the story of Casa Azul

Is that light at the end of the tunnel an oncoming train?

December 28, 2009 richard Comments 1 comment

We are coming to the end of the year and as far as the house is concerned sometimes it feels as if we are still just pushing a huge boulder uphill, inch by inch with a great deal of effort getting us not very far. The huge boulder of course being Portuguese bureaucracy.

Adding to our frustration we had recently met some Brits who told us that they had put in for planning permission to rebuild their house over a year ago and it had only come through the week before. However, in that time they had already done the work! They said that they had met the big cheese at the Camara (municipality) quite some time ago and he had orally given them the OK to start work and that had been enough for them.

We decided to do likewise so took the bull by the horns and attempted to see someone at the Camara (municipality) who actually had some clout. We were determined not to be turned away this time.

So far, we had put in our planning application and last month we had got news that we had to make a few minor changes/provide further details. Our architect had done this and resubmitted. When we got to the Camara we were told that another letter had been prepared in response to our new submission and was about to be sent out to us. (Although written, this letter could have taken a week or two before actual posting so it was good that we went anyway!). This new letter contained further requests for information and matters that needed remedying. One item stated that there was a problem because our house was less than 3 metres from a neighbouring property. Were they now asking us to shift our 100 year old house by a few metres? Why had this come up now?

Anyway, we got to see the head honcho and told him we needed at the very least to start work on the roof as it was leaking quite badly. There was then much discussion between colleagues, not about our request, it seemed, but that certain internal procedures regarding our application had not been followed correctly. Oh no, not more delays! The senior engineer was called in for more consultations with the senior building inspector. We hadn’t a clue what was happening but then suddenly we were asked if we could meet them again tomorrow, with our builder, at our house with a view to moving things along so we could get the building work started – at least that’s what we think was said.

Is that light at the end of the tunnel or an oncoming train?

A white-ish Christmas

December 18, 2009 Jackie Comments 0 Comment

So the year draws to a close, a frost2 nd how nice that would be if we could say that at last the builders are busy on the house. Alas, that’s not to be – although it does seem that the paperwork is done. Now it’s a matter of getting it all approved, and for that we need the officials to be in their offices… well, it is Christmas I suppose and things do wind down this time of the year…

The weather has turned jolly cold and looking across the valley it was white with frost one morning. Not a great event for many but for me, having lived in more clement climes, it looked lovely, hence the pretty frost pics…

Looking out of a top window from Casa Azul it was great to see so many birds by the big pond, although one looked like it was walking on water – yes, even the big pond had frozen over. This was lunchtime too and the sun had been on it all morning but it was still completely iced up. The pic shows the pond completed before the frost – just to show you what it looks like now filled with water.

And the garden plot has had a lot of work on it now. The last three beds were weeded (and the stones removed), then covered with paper and finally with grass. The idea being that this will prevent the weeds returning (ha!) and also add some nutrients to the soil. The worms should come up and break everything down. For those interested the compost heap has grown (and shrunk), we have made another compost box for all the horse manure we’re collecting (thanks, Dolly), and there is now comfrey root growing in pots (I hope) which will grow huge leaves that make fantastic organic fertiliser. Well, that’s the idea anyway. The most successful gardeners look after the soil rather than the plants, it is said, so at this rate I should have the best produce in town! (When Luis saw us digging up the brambles he scoffed and suggested his tractor friend Tony come round and sprinkle poison over everything!)

Finally, when the sun comes out we get in the pick up and have a run around. The countryside around here really is lovely and we always feel better afterwards. We are spending Christmas down in Lisbon which I’m really looking forward to. So Boas Festas and here’s to a house-building 2010!

Green

December 6, 2009 richard Comments 3 comments

It seems winter really has finally set in now. As I type it is chucking it down. However, it must be said, winter here is not like the winters of old I remember from the UK – the winters I promised myself I would never revisit. Freezing wind, rain, floods etc. I hate to say it but I actually quite like the winter here (so far). Here, it’s not actually that cold (I say again, so far). It has just meant a change in nature’s palette. The vine leaves are red, the sycamores and the chestnut leaves are yellow but there is still the bright green backdrop of everything else. In our garden it is the relentless green of the grass, in our temporary house it is the green of the pine and eukalypt forests.

It also hasn’t stopped us going ‘down the farm’. Yesterday, with a backdrop of drizzle I finished off the big pond. Now we just need to wait for the spring and hopefully it will prove tempting enough for the frogs to drop in some spawn. And we need them, giant monster slugs have started appearing. Licking their chops and asking when the veggies are going to be planted.

Meanwhile Jackie has rejoined the battle against the brambles and a new ‘super weed’ we have discovered. In actual fact it is a dense and deep network of roots from the plum trees which are sprouting all over the place. Nice to know we have a lot of plum trees but their roots spread wide and are very difficult to dig up.

