Ingrid Betancourt

I saw the interview on the BBC World this morning with Ingrid Betancourt who was rescued from her kidnappers, the FARC in Colombia. I have been following this story for some time as she was kidnapped while I was living and working next door in Ecuador. She gave an amazing interview and truly is an amazing lady following her ordeal. Latin America can be a very beautiful, but very dangerous place and it is hard for those who don't know it to understand what is going on there. Ingrid has moved to France for the time being as her safety cannot be guaranteed.
Safety is something we can take so much for granted, but in many countries there is no such thing. I had Colombian friends who explained to me the difficulties of living in Colombia where they could not travel by roads because of the threat of being kidnapped. I was very lucky in Ecuador where I travelled alone many times up and down from the Andes to the Coast on some notoriously dangerous roads in a car that often broke down and had no end of punctures. I was always told to drive straight through any road barriers and not to stop for anyone. Thankfully people always stopped to help me.
The locals here often ask me if I am not scared living in a deserted village, but for me here, there is a peace that never existed in Ecuador. A peace in feeling safe. Everyone should have a right to live in peace. If there is one thing I would like to create here it would be a refuge where people could find that little bit of peace that we all need.
There are still a lot of hostages in Colombia that are not free, several hundred for extortion and some for as long as a decade. Most of them from normal, everyday families. I hope that an end to this conflict can be found and those people may find their refuge. In the meantime if you get a chance to listen to this remarkable lady then do so. A Colombia Peace rally is to be held on July 20 around the world.

Permacultura Galicia

Went to an interesting project in Pontevedra which deserves support. More information can be found at http://www.andreaasociacion.com/index2.html
It was a great example of connect what resources were available and making excellent use of them. I hope to add more about this project later.

Bees -

To take a photo of the Spiral it was decided that the room in the old house would be a good vantage point so made our way across the dodgy floor boards to get in.

Why won´t this window open?

Because the bees have used propolis to glue it closed.

What bees?

Probably those above your head!

Lots of bad words and a quick retreat out of the old house that had been shut up for at least a year.

We were ok. The beehive was deserted but what amazing creatures. Mice had taken it over and devoured the stores.

But where are the bees? There were no dead bodies. I checked my own hives and with the same findings. The hives were empty of bees. No dead bodies just coddling moth larvae. There had been young but they were dead in their cells. There was no clear pattern of reproduction within the cells so I am at a loss as to what is going on and a little upset that my friends have gone. I will get some more one day but from a hive that has been left to its own devices to build up a resistance. I cleared away the empty hives ready to blow torch them to disinfect them.

I can´t help feeling concerned that bees are disappearing at an alarming rate and not enough is known about why or how this can be revearsed.

Top View of Spiral

There is a funny story that goes with how these pictures were taken which you can read in the next post.
Here you can just about make out the spiral pathways and circle shape. Felix the cat enjoying hiding behind the cabbages.
There is a downhill gradient but not a steep one. The cardboard mulching will hopefully be taken over by plants in the future.

In the centre is a little arbour with a rose, honeysuckle and two hop plants growing over. Under this is a bird bath. The birds have been amazing. I´m no expert but I think they were bull finches the other day landing on the plants and stripping the seeds off while I was standing next to them.

The Plants of the Spiral

What was wanted from the Spiral is a real mixture of a spell for good health and happiness bearing in mind that I did not take it from the original design I had sketched out but just picked up a spade one day after hearing that a very good friend had cancer.
When planting up the spiral I wanted to use plants that would be good for the senses and for the wildlife. I combined herbs with flowers that could be used in crafts, tinctures, teas and soaps. I added edible plants and plants that I just liked.
Looking back at the bare patch of earth we started with it is quite amazing what the first year has produced.
I´ve started the pictures with one of my mums favourite flowers, which the butterflies love and that is Sweet William. I remember on the allotments in Derby, old George who had an allotment opposite had a whole bed of these plants and told us to help ourselves to some cut flowers.


One of my absolute faourites and one of my earliest memories of flowers is the French Marigold. When living near Chester-lee-street as a kid the small border along the driveway would produce this incredible cheerful display every year without any attention at all and in the poorest of soils where nothing was added. I now use it in soaps, teas and baking and it does cheer you up.





It´s hard to make out in this picture exactly what we have but in the background are raised beds with strawberries and a bed with willow cuttings which will be planted into position in winter to provide early spring nectar for the bees and fuel for the stove. Infront of this are onion and garlic beds planted between new apple and plum trees. Next comes a row of blackcurrant bushes in their first year followed by a mulch of cardboard and ferns, an overgrown pathway and more mulch interspersed with more fruit bushes and some courgette plants. Out of view is a Japanese Wineberry which has really taken off.

In this picture you can see Phacealia which the bees have loved. You are supposed to dig it in as a green manure before it flowers but the flowers are beautiful and the bees have enjoyed it. In front of this are Californian Poppys which again the wildlife are attracted to.

Below we can see cabbages, tomatoes and lettuces and of course another of my favourites the nasturtiams.

In the front we have Lemon Balm - the tea is delicious but unfortunately I´ve read that it looses this lemon taste when dried so will have to make the most of it before winter. Behind it is Salad Burnet - this is a great salad plant which never dies back even in winter so you can get your greens all year round! It also has a lovely flower on it.

Here we have Swiss Chard - really useful and again available for most of the year. I invented a good dinner the other week when friends came round with a mixture of chard and red orach leaves baked in it. Will add the recipe next time. Infront are pansies which are edible.

Below are the French Beans getting going and behind them some carrots, lettuce and tomatoes.

Aren´t they great - Californian Poppies again - once they got going they took care of themselves - no water, no pampering. You can see them below with Phacealia and the small grey in the bottom corner is Cotton Lavender.

