Moringa Magic

28 June 2016

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will recall our on-going struggle to grow Moringa trees - nature's most super superfood.  After struggling, and failing, to keep all but one baby tree alive from the first planting in September, we tried again, and put some pre-soaked seeds straight in the ground around the middle of May.

A good proportion of these poked up through the soil towards the end of May, and I took photos of the strongest one at the beginning and end of June: the pictures below.  Look at that growth rate!  Now we just have to hope they stay alive during the hot, cricket-infested months.

25 May 

2 June 

26 June

Irrigation headaches

26 June 2016

After the stag week, we have a short time before we are away again, and it is vital that we have the garden irrigated regularly.  The downside of a large patch of land with trees spread out everywhere is the amount of hose needed to get water to them.  Once the trees are established, and we put in mulch and ground cover, they will need less water, but this first summer is critical.  Dave has set up an incredible system of staggered timers supplying drip feeds to different sections in turn.  All set up in 40 plus temperatures which have arrived early this year.

In Good Voice

Summer Solstice, June 2016

The first summer solstice to occur at the same time as a full moon for seventy years.  Rather fabulous.  Neil, Rob's Best Man, threw a barbeque with music on the 21st, and everybody played.  Meanwhile, my first public appearance as a member of the choir occurred with barely a stir amid all this extravagant music-fest, but I enjoyed it, and didn't do too badly.

I'm at the back left.  I gave the camera to one of the husbands, but his wife is at the right hand end, so he cut me out of most of the photos!  Dave was setting up with his band in Nidri, and couldn't get to this.

This was an attempt at an atmospheric shot of the full moon and the car headlights in the olive grove next to us.  Dave had gone ahead, then this big fox strolled out and followed him in through our gate!

Solstice full moon party

Stag boys on tour

16 June 2016

Following the extreme peace and quiet of having Mum here (I didn't even go out to any of Dave's gigs!), the mood changed radically as Dave's son Rob, his friend Luke, and father-in-law-to-be, Martin, arrived for a week of excitement that swept us up.

Walking out

First two weeeks of June 2016

With Mum here, work stopped for the duration, and we had various trips round the island or down to the beach.  Following a rainy week, the wildflowers were going crazy, and everywhere looking lush.  Mum was celebrating her 85th birthday at the end of her stay, and my brother Jonathan turned up for the last few days as a welcome surprise.

Back to our garden

2 June 2016

Back at Goat Bottom, with Mum here for a two week visit, we found Dave hard at work strimming our overgrown paths.  We've seen a couple of snakes (in the grass!) and we need at least the pathways clear to get around without scaring ourselves.  And,of course, Dave spent half the time fixing various malfunctions with the strimmer.

Forest Garden Visit

30 May 2016

While in Salisbury I was invited to visit Simon Parker who has established a forest garden.  It is a miracle of what can be achieved in a relatively small space, and I was very pleased to be shown all round it, and to discuss the various features.  It is a great example, and the first time I've been able to visit an actual, functioning edible forest garden.  Simon blogs at landed.weebly.com garden-blog.

Families

End May 2016

This has been a month of family gatherings.  It started with a bit of a scare that meant I zipped back to the UK to spend a week with my Mum. But it all turned out okay, and I had the rare pleasure of seeing both my sons and their women at the weekend.

Rendered Speechless

Monday 23 May 2016

Having finished all but three square metres of wall in the teeth of a threatened thunderstorm on Friday, we were all ready for the final push on Monday (after all-day rain on Saturday and a day at work on Sunday).

We'd covered up Friday's work with sailcloth, which, luckily we'd left half-rigged and easily hauled up, so that the plaster (which apparently I should be calling 'render' when it's outside) wouldn't wash off.  So, Monday morning we dropped the tarp, Dave made the final two mixes, and I slapped it on.

 Lowering the rain cover

 The pale patch around the small upper window is the bit to finish, as well as a strip along the bottom

 Working from the top down ...

 ... to the very, very last handful of render on the main wall

 Then we peeled back the masking sheets over the stem wall - thick with inches of dropped plaster ...

 ... and made a neat finish onto the stonework.

 Finally, as with all the top coats, the starting-to-dry render is sponged down with lots of water to give a uniform finish and good weatherproofing.  And that's it - hopefully the last external plaster we ever need to apply to this building!  (Although lots more to do inside, of course, and loads of limewashing still to do)

 And there she is - rendered all round - not tidied up for the photo due to exhaustion and the urge to  walk down to Nidri for a couple of steaming pints of cider to celebrate

Direct hit

21 May 2016

We were sitting in bed, drinking tea, watching a wild storm through the windows when there was a sharp crack: Dave saw lightning flow down the supporting post and I saw a flash near the gang plug at the foot of it.  It was very scary. 

We always turn off the inverter and the internet in an electrical storm.  We lost a couple of inverters early on, and we've heard horror stories of fried computers from friends.  So we stayed in bed, wondering if our whole electrical system was crisped.

When the storm moved away, Dave turned on our electrics, and they were fine.  So we think it was St Elmo's fire in the bedroom.  Not something I want to experience again!