Christmas and The Three Kings

In our lead up to Christmas we tied up a few loose ends to get the house in order for the festive season. We racked off our demijohns of wine into bottles we had saved for the purpose. The wine that had only sugar added and relied on the wild yeast already on the grapes for fermentation was a paler colour. The wine that had purchased yeast and sugar added was darker. We finished them both dry, to maximise alcohol content and hopefully minimise possibility of contamination. They should be around 12%, although we didn't take a final reading of the specific gravity so cannot be sure. We had a few little tasters during the racking off process - they are a bit rough round the edges but not bad. Now we need to forget about them for about a year whilst they mature!

The darker batch made with the purchased yeast did not require any finings to be added - it cleared and settled all by itself. The paler wine made with the naturally occurring yeast is a bit more lively and needed isinglass. We have put the bottles in a box and put a tea towel over the bottles just in case! We'll have to work on a nice colourful label to decorate the bottles but there's plenty of time for that.

 

 

 

The olives we started to cure in water have now been bottled up into a brine and vinegar mix. They are more or less ready to eat. The texture is much better than the first batch we prepared. I think the first batch were too ripe so there was no 'bite' to the fruits. I think the trick is to pick and preserve under ripe olives if they are intended for the table.

 



 

 

 

Just before Christmas, we went on a new walk above the High Alpujarran village of Capileira. The walk follows the Poqueira valley and ends at a settlement called La Cebadilla. This is a hamlet, which includes a church, that was built last century for the hydroelectric construction workers to live in. The houses are now all deserted.

 

Our view up the Poqueira valley to La Cebadilla. Mulacen,top right,
 is the highest peak in mainland Spain.

 

 



The hydroelectricity produced used to provide for just the people in the Poquiera Valley, but now it feeds into the national network. Water off the mountain is dammed at the top and this is released to provide electricity, particularly when there is a surge in demand.  Off the top of my head, it seems a bit like 'Electric Mountain' in Snowdonia, although the water used in the Sierra Nevada is from a dam where water is delivered from above  whereas in Snowdonia it is pumped up. Also, many of the operations in 'Electric Mountain' occur underground whereas at La Cebadilla it occurs above ground.

 

 

When we had reached the village, we crossed the Poquiera river and walked back along the other side of the valley. There were many deserted cortijos on this side and several eras - ancient circular areas cobbled with flat local stone, formerly used to thresh grain. The terrain is quite rugged and mountainous, and the eras stand out because there are not very many other areas that wide and that flat!

An era adjacent to a deserted cortijo.

We stopped for a while to watch some wild ibex.





 

 

 

 

Finally, the path dropped down to a bridge where we crossed the river before rising steeply, back to the village where we had started. 

 

I would like to walk down to this bridge one day next Spring when it is warm enough to bathe.

 

 

This Christmas Eve we spent all afternoon and early evening in Malaga. Our reason for doing this is that our eldest son came to spend Christmas with us. As he was working on Christmas Eve, by the time he had finished his shift, all the planes for Malaga had left the North West of England. So, he had to fly to Madrid and then get a high-speed train (AVE) from Madrid to Malaga station.

 

We reached Malaga and parked up in the early afternoon. The museums and sights all closed early on Christmas Eve so we had a little walking tour of the old town and a bit of a recce so that next time we go back we can get our bearings easily. There was a good festive atmosphere in the city and we found a lovely (and very lively) bar in a sidestreet where we ordered ensalada Malaguena (cod, potatoes, onions, oranges), salmonetas (baby red mullet) and migas (fried breadcrumbs) with a fried egg. We walked off our substantial meal by climbing the path up the side of the Alcazaba and on to the castle - both closed - but we were able to enjoy the views of the harbour and immediate city as we walked up through the gardens. On our return to the City centre, we also managed to get a peek inside the Cathedral as mass was about to begin.

 



 

Sunset was at about 6.15 and Christmas lights came on at 7pm. They were extremely extravagant.

 

 













 

We had skipped dessert at our meal, intending to have coffee and pastry somewhere else but the pastry shops were just like the kind of shops you see in many European cities. Tiring of the dipping into the lifestyle we have since left behind, we were pleased to head back home with our son, who had arrived safely and on time, much impressed by the AVE experience.

 

We will be going back to Malaga in the future to visit the castle, Alcazaba, Picasso museum etc. on a day when they are open. 

