Dear Deer...

Dear Deer,

The other day whilst chatting to friends on Skype I spotted you out of the corner of my eye from the study window about to take a drink from our garden pond. It was lovely to see you in daylight as we normally only ever see you and other members of your herd on the trailcam at night and sometimes in the early morning as the mist is lifting.

With your slender frame, bright dark eyes, and your growing antlers you looked very handsome and quite relaxed given the time of day (late afternoon). You took a small drink from the pond but then moved on to the birdbath which you seemed to prefer. I wondered if you were the same deer I had to rescue from a farmer's dog a few weeks earlier when you were running around and around the garden seeking an escape route? It was fortunate I managed to stop the dog in its tracks by running between you both.

We often see you in the meadows surrounding La Pasera and it was only the other morning when three of your herd grazed the bottom field whilst we watched on and finished our breakfast. There is a lot to eat around the fields and meadows so whilst I don't mind you nibbling the odd raspberry leaf in our soft fruit bed, I really do draw a line at nibbled mange tout and orange tree leaves.

I never saw your sibling until you wandered down towards the winter lettuce and started jumping playfully. You make a splendid pair I must say. I managed to open the window without too much noise but only had my compact camera available but I think I got some reasonable shots of you both. I noticed that you also like one or two of our garden plants...

We realise that April is a more relaxed time for you now that the hunters have stopped harassing you with their dogs and guns, and that you are generally less stressed but if you continue to munch away on our food we might just have to put up some barriers to keep you out. I really wouldn't like to do that, so please take note. We loved your curiosity when you spotted the ceramic hare and wondered what you would make of the cats if you came across them?

You are welcome to visit as your forebears have done over the years but stick to the meadows for your snacks. Take care and safe journey little ones.

Best wishes

La Pasera

Winter flowers showing Spring is on its way.....

A few flowers from the garden, hedgerow and mountains....

Preparing the soil for Spring vegetable planting

We have a crop rotation system here that works well for us. With three large beds we can plot where and when we plant crops to ensure we make best use of companion planting, soil fertility and crop timing. Two of our three beds are still packed with winter crops such as celeriac, leeks, kalettes, cabbage, cauliflower, swede and kale.

Following lots of wet weather the ground has dried sufficiently so that we are now able to do some work on the vegetable beds. The third bed was seeded with green manure (oats) back in Autumn, these are now ready to be dug in along with some home-produced compost. This will be left to rot down for several weeks before potatoes, onion and tomatoes are planted.

We have worked hard over the past few years to improve the soil structure as our beds were established on meadow land that was mainly solid clay. With the addition of sandy topsoil, raising the beds, adding as much compost and manure as we can get our hands on and annual sowing of green manure the soil has greatly improved. Earthworms are now abundant and help work the soil along with many other insects and micro-organisms. The soil is loose, full of organic matter and a much richer and more fertile ground in which to grow vegetables.

Elsewhere in the garden processing the coppiced wood continues and we are gradually building up a good stock of kindling for use next winter. There is life again in and around the garden with visiting deer and wild boar. Sadly, as I write this blog-post I can see the hunters in the bottom field and I can hear their dogs frantically rooting out anything that moves in the nearby woodland. I just hope these three nightly visitors stay safe...

Preparing for Spring

There is always an optimistic quality about longer days, brighter skies and glimpses of winter sun. The weather has been very mixed here with storms along the coast causing hide tides and gale-force winds, lots of rain, followed by a few days of warm day-time sunshine and bright clear night skies. A few trees down locally but no damage for us which is good.Whatever the weather, we know that at this time of years there is always lots to do.

We have pruned the fruit trees very little this year in the hope that we will have the harvest we didn't this past summer. The fruit bushes will be lifted and put into a new raised bed (when the wood arrives) and the vegetable beds and seed trays are slowly filling up with peas, twiggy pea-sticks, lettuce, beetroot and kohlrabi.

We are still harvesting flower-sprouts, purple sprouting broccoli, cabbage, leeks, kale, celeriac, winter lettuce, swede and fennel. The oats that were sown as a green manure have been dug in the bed where onions and potatoes will be planted. We have already bought our seed potatoes so it won't be long now before we have a day digging them in.

