The lusty month of May...

It's May, it's May, the lusty month of May...

What a start to the month, its been extremely busy with lots of jobs to do in and around the garden. The seedlings are progressing well and we'll soon be planting beans, marrow, cucumber and squash and kohlrabi. The peas, potatoes and beetroot have been in the ground for a few weeks now and are growing with vigour but the tomatoes have just not moved, probably due to the unseasonal cold weather and overcast days. The two new apple trees we planted are doing well and have set fruit so hopefully we will have an extended season of apples from this year on.

We've had an eventful month so far with Luis venturing out into the mountains both alone and with his brother Ruben, both in training for a 50 Km mountain walk on the 23rd May organised by El Soplao. You may remember Luis is seeking sponsorship for this and two other challenges he has set himself this Spring to raise monies for The Donkey Paradise here in Asturias - more of that later.

Earlier in the month it was World Nude Gardening Day and of course, Luis participated as he has done for the past three years. Fortunately, it wasn't too cold on the day and I managed to sneak a photograph when he wasn't looking...

The garden is looking very colourful at the moment with lots of plants in full flower both in the beds and rockeries. Lots of dead heading and cosmetic pruning takes up a bit of time but it extends the flowering period and helps keep debris and invaders down such as slugs, aphids and black fly. Fortunately we seem to have a healthy colony of ladybirds this year which is a great natural control.

We were rather disturbed to see a European Hornet in the garden. I managed to get a shot or two but I was wary of venturing too close as they have a nasty sting and can be aggressive.

Wentworth and Gawber the cats are recovering well from their recent illness although Gawber has ongoing eye problems that require regular check-ups and daily eye drops. He is such a timid cat and despite our efforts to re-assure him, he freaks at the site of the cat carrier and now is wary whenever we call him as he thinks the eye dropper is close at hand but it needs to be done.

Luis had a bike accident this week and managed to knock himself out. He ended up stopping in hospital overnight for neurological observations but was discharged the following day with some residual concussion and a few cuts and many bruises. He was given strict instructions to rest. I have told him the gardening will wait until the weekend...;-)

The Caring for Rosie Challenge to raise monies for Rosie the Donkey and her stable mates at El Paraiso del Burro is going great and we are overwhelmed and grateful to the many people who have donated and helped us to promote this worthy cause. So far we have raised £1000 and hope that with two challenges left to complete, we can raise another £250. We visited the donkey sanctuary today and it was great to see the donkeys out in the pastures enjoying the lush spring grass. If you could help us reach our target, please follow the link below on the photograph of Rosie or click on the Go Fund Me button.

Rosie enjoying the lush pastures at El Paraiso del Burro

Back to the lusty month of May, for those of you who don't know it it is the title of a song but do you know which one and from which musical (extra points if you can name the composers)? The lyrics sort of sum up our May but with only half the month gone, there is still time for more lusty goings on as the weather warms up and life in and around La Pasera brings with it new adventures and lasting memories.

Now back to that World Nude Gardening Day photograph...if you really want to see it scroll down..................................Surely that's worth a few £, € or $ towards the donkeys?

Making a new fruit basket in Escriño style

For a couple of years now I have been on the look out for a new fruit bowl, ever since our last one got broken (but it was recycled and re-fashioned into a birdbath). You might think this is an easy task but the ones I saw were either too fragile for their size, too small, the wrong colour, too deep or just not up to the job. In fact we have been using an antique plate originally designed for meat. As my quest for the perfect fruit bowl grew tiresome, Luis offered to make one in Escriño style using rye straw and rattan...perfect. This meant I could commission the correct size, depth and shape.

We have featured Escriño baskets before when Luis learnt how to make them on a short course in Palencia. That time it was a bread basket, this time something more substantial was required. We eat a lot of fruit throughout the year including commercially bought, home-grown and foraged so we needed something that was sturdy, strong and capable of holding substantial amounts.

Escriño is an old tribal craft technique that binds together straw, grasses or pine needles with either strips of willow, rattan or any other binding material. This style of basket can be found in all parts of the world including Africa, South America and Asia. This small basket (below) is from Luis' brother Oscar who brought us it as a gift from Venezuela, of similar construction but much smaller and finer.

