muck and me into a heap on the floor under a very prickly bush.  At around trip 25 I really was wondering how convenient bags of artificial fertilisers might be – me being muddy, sweaty and partially covered in chicken poo. 

At this point D came to give me a hand – i.e. show me how quickly he could move the muck in the proper manly wheelbarrow.  But as he fell, face first into his barrow of damp manure, pushing it up a plank to the top of my newly created chicken manure mountain, my mood improved.  When the handle of my decrepit barrow snapped off revealing a nasty, jagged post I really felt better.  Understand I would have loved to carry on shifting s**t from one terrace through an obstacle course of dogs, trees, mud and D but my barrow was well and truly broke!

Ah… I really enjoyed my hot shower and change into lovely muck free clothes while D finished moving the mountain on his own with the one barrow left.

Think it might be best to stick with just the one ‘manly’ barrow in future – maybe I’ll just stay in the kitchen and bake?  I’ll remember to only move manure when its dry – what was I thinking we are in Spain it’s hardly every wet!  Definitely picked the wrong time to be doing it!

All is Not Lost – More Calçots Please!

All is not completely lost though.  D had a brainwave – luckily he doesn’t like to waste a thing so had been mulling over the problem of the sprouting onions and decided to replant them.  Mad huh?  Let me explain more…

The onions are sprouting but are still basically dry and okay so we’re going to increase our ‘calçot‘ crop.  Now calçots are something I’d never encountered before moving to Catalunya but I have to say they really are Spain’s best kept veggie secret!  Legend has it that calçots were ‘discovered’ by a farmer who’d neglected to harvest all his onions only to find the following spring that he had up to ten large loose leeky/oniony sprouts coming from each bulb.  Well a new reason for a springtime fiesta was borne!

Towns and villages all over Catalunya are awash with these over-sized spring onions each January to April and quite rightly too.  In Tarragona province particularly they are eaten with abandon – cooked over hot charcoal, the charred outer skin is slipped off (whilst holding the root end tightly) to reveal the sweetest, mildest, softest onion experience of all time.  These beauties are then dipped in a romesco or salvitxada sauce and slurped furiously.  It is always best to wear a bib or old clothes and traditionally one should be standing up too, whilst eating these amazing veggies.  They really are very very messy.  For anyone thinking of travelling to the area do try to visit the calçotada.  It’ll warm you up and let you have fun with Catalans enjoying some of their favourite pass-times – good food, company and wine.  They may even throw a human tower into the mix if you’re lucky!

We planted our calcots in early October but hopefully the sprouting onions put in this week, will extend our harvest.  Weird as it seems if you’ve never tasted a roasted calcot they really are supreme eating.  Wow maybe the onion problem isn’t so bad.  After all if it means we get to enjoy more mini Calcotades fiestas at home – roll on Jan 2009!

 

Calcots 2 Weeks Old!

I’ll put up some recipes when we’re getting closer to the calcot harvest time.