 

At dusk in Malaga.
Much to the caganer's delight, it was a full moon this Christmas

 

We had a lovely Christmas Day, opening our gifts and eating roast dinner on the terrace. We did put our Christmas jumpers on but it was too hot to leave them on for very long! 

 

Whilst our son was staying with us, we had an afternoon out in Velez de Benaudalla, a town just outside our valley and situated in the Costa Tropical region rather than the Alpujarras. The town has an Arabic garden, the Jardin Nazari. Built on a hillside on terraces, the water flows along each level and when it reaches the end, cascades down to the next level. The Moors do not fail to disappoint when it comes to water! At the lower level of the garden, there are cave-like grottoes with stalactites and stalagmites in them. The Moors liked to combine five elements in their gardens: aesthetic, psychological, scientific-botanic, nutrition and spiritual. It certainly did feel like a fully-rounded garden and I would like to consider these five elements when working on our own land. 

 



 

 

 



 









 

As a snack on our afternoon jaunt, we had a flask of tea and shared a roscon de Reyes. This is a circular brioche-style bread that is traditionally eaten on 6th January, the day of the Three Kings, when the Spanish give their presents. However, as our son had to return to the UK before new year, we bought a frozen one so we could try it together. Very nice! We were sorry to see our visitor go but we look forward to more family times at various points in 2016.

 

We are now back into our various projects. January is to be pruning month. We haven't pruned our olive trees since we bought our place and some of them need hard pruning . They are too tall for us to have any chance of reaching the fruit and some of the growth is quite old.  Pruning should encourage the tree to send out vigorous shoots from the bottom and if the plan comes to fruition (no pun intended) they should eventually produce fruits that we can reach. I think we will be focussing on the trees in one area of the land this year, so as not to jeopardise the whole of next year's harvest, as I don't think the pruned tree will produce fruit the following year.  

 

It has been windy for the last 5 days or so and quite a few more olives (that we couldn't reach when we harvested originally) have dropped to the ground. We picked up a few respectable sacks full and went to the mill again, firstly to collect the oil from the 116 Kgs we had already taken there and secondly to deposit these further olives for processing. By the time we had picked up every last olive we could find and got to the mill it was dark and we were tipping the olives down the chute for weighing in 'floodlight' - another 56 Kilos were registered! We were given 20 litres of oil, the quantity we had been expecting, in return for the 116 Kgs we had previously taken. So, I presume we will be given 10 litres when we return with our slip of paper to collect the second batch of oil. One thing is for sure: we can afford to prune hard as we have enough oil for the next two years! Since going to the mill two days ago, we notice that even more olives have dropped - but you have to draw a line somewhere! Maybe we will leave these for the birds to enjoy.

 

So with few daylight hours and lots of plans we are very busy bees indeed. Some members of our family know the best place to be........

 

 

 

And the days may be short but we have been rewarded with some beautiful sunsets.... 

 

 

If you want to continue reading our blog in the future you may have trouble accessing it unless you have a Google account  (it's free to open one).

 

 

Wishing all  of you who read about our adventures a very happy and healthy 2016!





The Olive Harvest

The sun is continuing to shine. In fact, it has only rained on us twice since we came here in mid-July, and only twice in the area in 7 months. Whilst we are loving the feel-good light levels every day, there is no snow at all on the southern side of the Sierra Nevada behind us (and only a sprinkling on the northern ski-slopes, I have been informed). This is currently a little worrying in terms of water availability next year. You never know, it may all change in January - and we have a stack of indoor jobs to do which we are saving for a rainy day!

Although we feel like we are in a perpetual summer, it does get dark here at about 6pm. It's easy to forget this when the day is so warm and feels like a UK June day. We have to make the most of the daylight for all those outdoor tasks. Some things can be left until after sunset, e.g. shopping trips can happen when the shops re-open after siesta (that is, the siesta we don't currently take because we are making the most of the daylight hours!)

Our first pile of compost is ready to use. We are giving some of the trees a little TLC: a bit of weeding under their canopy of branches, some organic fertiliser watered in, and finally, a lovely rich layer of mulch courtesy of the compost heap! There won't be enough mulch for everyone at first, some of them will have to be patient!

Weeded, fertilised, watered, mulched, muy contento! A beautiful pear tree.

The bashful banana. Mulched : check!

