A restful weekend at La Pasera

We have been quite busy most of the year with maintaining the garden and vegetable plot, entertaining friends, travel, mosaics, music, writing, photography and chair restoration as well as days out walking or sightseeing. Oh, we also finished the building work and decorated....

It has been extremely hot here and very dry with little or no rain. This weekend we decided that it would be a good time to let the weekend happen without any firm plans or expectations. Saturday saw us visiting a small craft fair in a mountain village. There were only a few stalls selling jewelry, fresh produce, food and hand-made goods but it was also an opportunity to meet up with a long-time Internet based friend whom we had never met in 5 years. We knew she would be there with her art works. It was good to meet you Niki. Check out here website and artwork here: Niki

Saturday afternoon we relaxed in the garden, read, pottered around watering the pots, examined the vegetables, massaged the cats and listened to music. The warm summer evening was spent enjoying a fresh garden salad, glass of wine, watching the sun go down and observing the bats as they fed on the wing.

Sunday was as equally warm but with a light coastal breeze which helped. We walked to our local and nearest beach, a lovely isolated (well most of the year) cove when the sea forms a lagoon and gentle waves in summer and a long stretch of golden sand opening out into the sea when the tide is out. It's a great place to explore as there are caves at low tide and many small rock pools.

The afternoon drifted by with time spent in the garden, reading, chatting, booking Luis' next mosaic exhibition trip to France and catching up with PC based work. We ate our evening meal on the terrace, had a glass of wine and relaxed. Fully restored we were now ready for the busy weeks ahead of us and really valued the time out. Every so often, a complete rest and break from routine does you the power of good....

Vegetables, salad and soft fruit crops we are growing: 2014-15

We thought it might be useful to make a list of the vegetables we are growing in 2014 through to Spring 2015. It will be useful for us to document it and also give our readers some idea of the range of food that can be grown in a temperate climate that has all year round growing conditions.

We use a crop rotation system that makes the best use of companion planting in the two large and two smaller raised beds situated past the orchard at the bottom of the garden.

Product	Cropping
Celeriac	Feb 2015
Carrots	October 14
Beetroot	Since April through to February 2015
Tomatoes, Spring onions	Current
Leeks	September onwards
Cauliflower, Broccoli, Flower Sprouts	November onwards
Turnip, Swede and Chard	November onwards
Aubergine, Peppers, Butternut Squash	September onwards
Beans (various)	Current
Basil, Parsley, Coriander	September onwards
Lemon Grass and various herbs	Current
Fennel	Ongoing until early Spring
Marrows, Cucumber and Kohl Rabi	Ongoing until September
Chili Peppers	Current
Raspberries and Blackberries	Current
Red and Black Currants	Cropped and frozen
Peas, Onions and Potatoes	Cropped and stored
Winter Lettuce	November onwards
Gooseberries	Crop Failure 2014
Horse Radish	November

No doubt we will be challenged with black fly, aphids, opportunistic intruders, mildew, watering, wild animals and birds but with careful management, pest control and natural defences such as companion planting, we should be able to provide more than enough fresh vegetables, salad crops and soft fruit to see us through the year for eating, processing into jams and pickles and, for preserving in the dehydrator or freezer. The excess we will distribute amongst friends or compost and return the goodness to the soil.

In addition to the vegetables we also grow a range of fruit including peaches, oranges, apples, pears, plums, greengage, rhubarb and physalis as well as a range of plants we will use in hand-creams, soaps and herbal teas: lemon verbena, lemon balm, mint, calendula, lavender, comfrey, sage and so on...

Lemon Verbena - harvested for drying

There is little doubt that growing your own food is hard work and never ending but the rewards are worth the effort. In our experience, it tastes so much better and we can be confident that no harmful chemicals have been used in its production. Friends often say that they wish they had the space to grow food, our reply is always the same: a window box, tub or series of plant pots can produce quite a bit of food. If you've thought about growing your own but never got around to it, it is not too late, have a go and let us know how you get on.

Geraldine the Hedgehog - slug control...

The Asturian Prince - Wentworth

The Internet attracts a lot of criticism for all sorts of reasons but it can also be a wonderful resource and mechanism to connect with people you would not normally come across by other routes.

We have developed friendships with many people over the years via the Internet both through our blog and through various social networks. It never ceases to surprise us both how generous these virtual friends can be.

One such friend offered to make us a portrait, in mosaic, of Wentworth, our beautiful black cat: named after an area of South Yorkshire where we used to live. Jeannot Leenen is a mosaic artist from Belgium Luis initially met through one of the Internet based mosaic groups they both belong to. We have always admired her beautiful work and over the years Luis has became very good 'pen-pal' friends with her via the Internet. Her kindness and generosity both as an artist and a person are boundless and later on this year Luis plans to meet up in person when they both visit the internationally renowned mosaic exhibition that will take place in Chartres, France.

