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.

Blooming!

The rains have been very gracious in reviving the Earth and heart.

If there is something to desire,
There will be something to regret.
If there is something to regret,
there will be something to recall.
If there is something to recall,
there was nothing to regret.
If there was nothing to regret,
there was nothing to desire.

Ana Pavlova

Day out Good Friday

We went with friends to see a traditional Good Friday procession from a Monastery (Las Ermitas?) up through an old village. The Monastery was built into the stone cliff at the edge of the river Sil and the procession was already half way up the winding hillside path when we met it. The procession consisted of the congragation carrying a figure of Jesus on the cross which looked quite heavy. This was followed by two figures of Mary. Some taking part in the procession wore costumes but nothing like those seen in the huge processions of Sevilla. You can just about spot the monastery in the picture blending into the hillside. A lot of the surrounding hills were covered in abandoned vine terraces an indication of the difference in population levels between the past and the present and how much more the land was worked in the past.

From here we visited an amazing geographical feature called Las Medulas on the border between Leon and Galicia. The Romans created surface lakes and dug caves into the cliffs. They then let the lakes wash down through the caves taking the mountain with it which allowed them to pan through the remains at the bottom for their precious gold. We were allowed inside some of the red sandstone like caves to take a closer look. Unfortunately no gold was found!

Very big herb spiral!

This project has been in my mind for a while. I had something similar on paper after seeing an article in the permaculture magazine about a medicinal herb spiral. This one has been inspired by my best friend J. who is fighting cancer and going through some intensive chemo sessions at the moment. I met J. at university and she has been a big influence in my life. She is the one who has taught me to think outside the box and not to take things or people at face value but to look at little deeper. She was sprouting her seeds and being vegetarian way before me and always cooked us delicious dishes with traces of her Spanish links.

I have always felt that the best healing for me has been to put my hands into soil and work with it. I hear they offer allotments now as holistic therapy for people suffering from depression. For me it is obvious. When life is harsh or things happen that are hard to deal with then contact with nature or getting stuck into the garden just gives some good energy and helps balance things out again. So I plotted out the compass points using string attached to a stick in the middle. Decided it was too small and made it huge. I realised it was huge when I came to dig out the paths! The neighbours are very curious and asked if I was planting potatoes! I plan to plant it up mainly with herbs but also with salad/vegetable plants and perennials. Already there are good vibes coming from it and I gladly send them on to J.

Orchard just reclaimed

It has been a challenging start to the year hence the delay in adding to the blog. Life or people sometimes have a way of throwing things at us that are not expected.

The orchard has been a real challenge with brambles as big as the trees they are covering lashing us at every opportunity. We now have permission for burning wood from the tree prunings and we began this nervously this morning. The ground is dry and the weather incredibly hot, but this is due to change again this week. Two weeks ago we had snow, yesterday temperatures were in the 20s. The trees have repaid us with their beautiful blossom and the bees have loved it. Seeds and potatoes have been planted and the galeria is full of seed trays on the go. This means I have been here for a year!

The neighbours appeared for Semana Santa (Easter Week) and brought

us two very cute rabbits - male and female. We debated the whole eating thing and my daughter decided that they should be pets - Dora and Diego. We have persuaded friends to have the male as a pet and we now have the female and possibly more due soon. A run was constructed hastily using what wood we had around and mesh we had bought for fencing and the dog travelling box was used as a hutch.