We have also planted a couple more trees: an algarrobo (carob) and a kaki (persimmon). 

Algarrobo (carob) tree

There isn't a photo of the persimmon as it's deciduous and just a load of twigs at this time of year.

We have cleared an area on the approach to the house and planted it up with a Polygala shrub and a pale yellow Lantana. They are both very popular plants and seen frequently locally. They like lots of sun and don't need too much water once established so should do very well in the area where they are planted - we hope! I do like a bit of purple contrasted with yellow going on!

Mister Sparrow is doing a bit of clearing. 

Job done. The lineup: Lantana and Polygala in the background. Osteospermum and succulents in the front row. More plants to follow!

When we are digging and clearing, we are finding lots of natural stones which we are using to retain the soil and help with the terracing. Wherever possible, it's much nicer to let the earth breathe, rather than cover it with concrete, so last weekend I had my first go at a drystone wall! It was a very absorbing and pleasing activity, and the wall doesn't move when you kick it! When I had finished it was quite dark and I had trouble finding all my tools to take back to the house. I have about twenty strawberry plants to plant on the lower level. It's quite a shady location: if the strawberries flounder, I'll have to move them to a brighter place.

 

Don't laugh! It's my first attempt at a dry stone wall

We are getting a few vegetables at the moment and it's great to put something on the table that is home grown.

All from the land: salad leaves, radish and miniature lemons
- plus a splash of our oil from last year

And there are a few crops in the pipeline......

Future peas (I wish)

Future broad beans (I wish)

It's interesting that, although we can physically grow plants at the moment, there doesn't seem to be much around in the way of pollinators. Some of our broad beans are flowering and there is not much insect life around. However, I did notice a honeybee on the broad beans yesterday, so maybe she will waggle her bum at her friends and tell them where there is a fountain of nectar: in the Sparrows' broad bean bed! So, if the crops don't do very well it may be due to lack of available pollinators rather than soil or temperature or moisture levels. Where would we be without our insects?

One day when we were working on the land, we heard some birds we hadn't heard before. There were about 5 or 6 of them running about on a level above us. When we went inside we got 'the book' out and found that they were red legged partridges. I have never seen a partridge in the wild before. Mark did say that if they had been in the pear tree he would have realised immediately that they were partridges! According to our Mediterranean bird book, they feast on cereals and grass seeds, and that must have been what they were doing, as there are some large clumps of grass that are going to seed in the location where we spotted them. However, I did go up and check they had not pecked at my broad bean plants, which they hadn't! They were certainly having a lovely little afternoon outing and they have returned at least once since.

The orange juice is back on tap as some of the oranges are now ripe and sweet enough to squeeze for juice.

some of the oranges have ripened

There are some beautiful weeds around, such as this majestic sunflower that appeared in the 'herb garden'. Luckily, I recognised the first leaves and thought: 'I recognise you, you're a sunflower!'. It has grown to approx 150 cms, which isn't bad for a December baby.

It's good to let the weeds grow! You never know what you might get coming up.

And Mark noticed a lovely climber on our land, Dutchman's pipe. It has subtle dark brown flowers shaped like an old-fashioned smokers' pipe (approx 2.5 cm long).

Dutchman's pipe - Aristolochia

Talking of weeds, what is that dreadful smell? Oh yes I remember, it's the nettle tea brewing away nicely for our guests, the cultivated plants.

Everywhere locally the olives are ripening and people are busy with their harvest. Last weekend, we walked down the track and there were lots of oil patches on the road: not oil from cars, but from olives squashed by tyres or feet treading on them. This last week, we have joined in the fun and harvested our own olives. The previous two years when we came over from the UK in January (for a break), 4 of us harvested as many olives as we could in a 2 to 3 day period, and then we took them to the mill. This year we have obviously had longer and we could be more thorough, which is just as well because the harvest has not been as good. Apparently, the poor olive harvest is true of all of Andalucia due to the hot dry summer we have had. In addition to this, we need to prune our trees to encourage future growth and olive yield. This task will mean a lot of work and we will  prioritise over the next few years to keep it manageable. 

We got the olives off the trees partly by hand-picking the ones we could reach, or combing with a rake or (last resort) bashing the upper branches with a stick. The olives fell to the ground onto nets previously placed below the tree. We also picked some off the ground that had fallen fairly recently. Mark did make the point that it's a good job we don't have rabbits on the land or else we might make a very unpleasant mistake!

