Sylvia Farley – New
Nurturing Potential’s contributing editor
in the area of ecology and the environment – believes in suasion by example. At
an age when many, if not most, people are content to exchange a working life
for a life of leisure, she uprooted herself from her comfortable Isle of Wight
existence and planted personal and an exceptionally diverse range of other
roots in a Spanish smallholding. She has
been delighting her social networking followers for months with her
descriptions of the hardships (and frequent joys!) she has endured in this
bucolic existence. Now she is presenting
the same exciting vistas to the readers of Potential Unleashed.
We continue the “weblog” of Sylvie’s Spanish venture (adventure may be more appropriate terrminology) with this digest of her Facebook posts during the month of July 2013.
My first reasonable haul of apricots, loquats and
nectarines from the finca .
I keep sweeping up baby toads in the
house - can't imagine where they are coming from.
Just
rescued my bedsheet from the garden next door. I dry my washing on the
roof terrace secured with double the usual number of pegs, but to no avail.
There have been some very fierce winds. Last month my neighbour
met me at the market and announced in a very loud voice that she had my
knickers. There were a number of stifled sniggers... (end June 2013)
The first of the apples are ripe. I can hardly believe it. They are huge
and dark red in colour. All six apple trees have
fruit, all different varieties, intended to ripen in turn until November, I am
also delighted that the Bramley is growing big and
strong and is full of fruit. Real English apple pies !
Currently living on stewed peaches and stewed plums with custard.
10.07.13
Building a
bamboo cage over my bed - not because I am a wild thing, but to support a
mosquito net . Another low cost creative solution with
a little help from my fiends (typo friends, but perhaps....) who just brought me
a bundle of thick bamboo poles about 5 inch diameter and 7 feet long from the
river bank below their finca. A few leather strips, some phone wire tacks,
some string, half a dozen metal "D" rings and a hour or two of
geriatric acrobatics - maybe by tonight I shall be protected from these blasted
biting black flies. They raise hard lumps and 3 day swellings and breed not
only in river but in domestic water sources, so I need to remember to replace
plugs and close lids. 14.07.13
A very Heath-Robinson home-made mosquito net cage = made
from bamboo canes from Sarah's finca bound with rope
(sheets) from my sailing days, old net curtains and bedspread, leather straps
from an old costume, fixed with BT telephone wire clips and "D" rings
from craft kit - it pays to be a hoarder, especially in Spain. 15.07.13
After spending yesterday beating myself up because I
could not get moving, today I decided I am going to live, so I finished mozzy cage, sorted bedroom, made 2 sorts of jam, tidied up
kitchen and collected radish seeds. Did not write articles,
nor sort front garden, but perhaps tomorrow as well as working at the finca where cats want feeding, everything wants watering
yet again and there will be more strawberries, apples and tomatoes to
harvest. 16.07.13
One can eat the young roots, of course.
The leaves make a lovely mustard spinach. The young seed pods make crunchy additions to
salads and stir-fries and the seeds can be sprouted or used as seasoning and
some kept for sowing in autumn. In all, an easy, quick, reliable, healthy and versatile vegetable,
well worth the effort. Next task, tomato ketchup from about 30 lbs
of tomatoes from only 12 plants.
17.07.13
A satisfying morning, in a primitive way. Thunder and lightning
all night promising rain that never fell. Then early a.m. a
spatter followed by a grateful downpour lasting over an hour. I got
soaked winding in the blinds, so no need to fix the gas cylinder for a
long-awaited shower, and rain-water is good for my
hair. Then I sat in the covered part of my roof garden enjoying the storm and
hulling radish seeds. The rain had long ceased and I was gently sweating for a
couple of hours before I finished, to find myself with
2 oz of radish seed, if I am lucky. This
self-sufficiency lark is very time-consuming, but at least I don't have to
balance myself head down on the pontoon trying to replace my heavy submersible
pump in a deeper part of the river, which was my original task for today, and
the water level may have risen before I need to water again. So,
another thank you, Lord. I still have to go to the finca
later on to refill the water tank if the river is up,
and rescue a pan of gazpacho soup I left slow-cooking yesterday in the
sunshine, on top of a steel bunker, as well as a bowl of sourdough bread
proving in the lean-to, and a jug of kefir yoghurt setting in the shower
cubicle.
I also made my first olive leaf tea yesterday and it was good - clear
brown-gold and flavourful. It is said to lower BP and
cholesterol, so another plus for my survival plan. One can eat the young roots, of course. The leaves make a
lovely mustard spinach. The young seed pods make crunchy additions to salads
and stir-fries and the seeds can be sprouted or used as seasoning and some kept
for sowing in autumn. In all, an easy, quick, reliable, healthy and versatile
vegetable. well worth the effort. Next
task, tomato ketchup from about 30 lbs of tomatoes from only 12 plants. 17.07.13
Another fun day and most disreputable. Finished writing at 4.15 am and slept tilll 10.00 then to Bar Pota for
coffee with three separate successive sets of friends who each arrived just as
I had resolved to start work . Then to market and
shops followed by lunch also at Bar P. Salad, pork fillet, garlic bread and
chips - wicked. Home for iced beer and siesta till 4.00 pm although I should
have been fixing my pump in the searing heat - but I shall be there all day
tomorrow and early morning will be cooler. Off to finca
in a few minutes, after tidying up here, suitably protected from mozzies and river fly and provided with ice and a flagon of
home-made sangria to share with friends who have invited me for farewell BarBQ as they are returning to UK tomorrow. Feel bone idle
and self-indulgent, and rather defiantly pleased with life... 19.07.13
This morning wonder woman made a pan of tomato ketchup with balsamic vinegar, then went for a medical appointment where, as usual, they forecast gloom and doom and castigated me for refusing statins, steroids, diuretics, beta blockers etc, etc, and insisting on sticking to alternative therapies, which don't have their awful side effects. I have felt so much better this way and I am sure most of their guidelines are designed solely for the benefit of pharmaceutical companies. I prefer a comfortable and contented life, if shorter, to a miserable prolonged existence. But I am hoping to prove that simplest is best and to stick around for at least another 30 years. 30.07.13
My wood-burning
stove