The rye straw was grown by Luis' family and the binding he would use was rattan cane he uses for bergere chair weaving. The spiral of straw is measured by a gauge made from a cut-off thimble. The shape is formed as the spiral of straw is woven. The final weave is finished off with a rattan weave that adds a design element and added strength to the basket. These baskets are seriously strong and are rock solid once completed. The technique looks relatively easy but it takes a lot of patience and skill to produce anything worthy of display.

After many hours weaving his magic, sometimes on a sunny terrace sometimes in the workshop or even the lounge, we now have a wonderful, perfectly formed and functional fruit basket that should last for many, many years. Now to plant the seed that we need a new waste bin for the bedroom.....

Thinning and pruning

We don't have a massive piece of land, about 1500 sq m in total but what we have is certainly enough to keep us busy throughout the year and especially in winter. When we bought La Pasera we asked the builder to leave in situ, the existing orchard trees and any trees and shrubs that were on our borders. One of the first tasks we accomplished was bringing plants from our garden in Yorkshire to Asturias, some of which were successful and others not. After creating various planting beds, rockeries and borders, adding our UK stock and planting more plants, trees and bushes over the years, we have learnt a valuable lesson: living in a temperate climate makes things grow, spread and multiply with such vigour. This week we have been cutting back, pruning, thinning and disposing of many plants and shrubs that had become just too big or cumbersome for their allocated space.

The two dying apple trees - leafless

Sadly, two of the old apple trees have also come to the end of their life after hardly any leaf and no fruit last year. The woodpeckers have been visiting daily and stripping the bark and feasting on the grubs that have taken up residence in these dying trees. Fungus has claimed their bases and it will be sad but necessary to chop them down and replace them with young apple trees that will provide us with lots of fruit.

I have been trying to prune lots of our bushes that over the time have been cut back and have subsequently grown in not-so-pleasing shapes. It'll take a couple of seasons but with time they will grow into better shaped and more pleasing to the eye specimens. We need to tackle the north border of our land that has hazel, blackthorn, hawthorn and pyracanthus, all of which grow with great gusto and apart from the useful coppiced hazel, are difficult to handle and dispose of due to very sharp thorns. We will probably burn this in the garden as it is almost impossible to process into useful firewood. In Spain, it is recommended that you apply for a license to burn even the smallest amount of garden rubbish. If you burn without one, if your fire spreads you can be held liable for costs and fines so a (free) license is advisable... I'm really not sure as to why a free license and registering protects you but if nothing else it raises the issue of the dangers of fires in rural and wooded areas. You can only use the license between October and May which makes sense due to the cooler and wetter weather.

We will process the wood for kindling and firewood which will take up to a year to dry sufficiently. The plants, weeds and leafy off-cuts will be composted and provided us with much needed nutrients to add back into the beds in a few months time. Working in the garden is therapeutic on many levels and helps us fine-tune our ideas. It is now nine years since we bought La Pasera and looking back at old photographs certainly reminds us of how much has been achieved over the years.

2006

Autumn foraging: Chestnuts and Walnuts

We may have mentioned this before but walnuts and chestnuts are abundant around here. There are many fully grown trees on country lanes, on field boundaries and in cultivated plots. This year is a particularly good year for foraging as the trees are heavy with fruit.

The good news for amateur foragers like us is that very few people collect these crops, preferring instead to purchase from commercial sellers on the markets: convenience I suppose. When out walking or cycling at this time of year we will take a small bag with us and collect what we find along the way. It is surprising how quickly you can build up a welcome stock of sweet chestnuts and fresh walnuts.

So far this year we have collected about 25 kg of walnuts which we will continue to add to over the next couple of weeks as the emerging autumnal winds shake the fruit out of their splitting green outer casing. We will dry them in the warmth of the autumn sun and store them in a cool, dry room to be consumed throughout the coming months. Similarly with chestnuts, although these can be slightly more hazardous to collect due to the vicious spikes that protect them.