Mark is tapping the olive tree in the hope it may part with its olives

Our oil for the next year!

Loading up the olive harvest

Today, we took the olives to a mill in nearby Lanjaron. We arrived there early, at 9.30am, but there were already 5 or 6 cars and two big lorries in the queue. When our turn came, Mark backed up the car to an iron grille. We emptied the sacks through the grille into a pit below where the olives were weighed: 116kgs, less than last year but more that the first year! We have a slip of paper which we will take back to the mill after Chrismas to get the oil. We expect to be given somewhere between 15 to 20 litres (6kgs of olives produces about 1 litre of oil). These olives will be milled together with all the other people's, so it won't be organic and not strictly 'our own'. Next year, we hope to arrange to have our olives milled individually to give us our own, organic oil from our own olives. However, we are satisfied with what we have managed so far. Tonight, I heard a very pleasing sound of a wine bottle being opened in the kitchen to celebrate the end of our hard work. A nice Ribera del Duero was breathing on the table, which for me beats a Rioja hands down any day!

As well as taking olives to the mill, we are curing some 'table olives'. We have a manzanilla olive tree on our land that produces superior fruits for curing, but both years that I have harvested these as black olives and their texture has been mushy and unpalatable. Next year I will harvest them green. So, we are now curing some of the olives that would have otherwise gone for oil, just a few saucepans full.

Preparing the olives for curing: one batch of dark ones and one batch of green

As the olives are pushed through the holes, four blades score the sides

We have a special tool given to us by a friend that either makes four cuts down the sides of the olives, or crushes them so that they split, according to preference.The olives are then soaked in water, followed by brine, until cured. It is very pleasing to see these jars of curing olives sitting in the kitchen.

Curing the olives

For a bit of a break from the olive harvest, one afternoon we went off to the tapas festival in town. A marquee had been set up in the main square. There was a programme of activities spanning four days and many of the shops were shut, although in true Spanish style, the music and dancing did not start until 10pm, way beyond the bedtime of an olive harvester! We arrived at about 3.30pm and were in time for the bingo. We bought our tapas and drinks tokens and exchanged them at the bar for fine wine, beer, migas and patatas a lo pobre, then bought our bingo cards. I got full house on the second game and won 50 Euros: hahaha. We didn't stay for a third game because I was worried I might win again. How embarrassing would that be? We had walked down to the tapas festival so we could have a glass of wine and I was so happy to have won 50 Euros, I could have skipped all the way back up the hill!

A rather large pumpkin! 

Warming up for bingo

Inside the tapas tent

Christmas market stalls outside the tapas tent

Outside the tapas tent, there was a Chistmas market, just to remind us it is December! 

With regards to our own seasonal preparations, the Christmas cake is baked and awaiting some home-made marzipan. Next year I will dry more of the grape harvest to make a larger quantity of sultanas as I have found the ones in the shops are either imported from South America or, if local, extremely expensive. I'm not suprised at the high price given the effort I went to in order to produce the small amount that we had. Whilst the Christmas cake was baking a couple of weeks ago, I had put two loaf cakes into the oven made with 'angels' hair pumpkin' and flavoured with aniseeds. 

Needless to say, the angels' hair cake tasted Heavenly!

Cake made with angel's hair pumpkin

Lisa and Towersey, our two lovely old-lady sisters

Nettle tea anybody?

 

We have recently had two successive visits from family members and so have enjoyed the rest from physical work on the land and house and loved having company. Last Sunday we went to a seaside town called La Herradura and ate with our son in a 'chinguirito', a beach restaurant, whilst basking in temperatures in the 70s. We also took a lovely walk with him in the Taha valley, above where we live. There are more deciduous trees up there compared to where we live and the Autumn colour was spectacular.

Beautiful Taha Valley villages from the opposite side of the river

Busquistar, one of the Taha Valley villages

Whilst walking, we spotted some lovely plants growing in amongst the rocks, ? maybe Arisaema  ?

Arisaema  .... maybe...