We have pruned some hedges but more needs doing and soon. We will thin out the hazel and use the poles somewhere in the garden. The wild flowers are out in force and there is plenty of colour in the flower beds and rockery area. A general tidy up of leaves, trimming back dead flower heads and moving the odd plant always brings positive results. The Gunnera has been chopped back as it had expanded in every direction and was becoming too dominating. We will leave the dead leaves on to protect the new shoots in the unlikely event of frost.

The water-lily plants have been taken out of the pond in readiness for splitting and thinning out. The root systems had already swamped the bottom of the pond and was in need of doing. We'll re-pot these and pop them back in the pond next month.

The hard-landscaping is at last coming close to an end and with any luck we should have finished the terrace later this month. Then it will be the final push on the front garden and driveway. With Spring just around the corner we are looking forward to another productive year in the vegetable garden and hopefully be able to relax and enjoy the garden now it has taken shape.

Exploring local beaches and coves in Asturias

One thing we are not short of in Asturias is coastline. With hundreds of beaches and and coves to explore there is never a dull moment if you are into that sort of thing: which we are...

The main tourist season is over and the beaches and coastline are once again quiet apart from sunny weekends and bank holidays. The main tourist season lasts only a few weeks from mid-July to early September with the remainder of summer and autumn being very quiet and peaceful.

Within walking distance we have a half a dozen wonderful beaches and inlet coves which are constantly changing with the seasons, tides and weather conditions. Within 15 minutes drive we have access to another 30 or so beaches and such so as you can imagine there is no shortage of places to walk, explore and enjoy.

The majority of beaches, apart from those located in main resorts, have few facilities such as toilets or showers, chairs or beach gear. Some have surf schools where boards and instruction can be hired. Few have access to a café or bar out of the main season and only the main tourist beaches will have red cross life guards on duty during high season, outside of which there is no-one.

The sea is cool even during summer but I am told you soon get used to it once you've taken the plunge. We rarely swim in the sea and mainly use the beaches for beach combing, exploring rock-pools or dinosaur footprints, walking or just relaxing listening to the ocean.

The Bay of Biscay tends to have a very mixed weather pattern and the sea can be great for surfing or body boarding. There isn't much windsurfing which is a pity as I have RYA qualifications in windsurfing but haven't done it for some years now. Who knows maybe one day I'll squeeze into a neoprene wetsuit and ride the wind once again?

The perfect twiggy pea stick

With a welcome break in the weather and the promise of bright and warm sunshine Luis suggested that we went in search for some perfect twiggy pea-sticks, well 30 or so to be precise.  Knowing that the caminos (paths) of the Camino de Santiago would be muddy in parts and that we probably be making our way back through the waterlogged fields, we opted for Wellington Boots. A wise decision.

Twiggy pea sticks are usually thin twigs of hazel (for us) that are used to support pea plants, perfect twiggy pea-sticks only exist in Luis' mind but I thought it might be fun to go along and made wiser about these things. There are many village and cliff tracks that veer off the Camino de Santiago that are heavily populated with coppiced hazel and sure enough, Wellington boots were required.

Walking along the caminos is wonderful at any time of year but early Spring with its gigantic puddles, flowing field streams, fresh and crisp new growth and neatly tended orchards is truly magical.

We found what Luis considered to be the perfect hedge in which to harvest our perfect twiggy pea sticks and we began to cut perfect specimens...

The way home across the fields was interesting with one or two instances where water was nearly compromising the tops of our boots. I had a rather enlightening experience when my head made contact with an electric fence charged up to keep randy bulls at bay. I do feel strangely brighter today.

With La Pasera in the distance, we head past the horses, through a field of bulls, cows and calves then across our neighbours newly ploughed field to be greeted by Gawber and Wentworth in their local hunting ground.

The peas are now staked and will benefit from the support as they produce a good crop of sugar snaps, mange tout and small sweet garden peas.

We managed to get our pea sticks and remembered a much cherished quote from a dear friend of ours, "the important thing about reaching your destination is to savour and enjoy the journey, it is usually much more precious". Today's journey for the perfect twiggy pea stick turned out to be precious or as Luis speculated .. perfect.