Not sure what these are - one of the mystery missing labels but it just flowers and flowers and flowers!

Carnations - love them for their smell and they can be used in herb crafts. The bush has been covered in flowers!



Below are the onions with Marigolds in between. It proved a little tricky weeding them so perhaps the Marigolds were a little too close but they are healthy. In the background is Kale and lots of it for the hens and rabbit as well as us.

Here we have celeriac with another unknown in the background and a mulch of ferns.







Below is the Comfrey which we use to feed the tomatoes by cutting the leaves and soaking them in water and we also use the leaves as a mulch. It is the bumble bees absolute favourite!

Feverfew loves it here and it flowers non stop and propogates itself with little plants springing up around it. Insects love it and it can help migraines.








Below is Red Orach - a great plant with spinach like leaves that can also be added to salads. Next to it is Red Fennel.

Here we have the nasturtiams around the lettuce and tomato bed. I did make the mistake of planting the nasturtiams between the cabbages. Big mistake as they attract the cabbage butterfly.

Below is the amazing Clary Sage which just flowers and flowers and again the bees love.

Garlic, Hens and One man went to mow!

Actually it was one man, two man, three man and the dogs and child! This was an experiment. Having seen eighty year olds mowing their meadows by hand and with the rising cost of oil I thought I´d give it a go! Let´s just hope we find an alternative because it was not fun and what was a small meadow became very big! In the end we cheated and got the petrol strimmer out because it was such hard work cutting, sharpening and cutting again. Man power is the key. Rain was forcast so it had to be gathered in after a few days so there was little time to recover.

The hens are free to roam in the mornings only as the birds of prey, mainly falcons, are out in force in the afternoons. They forage away on whatever takes their fancy and are waiting for their bran mash at 1pm to be put into their run under the apple tree.

The garlic had to fend for itself like most things and the first crop was harvested. In the picture is Spanish Garlic which was put onto some fairly poor soil between some strawberries but the results are not bad. The English garlic did not fair so well having been put on even poorer soil which baked in the sun.

Wild Diversity

Took at day off to visit El Caurel National Park between Leon and Galicia. We started out at 240m. Slate is still quarried here and is used on the roofs of the houses. In the picture you can also see beehives ontop of the slate roofs.

We then climbed up to 1400m to walk along a ridge. The views were fantastic as were the variety of wild flowers a few of which are pictured below.

I don´t have a clue about the names of the different species but we were impressed with the numbers of different plants in a short space.

A new highway is being built to this area so the impact will be interesting to note.

Shade

The sun finally came and the many seedlings needed some shade while the barn area was being re-roofed so they were moved up to my ruin where they are doing well. I have a lot of aromatic herb plants - no you can´t get a great meal out of them but the bees and insects love them and they are good for the soul. Just smell some lavender, Anise Hyssop, Fennel, Rosemary, Lemon Balm etc and you´ll know what I mean. I struggled to keep up with the potting on and keeping track of them all - I´m so good at loosing labels that many end up ´anonymous´ which is a bit of pot luck at the end of the day. Mum has
been a great help keeping it all going. It´s not something you can do on your own and like any project needs the energy of many. Considering we are not many the progress this year has been amazing. Our spiral has spiralled into plants and flowers of all sorts, shapes and colours. I gave up trying to keep track of them all but it´s florishing.

Water storage has been lacking this year which is a shame as we have had so much rain. It is a priority of next year now via ponds or containers and hopefully some money will be found for guttering on the ruin to direct it all into the holding tanks. The water butt we do have fills up in a single downpour so size is important.

The plants - what´s doing well

We put the potatoes in and even though we were told it was the wrong place, wrong time, wrong method etc they seem to be doing well. There is a bit of blite on the leaves but having taken a peep at my neighbours who is the champion of all potato growers and he religiously sprays them every so often with Bordeaux mix we are quite pleased with our result.

The trees have all taken and I am especially pleased with the walnuts and Ginko. The tree seedlings of Ginko and Monkey Puzzle have also taken so should have some more to plant in the future.

Strawberry plants have been brilliant - I never knew they were so easy and we have strawberries everyday now. I planted some in between onions and garlic as well having read that they were good companions and they seem to be getting along fine.

The Clary Sage loves this climate and managed to survive below zero temperatures during winter so that was a nice suprise.

I returned to the UK for a much need break. After being here for over a year it was time to see friends and family. It was lovely and some questions about Permaculture and how it fits in practically to everyday living have surfaced which I´ve been debating with some PC friends.

The bees have had a hard time this year to catch up on their food. It has been a very wet Spring so their time out has

been limited. A neighbour caught a swarm while I was in the UK and left it in a spare hive for me. They seem to have picked up now the sun has arrived but I still don´t think they

are at their strongest. I read recently about Biodynamic beekeeping and how important it is

not to disturb the hive at all because it is like a whole body. As soon as you open it up, smoke it, place treatments of any kind in it you are disturbing the natural equilibrium of the hive body. They recommend leaving the bees well alone for them to build up their own natural defense system and that natural selection will leave the truly resistant varieties to serve future generations. This bee in the picture seems to be doing very well!

Polytunnel

The polytunnel is finally up - a little late in the season but will come in handy to get things started next year. We took advantage of Andres the builder and his sons who were here doing the barn roof which was close to collapsing. They kindly offered to help get the wire mesh in place which wasn´t that easy but with three hefty lads was no problem. The doors are yet to be done - maybe in another couple of years!

The plastic is agricultural plastic from the local hardware shop - not cheap and considering you only get a couple of years out of it before it starts

to show signs of breaking you have to make sure

you get good use out of it.

The temperature soon builds up in there as does the humidity so good ventilation is essential hence the ladders holding up the rear plastic. All my DIY skills are up to at the moment.