It has not rained for a while and there is no guarantee that it will rain in the immediate future. Our alberca (irrigation water deposit) is currently very low and we are recycling domestic waste water to hydrate our precious plants.
Because it is cooler at night, there is some amount of dew that also provides moisture for the plants. This, and probably the cooler conditions, has resulted in a wave of weeds germinating. I love weeds and unless I can think of something better to grow in a space I am quite happy for weeds to fill the corners of the garden. At the moment, I am making a batch of nettle tea which will I will give as a treat to the cultivated plants in the next month or so.



Homegrown, organic and delicious!

Today, we planted a lime tree which was an early Christmas gift from our son when he was over. We have chosen the sunniest and most sheltered spot we can think of for it, as limes are more tender than oranges and lemons. One of our 3 piles of compost is ripe and ready so a bucketful was put to good use around the lime.

We live across the valley from the forestal defence helipad which deals with forest fires and there are restrictions on having a bonfire on your land to safeguard the countryside. If you want to have a bonfire here, it is only allowed between November and March and you must get a permit from the Town Hall, something which we have recently done. Now, in the mornings, rising plumes of smoke can be seen across the valley, both nearby and in the distance. We may add to the smoke signals in the next week or so.

Mark has started an intensive Spanish course which is 3 mornings a week, so I have had lots of time on my own in which to get up to mischief. A couple of weeks ago I went with one of our visitors into a grocer's in one of the back streets in town to enquire about the walnuts that were for sale, as some of the ones in the shops are from California. The lady said they were from her land, which turned out to be the area where we also live. In the conversation that followed, it transpired that she had previously owned our house and land before selling it to the person we bought it from! She still has a parcel of land higher above us which she visits at weekends. Her produce looked lovely so I expect to be making frequent trips back to her shop, particularly if she has grown some of it herself. The walnuts were delicious and truly the biggest I have ever seen. Talking of Spanish lessons, I am currently having weekly one to one lessons but I am shortly to join a group which will focus on learning about aspects of Spanish culture. That will allow Mark some mischief time!

The Christmas cake ingredients have been weighed up and it will be baked tomorrow. This year we have sourced some of the ingredients very locally: the orange and lemon rind are our own; the walnuts come from the woman's land above us; the eggs are from the hens of another woman who runs the fish shop; the marzipan will be made from our own almonds and either our neighbour's honey or our English honey from last year which we brought out here; the brandy will be Spanish, naturally. We would have had our own sultanas but I put them in an apple cake! We stopped at a house by the roadside today and bought a 'cabello de angel' (angels' hair) pumpkin. These pumpkins are used as cake ingredients to add moisture and texture. As the Christmas cake will take about 4 hours in the oven, we'll have some angels' hair cake cooking simultaneously!

Cabello de angel (angels' hair) pumpkin

Last Sunday morning we went to the car boot sale in town, which is held at a respectable 10 am to 2 pm (unlike the ridiculous 8 - 12 in the UK). There was a woman there selling alpaca cardigans from Peru and Mark has bought me one which he has put away for my Christmas present. But to top our preparations for Christmas, I have been to town and purchased a 'caganer'. Now I am not a religious person, but I do find the story of Christmas and the wider interpretation meaningful. The Spanish tend to have a Nativity scene rather than a Christmas tree, and in amongst the nativity characters it is traditional to have a caganer. He or she might well be round the back of the stable, but you never know, they might be right inside. You have to look and find them. And don't be fooled into thinking that the intent look on their face is one of reverence or that their lowly posture is in honour of Jesus, because the caganer is actually a person taking a dump. The figurine I bought came in a box which said 'pastor cagando', which means 'shitting shepherd'. It gives the Nativity scene a whole new edge! (I realise I have started my Christmas buying a little early but I was concerned the caganer would sell out!)

Here is the caganer. The photo is deliberately blurred (!) so you cannot recognise the culprit that is responsible for what has been left in the corner of the stable!

Our little cat Pepper is now fully recovered from the abscess, which initially made a hole in her skin about one centimetre across. True to what Manolo the vet said, it healed from the inside to the outside, and the hole has closed fully. Now the cone of shame is off and she has got her attitude back again!

There are forecasts of the temperatures dropping over the next few days. Right now, although it is windy, it is fairly warm and I cannot imagine scraping the ice off the car. Should it become overcast for a few days so that the solar energy store drops, we have  had our generator serviced and it is fully firing and at the ready if needed! We have lots of firewood and this evening we lit up one of the woodburners for the first time since last January. It was a magnet to our four cats!



At the remains of the Panjuila baths