Away from the garden we have been spending a lot of time shopping – we have bought tiles for the whole house. Most of the rooms will have the usual terracotta tiles found in houses round these parts (you will not believe how many shades of brown there are!) but the bathroom will be shades of green. Tiles chosen by Jackie, which she says were inspired from our trips to Ko Samet, a beautiful island in Thailand. Those beachy days with our toes in the sand seem a long way off now…

Winter

November 24, 2009 richard Comments 0 Comment

Winter seems to have finally arrived and with it some rain. Just as well actually for us as we’ve planted some fruit trees. A plum, cherry, apple, lemon, pomegranate and fig. They need plenty of water and recently they’ve got it. It also means the grass has quite suddenly grown out of control. I thought grass grew slowly, but I swear I can see it grow here! So out with the strimmer and suddenly I turned into the green man. At least from the knees down.

Our short edible mushroom season seems to be over. However we have enjoyed quite a few meals out of them. We’ve had delicious mushroom soup but I think my favourite is just to lightly fry them in a little butter and garlic. Absolutely delicious!

The edibles in our garden might be over but we have been on a number of walks in the area over the last week and keep finding strange new varieties popping up all over the place. Far too many to identify but I have put them on a page all to themselves. See if you can identify any of them and let me know. Check them out here.

Olive harvest video

November 10, 2009 richard Comments 3 comments

We made a video of our olive harvesting experiences for our learning English/podcasting site podcastsinenglish.com, we hope you find it instructive!

Another Harvest – part two

November 5, 2009 richard Comments 3 comments

As mentioned last week, it’s now olive harvest time at Casa Azul. We discovered we actually had 23 olive trees on our plot but as they hadn’t been tended for five or more years quite a few were in a bad way and many still fairly inaccessible because of brambles. However we did manage to access a few and filled up five plastic bins – about 150kgs worth. We were well chuffed.

We had made an appointment at the local press for 3pm on Monday and duly arrived on time. Of course the timings are pretty elastic in these parts but we were surprised that we were only there a couple of hours (our neighbours Bob and Jeanette left the press at 2 am last year after a series of breakdowns at the factory). As expected, our crop was pretty puny compared to everyone else’s and in fact the factory manager at first said it was too small a load for him to process on its own. Often what happens is that farmers come in with their load of olives and they just swap it for oil that has already been pressed. Everything gets mixed in together. It seemed a bit odd to us but plenty of people were doing just that. They got 8 litres of oil for every 100kgs of olives they dropped off.

However, the man in front of us was determined to get the oil from his olives and as it was our first harvest so were we. The manager reluctantly agreed. We were also very proud of the fact that our olives were getting admiring glances from the knowledgeable locals who recognised good quality stuff when they saw it.

Anyway, into a big machine the olives went. Not to actually get pressed – modern machinery doesn’t press the olives (which can take ages), it centrifuges them, or so I was told. I’ll spare the details but our olives went in one end of this huge machine and in less than half an hour, we went round the back to a big tap. I was given the honour to turn it on and out came the purest and virginest liquid gold. We ended up with 14 litres which I don’t think was a bad yield. Mind you 14 litres of oil for 3 days work…but at least it was our oil, I’m sure it will taste all the better for that.

Another harvest

October 29, 2009 richard Comments 2 comments

We thought winter, or at the very least autumn had arrived with a bit of rain and a cold spell. In the end it was only enough to fill the small pond and for us to enjoy a log fire for a few days. The large pond will have to wait.

However, the good weather means plenty of other stuff to do down on the farm. Our quinces are turning yellow which means they are ripe and Jackie has already picked the first few to make quince jam. We also plan on making quince cheese when the remainder ripen. Sounds horrible to me but I’ll give it a go.

The oranges are also almost ready. We’ve tasted a few early ripeners and as they are very sweet, they aren’t really good for marmalade so we’ll have to make do with plenty of orange juice for breakfast. As it happens the word marmalade comes from the word marmelo which is Portuguese for quince. If you have any idea how that happened let us know.

Literally in the last couple of days, nets have been appearing round the olive trees of the area. Everyone has decided en masse, that the olives are ready. Of course we turned to our neighbour, Luis, for advice and before we knew it he showed up with two ladders, large sticks, a branch saw and an enormous green net. The idea is very simple. Spread the net under the tree and either shake it, hit it with a stick, or even just pluck the olives by hand until the net is full. Throw out all the branches and leaves and pour into a large receptacle. We started yesterday and have already filled a couple of large plastic bins. We’ve got five to fill and then we take the majority down to the local wine press to make olive oil. That should keep us going for a while. We take out the best and juiciest however to make olives for eating.

olives

By the way, in case you didn’t know, they all start green and turn black. Different varieties are good for either eating or pressing, the blacks generally giving more oil as they are riper. Ours are now mostly black so that’s good. However, they are not the best quality (as the trees have been untended since the house has been empty for 5 years), hence the vast majority will be pressed for oil. You don’t have to separate the greens from the blacks either, it all goes into one mixture.

Does our bounty know no bounds? Next up are the mushrooms. After the rain they started sprouting everywhere and lots of different varieties. We’ve already eaten quite a few of the regular field mushrooms. They are pretty much identical to the ones from Tesco (but bigger, tastier and more irregularly shaped of course!) but we are going to do some research and try to identify the rest before plopping them in the pan.

