Yes, I know its late but ....

Viki is in England for a week and I'm doing everything ........

On the 24th I finally got all the spray irrigation fitted for the feed crops. On the 25th we had the tractor round again to plant clover and maize for feed crop. We should get 5 cuts a year out of the clover and the maize is good for chickens and sheep.

We turned the irrigation on and Andreas was satisfied that it would do the trick. He drove out and a weak link in the irrigation system blew. Couldn't do anything until the next day.

The pig is still pregnant

 Irrigation working again !

Pig killing

Georgos came round last night and we went to the pig field. He took some mulberry leaves and threw them on the ground in front of him. The pigs came to eat them and in a split second he had put a 12 bore cartridge right between the male pigs eyes. He then cut the main artery and decapitated it.

I helped him to get it up onto a hook hung from the mulberry tree and he ad it skinned and gutted in about half an hour.

We then took it to the house where it was wrapped in a sheet to protect it from flies and left hanging to bleed dry. Total cost 20 euros.

Wow. That was an experience.

To avoid upsetting anyone, this is what it looked like this morning, in the bag, as it were.

Took it to the butchers after buying the sprayers for the field and a quick trip to Chania for a "big" shop. 15 euros to turn it into 46 kilos of bite sized pieces. The hard part was putting all the bits into freezer bags.

Wow. Last entry was the 8th and its the 21st now. Lots to catch up with.

The pig is pregnant ! This has resulted in a frantic search for someone with a gun who can dispatch the male before he eats the piglets. My man is coming around at about 17.00 this afternoon  and then we just need to butcher it and get it in the freezer.

We built a new chicken cage/thing to keep the free range eaters safe at night. Blood (lots!), sweat and tears resulted in this effort:

All my own work........

And then there was the matter of fencing (another 50 metres) off the lower field for the chickens and as an extra paddock for Banna. This proved useful a few days later when Banna decided that an acre of grazing wasn't enough and knocked down the fence from the main field to the feed crop to help himself to the contents. 

Dave enjoys a pint and some pub grub after a hard day putting up fencing. Obviously we also have to be there to stop him getting into any fights or drinking too much.

Irrigation is a big headache in a climate like this and we finally got round to piping up the vegetable plot to the main system. It is already making a big difference and the veg is looking good. 

So far we have planted potatoes, onions, spring onions, cucumber, lettuce, spinach, celery, tomatoes (cherry and plum), dill, red peppers, chili peppers, melons, beetroot, aubergine, basil, mint, marjoram, oregano, sage, chives, coriander and a blueberry bush.

 The small herb pots

Today we had a visit from Andreas (Tractor man) who informed us that we needed to sort out the irrigation on the feed crop and pre-install more sprinklers before we put in the clover seeds. By turning off (thanks Andrea!) most of the irrigation feeds we can get enough pressure to operate the sprinklers. A bit labour intensive every week when we have to water the lemon, grapefruit, orange and avocado trees, but it seems to work.

Oh, and we need double the amount of seed that the suppliers told us and we will also plant maize for feed.

He will return on Thursday with the tractor. 

Hopefully our friend Gavrili will be around tomorrow to look at the water pump which refuses to work so that we can draw water from the river again. 

In the meantime, I have a lot of work to do, and a dose of tennis elbow has appeared from nowhere.


Ouch.

Rain !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rain ! After 40 days (very biblical, dontcha think?) we finally got some proper rain last night and this morning. 

You can almost hear the soil drinking it in.

Rent day today. Manousos reminded me that we should water the trees every few days.

Where would we be without his expert advice?

Blossom time

Another week gone by and time for an update.

Last night we had another bout of force 10 winds so we had to repair the stable this morning. Banna cut his fly rug on the broken piece of galvanised sheet but, thankfully, didn't damage himself at all.

The sheep are now living in the sheep section of the field. Not happy that they can't run all over the place but ....

The spring blossom is now out all over the place and here are some photos from the field. Starting with orange blossom

The potatoes and onions are coming on strong.

So is the cherry tree

The first leaves on the walnut tree

 Grapefruit blossom

 Lemon blossom

We started to build a chicken coop for the "eating" chickens. More on that next time.

There is a rumour that we might actually get some rain tonight/tomorrow. Now that would be a relief.

First Simply Crete Holidays guests of the season arrive on Tuesday. 

It was my Mom's birthday yesterday. We went to the farm and showed her how brilliant we are. 

 A photo opportunity with Banna

Not looking bad for 84, is she?

More next time .......

Field control

The latest brainwave was to take the advice of Andreas (tractor man) and close off part of the big field into 2 sections so that we can control the sheeps grazing area. 66 euros later and a couple of hours in the field (we're getting good at this now !) and it was all done.

The sheep, naturally, are not impressed but they still have an area large enough for about 30 sheep and there are only 8 of them. Soon there will only be 6. Its nearly Easter in Greece.

One more seperating fence is now needed to keep Banna away from the vegetable garden.

Another 66 euros should do it.

But we now also need to build a shelter for the sheep and a new chicken run for the cooking chickens.

It never ends.