Over the years we have come to know the trees which produce the most succulent nuts and fruit and we will make sure our walks include them. Occasionally you will see the evidence of other foragers who have beaten us to it but they are few and far between. We have a mature walnut tree in our garden which is not in the best of conditions but with some TLC, this year it has quite a few fruits on it which will will harvest soon.

We mostly eat walnuts as they are or baked in apple and walnut sponge cakes. I take my Mum a bag full and she will use them in a wonderful coffee and walnut cake recipe. The chestnuts will either be roasted slowly on top of the log fire on a cool autumn evening or peeled, boiled and added to a chestnut and winter vegetable casserole...delicious.

You may remember that earlier in the year we pickled green walnuts. These are now ready for eating and can be enjoyed with cheese, salads, veggie burgers and so on....

Easy apple and walnut sponge cake

We still have mountains of apples in cool storage and although they are beginning to look a little wrinkled, they taste sweet and tangy. Rather than letting them deteriorate we will use them in cakes, peeled for eating and for dehydrating as snack to use for when we are out walking.

This recipe for an apple and walnut sponge cake is one of the easiest cake recipes I have ever come across and never fails. The basic recipe can be adapted to use fruit, nuts, flavoured yogurt and chocolate.

Easy apple and walnut sponge cake

This recipe is used widely across Spain and in known as bizcocho de yogur.

4 medium eggs
250 g plain flour
180g sugar (we reduce this to 130g when using sweet fruit)
1 natural yogurt (or flavoured for a twist)
1 yogurt container of vegetable oil
15g baking powder

Walnut pieces and sliced apple

Beat all the liquids together, add flour, sugar and baking powder, mix well. Add walnut pieces.
Spoon half into greased or lined baking tin, add sliced apple, spoon over remainder of mixture, top with sliced apple. Bake at 160 Celsius for 45 mins. Cool on rack.

We are still using last year's walnuts but not for much longer as it was a depressingly poor season for walnuts due to Spring storms damaging young shoots and buds.

Meanwhile back in the kitchen, whilst the oven is on we made a batch of rye and mixed seed bread. Once baked, this will be frozen and used over the coming couple of weeks.
   

Winter food stores

As the evening mist settles in the lower fields and the sun sets behind the mountain, there is something quite comforting about checking the stores and seeing them well-stocked and knowing that you'll have food on the table and a fire to keep you warm.

Over past year we have made a few jams: fig and vanilla; fig; red berries; rhubarb; raspberry. We are yet to make orange jam.

We have produced: mustard seed and gooseberry pickle; green tomato chutney; ginger, chili and marrow chutney; piccalilli; pickled figs; pickled walnuts; pickled peppers; and pickled chillies. We are yet to make date and apple chutney. We have jars of tomato frito and pisto from Luis' sister but fewer than usual due to her crop being wiped out by a hail storm earlier in the year.

We tend to buy in bulk where possible so having somewhere dry and cool to store things is important for us. We have a dedicated area for food storage which houses a freezer and the dehydrator, a series of shelves and racks. We also use a cool floor area to store crates of apple and squash.

Luis has just returned from the Matanza and as usual loaded up with supplies of eggs, apples, pulses, potatoes, onions and oranges. The oranges (14kg) are particularly welcome as they are from a farm in the south of Spain which do not use dye or wax to improve the appearance of the fruit unlike many commercial oranges. We have ordered 10 kilos of Kiwis from a local organic kiwi farm which will last us through until spring if kept cool.

Our dried herbs and infusions are now ready for processing and will hopefully last us through until the fresh plants are available along with the other dehydrated produce such as figs and apples.

With plenty of fresh vegetables in the garden we are set for winter and look forward to making nourishing food fit for a king on a winter's day. We will cook, sometimes in bulk, more hearty soups, casseroles and stews and use dried herbs and spices, our home-made stock cubes and home produced balsamic vinegar to flavour and enhance.

It is times like these you really do see the fruits of your labours and welcome the storage space...oh and a warm cosy fire.