And finally. We’ve made contact with Jeanette and Bob (who own the cottage where we stayed in May). It was good to see them again, and Jackie was especially pleased to see Dolly (their horse) who has already supplied us with a big pile of manure that will be saved for our raised beds.

Project work

October 23, 2009 Jackie Comments 4 comments

So we find ourselves in the garden most days battling with the brambles, collecting walnuts or adding to the bonfire pile. There are a number of projects we have finished, many still on the go (eg the bramble busting) and many yet to start. A minor project finished today was making a small pond down towards where all the veg will grow (very big project yet to start!). The idea is that it encourages slug eating creatures (aka toads) to come out and keep our greens nibble free. So a small hole was dug (by me – not a tractor in sight!) and then over the three days of downpour filled with rainwater. Nothing is to be added, apparently the plants and toads will arrive all by themselves! Well, I was chuffed:

Richard, meanwhile, has been working on the big pond. Now that has been dug and covered in black plastic it seems there won’t be any rain for a bit so we have to wait for that project to be ticked off.

Just waiting for um dia de chuva or two...

You’ll notice that Richard is sporting a snazzy new pair of bright blue overalls (the top not on as digging a hole is hot work). We had been looking for some work clothes for sometime and then found these in a shop yesterday. Unfortunately, they only had the one colour so we look a couple of twerps in matching outfits but at least they’ll keep us cleaner (and perhaps stop the brambles from snagging our clothes). I’m looking forward to the next garden projects: one is picking the black olives and then either turning them into oil or bottling them, and the other is picking the quinces and making quince jam. Saboroso!

Animals

October 17, 2009 richard Comments 0 Comment

There’s plenty of wildlife at Casa Azul – quite a few rabbits which will no doubt play havoc with the veggies next year but we’ve also seen kestrels and sparrow hawks in addition to plenty of garden birds including tits and robins and redstarts. However we’ve photographed none of these. We have a few photos of animals around our rented house though. Insects and cats…

ginger

larry

mike

Meanwhile, the pig house has disappeared…

exhole

Movements

October 13, 2009 richard Comments 0 Comment

Things have been actually happening at Casa Azul this week. The plans have been finished! Or rather the original renovation plans that we discussed with the architect will be sent into the Council for approval whereas the modified plans (we made a few changes last week) won’t be put in at all – or rather not until the work is finished. Don’t ask, I don’t understand what is going on either. All I know is now we can ask builders for quotes to do the work. One has already had a look around and said it will be at least 6 months. In Portuguese time that means we may have to brace ourselves for longer. I dare not even think about that. Anyway, this should not besmirch the fact that the plan submission is indeed good news.

More good news is that we have been reunited with our worldly goods. They were stuck in customs for a few days but emerged unscathed to be delivered intact last week. However, as our rented house is quite small we cannot actually unpack many of the boxes. Just the priceless home design books that Jackie immediately fell upon and devoured for ideas.

…and the good news continues. Our friendly neighbour, Luis has had his tractor round and dug a big hole in our garden. I never know what to call an acre. It seems too big for a garden but too small to be ‘land’. So I’ll just switch seamlessly between the two. Anyway, Jackie had the brainwave to dig a hole and then fill it in with the breezeblock rubble from the recently demolished pig sty. Thus forming a mini hill which will become a ‘feature’. As it happens we thought the hole that Luis made would be too small but it actually turned out to be more than big enough to swallow up all the breeze blocks and have room for more. Strangely enough it seems that the resulting ‘hill’ may turn out to be a piddling mound unless we can find other stuff to bung in it. Anyway, hard work brings it’s own reward and not too many aches and pains from the process, so a good result all round. Here is the half broken down building and half filled up hole:

2 jackies are better than one when there is digging to be done — 2 jackies are better than one when there is work to be done

Even more good news? We had some rainy days last week which was good for the land and a pleasant change for us. However, the sunshine has returned, so we took the time to go on a few walks in the surrounding forests. This is why we came here: unspoilt beauty on our doorstep. From our rented house we can see a hill in the distance and saw from our military map of the area that there was a track leading to the top from right near the house, so one day we headed up, sandwiches and biscuits stowed in a mini rucksack. We didn’t quite get to the top then but had a great day out and actually returned a different way a few days later in our pickup. This time we went up around late afternoon and the light was stunning. The top of hill emerged from the surrounding pine and eucalyptus forests to give fantastic views. We could see for miles and the forests took on a beautiful golden hue. Magnificent. We also managed to grab a geocache at the top.

Those that know us well will not be surprised that a local cat has adopted us. It’s a very cute thing that very oddly smells of perfume despite the fact, or so we think, that it lives mainly with the pigs and sheep of the small farmholding a few metres down the road. One night last week, Jackie was awoken to find it outside our front door with a little mousey present. NB We don’t feed it or allow it into our house so no accusations of leading it on, please.

Next week we may be brought down to earth as we receive quotes for the building work that has to be done. Watch this space.