Words cannot express how magnificent this portrait is. She has captured his character, his posture and his ever-changing black glossy coat as it reflects and absorbs the changing light - absolutely stunning.

Jeannot knows how pleased we are with this gift and it will be a lovely moment when Luis can meet with her in person and share their passion for the art of mosaic.

An Asturian tale...

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We read that there was to be a celebration of the recent restoration of a 13th century romanesque church near Ribadesella in the area of Monte Moro: Iglesia De San Salvador.  What was more interesting was that the church had well preserved wall frescoes from the 16th Century not discovered until the civil war in the 1930's. A trip to see them was planned...

The church has recently been renovated and partially restored mainly due to the perseverance of local people who for the past 78 years have struggled to get their simple but significant church protected from further decay.

The story goes that the church was built in the 13th century to serve the local agricultural population from the nearby villages of Sardalla, Dezangos, Nocedo and Tresmonte which nestle in the rich green pastures and mountains just off the coast. As well as addressing religious affairs, the church would have served as a meeting place to discuss local issues and for trading goods and local gossip.

In the 16th century, a priest, bishop or wealthy patron commissioned a series of wall frescoes depicting God as the saviour, the last supper, the passion of the Christ, the ascension to heaven and the wrath of the devil. As most people were unable to read or write, the frescoes served as strong symbolism to reinforce the word of the church.

Some time between the 16th and the 19th century, the frescoes were covered in a lime wash, probably to disinfect the building following an outbreak of disease that was decimating the local population. The meeting place was recognised as a possible source of contamination. An extension to the original church and bell tower was added in the 19th century.

The frescoes faded from memory until 1936 when the church was partially destroyed by fire during the Spanish civil war. Parts of the lime wash began to crumble and expose elaborate wall paintings underneath.

The local parishioners continued to worship in the church despite the roof of the extension being open to the elements. If it rained, they would open their umbrellas and continue with their prayers.

The church has been renovated but there is still work to do. A new roof has replaced the charred remains of the extension, some of the frescoes have been further revealed and cleaned but there is much more to do and reveal. Drainage has been improved around the church to reduce humidity in an effort to preserve the delicate paintings and the walls have been rendered on the outside.

The rear of the church floor remains covered in very uneven limestone flags whilst the original building's floor has had a horrible scree of concrete lain. I only hope this is a temporary fix as it really does detract from the naive beauty of this piece of Asturian history. Apparently, on excavation, graves were found from the main doorway through to the alter. When money permits, further restoration work will be done to the frescoes and further renovation work done to the church. Let's hope the floors are restored as opposed to renovated, concrete just doesn't work.

It's pickling time again... this week walnuts

A really good way of extending your harvests is pickling. Pickling certain fruits, nuts or vegetables means that not only can you enjoy your crop fresh, but also some months later, pickled. Walnuts are a real treat pickled or fresh and something we enjoy throughout the year if we can gather enough. This year we gathered about 4kg.

Normally, gathering enough walnuts for pickling or to eat fresh isn't a problem here as the tree grows well in Asturias, wild and abundant. Last year was a poor year and we only managed a very small harvest but 2014 looks like it's going to be a bumper year.

The key to pickling walnuts is to gather them when they are firm, plump and fresh but before the inner shell has started to form and harden. It's usually around the end of June for us when the walnuts are in their prime for pickling.

This is the recipe and method we use and adapt from year to year depending on the spices and vinegar we can source here in Asturias or that we bring over from the UK. This year's recipe is as follows:

Make brine by dissolving 225g salt in enough water to cover the walnuts. Wash the walnuts, clean and prick with a fork. Cover the walnuts in a brine solution for 2 weeks. Change the brine after one week. We wear gloves because green walnuts can seriously stain your skin.

After the two weeks, carefully drain and leave to dry. The walnuts will turn black if not already black. This is perfectly normal. Prepare the pickling solution.

Pickling Solution:

1 litre of malt vinegar
500g dark brown sugar
1 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tablespoon grated ginger

Bring the vinegar and spices to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the walnuts and take of the heat. Leave 15 minutes then decant the walnuts into clean sterilised jars and top up with the pickling vinegar. Seal and label. They will keep for about a year or until consumed. Great in salads, with cheese or savoury dishes.

We are also looking forward to wild harvests of hazelnuts, avocados, blackberries, figs and sloes....

July in bloom

Flowers are an important aspect of any garden, from the insignificant to the big, bright and bold, flowers are special.

Flowers attract insects, aid pollination, create scent, display colour and provide structure and form and, they are beautiful to look at.

The flowers at La Pasera change throughout the months but July is certainly a time when the brightest, boldest and showiest blooms arrive. So much so, the smaller, delicate flowers often get overlooked.

The next time you are in the borders, look a little closer, stare a little deeper and you just might see a diamond amongst many other gems, a bit like life really...